[Empeg-general] Re: Backing up MP3's off Empeg

[Tony Fabris]

You've got a point about storage difficulties, Doug. There are ways around them (tape drives, for example, DLT's like the one on our file server will hold 35 uncomressed GB on a single tape). 

But here's my main argument to the backup-supporters (again, in different words):

If the reason you need to backup your empeg is so you can move the files onto a third-party backup medium, then why didn't you just do that before you deleted the files from the PC?

For instance, let's say that you wanted to retrieve the MP3s from the Empeg so you could burn them onto a CD-ROM. Or put them onto a backup tape. Or stick them on Jaz drives. Or whatever.

Why didn't you just do those things in the first place? When you sent the tunes to the Empeg, you knew it was one-way. Why did you delete the files from the PC without backing them up? Even if you did have a way of pulling the files back off of the Empeg, you still have exactly the same storage and backup problems as you did before you deleted the files. 

I'm now officially one of the people who's had an Empeg drive go bad, and I still don't see a good reason for them to offer a music backup. A playlist/database backup I can understand, but not a music file backup.

I can understand this: You store the files on the PC, but then the PC's hard disk goes bad or gets stolen. Okay, fine. But then there's the issue that the PC's files are really just a second-generation copy from the CD originals which (assuming you legally own the music) you could just re-rip at the expense of time.

And if somehow the MP3s aren't from CDs but they are legally owned (for instance, online purchases or free downloads), then we're back to: Why didn't you back them up yourself in the first place? You knew the Empeg wasn't meant as a backup medium, so you shouldn't have trusted it to be your second copy.

Really, the root complaint boils down to this:

"Wow, here's a perfectly good box with 36gb of storage sitting next to my PC. It seems a big waste to have the data transfer be one-way only. And it's a waste to have to keep my music files in three different places just so I know that they're backed up. Besides, the Empeg would make a great file taxi, too."
Yes, I will totally agree with that. It's a valid complaint. But it's one that Empeg can't address right now if they want to stay in business.

In the meantime, the Empeg hasn't changed the amount of storage on your PC and hasn't changed your ability to keep your files backed up. It's just given you a reason to amass more files and it's increased your need for a backup system without solving the backup problem for you.

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<A HREF="http://www.jps.net/tfabris" target="_new">Tony Fabris</A>_