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Author Topic: Changing directory structure - moving files  (Read 3387 times)

Steef_V.

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Changing directory structure - moving files
« on: November 10, 2006, 06:33:47 pm »

I haven't been very active on this forum lately (never have - actually), but I'm still a happy user of Media Center! Ever since version 8.... Great program! However I'm (still) not an expert user....

Now I want to "reorganize" the "messy" structure of the music on my harddisk in such a way that I create alphabet folders, and want to make "artist" subfolders, and then "album" sub-subfolders.

However, when I have songs without an "album" I want them under the "artist" folder.
AND (the most difficult part, for which I'm looking for an easy way...) - if there are less than, say, 5 songs by the same artist, I want them under the "alphabet" folder directly.

>> Can this be done easily? And how? Using playlists / view schemes perhaps? (I haven't been using that function very much....)

Using forum search, I couldn't find the answer, so I hope somebody can tell me if this can be done or not....

Thanks in advance.
Steef Verhoef
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marko

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Re: Changing directory structure - moving files
« Reply #1 on: November 10, 2006, 06:51:49 pm »

the alphabet, artist and album folders, including handling songs with no album, can all be handles easily in a single step.
MC cannot count, so the "less than five tracks" rule will be harder to implement. Off the top of my head, you'd have to figure out manually the "less than five" groups and flag them as such, either by using, say, the [comment] field, or a custom field of your own. Then you could incorporate that into your renaming rule.

Also, you have not mentioned your "multiple artist" albums.
How would you like to handle those, and how are they saved at the moment?
Many Various Artist albums are double CDs. Do you have that angle covered too?

and finally, the file names? are you quite happy with those as they are?

once we have all the info, you'll most likely get a rename string that'll do the whole lot for you in a single pass.

-marko.

modelmaker

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Re: Changing directory structure - moving files
« Reply #2 on: November 10, 2006, 07:18:06 pm »

There are several ways to do this.

-You can move your directory folders around within MC (MC will remember where you put them).

-You can set up fields and use the renaming tool.

-Edit: (I'm told less disirable): You could do it in Windows and them re-import into a new MC library, (edit: do not do this without updating files and tags first!)

As an example, here the way I've organized my directories:

Audio
  Rock & Pop
     A - F                 artist's folder:
     F - K                          
     K - P                  ABC Band
     O - S                     Greatest Hits of ABC Band
     T - Z                      Single Tracks
                                  Cover Art
 Classical                          
  Country
  Jazz
  Soundtracks
 Various Artists

I keep single tracks (no album) of an artist in a folder called Single Tracks in the artists folder. I also have a cover art folder in each artist's folder to keep any associated images. I also have a cover art image in each album folder, in addition to storing the cover art in the media file.  

This is just one idea.
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Jay.

"Life is what happens when you're making other plans"     John Lennon.

marko

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Re: Changing directory structure - moving files
« Reply #3 on: November 10, 2006, 07:32:51 pm »

Quote
If you're going to do a major reorganization you could do it in Windows and them re-import into a new MC library, (my choice)

If you do that, you potentially lose all library data that is not stored in the file tags. With the years of attention that have made my library what it is today, I could never consider that as an option!!
Also, explorer could probably not take care of creating the requested structure, and moving the files into it, in less than what, a dozen or less mouse clicks that MC would need.

MC all the way, baby ;) :)

modelmaker

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Re: Changing directory structure - moving files
« Reply #4 on: November 10, 2006, 07:48:09 pm »

I wouldn't do it that way without updating the tags and files first.

I recently had to split up my directories when I added some new HDs. I'm not computer savy enough to do it all in MC, (and don't have time to learn), so I did it all in Windows, the primitive way. (I am one the more basic users here

I did make sure I updated my files and tags first and when I was done moving and creating the new folder structure, I re-imported into a new library and didn't lose a thing. (I did lose 3000 cover art links when I went from MC11,1 to MC12, so "MC all the way" isn't that perfect either).

It did take a while to import the 50k files.   ;D
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Jay.

"Life is what happens when you're making other plans"     John Lennon.

modelmaker

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Re: Changing directory structure - moving files
« Reply #5 on: November 10, 2006, 08:23:54 pm »

Maybe I should add, I only use my computer(s) to store and play my media files, email and do research related to my modelmaking business.

As far as media info goes, for music, all I require are: artists, album, name, date, rating, genre, bitrate and bpm. I only use one view scheme which includes the above columns.

I use a half dozen MC smartlists and about 30 personal playlists. My most used smartplaylist (80% of the time): rock,4&5 rated, random, 90 bpm or higher.

MC is my jukebox, it's lets me whistle while I work 18 hours a day at my workbench. ;)
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Jay.

"Life is what happens when you're making other plans"     John Lennon.

Steef_V.

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Re: Changing directory structure - moving files
« Reply #6 on: November 11, 2006, 05:31:43 pm »

Thanks, Marko and Jay for the replies!

Currently I am not using the "multiple artist" "feature / function". Everything is listed under "song artist". Filenames are always "artist - title".

But I agree with you (Marko) that if I sort the music on "artist" (and let it generate, for example a "Greatest hits of the sixties" directory under each artist), that one album with 20 songs will generate a lot of directories scattered around the disk.... I will have to seriously consider if I want this...

Seeing your reactions, maybe I'm better off keeping the full albums in one directory, sorted by artist (or Various artists), and creating a second main directory, sorted by alphabet, with "single tracks". With MC it's always possible to find a song anyway...

You've changed my point of view for the moment....

[By the way:
Code: [Select]
the alphabet, artist and album folders, including handling songs with no album, can all be handles easily in a single step.
In what way can this be done? Or do you still needs the specific way how I want my stuff organized?]

Thanks again!

Steef
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marko

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Re: Changing directory structure - moving files
« Reply #7 on: November 11, 2006, 09:03:39 pm »

if the files that make up your multiple artist albums are placed in their individual album directories, have the same album tag, but different artist tags, MC will automatically assign them an "[album artist (auto)]" tag of (Multiple Artists) and we can then leverage this when creating renaming rules. If they are not in the same directory, for any reason, then the "[album artist (auto)]" field will be the same as the artist field. To force the issue here, you would need to set the [album artist] field of those albums to (Multiple Artists). It's a really neat system that Doof explained quite well in this post: http://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php?board=3;topic=33255.1#msg227823

So, assuming your multiple artist albums all reflect the desired [album artist (auto)] value of (Multiple Artists) :

Select file or files, right click, choose, library tools > rename files from properties. In the dialogue that shows, choose a "base directory", then, in the directories field, paste the following:

if(isequal([album artist (auto)],multiple artists,8),[album artist (auto)]\[album],if(isequal([album],unknown,8),mid([artist])\[artist]\,mid([artist])\[artist]\[album]))

and in the filename field, paste the following:

if(isequal([album artist (auto)],/(multiple,8),[track #] - [artist] - [name],[track #] - [name])

Would give the following, assuming a base path of D:\

D:\(Multiple Artists)\Greatest Hits of the Eighties\01 - Mike Oldfield - Moonlight Shadow.mp3

D:\P\Pink Floyd\Wish you were here\03 - Have a Cigar.mp3
D:\P\Pink Floyd\10 - some track without an album tag.mp3

The logic being applied is that if the artist name is in the folder path, it is not required in the filename, unless it's a (Multiple Artist) album, in which case, it might be kind of useful to have the artist in the filename. Try it on two or three files, and if you're happy, try it on a few more. If your basic tagging is OK, you should be able to select all audio and run those rules over them with confidence.

Note:
Do Not be playing any tracks when doing this job.
If the change in structure involves moving the files from one drive to another, pay attention to the messages in the status bar at the bottom of MC, they will tell you when the task is complete.
If the change in structure does not require a change of drive name, the process will be done in a matter of seconds.

See how you get on, and don't worry too much if things go awry, as there's a high probability that any mistakes or oversights can be just as easily rectified.

The above information makes several assumptions regarding the present state of multi artist albums and disc # tags. The info is there for you to make of what you will. It may be that it will do for you exactly as it is, or perhaps it will need a little tweaking here or there.
If you give precise information about the current state of your tags, and how you ultimately want things arranged on your hard drive, you'll get a more precise answer. You with me here? If you do use the strings above, and things don't work quite as expected, don't get stressed, just say what happened, and what you'd rather had happened and we'll take it from there, or state exactly what you want, in order to find out exactly what you need to get there.

-marko.

Steef_V.

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Re: Changing directory structure - moving files
« Reply #8 on: November 12, 2006, 04:12:42 pm »

WOW! That's heavy stuff!

I really appreciate the time you took to explain all this, and giving the link to Doof's previous entry - now it's starting to "dawn" what Album Artist means.

Please forgive me for not immediately understanding all this, I will need some time to figure this out. But please be assured that this information is very useful to me, and I will certainly take advantage of it...

To
Quote
give precise information about the current state of your tags
is not very useful, because my library is not very structured yet (still working on that).

For now, THANKS a lot! It seems I have a lot of homework to do, that's for sure....

Steef
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Steef_V.

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Re: Changing directory structure - moving files
« Reply #9 on: November 15, 2006, 04:52:55 pm »


Quote
if(isequal([album artist (auto)],multiple artists,8),[album artist (auto)]\[album],if(isequal([album],unknown,8),mid([artist])\[artist]\,mid([artist])\[artist]\[album]))

Just one small question.... WHERE can I find a description about "search / find" criteria (or whatever it is called) as quoted above? I cannot find anything in HELP.

By Marko's explanation I got really enthusiastic, started the trick on a few tracks, but I would like to "experiment" a little by changing a few small things. It seems to work OK for me though!

And don't worry - I copied the complete "old" structure of my music to an external HD (and exported the library). So nothing could go wrong.... :)

Steef
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marko

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Re: Changing directory structure - moving files
« Reply #10 on: November 16, 2006, 01:40:22 am »

JRiver Database Expressions

If you have questions, fire away :)
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