# My Music Server



## DavidMahler (Dec 28, 2009)

For me, cataloging classical music digitally, in proper form is very different than how any software automates the process.

One of the things I've spent a lot of free time doing is cataloging my Classical CD collection.

Right now I am in the process of consolidating my Bruckner collection and I've just finished Debussy.

Please see below what I've done and let me know what you think. For me, it is one of the most rewarding (and tedious things) I've done with my life. It's taken me years as my CD collection is approaching 12,000. I rip them in Apple Lossless form using dbPoweramp

Here's an example of how it works:

Using Front Row - which by the way Apple has discontinued (and a simple remote) I start at the Playlist Screen titled COMPLETE COLLECTION

*Let's say I choose MOZART, WOLFGANG AMADEUS, I will then be brought to this screen:*








*Above is all the different types of works which Mozart composed. This makes it very easy to navigate to the work which I want to hear. Let's say I choose [CONCERTOS]
I am brought to this next screen:*








*As you can see, the concertos are divided into 3 obvious sections. If a concerto contains both strings and winds it will appear under both listings. Let's say I Choose [for KEYBOARD]

I end up at this screen:*








*Now let's say I choose [PIANO CONCERTOS], I end up at the next screen, note that the Concerto for Violin & Piano is not in CAPS and is not bracketed. The reason for this is, clicking on it will lead to actual versions of the piece rather than what you will see below which is work-listings:*








*FR19 Concerto 21.tiff
Above is the screen with all of Mozart's Piano Concertos listed. Let's say I choose the 20th which is one of my favorites! The next screen will have all 18 versions which I own of the piece listed alphabetically by Pianist; Conductor; Orchestra. It looks like this:
*
to be continued in next post....


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## DavidMahler (Dec 28, 2009)

IMG]http://cdn.head-fi.org/a/a2/1000x500px-LL-a2b99c5f_Concerto20.tiff[/IMG]
*Let's say I select Rubinstein's wonderful version. The next screen looks like this:*








*Please note above that all my track titles for Classical music have a number before the track so that way I can remember the movement which I like. Also note the description which begins with the year of composition, the year of recording and the year of CD release date followed by the parent label company. This is all researched by me using numerous sites. Also I make sure that all versions of the same work have the exact same track titles to avoid confusion so for instance if this were Uchida's version of the 20th Piano Concerto, the track titles would read identically.

Once I click on the track I want, this is the final screen:*









I'd be happy to show screen captures of what I did for Debussy, upon request

Thanks for looking!!! It feels really rewarding to show this to people who may finally appreciate the time and effort that went into this.  I've been working on it for at least 6 years.

PS, Im not sure why the pictures got cropped, it actually looks much nicer. I can fix this when I get home


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## kv466 (May 18, 2011)

Ok,...color me impressed. That's pretty bad ***!


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## Polednice (Sep 13, 2009)

I could never do anything like that. I strangely get pleasure out of organising, but I also get pleasure out of changing the way I organise things periodically. There's no way I could reorganise 12,000 CDs every few months. I'd kill myself.


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## DavidMahler (Dec 28, 2009)

Polednice said:


> I could never do anything like that. I strangely get pleasure out of organising, but I also get pleasure out of changing the way I organise things periodically. There's no way I could reorganise 12,000 CDs every few months. I'd kill myself.


I've considered giving up. The hardest part is when you buy a CD that has like 12 composers on it and none are complete works, so like upon clicking on Debussy's Preludes Book II, I have a link to [Complete performances] and link to [Excerpts] and then each movement gets its own designation. It's a lot of work, and very difficult to do in iTunes


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## myaskovsky2002 (Oct 3, 2010)

Wow! This is great...But I don't have so many CDs....Just good ones, if you know what I mean....LOL

Martin


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## myaskovsky2002 (Oct 3, 2010)

DavidMahler said:


> For me, cataloging classical music digitally, in proper form is very different than how any software automates the process.
> 
> One of the things I've spent a lot of free time doing is cataloging my Classical CD collection.
> 
> ...


How many Russian composers do you have? Would you like to give us your site?

Martin, PhD in Russian music ( I made this up, LOL)


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## Manxfeeder (Oct 19, 2010)

Beautiful!


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## DavidMahler (Dec 28, 2009)

myaskovsky2002 said:


> How many Russian composers do you have? Would you like to give us your site?
> 
> Martin, PhD in Russian music ( I made this up, LOL)


I've never counted specifically, but if you name a few more obscure ones I can tell you if I have anything by them.

It's unfortunately not a site, it's just my personal server at home. I wish so badly it could be a site and I could make a living doing it because its such a crucial part of my life. I stay at home many days when I should go out just to do as meticulous a job as possible.


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## bassClef (Oct 29, 2006)

I love organising too. I like what the muso catalog generator can do:
http://klarita.net/catalog/catalog.html


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