The scope of the project remaining

The attached picture should give you a perspective on the magnitude of the issue I'm trying to deal with. In addition to the 6 cubes, the bottom two shelves and part of the third shelf of the book case on the right are all LPs. What is on the bookshelf plus about one of the cubes is what I haven't yet burned to CD. The four cubes on the left plus one on the right are what I have done so far. I think that puts me at about the 60% mark. The cubes with drawers are CD's and cassettes. The vast majority of the CDs and about half of the cassettes are not in the picture at all. The turntable on the left is what I'm currently using and the HP Digital Entertainment Center is the black box on the opposite side of the TV from the turntable. Yes, that's a 42" LCD monitor in the middle. The Bose surround sound speakers are also visible although the sub and the rear speakers are out of the picture. The PC is my DVD player, CD player, and currently contains about 8200 music tracks. I think some of you guys probably have more music, but I figure I've got thousands more tracks to load from LP and I've barely scratched the surface on the hundreds of cassette tapes (and that is after I pull out the redundant ones.)

I refrain from referring to this as a chore because it is such a treat to pull out an old album that I haven't listened to for several decades and enjoy it while burning it to CD and then getting it uploaded to the PC and have it thereby become vastly more convienient to enjoy into the future. Listening to Poco's Crazy Eyes recently was kind of a jaw dropping experience. I suspect I hadn't listened to it in well over 25 years! My copy was in very crisp condition. Still, the magnitude of what I'm dealing with is a little intimidating. If I could simply average one album a day (which I don't think I could do consistently) I'm looking at multiple years.

I'm also in the market for a good tag editor that can conveniently do search and replace type stuff across the directory structure.

Getting to the point where smart playlists are really smart is something of a nerd-nightmare but like so many nerdy things, when it's done right it's pretty slick. (Or at least this nerd thinks so!) It's really changing the way I listen to music.

Eurythmics - Sweet Dreams Are Made of This (RCA AFL1-4681 - 1983)

I did "Be Yourself Tonight" and realized that I could catch up on my album art photos and back fill this one.

This one is available from Amazon for 19 bucks and had bonus tracks. The download is 10 but maybe I should download just the bonus tracks!

From Andy J.:

A snippet of an response to a question on the Pgh Post-Gazette site from their techie/audiophile guy, about converting vinyl to CDs...

To record your records, get a $39 Griffin iMic and connect it to your computer's USB port and to the "record out" connections of the tape loop on your receiver. I recommend Roxio Easy Media Creator 9 software to record and process the MP3s. It is $79.

Clarence White and the Kentucky Colonels (Rounder 0098 - 1980)

http://ebni.com/byrds/refdiscogcw.html

Jerry Douglas - Fluxology (Rounder 0093 - 1979)

Currently unavailable at Amazon even through resellers. I can't find it on Rounder.com either. This was Lans', but I love this album.

Long, long ago in a galaxy far away...

I returned to Phoenix in my brother's compact car with four pieces of furniture, a small fire safe, dozens of books, two pair of speakers, eight hi-fi components, several hundred LP's, even more cassettes, and somewhat less than a hundred CDs. (Being the opportunist that he is, Brad claimed about half the CDs. Being the opportunist that I am, I did my best to stack his half with stuff I already owned a copy of). Since Lans generally listened to tapes, many of his LPs have probably only been played once (when they were copied to tape). In many cases the jackets are in mint condition and presumably the vinyl is also. I burned three Roy Buchanan LPs to CD over the weekend and I thought the sound quality was rather spectacular. But I digress... There were hundreds of VHS tapes that were mostly musically oriented. Along with many concert videos there are also many instructional videos. I think he has a Tony Rice instructional video in there somewhere but I had to leave the video tapes behind, due to space and weight limitations. Ironically, the componetry I brought DID include a VCR (I'd previously divested myself of analog video.) But I digress again... While making the decision to not bring the video tapes with me on this trip, I schnagged ONE video from his collection: "A History of Ketel One". I think I'll look into converting it to DVD.

David Grisman - Dawg Jazz/Dawg Grass

Van Morrison- Astal Weeks (Warner Bros. WS1768 - 1968)

I think this was mine. This one is available from Amazon for about 10 bucks.

Van Morrison - Saint Dominics Preview (Warner Bros. BS2633 - 1972)

I've probably had this album since high school or roughly about the time it came out. It looks lik Amazon resellers have this for about 9 bucks used.

Poco - Crazy Eyes (Epic KE32354 - 1973)

This was one of mine.
A little drop out in track 5 (A Right Along) caused me to rerecord that track and rerip to replace that file. I am archiving the replacement track as a separate disc.

The Hondells - Go Little Honda (Mercury MG20940 - 196?)

Van Morrison - Bottom Line, New York, NY 11/01/1978

Source unknown.


Tracks: 12Total Time: 1:02:38
Van Morrison - lead vocals, guitar, piano, sax Bobby Tench - guitar, backing vocalsDavid Hayes - bassPeter Van Hooks - drums Pete Bardens - keyboardsPee Wee Ellis - saxophones Katie Kissoon - backing vocals Ann Peacock - backing vocals

MoondanceWavelengthInto The MysticCheckin' It OutHungry For Your LoveBrown Eyed GirlCrazy LoveKingdom HallTupelo HoneyNataliaWild NightCaravan

Van Morrison was enjoying a commercial renaissance with this tour and the album he was promoting at the time. Always a consummate performer, Morrison delivered a stunning performance in New York's intimate Bottom Line club, the venue that launched the careers of both Bruce Springsteen and Billy Joel, among countless others. Opening with a jazzed up version of "Moondance," the show provided a healthy mix of material from his then-new LP, Wavelength, and all the best-loved Morrison classics.
The band was lava-hot and provided the perfect compliment to Morrison's free form vocal stylings. In the line-up was Pete Bardens (who also played keyboards in Morrison's 1960s British Invasion band, Them) and former Jeff Beck Group vocalist/guitarist, Bobby Tench. Because he had such a great band, in the course of one show Morrison successfully mixes up hot jazz, blazing blues, romantic and melodic ballads, and gospel-fevered rock 'n' roll. By the time he shakes it up on the closers - "Wild Night" and "Caravan"- the audience is completely in the palm of his hand.
"Crazy Love," "Tupelo Honey" and "Into The Mystic" faithfully bring the listener back to his classic early ‘70s Warner Brothers Records period, when he was the darling of the pop music press. "Kingdom Hall," "Checkin' It Out," and the aforementioned "Wavelength" were new songs at the time, but were just as well received, since it was clear to the audience that Van Morrison had just released one of his best albums in years. Still, it was Morrison's earliest solo hit, "Brown Eyed Girl," that first brought the crowd to its feet.
For that Bottom Line audience, and now for all of us, this show remains a classic.

The Beatles - Hear The Beatles Tell All (Vee Jay Pro-202 - 1965)

This is one of mine that still has the cellophane and the original price sticker from a grocery store. The album art didn't come down from the Net on this one.

Jerry Jeff Walker - Driftin' Way of Life (Vanguard VSD521 - 1969)

"Old Road" came up on my iPod on the ride in this morning (7/8/08) and realized that I might know more about it than I ever realized. Here are the lyrics as I pulled them off the web at sweetslyrics.com.

Old road she keeps callin' to me,
Old road she keeps callin' to me,
Travel on down,
Travel on down,
Travel on down and see.
(Harmonica)
13 and 3-0-1,
13 and 3-0-1,
250 West,
250 West,
250 West to 9.
(Harmonica)
Lonely, so cold and blue,
Lonely, so cold and blue,
Tired and hungery,
Tired and hungery,
Tired and hungery too.
=======

13 and 3-0-1 could easily refer to the intersection of Rt. 13 and Rt. 301 near Odessa Delaware. 301 is a spur off of US 1 (which certainly qualifies as an old road). 301 West crosses the Chesapeake near Annapolis and heads south to Richmond where VA 250 has largely been replaced by I-64. VA 250 heads west toward Waynesboro and Afton where I've had pleasant bicycling experiences. I can't really see where 9 fits into this itinerary but basically this little sub-two-minute song seems to chart a backroads trip from somewhere in the Delaware Valley area into the Shenandoah Valley area. I've probably had this album for more than 30 years and never made that connection. Huh!

Fuzzy Mounstain String Band - Fuzzy Mountain String Band (Rounder 0010 - 1972)

A Retroactive entry for one of my albums. I grabbed the album art to load it into the ipod in place of some alternative art that came down from the net.