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Music Media

Maintaining Huge DVD-RW Media Libraries Using Linux? 36

Posted by Cliff from the life-of-the-party dept.
jdclucidly asks: "I am faced with the problem of storing a huge high quality audio library in a portable format (i.e. I need to be able to be at a party to DJ within an hour's notice). Being the minimalist that I am, I'd also like this solution to also empower me to listen in my own leisure time wherever I go (i.e. car/home). So, it needs to be lower power, low cost, and able to interface with existing stereo equipment where ever I go. With over 6000 CD's in my possession, storing CD audio on 9.6 GB DVD-R in the open FLAC codec with fully searchable META data was the logical conclusion. Problem: The portable DVD-R/W drives exist, but the host hardware isn't portable enough. I have concluded that a laptop is too bulky for car use and too expensive to risk taking to parties. Instead, what I'd like to do is to port FLAC to the ARM architecture on Linux and use the 106 mHz processor on board the Zarus PDA to power my media library. However, there are two problems in this solution: 1) UDF packet writing/reading, which is required for DVD use, is still very much in it's infancy in Linux; 2) I don't know of any PDA that supports the USB 2.0 or Firewire that portable DVD-R/W requires. Does Slashdot have any ideas for accomplishing a portable media library for under USD$1000 or am I getting a little ahead of the technology here?"
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Maintaining Huge DVD-RW Media Libraries Using Linux? More

Maintaining Huge DVD-RW Media Libraries Using Linux?

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  • What the hell are is your DJ name, Super DJ Cheap? (Score:4, Funny)

    by Wakko Warner ( 324 ) on Saturday February 09, 2002 @08:19AM (#2978854) Homepage Journal
    You have to be available within an hour to race off to some random party, but you would like to plug into the stereo equipment of the place you're playing. Do you play living rooms or something? And you want to do this with a single DVD, instead of turntables or (ugh) CDs? Yo, yo, yo! Super DJ Cheap in the house! Rockin' the coffee table!

    If you somehow actually manage to pull this off, just hope nobody uses your entire music library as a drink coaster.

    - A.P.
  • I've worked in many a big rave. The computing equipment has to be able to suffer from the dual problems of vibration and condensation.

    Theft can be insured against but equipment failure in front of a couple of thousand people is hugely embarassing.

    We wanted to shift our video mixing equipment from tape to disk but nothing came close to rugged enough for my liking, (PCI cards in a PC with SCSI-UW disks 20 feet away from a 10kw rig, no way). At least with 4 tape units we had some redundancy.

  • Laptop. (Score:3, Informative)

    by AntipodesTroll ( 552543 ) on Saturday February 09, 2002 @08:34AM (#2978878) Homepage
    Is the way to go. Definetly.

    If you think $1500 (latest Fujitsu sub-notebook with internal DVD reader, does 10h on max batteries) is too expensive, then youre in the wrong game, honestly. Buy a few 32GB 2.5" HD's if the 20GB included isnt enough, and simply use the audio-out. Buy a Pro-quality type-2 audio card if you want quality, but dont bother using lossy compression in that case.

    Unless ofcourse, you needed to burn the DVD-R's when you went out for your gigs. But uh, I thought DJ's were the ones that supplied the music, no?

    • Re:Laptop. (Score:3, Informative)

      by sydb ( 176695 )
      FLAC is not lossy.

      Free Lossless Audio Codec.
    • Don't use the internal audio, at least not if anything else electronic - like the processor - is running at the same time : )
      On-board audio is an advanced version of the builtin XT speaker.

      USB audio is probably the way to go, unless you can make use of the SPDIF some models provides with the video-out.

      There are few portables wich allows for multiple harddisks at a reasonable cost, look for firewire and perhaps an extra USB 2.0 card to stack up with storage. Pocketing a few harddisks might be an even better solution than burning disks and going up to 3.5" would boost it even more.
  • Has the DJ industry changed within the past six hours? Why would a laptop be too bulky? Trying to move from 1000 lbs of gear to just an MP3-enabled PDA overnight? Shucks, I wouldn't hire a DJ that doesn't bring in at least two turntables, two CD players, and gobs of media. I don't see how a single laptop would be that much of a problem for a professional DJ...

  • WTF? (Score:2)

    by ameoba ( 173803 )
    WTF do you need a portable DVD-RW? All you should need to do on the road is read what you've burned.

    Not to mention that you can't cheap your way out of an audio playback unit. Even using lossless compression, a cheap, noisy sound chip will become noticable on a good PA.
    • Minimalism. If I'm going to buy a drive for both my PC and my portable, why not combine them in to one?
      • Honestly - sounds as if you *are* a little bit ahead of your time. With the type of power/storage you're looking for, I don't think that you'll be able to do much better than a $1500 laptop - which is incredibly cheap when you consider what a lot of professional sound equipment costs. It can be insured, and your music can be backed up - I wouldn't worry too much about theft if you're careful with it.

  • how about a tiny portable pIII with DVD-drive (Score:3, Informative)

    by BroadbandBradley ( 237267 ) on Saturday February 09, 2002 @12:00PM (#2979237) Homepage
    http://thinkgeek.com/stuff/computing/5868.shtml

    Cappuccino GX-1 Mini-PC

    $999
    Sweet Mini Book PC!

    They're back!! Now with 256MB and a DVD Drive!

    This sweet mini PC is similar in size to a CD player and weighs only 1.9 pounds! It's powered by a 1Ghz Pentium III processor and 256 MB of ram to tackle most any application. The Cappuccino GX1 also includes all standard I/O ports such as parallel, serial, video, network and 2 USB ports. This is one hot little PC!

    Cappuccino GX1

    * Features an Intel 810 motherboard, click here for full MB specs
    * 1 Ghz Intel Pentium III processor
    * 256MB 144-pin PC100 RAM
    * 20 GB internal hard drive
    * 8x DVD-ROM drive
    * Built-in 10/100 base-T ethernet (RJ45)
    * Internal 56K V.90 modem
    * No operating system installed.
    * All standard I/O ports built-in
    * Dimensions: 5.8" x 6.1" x 2"
    * Manufacturer Warranty: 1 year

  • Maybe most are, but you can't get much more portable than this [dynamism.com]. It has integrated firewire, in addition to all the other goodies.

    • Re:Not all laptops are bulky (Score:4, Informative)

      by foobar104 ( 206452 ) on Saturday February 09, 2002 @02:47PM (#2979722) Journal
      It has integrated firewire, in addition to all the other goodies.

      No, it has integrated iLink, not integrated FireWire. FireWire (the name, I mean) applies to the six-pin implementation of IEEE 1394; FireWire can carry power as well as data on the cable.

      On the other hand, iLink applies only to the 4-pin implementation. Data only on that cable, no power. That's a big problem for laptops; why else have an IEEE 1394 connection at all if you can't send power over it? It's useless unless you're near a wall socket.

      Kind of a shame, really. Other than this fact, it's a fairly decent looking laptop. Bluetooth has definitely got "ooh, neat!" going for it.
      • Damn, I did not know that. Thanks for the information; I'll keep it in mind when shopping for my next laptop.
      • No, it has integrated iLink, not integrated FireWire. FireWire (the name, I mean) applies to the six-pin implementation of IEEE 1394; FireWire can carry power as well as data on the cable.

        I believe this is simply wrong. Apple and Sony, both members of the IEEE 1394 task force, each decided to trademark a name for 1394, Apple has 'FireWire' and Sony 'iLink'. Both Sony and Apple supply cables which go from the 4 pin standard to the 6 pin standard. Only the 6pin to 6pin cables carry power. The standard does not require that you carry power. If your IEEE 1394 computer/laptop does not supply power and your device requires it to operate, there are cables which are 4pin + power(converter) to 6pin which solve this problem.
        • If your IEEE 1394 computer/laptop does not supply power and your device requires it to operate, there are cables which are 4pin + power(converter) to 6pin which solve this problem.

          While this may be true, my point is still important: if you buy a laptop hoping to use portable FireWire devices, you may be very disappointed by the Sony model. Portable FireWire devices must either run on batteries or take power over the FireWire cable, and Sony's iLink implementation can't provide power. Caveat emptor.
    • A laptop would be ideal, yes. But, if I'm going to use this in living room full of drunk people carring alchohol around in hands, the last thing I want is a single unit that cost me $2500 to go up in flames when a drink is spilled.
      • I'm sure someone sells plastick spillproof laptop covers.
      • If you're going to be "DJ"ing parties with living rooms full of drunk people, they're not really going to give a fuck about your "skills".

        Keep your pocket protector out of the equation, buy a HD-based MP3 kit, and load it up with the B-52's greatest hits and some 80's tracks.

        Done.
  • If you don't need to buy a current model -- and in
    this case, you don't -- then you could buy a couple
    of refurb older generation laptops for the price of
    one zaurus. Mount one under the front seat of your
    car, and tote the other to parties.
  • Wearables Central [blu.org] is a good place to start. People lookinto wearable computers have been looking for hardware that is both small and low powered. Plus many of them have been interested in sound. Something about needing it for speach recognition and sound output. You don't have a much space constraints so you could go with a dedicated sound board. I'd look into PC-104 based single board computes then add a sound board. For the screen, choose one from those supported by the SBC. For harddisk I'd use two laptop drives used in mirrored mode. That way if one fails, the other can take up the task. Case wise I'd get one of the standard PC-104 extruded AL cases, and add rubber bumpers. Power can come from a wall brick. Check out DigiKey [digikey.com]. Personally I'd expect one of them DVD-RAM drives to die from vibration long before a good laptop HD would.

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