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[cobar53]

I have tried for some time now to make JRiver look and function like iTunes, because that ‘folder and folder within folder’ structure suits my likings.

Thus far I have not been able to achieve the aim.

Has anyone else managed to do this?

Wayne

[MrC]

MC won't do this by itself automatically.  Instead, correctly tag your files if they are not, and then you can re-organize via the Rename, Move & Copy tool using your tags in your file and folder rule templates.

MC doesn't care (much) about folder structure.

[6233638]

I have tried for some time now to make JRiver look and function like iTunes, because that ‘folder and folder within folder’ structure suits my likings.

What do you mean by "folder and folder within folder" ?

Could you give an example of what you're trying to do?

[MrC]

I think the OP is trying to organize like iTunes: [Artist]\[Album] - that's folder within a folder.

[6233638]

I think the OP is trying to organize like iTunes: [Artist]\[Album] - that's folder within a folder.

I'm confused because the title is about file structure, but the post talks about making Media Center "look and function like iTunes".
Is this a question about customizing views inside Media Center, or the file structure on the disk?
I'm sure we can help, but it's not clear to me what cobar53 is trying to achieve.

[cobar53]

I want the GUI to mimic iTunes.

For example I want a folder called 'The 1096's'
Within it, I want folders for The Rolling Stones, The Beatles etc
Within those I want to be able to place the albums from those artists.

The best respresentation of this structure to date has been iTunes, and it has done rather well.
But iTunes will not play flac files and that is the format of my hi-res files.
If JRiver is not interested in the ability for users to have that file organisation as an option, then I have wasted my cash.
For a non-geek, my point of view is 'if Apple can do it' then other vendors can too. ie I cannot see this as being a tough coding call.

It is just a logical manner in which to arrange files.

[MrC]

How about standing down a bit...

The two of us who have responded thus far are just users like you, and were just trying to get a handle on what you're wanting, in case we might be of some help.  We both know the software reasonable well.

You've mentioned Folders, which is where files in the file system live.  Can you describe your workflow?

[6233638]

Media Center is very flexible, and should be able to be configured however you want. You need to be clear about what it is that you're trying to achieve though - "make it like iTunes" is not very helpful if we are not already familiar with how iTunes works - and I'm certainly not any more.
Other than helping out family members briefly, I haven't used the most recent major version of iTunes at all - and I don't know how you have it configured on your PC.

However, I think I have an idea of what you're looking for - you want a structure that goes:

Decades
 ↳ Artists
  ↳ Albums

To do this, right-click the Audio heading in the tree (left pane) and select "Add Library View…"
Go to the end of this list, select "Empty View", and give your view a name.
In the next window, in the upper-left, select "View As: Categories"
Add a new category, and because you want to group by decade, we need to use a special view type called an Expression
Give this expression a name of "Decades" and in the "Expression to group by" box, enter this text:

Code: (Expression to group by) [Select]


FormatDate([Date,0],Decade)

Now add another category, this time selecting "Album Artist (auto)" from the list of available Library fields.
Next, add the final category. You could use "Album" for this, but I would suggest using the "Year - Album" option to make things simpler.


Now click OK, and you should be presented with a view that has your music grouped by decade.
Double-click on a decade, and you will have a list of artists.
Double-click on an artist, and you will have a list of their albums, sorted by year.

[astromo]

6233638 - neat idea.

Hope you don't mind if I knock off your suggestion and give it a go.. cheers .. 

[rafverhoogen]

I believe MC is very flexible concerning folder structure.  i myself i use a

grouping (overall genre like Rock/pop/jazz/classic/etc)
   artist
      artists albums
           discs
               songs

since empty folders after renaming/moving files this is now fully under control.

Where iTunes forces you in their structure, MC allows to set up a personal structure.

The disadvantage that MC does not do this automatically is actually an advantage, since it will not start moving around files until you want it, in my case, i only move files to the final folder if tags are ok and finished.