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[Keror0]

I know the above requested feature seems already available for ripping a CD.  What I want is to have the same feature for importing MP3s. For example, if people having thousands of MP3 in unorganized directory structure on PC's local hard disk, now they want them import to Media Center library database AND at the same time relocate the MP3s to a remote NAS and build up the directory structure according to Custom Folder Rules such as Root Directory\[Artist]\[Album]\[track] [Artist] - [Name].  If this feature is already in place I think make it available for MP3 importing is not that difficult, right?
 

[Eccles]

This is currently doable in two steps:

• Import
• Rename Files from Properties

While I agree it would be nice to save that second mouse click, I doubt it would be high on the enhancement priority list if it's more than a trivial code change.

[Keror0]

Biggest troubles is to create the directory tree manually over a few thousands time?  If I have to do this manually, why need to import to MC?

[ThoBar]

Biggest troubles is to create the directory tree manually over a few thousands time?  If I have to do this manually, why need to import to MC?

No need to do this.

1) Import the files
2) Use MC to edit and update the tags to meet your criteria
3) Use the "Rename files from Properties" tool to create your directory tree based on your own rules, and move the files into those directories - everything is done for you.

[Frobozz]

It would be nice to have a drag-and-drop interface or some other interface to make importing a mess of tagged files easier.  Right now there is a lot of manual activity that needs to be done to properly import files.  Manual activities like creating directories, file management, and such.  It doesn't need to be that difficult.

Here's my workflow for importing MP3 files:
1) Make sure the imported files have basic tags for artist, album title and tracks
2) Manually create sub-directories for each multiple artist album
3) Make sure tracks for multiple artist albums are in their own individual sub-directories
4) Import the directories
5) Go to the Audio tab and open the Disk Location tree.  Navigate to the directory where the imported files are
6) Select all the files in the directory
7) Right-Click, Library Tools, Rename Files From Properties
8) Set the Directories rule how you want it.  Set the base path where you want the files to go.
9) Set the Filename rule how you want it.
10) OK and go

That moves and renames the files and creates the directory structure to organize the files by artist and album or however you like.

Sure seems like a lot of manual work that doesn't seem necessary.  All the necessary info for doing the right thing is in the tags.  MC should be able to figure out the right thing and do it based on tags when importing the files especially in regards to multiple artist albums.  All the info needed to determine multiple artist albums in in the tags.  Why do I manually need to make individual sub-directories for each multiple artist album just so they get imported and renamed correctly?

[ThoBar]

It would be nice to have a drag-and-drop interface or some other interface to make importing a mess of tagged files easier.  Right now there is a lot of manual activity that needs to be done to properly import files.  Manual activities like creating directories, file management, and such.  It doesn't need to be that difficult.

Here's my workflow for importing MP3 files:
1) Make sure the imported files have basic tags for artist, album title and tracks
2) Manually create sub-directories for each multiple artist album
3) Make sure tracks for multiple artist albums are in their own individual sub-directories
4) Import the directories
5) Go to the Audio tab and open the Disk Location tree.  Navigate to the directory where the imported files are
6) Select all the files in the directory
7) Right-Click, Library Tools, Rename Files From Properties
Set the Directories rule how you want it.  Set the base path where you want the files to go.
9) Set the Filename rule how you want it.
10) OK and go

That moves and renames the files and creates the directory structure to organize the files by artist and album or however you like.

Sure seems like a lot of manual work that doesn't seem necessary.  All the necessary info for doing the right thing is in the tags.  MC should be able to figure out the right thing and do it based on tags when importing the files especially in regards to multiple artist albums.  All the info needed to determine multiple artist albums in in the tags.  Why do I manually need to make individual sub-directories for each multiple artist album just so they get imported and renamed correctly?

Ummm... if I'm interpreting what you're trying to achieve correctly, you only need steps 1, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10

The tool will automatically create directories (and clean newly emptied ones) as required and the rules you specifiy for directory and filename in the tool can be extremely flexible and powerful.

[Frobozz]

Ummm... if I'm interpreting what you're trying to achieve correctly, you only need steps 1, 6, 7, 8, 9, 20

The tool will automatically create directories (and clean newly emptied ones) as required and the rules you specifiy for directory and filename in the tool can be extremely flexible and powerful.

You need steps 2-5 if you are importing any multiple artist albums.  Multiple artist albums have to be in their own individual directories when imported so MC can figure out that they are multiple artist albums.  Otherwise you end up with the tracks on multiple artist albums grouped by artist instead of all grouped together as (multiple artist).  That's unnecessary busy work as far as I'm concerned.  MC should be able to figure out multiple artist albums based just on the tag info and not rely on the directory structure.

The Rename From Properties tool is amazingly flexible and powerful.  Makes quick work of organizing the filenames and directories of an entire music library.

An import Wizard might be handy.  Something to guide through all the steps and move/rename files as they are imported.  Sometimes you want the imported files left where they are, other times you want them copied to a new location and directory structure, other times you want them moved.  A Wizard could guide you through the different import scenarios.

Here's a scenario.  You buy two new MP3 albums from Amazon.  They're multiple artist albums.  Currently all the tracks are located at "C:\amazondownloads".  How do you go about importing that album and getting the files copied over to your library location at "D:\My Music"?  It would be nice if the steps to do that were a one step Wizard operation rather then a string of individual steps, some of which have to be done using Windows Explorer to create new sub-directories.

[Keror0]

It would be nice if MC can make use of tags like <Album Artist> and <Track Artist>:

e.g.
<Album Artist> = Various Artists
<Track Artist> = Artist on each track (many different name)

If <Album Artist> not equal to <Track Artist> then this is a multiple artist album and directory structure should be automatically created as something like: Root DIR\<Album>\<Track #> - <Track Artist> - <Title>.mp3



 

[gappie]

It would be nice if MC can make use of tags like <Album Artist> and <Track Artist>:

e.g.
<Album Artist> = Various Artists
<Track Artist> = Artist on each track (many different name)

If <Album Artist> not equal to <Track Artist> then this is a multiple artist album and directory structure should be automatically created as something like: Root DIR\<Album>\<Track #> - <Track Artist> - <Title>.mp3

well, that is possible. use this as a directory rule in the rename files from properties:
if(isequal([Album Artist (auto)],[Artist],1),[Artist]\[Album],[Album])
disable 'use assorted for [artist] on multiple artist albums'

 
gab

edit: or when you have filled in 'various artists' in the album artist tag then this might works also:
if(isequal([Album Artist],Various Artists,1),[Album],[Artist]\[Album])

[ThoBar]

You need steps 2-5 if you are importing any multiple artist albums.  Multiple artist albums have to be in their own individual directories when imported so MC can figure out that they are multiple artist albums.  Otherwise you end up with the tracks on multiple artist albums grouped by artist instead of all grouped together as (multiple artist).  That's unnecessary busy work as far as I'm concerned.  MC should be able to figure out multiple artist albums based just on the tag info and not rely on the directory structure.

The Rename From Properties tool is amazingly flexible and powerful.  Makes quick work of organizing the filenames and directories of an entire music library.

An import Wizard might be handy.  Something to guide through all the steps and move/rename files as they are imported.  Sometimes you want the imported files left where they are, other times you want them copied to a new location and directory structure, other times you want them moved.  A Wizard could guide you through the different import scenarios.

Here's a scenario.  You buy two new MP3 albums from Amazon.  They're multiple artist albums.  Currently all the tracks are located at "C:\amazondownloads".  How do you go about importing that album and getting the files copied over to your library location at "D:\My Music"?  It would be nice if the steps to do that were a one step Wizard operation rather then a string of individual steps, some of which have to be done using Windows Explorer to create new sub-directories.

As Gappie says above -- the [Album Artist (auto)] field is your friend. If you weren't aware of this field before, look into it. It, and other (auto) fields can be Very useful.

If an album has more than one artist the field returns (Multiple Artists). Using this, its easy to separate your compilation albums into a different structure. For my contemporary music, my folder structure looks something like (using the Move files from Properties tool)

Code: [Select]

         z:\Music\[Album Artist (auto)]\[Album]\which results in....

Code: [Select]

        z:\Music\(Multiple Artists)\Triple J Hottest 100, Volume 1\<files>        (example Compilation)
        z:\Music\ACDC\Back in Black\<files>                                         (example single artist)
You can of course put in conditional statements also, so that you can vary the structure according to your own preferences (Gappie's example)- and I have seem some very complicated statements in the forum...

[Keror0]

Looks to me the functions are there but not easy to access or unlock their power by average users 

[Frobozz]

I know about Album Artist (auto).  The problem is the logic that MC uses to determine if an album is a multiple artists album or not.  The logic MC uses is:

Here is the logic. A track is a mix if all the files with the same [Album] value in the same directory:
   have more than one [Artist] value among them
   have no other [Album] values used by any other file in the same directory
   are Audio and have a non-empty [Album] value

That's the same logic MC uses to determine if an album is a multiple artists album when you import.  If you want a multiple artists album to import correctly you have to put the tracks for that album in their own directory.

If the files you are importing have that structure then they will import the way you expect.  If the files you are importing don't have that structure then the multiple artist albums are going to be a mess.

It would be nice if MC could be a little less strict on grouping a multiple artists album.  The tags are enough info to determine if an album is a multiple artists album.  The directory structure is irrelevant except in the case of WAV files and other non-tagable files.  Then the directory structure would be a determining factor.

[gappie]

Looks to me the functions are there but not easy to access or unlock their power by average users 

maybe that is true. but the default is not bad either. multiple artist albums all come in a folder called assorted/[album], the rest in [artist]/[album]. i still use the default.
the functions are there for people who have 'special' needs, and are the same as the ones you can use for collumn expressions etc.

[marko]

For what you're proposing to work, all of the tags would need to be checked and set prior to import.

Why not try defining a holding place, a folder somewhere that all your 'incoming' music files will sit in until you've checked their tags and quality.
Have MC watch that folder. Any music placed within that folder will be imported into your library.

There are many and varied ways to handle these files, the easiest probably being a recently imported smartlist.
Personally, I have excluded such files from my main Audio tree and set up a view scheme that lists only the files in the incoming folder.
That view scheme has all the panes and columns I need to get the tags right on new audio files. Once that's done, select them and rename from properties to move them to their final resting place with the rest of my music, which automatically makes them available in the main Audio tree.
So simple, so try it

if the files from a multiple artist album are not already in the same directory, (beats me why they wouldn't be) you can force the issue with MC by simply selecting the files involved and setting the [album artist] tag to (Multiple Artists)

After doing that, a rename from properties, will place all the scattered files from that album neatly into a single folder of their own at a place of your choosing. You don't need to worry about where they are, just decide where they're going, set the tags right and then tell MC what you want. It will take care of it for you.

99% of the time, it really is that simple...
Import > Tag > Rename

If you want the rename process to take the [disc #] field into account, a database expression will make you're life so much easier, and if you need help with that, it's OK to ask.

The thing with us and our media files is that at the basic level, we all want the same, you know, artist in the [artist] tag, stuff like that, but you don't have to delve much further than that to find that many many people develop many many different work flows.
Did you know that you can set file tags by dropping them on tree items? I know about it, but in all my years using MC, I've never used it, but I've read posts in these forums from people who wouldn't tag any other way.
MC gives us acres of space to play in which allows all those different work flows to exist and that's where the learning curve comes in. You need to first think about what you want, then learn how to get it.
We're that used to being on rails with other software that quite often, the first stumbling block is actually thinking about what you want, after that, always be prepared to learn shorter routes to your goals. That 10 step list posted a few posts back has way too much redundancy. I honestly cannot remember the last time I used an external tool to get a file tagging or renaming job done.

I think I may have typed for too long... if you have any questions with regards to smoothing your work flow, just fire away

-marko.

[Alex B]

The "in the same folder" rule is there for reason. Years ago when the system was created the possible problems were obviously considered. Unfortunately the album tags are not always unique and something more was needed. The folder logic was the solution.

I did a quick search for dublicate album names (from different albums). My library seems to have 196 albums with duplicate names. Here is a list of the individual names:

1st
20 Greatest Hits
1999
A Night At The Opera
Acoustic
Back To Mine
Believe
Best Of
Collection
Creamfields
Dance Remixes
Das Boot
December
Diva
Firefly
Fragile
Freedom
Gold
Greatest Hits
II
III
IV
Jazz
Kaleidoscope
Life
Live
Live On The King Biscuit Flower Hour
Live!
Love
Love Songs
Millenium Collection (Best Of)
Passages
Read My Lips
Rebirth
Siren
Strange Days
Surrender
The Best
The Best Of
The Collection
The Essential
The Gathering
The Gold Collection
The Greatest Hits
The Promise
The Singles
The Singles Collection
The Ultimate Collection
The Very Best Of
Three
Touch
Toys
You're Not Alone

The following name rules work for me (after I have the album files in individual folders and correctly tagged):

Directories:
[Album Artist (auto)]\[Album]\

Filename:
If(IsEmpty([Disc #],1), [track #], CD[Disc #] - [track #]) - If(IsEqual([Album Type], Multiple Artists /(complete/), 1), [Artist] - [Name], [Name])


The resulting filenames are as follows

Single Artist, no disc number:
\The Cure\Japanese Whispers\06 - Speak My Language.mp3

Single Artist, disc number:
\Bob Marley & The Wailers\Burnin' (Deluxe Edition)\CD2 - 08 - Kinky Reggae.mp3

Multiple Artists, tagged Album Artist, no disc number:
\Tiësto\Elements Of Life\03 - Tiësto feat. Julie Thompson - Do You Feel Me.mp3

Multiple Artists, automatic Album Artist value, disc number:
\(Multiple Artists)\Champs-Élysées Café\CD2 - 04 - Chateau Flight feat. Beretta 9 - Down At The Rotisserie.mp3