3000 down, 6000 to go.

Computers. Can't live with 'em, can't live without.

M. put all of his ripped MP3s on our server. That drive took a critical hardware failure. All music gone.

So in response, I rebuilt a new server, put in two new 160 gb drives, in RAID 1 (which means that if one drive fails there will be a completely mirrored back up of the same drive). That does nothing except help prevent the same disaster from happening again (and this time I will see to it that his music is also backed up).

M. took this opportunity to also get me to update all my music genres. If you aren't familiar with the intracasies of MP3s, there are ID3 tags which have all sorts of cool information like Title, Track Number, Disc Number, and other cool information. You can also classify your music: Vocal, Jazz, Electronic, etc. But that means that in order to make things consistent (so when M. says Enya is Vocal, I also put my music of hers in Vocal, not New Age where I had her) but also so when he selects Rock, he doesn't get my electronica (which happens now).

So I have been going through all my music. Which, if played end to end, would take over 29 days. I don't have to listen to it but it is a mentally tedious job. Pet Shop Boys: Pop, Retro, Electronic, or Alternative Pop? Depeche Mode: their early stuff is very clearly electronic, but their laterstuff isn't quite as blippy. U2: Rock or Alternative Rock? That Enya remix isn't Vocal anymore but is it Dance, Club or Electronica?

Any given song is not that difficult, but to get your entire music library consistent is a much harder challenge than I thought. I have much more respect for the shelvers at Virgin Mega Store now.