more talk about CDs and music

Well here I am again still thinking about those darn scratch-prone CDs. I'm finding an awful lot of them in my collection, and I'm mad at myself for buying such stuff thinking they would suit my purposes. Then, I'm equally mad that these stupid discs aren't even 5 years old and already giving CRC errors. GRRRRR!

Then I go and see if I made backups of the files on the bad CDs, so I can possibly obtain them that way. In most cases, yes there are backups. In a few others, nopers. Again I get mad at myself...DOH! You stupido, why didn't you put them on backup CDs??? Then I realize: Probably I was pressed for time or something similar. Not that I'm trying to avoid taking the blame, but I don't want to beat myself up. I messed up, yes I admit it... but I didn't think the CDs would get scratched or develop CRC errors so quickly.

So now I'm transferring my massive MP3 & digitally transferred music file library to external hard drives. I don't have sufficient flash drives to do the job, so for now (crossing fingers & toes) I'm hoping at least one of them will live long enough that I can then PROPERLY backup the files on something else. I really hesitate to put them on DVDs cuz at the moment, the size is about 80gb (but then, I'm only about 40% thru my entire library and still have another 60 or 70 CDs & DVDs to transfer). That means 20 DVDs would have to be made, at minimum. But....since the final size of my library is yet to be determined, I don't want to do it yet.
I'm hoping that one of my external drives has sufficient space to hold everything, since it's only 500gb and has 465gb available if blank. Not so sure that my larger, 1gb external drive, will make it although I am transferring to there also. Last night all the lights on the drive were on. This morning, only the power and 2 of the 4 "bar" lights were on. Of course, bear in mind they're both Seagates, and they are not reliable. I find this out after I've already invested $100+ on external drives.

At least some of the files that I did lose to the blasted "CRC errors" have been replaced. I had to re-purchase a hard copy of the track that got lost and was corrupted (on 2 CDs), and have had to re-purchase at least one digital file which was fortunately still available online. I am at a point now where I have to see which CDs are good and which are bad, check and see if the bad ones have files that are not already on other CDs, and if not, try and replace them. I may be shelling out some money to re-purchase titles.

Another thought that comes to mind is, what about LS (LightScribe) DVDs? Do they offer superior protection, since they are more coated? I need to investigate this too.
And, last but not least, I also want to purchase if possible 2 more external hard drives from a reliable manufacturer (I've head Western Digital is the best) so that I have "backups of backups". In today's market, with music & artists coming and going, I'd really rather not try and keep track of them myself, so I'll let another company take charge.

Fed up

OK I started out just being upset earlier with regards to some of my archive CDs being corrupted and scratched. Now I am plain and simply FED UP, not just about the CDs but also with the treatment of accompaniment tracks by the Christian music industry.

It really bugs that in order to archive data such as pictures, music or documents onto CDs you cannot find a WELL-MADE CD in regular stores. Why? Because they're so expensive? I understand that if they're well made they're expensive. Maybe if the better made ones were put in place of the el cheapo ones that start degrading and corrupting within a year or 2 (or 3) that would help. Brick & mortar stores, are you listening? Is this doable?

OK, that being said, Christian music industry, it's your turn. Why do you feel the need to discontinue accompaniment tracks within MONTHS of their release? Even the digital ones are "here today, gone tomorrow". I just lost a digitally purchased and downloaded accompaniment track from 5 years ago to TWO bad CDs on my part. OK, I will take responsibility for the CDs. I should've used better quality. My bad. Fine. But you already removed the track for purchase in any format, leaving me to search for a replacement. Maybe if the Lord wills, I'll find one. But MAYBE, just maybe, you should re-think your stance on discontinuing titles.

Recording companies & such need to take responsibility and stop being delete-happy when it comes to accompaniments. They probably still have many OOP accompaniments on a master source of some kind or other, in a vault somewhere. Some companies have taken a great first step with offering massive amounts of titles again. BUT could you possibly bring back the rest of the library? I realize due to copyrights and such this isn't always possible but it would be great. (There I go, dreaming again...)

On a more positive note, I'd like to thank the companies made the crappy quality CDs much more readily available than the premium quality ones....thanx to them, I'm now transferring my music, pictures, and documents to flash and external hard drives ONLY. I'm not risking losing anything more to a scratch or CRC error on another CD again.