My only friend, the end

There is a famous short story by Arthur C. Clarke about a group of Asian monks whose life work is writing down the nine billion names of God. It is a task that their sect has been doing for hundreds of years, and they believe when they finally finish then the universe will end. They speed things up a bit by purchasing a computer to do the work for them.

I think I know how thoise monks feel, because I am finally nearing the end of a similiar, albeit less dramatic quest of my own. After some 10 years of listening to digital music, I have finally come close to fully organizing my music collection. Over 1,000 albums, all properly tagged, with correct dates and track numbers and song titles. Every rip at 192 kbps or better. Correct titles and artists. Compilations properly organized. And most difficult of all, cover art for everything, to take advantage of the new iTunes and iPods. That last bit has been the hardest, as it has involved tracking down high-quality art for all those albums. Automated programs help a bit, but in the end, only my own eyeball is good enough to insure that the art is correct. Getting cover art for my many bootlegs and unofficial releases has been very difficult, involving lots of Googling, and in some cases, the creation of faux "album covers" picturing the band in question.

I am about two hours of work away from completing the geekiest of tasks. Then, one by one, without any fuss, the (rock) stars will go out.