We had a good collection of CDs, DVDs and pictures to pack. I spent many hours mp3ifing all of our CDs in preparation for our trip but we still wanted to bring the CDs as backup. The DVDs are just too big data-wise to go onto a hard drive (someday soon though...). We have tossed all of our CD/DVD cases and packaging to save space (hard to do on some of the special edition stuff).

During our pack session Todd stowed our CDs (music licenses now really) on wooden dowels with rubber bushings on either end. I don't know how to throw them away without either destroying them (time consuming and difficult) or having someone steal them (stealing music is a crime!). We have a lot and they're heavy. I may try to put them in storage at some point.

We put our DVDs in big Body Glove (appropriate, no?) zip up folders. We have a few tools that have been useful with the DVD collection. We use Collectorz.com to catalog our DVDs. It is great software and now integrates with Media Center (which is nice if you keep your movies on the hard drive). If you have a lot of DVDs it lets you keep track of them and easily pick a movie that you're in the mood for.

http://www.collectorz.com/

We also have some region "management tools". All DVDs and DVD players have a region code. If the region of the DVD and the player don't match the player will not play the DVD. This includes your computer's player. The studios use this scheme to ensure DVDs are released in regions per their wishes and in some cases to manage format issues. If you think about this for a minute it doesn't make a lot of sense for folks on a cruising yacht. We purchased a universal player (does PAL/NTSC and plays all regions) which worked ok but it didn't fit in the boat's stereo cabinet.

We have switched to the computer for non region 1 (USA) stuff. The tool that de-region-ifies the DVDs on the PC is called AnyDVD and is available at SlySoft.com. They are in Antigua (to avoid the MPA no doubt). It is a great tool but you can easily see how it could be used to unscrupulous ends (stealing movies is a crime!).

http://www.slysoft.com/en/

Printed pictures don't stand up too well to the humid tropics. We use digital cameras nowadays but we have many old photos we don't want to part with. Thus we went on a scanning spree. It takes a while to scan a pile of photos. Once digital though we get to see them much more often (screensavers and what not) it is easy to send them to others at the drop of a hat over email, and you can use them as s digital library for web stuff and whatever. We have been scanning picture prints in as groups to save time.

If all of your media is digital you need a good backup strategy. We have an pair of external 500GB hard disks, each with a copy of all of our media and data. We plan to keep one ashore and one on the boat, swapping them every now and again.


[BeginSoapBox] Stealing digital media (be it artwork, software, movies, music, or console games) is easy but it is still a crime. Do you want artists to continue creating? I think we all do. Don't steal. [EndSoapBox]