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Author Topic: Tagging music on import  (Read 1386 times)

canfunk

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Tagging music on import
« on: January 30, 2015, 07:17:24 pm »

Hi,

I am brand new to JRiver, after ditching iTunes with the goal of moving to a higher fidelity approach. (Next step is a DAC). I have over 100 Gb of music to import, with a widely varying quality of tags applied to it currently.  One issue is my hard drive had crashed and I copied many files back off my ipod which resulted in these files being renamed as four letters.

I have only a moderate degree of tech-savvy, and would greatly appreciate it if someone could walk me through how I might auto-tag all files on import in a standard format of "Artist - Album - Track Name - Track Title".

Thanks!
Dan


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jhnny3

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Re: Tagging music on import
« Reply #1 on: January 30, 2015, 08:28:41 pm »

I believe the simplest method for tagging many thousands of files quickly [translated: Anywhere from a few hours to a few days, or more depending on lots of variables] is to use WMP by selecting your music folder in Options.  Once that's finished you can "select all" and then right click "Update Album Info".  This is an imperfect process yet what makes it work in general is that not only will WMP load most of the info if it is in the database, but it also loads in "Composers" data, a rarity indeed.  There ends the need for WMP.  Once this process is complete go to JR, click on "Audio", then "Edit", "Select All", then "Update Library from Tags" and again, take a long coffee break.  Be sure not to select "Update Tags from Library".  Hopefully within a day this process will be complete.  JR's a bit spotty with regard to bringing in metadata from its own database.  At least it is in my experience.
Best, J3
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Arindelle

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Re: Tagging music on import
« Reply #2 on: January 31, 2015, 08:11:27 am »

Not sure I totally get if your problem is that your file names are all screwed up, but your tags are ok or you have lost all metadata too?

If you can still read your tags you should be able to just rename your files using a mask  through the rename utility in JRiver or an external program.

If both the files names and the metadata are lost. You are going to have to retag the files and rename them. This is a very good freeware program that will do both and gives you access to a lot of different databases for tagging => TagScanner . With a hundred gb thats not too bad if they are in lossless, still will be a pain in the butt though. 1st thing you do is get a backup drive -- I know you don't want to hear about this know though :P

If you are coming from itunes, personally I would recommend that you keep your directory structure simple like ALBUMARTIST/ALBUM and keep artwork as folder.jpg residing in each album folder.
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canfunk

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Re: Tagging music on import
« Reply #3 on: January 31, 2015, 08:01:21 pm »

Not sure I totally get if your problem is that your file names are all screwed up, but your tags are ok or you have lost all metadata too?

If you can still read your tags you should be able to just rename your files using a mask  through the rename utility in JRiver or an external program.

If both the files names and the metadata are lost. You are going to have to retag the files and rename them. This is a very good freeware program that will do both and gives you access to a lot of different databases for tagging => TagScanner . With a hundred gb thats not too bad if they are in lossless, still will be a pain in the butt though. 1st thing you do is get a backup drive -- I know you don't want to hear about this know though :P

If you are coming from itunes, personally I would recommend that you keep your directory structure simple like ALBUMARTIST/ALBUM and keep artwork as folder.jpg residing in each album folder.

Sorry I should have been more precise.  I have both issues - a bunch of files need to be renamed, but also the metadata is of varying completeness and quality. The files are a mix of Flac and 320 kbps, with some older stuff down as low as 192 kbps.

I will check out Tagscanner and the rename utility in JRiver.  Thanks for the tips!
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canfunk

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Re: Tagging music on import
« Reply #4 on: January 31, 2015, 08:21:04 pm »

I believe the simplest method for tagging many thousands of files quickly [translated: Anywhere from a few hours to a few days, or more depending on lots of variables] is to use WMP by selecting your music folder in Options.  Once that's finished you can "select all" and then right click "Update Album Info".  This is an imperfect process yet what makes it work in general is that not only will WMP load most of the info if it is in the database, but it also loads in "Composers" data, a rarity indeed.  There ends the need for WMP.  Once this process is complete go to JR, click on "Audio", then "Edit", "Select All", then "Update Library from Tags" and again, take a long coffee break.  Be sure not to select "Update Tags from Library".  Hopefully within a day this process will be complete.  JR's a bit spotty with regard to bringing in metadata from its own database.  At least it is in my experience.
Best, J3

Thanks for the tip.  I have never used WMP really.  I had been using VLC for video and iTunes for audio.  I didn't realize WMP had anything more than basic functionality.
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