핸드북:Setup/iTunes
iTunes is central music repository since 2008. It has virtually all music I downloaded since then. (Some are lost when I was using Android and made no backup to desktop.)
Backup
Since iTunes is the source of truth for my music DB, $HOME/Music/iTunes
(hereinafter $iTunes
) folder MUST be properly backed up, and ready for restore. Various backups are protecting iTunes folder, automatically and manually.
- macOS Time machine automatically backs up the changes every hour, or when the disk is connected to mac.
- Periodically, $iTunes folder is copied to Windows 10 device, where Backblaze will archive the changes to the Backblaze backup server.
- $iTunes folder will be then copied to two additional external HDD drive, stored offsite.
- Once every 3 or 4 months, the snapshot of $iTunes is uploaded to S3 drive. Due to the cost issues using S3, S3 stores only recent 5 backups.
Restore
iTunes restore is used fairly often, due to iTunes' problem with iPhone syncing. Common reason includes this (Korean).
Properly shutdown iTunes app, then fetch the $iTunes folder, and overwrite the $iTunes with the new one.
Tags
Metadata is love. But improperly configured metadata sucks. That's why I don't use iCloud music library since they mess up my custom conventions. Conventions are:
Artists
- If artists' name is in Korean (English), remove (English). Example:
레드벨벳 (Red Velvet)
should be레드벨벳
.
Album
- If album name includes 집 (in Korean), it should be removed. Texts in English (i.e. The 2nd Album) are not removed.
- Album name and the Xth album should be distinguished by
-
, not:
or anything else. I.E.The Red Summer: Summer Mini Album
is incorrect, it should beThe Red Summer - Summer Mini Album
. - Korean (English) is fine.
- They should all have correct artists, tracks, and disc numbers.
Songs
- Genre - should be left as is if upstream (the source of the file) has configured it. Make it English, if it's in Korean.
- Composer - Korean 가나다, then Last name ABC order. i.e.
유영진, Whitney Phillips, Maxx Song, Stereotypes
. - Should have album art and lyrics.
Last.fm
Install last.fm scrobbler and log in. Make sure it is kept open during music play.