My Bootleg Processing Process for the Mac
I’m going to do a fuller treatment of this on GFMorris.com, with screenshots, soon, but here’s my process on the Mac:
- Take the downloaded bootleg [FLAC, SHN, etc.] on CD and pop it in the Mac.
- Use Quicksilver to invoke xACT.
- Decode the files from the CD into a folder in Documents/Audio/xACT Decoded Files in the AIFF format. This folder is a temporary waypoint in my process. [I've taken to using AIFF over WAV because, on rare opportunities, I've had issues getting WAVs to save, but have never had a single issue with AIFFs.]
- When xACT is complete, go to the appropriate folder in Finder, select all the files, and drag and drop into iTunes’s Library. [I always ensure to drop them right into the Library.]
- Scroll to the bottom, where I can quickly tag Artist, Year, Title, Total Tracks, Disc Number, Total Discs, and Genre [for which I always use "Concert Bootleg" to help with my Smart Playlists].
- Find the files where they now are in the Library, iTunes having renamed them as well. [Yes, I let iTunes rename my files. I'm okay with it.] Title the tracks if I’m feeling generous.
- Copy the AIFFs into as many 80-minute CDs as it takes to get the whole bootleg burned. Good tapers will help you track these out and tell you where to do your splits.
- After making audio CDs, run the process to convert all the boots to AAC. [I have an iPod nano, and space is at a premium. I might enjoy ALAC, but ... you know? Who cares.]
- Add album art, if any.
- Use iEatBrainz to fix the metadata from MusicBrainz’s database. [Often, I'm the one who input the bootleg into MB in the first place. I do a lot of that. It makes me feel good. No, really.]
That’s the process. It’s long and laborious, but at this point, it’s pretty automatic, so I can do a bunch of other things while working on this. And yes, I use Tasks to handle the process, which keeps me on track of where I am. I have a template that I invoke from the moment I first see a bootleg I want to grab. It lets me be sure that I’ve done every step along the way. More on that at a later date.]
