How to maximize your hard drive space on ReliaStream account

 We always keep track of client accounts and the #1 thing we see going wrong is how some clients use their hard drive space. This page will teach you how the get the most out of your hard drive space. Our accounts offer 4 gigs, 6 gigs, and 10gigs of hard drive space (depends on your radio plan). You can get a lot of music on 4, 6, or 10 gigs of hard drive space. You can also waste your hard drive space. Let's use a 128 kbps station as an example. ReliaStream's 128 kbps accounts come with 3 gigs of hard drive space. 

Lets say you purchased all your music on iTunes or Amazon. Most of the music you purchase on these sites come to you at 256 kbps. Now some clients are taking that track which is 256 kbps and simply uploading it to their station. This is where you waste your hard drive space. If your station is broadcasting at 128 kbps the song is broadcasting at 128 kbps not 256 kbps.

So what does this have to do with the hard drive space? This plays a huge part when it comes to how much music you can fit on your account. A 4 minute song at 128 kbps should be about 3-4 megs in size. The same exact song at the original 256 kbps rate should be around 7-8 megs in size. It's about double in size and that means you could lose 1/2 your hard drive space or only be able to load 1/2 the music. Would you rather your listeners hear 400 songs or 800 songs?? It's simple math.

So what can we do to to maximize our hard drive space? First you will want to find a program that has the ability to reduce the kbps rate. There are a ton of programs out there and everyone thinks the one they use it the best. So we will simply suggest doing a search on your favorite search engine site. You will want to search something along the lines of mp3 editor, mp3 edit software, ect. Be sure the program has the ability to load your original track and the ability to encode the track at your desired rate. Now take your 256 kbps files and reduce them to your stations bit rate. In our example we would choose 128 kbps. DO NOT over write your original file. You will want to keep the original file in case you ever upgrade/ downgrade your station.

Can I keep the file the way it is? The answer would be yes.. you can keep the file at 256 kbps. You are not getting the best results with your hard drive space but if that is not a problem for you then your ok. You can always order more hard drive space if money is not a problem for you.

What software do you guys use? We like to use a program from DAK Industries called DAK Wave MP3 Editor. This program is not free but it offers a lot of features. You can change the bit rate, edit the track, cut off a long intro or ending, reverse foul language, fade out, and much more. If you hate how tracks have 3-4 seconds added to the end.. just chop it off with this software. Click this link to view the DAK software. Please note we do not make any money by endorsing this product nor do we get anything in return. It's simply a good program to use. If you prefer to search out a free program.. go for it.

This is one way to get the most out of your hard drive space. You can save even more space if you have lower kbps rates. If you follow this method you can easily get back 2, 3, 4, 5 times the hard drive space (depends on your kbps rate). Hope this information helps you.