iTunes Library....To Store or Not To Store

[XMARLTONX]

So I copied my music from my iPod to my external hard drive, reformatted my iPod to Mac from Windows, and now I am importing my music onto my mac to put onto my iPod.

I would really like to be able to leave my music on my mac. It would make burning cds easier, listening to music really fun with an iTunes controller, and simply just be convienent.

However, I dont want to notice any sluggish behavior from my mac because of my music bogging down my system. I have an Intel Core 2 Duo 2 or whatever its called lol with 1GB ram and 2.0 ghz processor. I currently have 63GB free of my 80GB harddrive. Since the iPod is actually only 28 GBs of its so called 30, once I put my music onto my computer I would have 35 GBs free.

I've used a PC all my life, and it had always been a bad idea to have any unnecessary files laying around taking up space. Would leaving my music bog down my system and slow things up? I'm thinking it would be fine, but I'm having a hard time dropping those windows habits of constant maintenence lol I could always leave the music on my external, but I'd LOVE to have it on my mac.

Whatcha all think?

Thanks for putting up with me =)

 

[map1978]

you should of spent the extra $200 for a 120gb harddrive instead of the 80gb....the storage shouldnt slow down your cpu at all...hasnt on mine what so ever. i would keep the music on the external and put some of the music on your mac unless u really need it all.

...my 2 cents

 

[XMARLTONX]

Yeah thats why I bought the external, but now I realized I really want my music on my computer, I never would have thought that before. Having 35 GBs free doesnt really phase me, my word processer, dvd programs, and the like are already installed. 35GBs is a large amount of space, and thats if my iPod reaches the 28 GBs, right now I only have around 16 GBs, although I am sure eventually I'll fill it.

I'm just concerned about speed issues.

 

[giulio]

I think the rule of thumb is to have at least 25% free... or was it 10%?

 

[Kash]

Don't worry, you won't notice any slowdowns from having all that music on your Mac. The swap file shouldn't come anywhere near 35GB, so you have more than enough empty space for your computer to run optimally.

 

[XMARLTONX]

Thanks for the help guys =) Looks like I'll get to enjoy my music on my mac without a problem =)

Is there by any chance a way to change the format of the songs in my iTunes in order to compress space?

 

[NanoBite]

I believe AAC is the best format for space saving AFAIK. You do this in:

iTunes -> Preferences -> Advanced -> Importing

Then select AAC from the drop-down menu.

I was able to reduce a 4.7mb MP3 song down to 3.8mb by choosing the AAC conversion.

 

[bryphotoguy]

I try and keep my iMac drive completely free. I store every bit of info on my 250Gb external. I even linked my itunes to save my music to a music folder on the external.
Maybe you should think about trying that if you haven't. It works fine unless I accidentally forget to boot the external before opening itunes. But I think the drive should startup automatically when the iMac starts up. Anyways, if you want to do the same, go to itunes: preferencesdvanced:general tab. From there you can pick a new folder to which itunes saves all your music files.
Peace,
Bryan

 

[metalsam]

I believe AAC is the best format for space saving AFAIK. You do this in:

iTunes -> Preferences -> Advanced -> Importing

Then select AAC from the drop-down menu.

I was able to reduce a 4.7mb MP3 song down to 3.8mb by choosing the AAC conversion.

.ogg is even more compressed, with a 3mb mp3 being compressed to a >1mb .ogg.

Ogg Drop will convert from mp3 to .ogg, and youll need a codec for quicktime to playback ogg's, which you can get here.