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Author Topic: Categorising audio files: different Libraries or something else?  (Read 1034 times)

Gio300ZX

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Hi, I would appreciate your expert thoughts on how to categorise my audio files. I have three types of content. Music, Spoken Word and The Goons. When I fire up JRMC28, I know which one I want to listen to. But they are all in the same library so I have to do a lot of scrolling past stuff I know I don't want to listen to.

What's the easiest way? I thought of having 3 different folders and moving the files into the relevant one and then creating 3 different Libraries to load depending on the type of files I want. Is that the simplest way or have I missed a trick?

Thanks (and I hope you and yours are well and stay that way), Mike
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tij

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Re: Categorising audio files: different Libraries or something else?
« Reply #1 on: July 25, 2021, 01:10:27 pm »

No need to move files.

Just tag them (either by creatibg custom tag ot using existing tag that is most suitable). Then create custom views that filter content based on that tag.

Look in jriver wiki for tags and custom views.
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Gio300ZX

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Re: Categorising audio files: different Libraries or something else?
« Reply #2 on: July 26, 2021, 01:43:19 pm »

No need to move files.

Just tag them (either by creatibg custom tag ot using existing tag that is most suitable). Then create custom views that filter content based on that tag.

Look in jriver wiki for tags and custom views.

I have 18,877 files in 1,735 folders. I think I would die of boredom in manually tagging 18,877 files. I checked the JRiver Wiki before I posted. There is no page for either "tags" or "custom views". The only search term I could find which did have a page was "Tagging" https://wiki.jriver.com/index.php/Tagging which does not address the question.

Does anyone have a better / more practical / less time-consuming method than what I started this thread with?

Thanks, Mike
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JimH

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Re: Categorising audio files: different Libraries or something else?
« Reply #3 on: July 26, 2021, 01:50:04 pm »

Edit the Media Sub-type.

Read the article on Tagging.  You can fill tags from the file structure.

Search is a good way to filter a view. 
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dtc

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Re: Categorising audio files: different Libraries or something else?
« Reply #4 on: July 26, 2021, 02:13:04 pm »

If you can separate them in order to move them into folders, you can also separate them in MC in order to tag them.  Just do a search using whatever criteria you are planning to use and then then set the tag for those files. Media Type or Genre are good tags to start with.  Then you just create a View which selects that tag. So, tag Media Type with Music, Spoken Word and Goons.  Then create 3 views - one for each value.  If you already have some semblance of organization by folder, you can select the files in those folders and set the tags appropriately.   It is probably easier to do within MC than by moving folders.

Try a few. You will find it easier than you might think.
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mattkhan

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Re: Categorising audio files: different Libraries or something else?
« Reply #5 on: July 26, 2021, 04:04:00 pm »

. The only search term I could find which did have a page was "Tagging" https://wiki.jriver.com/index.php/Tagging which does not address the question
This page links to https://wiki.jriver.com/index.php/Media_Views

You may also find the links in
https://wiki.jriver.com/index.php/Getting_Started#Organising_Views useful
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Gio300ZX

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Re: Categorising audio files: different Libraries or something else?
« Reply #6 on: September 19, 2021, 12:17:15 pm »

Having moved my files into the 3 folders (Music, Spoken Word, Goons) I now find MC28 does not allow there to be different audio libraries on the same drive! Would have been nice to know that before. So still looking for a solution that does not involve individually tagging each file in each folder. The Genre Tag is already set but is more granular than the Music / Spoken Word / Goons I am after. Don't want to mess with the Genre Tag. Currently using Windows File Explorer and WMP as this seems able to cope unlike MC28.
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lepa

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Re: Categorising audio files: different Libraries or something else?
« Reply #7 on: September 19, 2021, 01:05:28 pm »

If three independed libraries is what you want you can add any number of libraries in the file-->library-->library manager-->add library. And then import desired files to each library. Only one can be active at time though.

You could also use one library and create three main categories (like there are now eg Audio,Video etc) which have rule only to include files under specific folder
e.g.
1. category "Music" with rule: filename path starts with "c:\Music"
2. category "Spoken Word" with rule: filename path starts with "c:\Spoken"
3. category "Goons" filename path starts with "c:\Goons"

under these main categories you could then create any kind of views for your liking
for category 1 you could also reuse the current Audio category by just giving that filepath rule
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dtc

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Re: Categorising audio files: different Libraries or something else?
« Reply #8 on: September 19, 2021, 01:09:34 pm »

You can also create a custom tag (Tools - Option - Library and Folders) and use that  it for your 3 categories. To set its value, do a Search using the wizard and find the files in a given folder  (e. g. filename(Path) contains Goons), select the files and set the value of your custom tag to the appropriate value for all the selected files. Three searches and setting the tag and you are done tagging. Then create 3 views, one for each of the values in your new tag.  If you learn how to do this, you will find it far more flexible than trying to create multiple libraries. Give it a try.
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Gio300ZX

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Re: Categorising audio files: different Libraries or something else?
« Reply #9 on: October 04, 2021, 09:04:55 am »

Thanks JimH, dtc, lepa. I'll look at your suggestions. I wouldn't have a problem with switching libraries as I would know what type of content I would prefer for a listening session. I also like the tag thing. I've noted several possible tags that might be used. Custom as suggested, Description, Keywords, Grouping, Media Sub Type. Is there any reason for preferring one to another? I note JimH suggested Media Sub Type and dtc suggested others as well as Custom.

I've tested and adding a tag triggers a re-upload of the file to OneDrive. So if i did that, that would be several hundred GB which would be uploaded and then resynced back down to 2 other PCs, a NAS Media Server and then backed up locally. So I think I'll try categories first as this would not trigger mass GB resyncing.

Thanks for your suggestions.
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Gio300ZX

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Re: Categorising audio files: different Libraries or something else?
« Reply #10 on: October 04, 2021, 09:42:30 am »

Hmm.

When I try to create a new library, I Browse to where the files are in their subfolder, select that subfolder and am told "Cannot create a new library at the specified location. The directory must be empty".
I tried looking for how to create a new category but only managed to bork the View Artists & Albums which I then had to reset. Any guidance would be helpful. I did search the Wiki and Tools/Options for Category / ies but nothing found.

Any guidance would be appreciated. Thanks.
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Richard Martin

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Re: Categorising audio files: different Libraries or something else?
« Reply #11 on: October 04, 2021, 09:59:22 am »

Having moved my files into the 3 folders (Music, Spoken Word, Goons) I now find MC28 does not allow there to be different audio libraries on the same drive! Would have been nice to know that before. So still looking for a solution that does not involve individually tagging each file in each folder. The Genre Tag is already set but is more granular than the Music / Spoken Word / Goons I am after. Don't want to mess with the Genre Tag. Currently using Windows File Explorer and WMP as this seems able to cope unlike MC28.
You can select multiple items in a library and edit the tags in all of them in one hit.  Doing this strikes me as easier and more straightforward than managing multiple libraries.
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Richard Martin

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Re: Categorising audio files: different Libraries or something else?
« Reply #12 on: October 04, 2021, 10:00:38 am »

Hmm.

When I try to create a new library, I Browse to where the files are in their subfolder, select that subfolder and am told "Cannot create a new library at the specified location. The directory must be empty".
I tried looking for how to create a new category but only managed to bork the View Artists & Albums which I then had to reset. Any guidance would be helpful. I did search the Wiki and Tools/Options for Category / ies but nothing found.

Any guidance would be appreciated. Thanks.
Each library should be in its own, empty folder, not the folder where the media is that you want to import to that library.
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dtc

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Re: Categorising audio files: different Libraries or something else?
« Reply #13 on: October 04, 2021, 10:32:41 am »

The "library" is not just one file, but a whole collection of files. That is why MC wants a clean folder for a new library.

One of the options for each library field is to store the value in the file, as well as in the library. You can de-select that if you do not want the tags written to the file, which triggers the backup. Then,  when you think your are more or less done, you can copy library field to file tags and do the backup to One Drive just once. It will be a little messy to get started, but tagging is the best way to maintain your files.
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