I’m certain I’ve admitted this in the past… I am a (recovering) nerd.

I obsess about music. And collecting it. And no one seems to know how to tag it. Or make cohesive playlists.

I do.

To help me with this endeavor, I enlist the assistance of an ancient PowerMac G4. It’s fair to say it’s been my daily driver for over a decade, even though it has fallen out of Apple’s ecosystem nearly that long ago.

Why have I held on to it? There are many reasons…

It’s utterly expandable. True, it’s maxed out on RAM and the OS provides some limitations that require a lot of creativity and finesse. Yet, unlike recent Mac hardware, it is comfortably holding twelve terabytes of space. Plus, aesthetically, it’s beautiful. A reminder of the golden days of Apple.

And I can keep going/adding space. Which is crucial with an always growing media library.

The other reason is iTunes 10. When Apple redesigned iTunes for version 11, they removed some features I consider critical. Especially where smart playlists are concerned.

It’s likely safe to say that organization of playlists lost priority when Apple Music became a gleam in someone’s eye. All hail the mighty subscription! But I digress… that’s a topic for another day.

I can no longer control the order of songs on a smart playlist that auto updates. And the default is alphabetical by either artist or album. Neither is useful on a long road trip with your iPod as your DJ.

So, why am I compelled to write about this today?

Well, holding on to this ancient Mac has it’s disadvantages… and SSD technology has evolved to create some wonderful workarounds.

The G4 is heavy. And it consumes a lot of electricity—at least compared to say, a MacBook or Mac Mini. And it’s heavy.

As someone who’s freeing himself from anchors and working to become more nomadic, it just doesn’t have a place in my life direction. Not a sustainable one, anyway.

So, it’s time to branch out. Will I maintain separate branches of my iTunes library? And track/backport any changes for that day I pull it out of storage and recommision it? Or will I grow weary of extra maintenance over my music collection obsession?

Or will it be some odd combination of both?

And will I lose tracking of the iPod(s) play counts of songs?

I guess it’s time to find out.