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[c1c9k72]

I'm not entirely sure this is the place for this question, but it's been something that's on my mind lately.  I'm pretty sure we all use the library system within Media Center to store the tag information of a song, but how do you actually name the songs?  I know when I first started ripping my MP3s, I used a relatively simple ([ARTIST]) - [NAME].mp3 and that worked for a long time.

Not completely trusting the tag information to convey the data from one library to another, I started looking for a new way to name the files that would give me maximum information and maximum efficiency of space.  My current configuration is: ([ARTIST])-[Date (YEAR)]-[[ALBUM]]-[track #]-''[NAME]''.mp3  Double apostrophes, not quotes.

A friend of mine suggested that this is fine for machines reading the data, but it makes it harder for humans.  Most people are looking for a specific song, which rests at the end of the filename.  When using Windows, which we do, filenames would get cut off unless you're using the details view.  He suggested the alternative, which works very nicely: ([ARTIST])-''[NAME]''-[track #]-[[ALBUM]]-[Date (YEAR)].mp3

What are the rest of you using as your musical filename standard?
Any streamlining suggestions?
Do filenames really matter anyway, in these days of libraries?

[Doof]

I use [Album Artist (auto)]\[Album]\[Artist] - [Name]

Everything else, I just let the tags do their job. I only use MC anyway, so it doesn't really matter.

I've also considered (but don't use) [track #] - [Name], but I like to have files that are pretty self contained. If I copy over an mp3, it's nice just to see the artist and track name so I can easily locate it. In those cases I really don't need all of the other data and even if I did, it would be from within an application that most likely can read it from the tags anyway.

[gappie]

for the filename i use [artist] - [track #] - [name]
when ripping especially classical music, without the track # the amount of adagios might be less then on the cd.
 
gab

[hit_ny]

[track #]-[Artist]--[Name].mp3

better to keep the filenames short or you run into trouble with windows and max 256(?) char  filename+path name limits. This may have increased with Vista (?)

..also makes an easier read on portable devices.

i use

Genre\Album-Year

for folders and

Genre\Album Artist\Album-Year

if there are more than 3 albums by said artist

The rest is in the library.

In addition i save a MPL dump of the album files in the corresponding album folder that contains all assocaited library tags.

[KingSparta]

[Artist] - [Album] - [Name]

Root Folders

\[Artist]\[Album]\

[rjm]

For single artist albums:
[Artist] - [Album]\[track #] - [Name]

For multi-artist albums:
Various Artists - [Album]\[track #] - [Artist] - [Name]

I use a completely different scheme for files that do not store tags internally so that I can reconstruct all tags from the folder and file names if necessary.

[Raphoune]

- Complete albums : [Album Artist (auto)]\([Year]) [Album]\[Disk #]\[track #] - [Name] so as to have the albums ordered chronologically in file explorers. The Year and Disk # are used only if they are not empty.
- When I don't have the whole album, I use "[Album Artist (auto)]\[Artist] - [Album] - [Name]"
- Various artist albums (compilations) in a specific directory with "[Album]\[track #] - [Name]" format.

I have 2 base directories, one for the music I own in CDs and one for the rest (its size tends to decrease .

I had built a big expression I could use to rename almost any file. But with expression changes in MC, it does no wor anymore. I did not find the courage to do it again...

[Frobozz]

I'm using a flat directory structure.

For rock style music I have several directories rock1, rock2, rock3, etc. and then drop all the files in there.
[rock1]\[album artist (auto)] - [album] - [disc#] - [track#] - [name]
for multi-artist albums I have album artist set to Various.

I try to keep no more than 1000 or so files per directory.  I have directories for rock, jazz, blues, and classical.

I'm still in the process of ripping my CDs and have about 70ish classical CDs to go.  Once that is done I'm going to do a renaming project to shorten my file names

[rock1]\[album artist (auto) Max 20 chars] - [album Max 20 chars] - [disc#] - [track#] - [name Max 20 chars] - [random#]

I'll have to think about adding a random number or something at the end after the [name] to avoid chances of a name collision if I have two copies or versions of the same album.

The flat directory structure sometimes feels like I'm going against the tide.  Media Center seems to assume I have things grouped by [artist]\[album] for multi-artist albums and such.

The flat directory structure just makes more sense to me as long as the files have proper tags.

[Mastiff]

I manage my 100 000 + tracks (yeah, I know - King's a long way ahead of me anyway...) this way:

Hard Drive\Album\Genre\A-C\Artist - Album\Track number - Name

Hard Drive\Album\Multiple artists album\A\Album\Track number - Artist - Name

With some genres (like metal and pop) I have so many albums that I split them in A, B, C instead of A-C, D-F and so on. As for tags I only store Name, Artist, Album, Track number and Genre in the files. The rest is in the MC library, so I won't have to do a new backup of the file. I would prefer to have everything in the library and nothing in the file, but that sometimes makes MC read in new values, like Genre = Blues (which is the genre that Windows for some reason or another will give a file with an emtpy genre). Also since my kids use smartphones it makes it a bit easier to sort the music on the memory cards. And I have library backups for every major change (more than ten albums renamed or moved), so I have backups all the way back to 2004 (close to 2 gigs of library backups) on the server hard drive. And I think I have them all the way back to MC 9.1 on DVD's.

[steveklein]

[Artist] - [Album]\[Artist] - [Album] - [track #] - [Name]

if it comes from a boxset

[Artist] - [Album]\[Artist] - [Album] - [Disk #] - [track #] - [Name]

[tcman41]

[Artist] - [Name] - [track#]

It's all i have ever used, all 12,000 of my tracks have been tagged the same exact way.

I also have 300x300 front cover artwork embedded in each file and after i import into JRiver, i copy 'artist' tag to 'band' tag so the info will show up correctly on WMP11 and handhelds etc.

TC 

[rjm]

i copy 'artist' tag to 'band' tag so the info will show up correctly on WMP11 and handhelds etc.

interesting, I always wondered that the heck Band was used for, I am forever clearing out this field

[Cmagic]

Hi,

My 2 cts.

My filenaming is
[Album Artist (auto)]\[Date] - [Album]\[track #] - [Artist] - [Name].mp3

This way I have tracks ordered for single or multiple artist albums and album folders ordered according to their release date. For all the rest (composer, featuring etc..) I rely on fields and file metadata.

Cover arts are stored in the same folder as the tracks and are simply named [Album Artist (auto)] - [Album].jpg


Have a nice days,

Christian

[Cmagic]

Hi,

Just found a conference paper of 2 guys from Sony about music file naming. Interesting to see the most common syntaxes used at CDDB or radio stations.

http://ismir2001.ismir.net/pdf/pachet.pdf

Thought this could interest the community,

Best,

Christian

[MusicHawk]

I frequently need to copy SOME of my library to a portable drive, which I than attach to a laptop in an RV. I need to maintain exactly the same folder structure as MC on my desktop, since I also copy a current backup of the library to the portable drive. Then I restore the backup to MC on the laptop, and since the files are in the same place (both drives have the same letter) it works perfectly.

However, I don't copy my entire 80K+ tracks library -- it won't fit on the portable drive and I don't need everything. So I devised a folder\file naming scheme that lets me grab the music I want to copy. (I can copy it manually, but I set up a backup program to do it automatically on command.)

The key is to copy entire folders, so the scheme puts the desired songs into appropriate folders. In my case, I want to copy certain Genre (don't need christmas songs or old radio shows or whatever) and only songs I Rated above a certain level. This folder naming scheme groups them into easy-to-copy folders:

[Genre]-[Rating]\Mid([Album Artist])

Mid([Album Artist]) creates folders for the first character of each Album Artist, so typically A-Z plus a few numbers.

Within these folders, files are named by this:

[Album Artist] - [Name]

In my library, Album Artist is not used in "auto" mode. I set it to Lastname, Firstname or a group's consistent name regardless of variations. Then Artist is the actual "by" name of a particular recording (so it appears on-screen during playback). So every song by Miles Davis is Album Artist = "Davis, Miles" while a particular recording might be Artist = "Miles Davis All Stars".

I don't care about organizing files by Album. It's good info in the database but about half my library is non-album content so it's not useful for folder or file naming.

Note: This meets my copying needs, but it's a kludge. I'd rather (and used to) name the folders Mid([Album Artist])\[Album Artist] - [Name]. So, I earlier suggested that MC gain the ability to move/copy files WITH THEIR PATHS, as typical file managers/Windows Explorer can do, so I could move desired music to the portable drive directly in MC by simply selecting a playlist to copy.

[Doof]

Wouldn't it be easier to create a virtual handheld and just do a sync when you want to put stuff on the portable drive?

[c1c9k72]

Hi,

Just found a conference paper of 2 guys from Sony about music file naming. Interesting to see the most common syntaxes used at CDDB or radio stations.

http://ismir2001.ismir.net/pdf/pachet.pdf

Thought this could interest the community,

Best,

Christian

Very interesting paper, Christian.  Thanks for the link.

And thanks to everybody who has contributed to this thread so far.

[Frobozz]

I'm using a flat directory structure.

Scratch that.  I have finally given in to convention and reorganized my library to have each album in an individual subdirectory.  MC and other software prefers and expects a library to be organized that way.  I give in and will stop trying to swim against the tide. 

The turning point was me getting an iPod Classic.  The Compilations feature wouldn't work with my old naming system.  MC will only support the Compilations on an iPod if each album is in an individual subdirectory.

Earlier this week I did a mass rename/reorg and my filename scheme is now:
Directory rule: [library]\[Album Artist (auto)] - [Album]If(IsEmpty([Disc #],1),,-PadNumber([Disc #],2))
Filename rule: Mid([Album Artist (auto)],0,20)-Mid([Album],0,20)-If(IsEmpty([Disc #],1),,PadNumber([Disc #],2))-PadNumber([track #],2)-Mid([Name],0,20)

[library] is a custom tag that I use to organize the file in directories by very general genre.  It contains general names like "rock", "jazz", "classical", "blues"

MC makes it very easy to do a mass reorg like that.

My complaint with the new reorg is that some of the directory names can be a bit long for some of my classical albums and a few other albums.  I could limit the length with a Mid().  I'll have to think about that.

[justsomeguy]

I have 2 folders one named "singles" one named "albums",  inside each I have folders for the different genres I listen too.  Within each genre folder I have a folder for the artist name, inside that a folder for album name then inside that each song.  Songs are named, Artist - Album - Track # - Title.mp3  Track number has to go before the title because I want to have all tracks listed in order from 1 on up.  I've never had a problem with folder depth or filename length, knock on wood.....