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How I work – Part 2

Managing media can be a nightmare, especially if you have a lot of files like I do. In my office, I keep a digital copy of most of my CDs and DVDs in my storage. Accessing them whenever I want and wherever I want is a must, so I needed some clever solutions.

Synchronizing everything from iTunes to the iPad or the iPhone is not an option, for two reasons: 1. memory is limited on those devices and 2. Synchronizing a copy of what I want to enjoy every single time makes the experience not enjoyable at all. Plus, most of my DVD rips are in AVI format, with DivX or XviD encoding, which is not supported by iTunes, nor by iOS devices. So, the only possible solution is content streaming.

There’s’a very clever app for iOS called AirVideo which allows media streaming from any PC or Mac to an iOS device. A server is installed on the media server machine and it’s responsible for converting files on the fly to an iOS-supported format. You can make all your media folders and iTunes playlists available for streaming, which is very neat. Here’s how it looks like on the iPad:

On the left pane, you select which server you want to access (it supports multiple servers), which folder/playlist and then you select the content you want for streaming. Of course, it supports full screen as well.

The iPhone version is simpler, but works very similarly, except that there’s only full-screen playback available due to the small screen:

This way I can watch my videos or listen to music anywhere in the house without having to sync with iTunes every time I want something new.

That said, let’s talk about organization a bit. My main media server is the big Windows 7 PC desktop, which has enough processing power (4 cores at 2.4 GHz), memory (8GB of RAM) and disk space (1.5TB storage). This will be expanded to 5.5TB in the near future, so I can keep copies of some of my Blu-ray discs as well (at 720p). Videos are, as I said before, mostly in AVI format, so no iTunes for them. They are stored and organized in folders (argh!) and catalogued in Windows Media Player. These folders are shared by the AirVideo server for streaming on the network.

For music, podcasts and lectures, I use iTunes, of course. I have three copies of my iTunes library, one in my MacBook, one in the PC and one in the iPad (yeah, it pays off to own the 64GB model). The computers are synchronized using the neat Home Sharing feature of iTunes, which makes it very easy to manage content across multiple computers. Plus, since it has a library organization that’s completely transparent to the user, I don’t need to care about creating, naming or organizing folders, which saves me time. The iPhone just has some playlists I like to listen to in my car, and podcasts and lectures from iTunesU are loaded in the devices on demand. When I finish watching them, I just scrap them. For audio listening on the mobile devices, I rely on the good old iPhone headphones.

When I am in the office, I use a more powerful audio system, though. It’s a Bose Companion V speaker set, comprising of an active subwoofer and two satellite speakers, which are actually four. There are two drivers per speaker and the processor in the subwoofer is responsible for the surround effect. Hence, this is actually a 4.1 system. And a damn good one! It’s connected to my PC via USB (yes, it’s an USB speaker set) and my MacBook is attached to its line in using a P2-P2 cable, which allows me to have sounds from both machines in the same speaker set. Plus, the volume controller also has a headphone output in case I need it. I definitely recommend this speaker set!

So, that’s it for the media stuff. Music while working can be inspirational, so it’s worth to spend some money on some quality audio gear. And, when I’m’not working, why not spend some cycles of my machines to create a nice entertainment system for my home? These were my motivations behind this setup and I hope this inspires you to create your own solution.

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