I've been using iTunes to rip and organise my soundtracks collection digitally since 2009. I tend to rip to ALAC for archival purposes and then convert to AAC for use on various media players.
I'm very intrigued by the NAS suggestions mentioned here but I'm curious about converting the files. I assume you do this as needed rather than ripping everything in two different forms from the outset?* What program do you favor for converting files to AAC once ripped to ALAC?
* Never forget that I'm a luddite.
Converting files to AAC from ALAC can eassily be done from within iTunes. I rip my CDs once into a lossless format (ALAC), then I tag them, insert cover art, sorting tags, etc... until they are ready. From there, I can make copies of them into any file format I need; I don't have to rip and tag them again.
I organize my digital music by a folder structure. Separate genres get separate folders then composers each get a folder under that. I also use separate playlists for different genres. It is easy to search through a playlist on Foobar2000 if you want to find a specific thing.
You can also use Foobar2000 to have it index your entire library. This lets you search to find what you want even faster through your whole collection.
And yes, I do store lossless music on my hard drive though not for everything. I currently have about 270GB of lossless music and over time I delete certain things that I don't really feel I need to have in that format and maintain the MP3s instead.
If you wanted to go full online storage then the answer gets a bit different. Both Google Music and Apple Music have options for managing your online music. Google still lets you upload a large amount of music to the cloud, which is matched against the music that is already on their online service if it exists. That way you can stream things from Google Music while you are away from your computer.
I archive my library in flac on my externals with EAC. I don't really do any dedicated listening on the PC. If I need to take a ton of music in the car with me, I'll convert to mp3 and put a whole shwack of it on a stick. In the car, precise duplicated fidelity is less of a priority.
