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[paulb22]

I read in a Sonos forum someone recommending JRiver MC to organize music files. I guess I have a couple of questions. Right now I am using iTunes to import my CD's as apple lossless. i also downloaqd a lot of live music - usually FLAC files. I convert the FLAC using xACT to apple loseless and import to iTunes. This converts the file names to song titles. I can then embed artwork with a iTunes plugin. I know that Sonos will play FLACs but I don't know how to add artwork or convert the files names to song titles directly to the FLACs. Can I do all this with your software.

[JimH]

Welcome to the forum.

MC can tag your FLAC files and add cover art to them.

You can also use MC's Library Tools to rename your files.

[paulb22]

Great..I guess two more questions before switch from iTunes. I already have about 50-60 cds on my NAS that I added through iTunes as Apple Lossless. Will I need to add these again as a compatible MC lossless format?
And as far as renaming my FLAC files.  I would convert my FLACs in xACT to Apple Lossless (I could add artwork to or use FLACs in iTunes) When I import them to iTunes it would automatically change the file names to the song titles from the embedded info. How does MC do this?

Thanks...

[JimH]

1.  Set up auto import to watch any folders you want imported.  (See "Getting Started" in my signature.)

2.  MC reads the tags from the files.  You will need to try it to know.  MC can use the filenames to fill the properties, but you may not need to do that.

[paulb22]

OK, sounds like MC can do everything I need it to do. I guess I'll give it a try.
Thanks...

[paulb22]

I downloaded the trial version and I am starting to get familiar with it. A couple of things...

I have some flacs on my NAS, separated into folders(albums)with the  flac folder name. I select the files and open in MC. I import them to the library, add the artwork and rename the album. That seems to be going fine.

Just for curiosity having never work directly with flacs. When I look at the file icons in my finder window, no artwork shows up, but when I open/view them in MC or through my SONOS the artwork is there.

Also when I rename the album, it shows with the new name in MC and SONOS but not on the NAS.
Ex: I would download to my NAS a concert  - xyx15-01-22.flac11. After import into MC I would select the album from the list on the left and rename it 2015.01.22 - NYC. but the folder on the NAS still shows the original file name. When I would do this in iTunes it would change the folder name on the NAS as well.

[blgentry]

Also when I rename the album, it shows with the new name in MC and SONOS but not on the NAS.
Ex: I would download to my NAS a concert  - xyx15-01-22.flac11. After import into MC I would select the album from the list on the left and rename it 2015.01.22 - NYC. but the folder on the NAS still shows the original file name. When I would do this in iTunes it would change the folder name on the NAS as well.

I think ITunes does this when you check the option for "Keep Library Organized", or something similar.  JRiver takes the approach that TAGs and FILENAMEs are separate.  One way of looking at things is that only the tags matter, as that's what you use within JRiver and most other media players to find and play the songs you want.  As long as the tags are right, you're happy.

On the other hand, having sanely named files is convenient and can be important for doing reorganization, moves, deletes, etc.  The good news is, JRiver doesn't care much how you organize the files, so you can kind of do whatever you want.

My approach is to organize the files in their artist and album directories, with a specific file naming convention, at the time I RIP the files from CD.  Or if I obtain them digitally, I'll use some tool to rename their structure the way I want it to look.  One of the amazing things about JRiver is that you can change the file names outside of the program and it will pick up what you've done.  As long as the files are in one of the directories you monitor with "auto import", you can rename files at will and JRiver just handles it.

I've used the freeware program "Tag" to do some simple renames and to adjust tags.  Things like making all track numbers have 2 digits and then renaming the files so that the 2 digit track number is first.  This is so I can easily sort them on a portable music player.

JRiver also has a built in move, copy, and rename tool.  It's under Tools -> Library Tools -> Rename, Move, & Copy Files...

It seems pretty powerful in it's own right.  I just used it (as a test) to rename the files in an album and it was pretty easy once I got it figured out.

There *might* be some option buried in JRiver that allows you to dynamically rename files based on tags, but frankly that seems too invasive to me.  But that's just me.    I hope this helped some.

Brian.

[paulb22]

Hey, thanks for the info. Cd's aren't really problem. It's the flacs I dowdload. I guess the easiest thing is to just rename the folder when I put it on the NAS before I even open in MC.
What's weird is that after I renamed the album in MC and then look at it in SONOS, it shows up with the new album name even though the folder on the NAS still has the old name.

[blgentry]

It's the flacs I dowdload. I guess the easiest thing is to just rename the folder when I put it on the NAS before I even open in MC.

You can do that before or after.  As long as the files are in a directory set up for auto import, you can rename the files and folders even after MC sees them, and it will figure out that you changed the file names!  Makes it very easy for us.

What's weird is that after I renamed the album in MC and then look at it in SONOS, it shows up with the new album name even though the folder on the NAS still has the old name.

That's because JRiver sees you changed the album name, so it writes it to it's database *AND* it writes it to the TAGs inside the FLAC files.  Sonos reads the tags from inside the files and gets the correct album name.  Again, TAGs and FILENAMEs are separate.

Brian.