Before we get started sharing all our content between all our devices we first have to make sure we really do have all our content ready to be shared. That means two things, first digitizing all of the content we own which is on, now, outdated media, and second organizing all our media so that it becomes easier to find what you are looking for on different devices.
Step 1:
Collect all the CD's, DVD's and other outdated media you might have and organize them based on the importance you give to having each one of them preserved eternally. Put the ones which you know will take the longest right at the top so that you don't have to pay much attention to the actual process of burning. Use this opportunity to get rid of those songs, movies and TV shows you're never going to watch again. For the sake of simplicity I will only illustrate the most prevalent forms most of us will have, cassettes, CD's and DVD's.
Step 2:
Start ripping the content to your computer. This is by far the longest portion of building the wireless home and you might feel like giving up time and again, but preserve as the end result is the most seamless, out of the way interaction you will ever have with technology.
a) CD's - To rip CD's simply pop them into your computer's drive and open iTunes. The CD will show up in the left hand pane of iTunes. Click on it and at the bottom right of the screen open the "Import Settings" menu and choose MP3 importer with the quality set at 192 Kbps. Close the pop up and hit the "Import CD" button.
The settings will remain for all the rest of your CD's so simply keep switching out your CD's as they finish importing. If iTunes doesn't get the names of the songs as you go open the "Advanced" menu and select "Get Track Names". If that doesn't work you'll have to manually right click on every song as it imports, click "Get Info" and fill out the data yourself. (Out of over 1500 songs I only had to fill out about 40 songs)
b) DVD's - To rip DVD's first download Handbrake at http://handbrake.fr/downloads.php Put the DVD into your computer's DVD slot and fire up the software. Click the "Source" button and select the DVD name from the drop down menu. Once it's done scanning hit "Start" and wait for it to finish burning. I personally didn't rip all my movies as most of my recent purchases have been digital.
Step 3:
Once you're done take some time out to correctly label all your files and put them into proper folders and import them all into iTunes by clicking File>Add Folder to Library and directing iTunes to the folder directory.
Congratulations. You've successfully completed the most tedious step in the process of creating your wireless home and you're on your way to having your content everywhere.
For Part 2: Building Physical Hubs check back tomorrow and for more news, articles and videos stay locked on the site.
Step 1:
Collect all the CD's, DVD's and other outdated media you might have and organize them based on the importance you give to having each one of them preserved eternally. Put the ones which you know will take the longest right at the top so that you don't have to pay much attention to the actual process of burning. Use this opportunity to get rid of those songs, movies and TV shows you're never going to watch again. For the sake of simplicity I will only illustrate the most prevalent forms most of us will have, cassettes, CD's and DVD's.Step 2:
Start ripping the content to your computer. This is by far the longest portion of building the wireless home and you might feel like giving up time and again, but preserve as the end result is the most seamless, out of the way interaction you will ever have with technology.
The settings will remain for all the rest of your CD's so simply keep switching out your CD's as they finish importing. If iTunes doesn't get the names of the songs as you go open the "Advanced" menu and select "Get Track Names". If that doesn't work you'll have to manually right click on every song as it imports, click "Get Info" and fill out the data yourself. (Out of over 1500 songs I only had to fill out about 40 songs)
Step 3:
Once you're done take some time out to correctly label all your files and put them into proper folders and import them all into iTunes by clicking File>Add Folder to Library and directing iTunes to the folder directory.
Congratulations. You've successfully completed the most tedious step in the process of creating your wireless home and you're on your way to having your content everywhere.
For Part 2: Building Physical Hubs check back tomorrow and for more news, articles and videos stay locked on the site.
Recent purchases have been digital aka piratebay :P
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