iPod and iTunes
Libraries
Click on a link below to display the contents of a digital audio library. Some libraries are large; the output is not pagenated. Each link displays a library exported from iTunes in XML format. I wrote this page to teach myself how to handle XML in PHP, not because I think anybody cares what's in my iPod/iTunes libraries.
| Library | Date |
|---|---|
| Steve's iPod | 12/15/20 |
| Bari's iPod | 11/23/11 |
| Classical | 7/23/24 |
| Earplay | 7/23/24 |
| Indian | 7/28/24 |
| Nonclassical | 7/23/24 |
| Opera | 7/23/24 |
| Spoken word | 7/23/24 |
History
My kids gave me a 160GB iPod Classic in December 2007, and I gave Bari an 8GB Nano at about the same time. A colleague who cares as much about audio quality as I do soon convinced me that disk space was plentiful and cheap (and rapidly getting more plentiful and cheaper), so it made little sense to use lossy digitization. Since then, I rip CDs under iTunes using lossless compression (thanks, Richard!). If space is an issue for a specific device (e.g., an iPod), I later extract a lower bitrate lossy version from the lossless version; that can eat up substantial computer time, but there's no shortage of that in my household.
As my lossless library grew to over 100 GB, iTunes became increasingly balky and backup became increasingly time-consuming. I split the lossless library into six genre-based components: classical, Earplay, Indian, nonclassical, opera, and spoken word. My iPod contains tracks from all genres. I still have lots of unripped CDs, but recently my ripping has slowed to a crawl. As of 2/2016, I have about 200 GB of lossless digital audio, using about 100 GB of space on my iPod at slightly lower audio quality.
My original iPod Classic died in April 2015. In its infinite wisdom, Apple had stopped selling iPod Classics by then. After much head-scratching, I ended up springing for a new iPod Classic (though not from Apple, obviously) to replace it; pricey, but I'm addicted to the large disk capacity. I hope this replacement outlives me!
The Good
- My iPod contains over a month of music I like (at 24 hours per day), and it travels with me. That's wonderful!
- My computers at home and at our cabin can play all that music too, with CD-quality audio.
- I usually choose my listening material, but now and then shuffle is a big plus (a Dylan song chosen at random from dozens of Dylan albums, a vaguely remembered piano sonata I love but rarely listen to...).
The Bad
- The iTunes/iPod tag model is woefully inadequate for classical music, as discussed at great length on the web. The basic problem: how to map composer/work/performers/movement to iPod album/artist/song in a rational and consistent way, allowing reasonable search and display on iPod. The enormous inconsistency in iTunes classical album database information is symptomatic of this issue. Many tagging schemes exist; mine works for me, YMMV. If you are sufficiently obsessive to want a decently organized classical music library, you will spend far too much time editing tags, and the work is tedious and error-prone.
- Updates: iTunes wants to update itself too often, a nagging irritation if you run it occasionally on many different computers. A new iTunes version typically updates the library on startup, so the library becomes unusable by an older version (even if the library is unmodified), thus forcing updates on all hosts. If you run relatively ancient hardware with an old operating system, a current iTunes update may be unavailable; then you're locked into maintaining the master library on the oldest device. Really, really dumb.
The Ugly
- iTunes displays Album Artist (not Artist) in album view and cover flow, which just seems wrong.
- Alphabetization: you can make "Bob Dylan" sort as "Dylan, Bob" (via Sort Artist), but it's really tedious. And it doesn't really help; even if you fill in Sort Artist (as I do in my Indian library), iTunes sorts a list of albums by artist using Artist, not Sort Artist.
- iPod/iTunes compilation inconsistency: a compilation with multiple Artists but a single Album Artist displays the Album Artist name in iTunes album view, but displays Various Artists in iTunes cover flow view.
- Grouping: iTunes can shuffle by group, which lets you keep movements of a classical work together, but sadly iPod cannot.
- Multiple libraries: iTunes lets you switch between libraries only at start-up.
- Nomenclature: in iPod/iTunes, Song/Track/Name all mean the same thing, but are used inconsistently.
- More nomenclature: iTunes on my iPhone means the iTunes Store app, not the music playing app. iTunes on my MacAir means the music playing app (which of course includes access to the iTunes Store).
Lessons learned
- No locking: iTunes running on different hosts can share a common networked library, but any changes to the library may be lost due to lack of locking.
- Preferences are iTunes-specific, not library-specific. E.g., if you want to have a lossless library and a 256 Kbps library, you need to set the desired import bitrate whenever you switch between them.
- Semantics of Compilation in the database: if checked, tracks with different artists group together as an album. An album with multiple works performed by one artist is not a compilation, an album containing tracks with different artists is a compilation. Many iTunes database entries mishandle this.
- Under MacOS, clicking on an iTunes Library.itl should bring up iTunes with that library. But if you have multiple libraries, it brings up the library you were using previously, not the library you just clicked on; you need to hold down magic keys to select a different library.
The Cloud
As I update this page in 2020, the digital world has moved on. All my files live in my Dropbox now, a simple audio page using the iTunes database lets me play my audio directly from the cloud, and AirPlay lets me cast audio from my cell phone or laptop to a high-quality audio system in our living room, bedroom, playroom, or cabin. My venerable iPod remains useful for situations where the cloud is unavailable (car trip, airplane, dental appointment), but I'm using it less. And Apple has deep-sixed the venerable iTunes, replacing it with the Music app.
