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[Chrispy58]

Should we bother about filename convention provided the tags are spot-on?

Is there a right or wrong way to go about it?

My own colle

[Chrispy58]

whoops - My own collection is a mish-mash of bits added on over many years.  
Folders here and there, artist names mainly with a huge various artists folder, sorted by album name.
I've got some mp3's, some FLAK, some itunes folders etc etc.

I have a strong urge to decide on a format, convert everything to it, and stick to it. Get this thing sorted once and for all!

Is there a de-facto way of organising it all?  Do we need a program like "Tag & Rename"
or will this program be more than enough?  

I'd love to hear some opinion before deciding.

Cheers,
Chris.

[gappie]

Should we bother about filename convention provided the tags are spot-on?

Is there a right or wrong way to go about it?

My own colle

I like some order in my filenaming. but its not a must ofcourse. there is one thing that went wrong though when I started to use mc, in the 11/12 days. I had not added a track # to the file name, and I had this album where the same track title was played a few times.. I ended up with only one of them because they overwrote them selfs. so I use [Artist] - [Album] - [Track #] - [Name] for file name and [Artist]\[album] for the directory.. and that worked for me ever since.


gab

[connersw]

I prefer filename structure because I can be OCD, and I also access media files outside of MC.   If your tags are spot on, and you only access files through MC, you should be ok.  Auto-Import does use filename to scrape though, so if your tags are not spot on, you may have clean up work to do after import.

Tag editing in MC works great, and I use it for all my tag editing these days.  When I want to change the file structure or folder names though, Library Tools -> Rename, Move, & Copy Files usually doesn't cut it for me because it will leave untagged extra files in the old folder name.  For this, I still use Tag&Rename.  See: http://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php?topic=85295.0

[jmone]

While there is absolutely no need to organise you media in a particular file structure as MC using Meta Data for organisation, I too organise my collection on the HDD using the Meta Data Tags, and MC's "Rename, Move, & Copy Files" as it is easier to manually "find" stuff on the HDD if it is all consistent.  eg, for Audio I use:
Directories : [Media Type]\[Album Artist]\[Album]
File Name : [Track #] - [Artist] - [Name]  (note: I include Artist for Comilations, eg Top 40 stuff but leave it out for "normal" albums).

[Scolex]

If your library is tagged properly you can use tools available in Media Center to rename/restructure the actual files/folders.

[Bobo4567]

Let's talk about quality of music and replacing older files with better ones. 10 years ago 128 sampling rate was quite good. Today disk space is cheap, losless formats are established, ... .  I think this is also an aspect when we talk about digital music libraries.

So for me one of the work for the next month / years is:
- deleting music which I never listened to (and that was collected in the hype of getting every possible mp3 :-)
- replace tracks with tracks in a better quality

But this leads me to the challenges:
- most tracks are tagged by myself with the basics (Artist/Album/...), also part of one ore more playlists, and they have nearly similar but often different file names
- sometimes I have two ore more similar songs (but in different locations) tagged and this could be merged so that it points at least to one track
- there are many sources for a track with better quality:
    - I can look if it is already on my PC (e.g. I bought a collection and the song is in there)
    - re-rip the CD
    - buy tracks on Amazon or iTunes (which sometimes brings different file names)
    - I can use somewhat like a iCloud subscription that replaces music with better quality

It would be wonderful if I just could pick a song and point to another file and all the useful tags are copied / moved to this song and the old version is (maybe) deleted out of MC. It's like a mapping where I can choose:
Left side: 1 file,  "music.mp3" (128 bitrate)
Right side: 2 files, "Madonna - music.mp3 ((320 bitrate)
 / "Madonna - Celebration (best of) - 02 - Music.flac"

For me it would be very useful to have something like two panes side by side that allows me to choose a older file on the left side and see available music on the right side. And then click on a file on the right side so that it inherits all the tags.

What do you think?

[theoctavist]

I use mp3 tag for this very thing you talk about. it is pretty much the defacto standard for music file tagging in windows. (for linux= puddletag is the best)
all the untagged items float to the top in the main window, and you can sort using whatever fields you want.

it also has the ability to convert text files to tags, which has saved me so much time.

[Bobo4567]

The main point for me is not the tagging. It's the thing that I want to replace existing tracks with never ones without loosing meta data.

[MusicBringer]

Like you I have not found a simple method for copying meta data from one (same) track to another - all I ever get is [Varies] with no indication what is behind it. Grrhh.

[Vocalpoint]

File naming and storage conventions are paramount over here. Everything must conform

I have all the digital music in a single main folder on the server - simply titled Music. Within this folder are the 26 folders representing the letters of the alphabet (A-Z). Within each letter folder is the artist name by alpha. So with the A folder we could have ABC , A Flock Of Seagulls, AC/DC, The Animals and so on.

Then beneath each artist folder are folders to store each specific release

Example:

Aerosmith
-> Get A Grip
-> Greatest Hits
-> Rocks

For artists specific releases - all tracks take the form of [Track Number] [Track Name]

So

01 Taxman
02 Eleanor Rigby
03 I'M Only Sleeping

Etc etc

For compilations - containing Various artists - all albums are stored under the Assorted folder within the A master folder. All tracks conform to the following conventions - [Track Number] - [Artist] - [Track Name]

All 60000+ tracks in our current library conform top this structure. All rips from MC or adds from online sources (HD Tracks etc) are run thru a specific set of rules defined under MC's "Rename, Move, & Copy Files applet.

Nothing is allowed in that has not been comformed.

This structure really shows it's benefits when doing in place upgrades (Better version of current entry). I do this alot where say I ripped an original CD 2 years ago and it's got a lot of play stats, ratings and so oin - and then a high res version comes along from HD Tracks. Using this schema - I simply "force comply" the new purchase into the exact conventions using MC and then send the new track out to replace the old ones on the server. This preserves all my metadata in the MC library and keeps everything tidy.

And the same applies to backups. I keep two sets of 3 drives totally 6TB in total in constant rotation to ensure we have three copies of everything (one on the server, one copy on local backup and another copy on offsite backup). Having this specific unified naming convention for all files and folders makes my SyncBack scripted backups go with ease.

MC makes all of this so easy - I am not sure why everyone would not take the time it use these tools to full capacity.

Cheers!

VP

[MusicBringer]

... and then send the new tracks out to replace the old ones on the server. This preserves all my metadata in the MC library ....

A helpful post thanks Vocalpoint.
As I do something similar to you but in my own way I was with you until you "sent out the new tracks".
I need to understand what this means.
Coz when I copy/move tracks from a preparation folder to the main library they get a date added tag and are in addition to the existing files.

My upgrading also involves replacing flac files over old mp3 files.

[Vocalpoint]

As I do something similar to you but in my own way I was with you until you "sent out the new tracks". I need to understand what this means. Coz when I copy/move tracks from a preparation folder to the main library they get a date added tag and are in addition to the existing files.

I think you may be seeing "doubles" (old with new) due to the file extensions. In my library - everything is FLAC so when I "send files to the server" assume that I have a file called Cool Song.flac and I am replacing it with a "better" copy of Cool Song.flac.

In my case - once I have completed the metadata entries (using the ultra cool CTRL-SHIFT-V shortcut in MC) I use my "rename" scripts in MC to ensure the local "new" files - have the exact same names as the server "old" files. Then a quick copy happens - Windows asks if I want to overwrite - and I do.

Then in MC - I find the existing album entry and simply run Update Tags from Library (I think) on it. All ratings, play stats and so on are preserved and the "new" files are now in place.

VP

[connersw]

MC makes all of this so easy - I am not sure why everyone would not take the time it use these tools to full capacity.

Somewhat easy.  Easy would be if it was automatic.  I really wish MC would use File Location -> Folder rule and Filename rule on import monitored folders, not just rips.  Instead of using Library Tools -> Rename, Move, & Copy Files on recently imported folders, just dropping the downloaded folder into an import monitored folder would change the folder and its file's names.

[Vocalpoint]

Somewhat easy.  Easy would be if it was automatic.  I really wish MC would use File Location -> Folder rule and Filename rule on import monitored folders, not just rips.  Instead of using Library Tools -> Rename, Move, & Copy Files on recently imported folders, just dropping the downloaded folder into an import monitored folder would change the folder and its file's names.

I guess you are making an assumption that all digital music out there (purchased or otherwise) has nice tidy metadata all ready for remaining processes?

Can't see how MC would know how to do anything meaningful with a freshly ripped various artists boxset with 68 tracks. What if I ripped it and every file was called Track 1.flac, Track 2.flac and so on - placing no metadata? There has to be some basic metadata IN the file before MC could ever make any sort of decision on renaming it.

While it sounds cool - I can see way too many problems trusting that method in my library. I would rather oversee everything manually and ensure it's correct the first (and ONLY) time.

VP

[connersw]

If you are ripping something through MC, the Folder and Filename rules are already in place and work well.  I'm referring to downloads where the basic tags are in place; they just may not be as complete or formatted as you would like them.  Still, enough to set up basic folder paths and filenames.  You could still use Rename, Move & Copy to tidy something up, but 99% of the time, it would do it automatically and save you the trouble.

I envision this as an option that you could turn off or on.  A checkbox with "Keep existing folder and filenames" or "Use File Location Folder and Filename rules for imported folders."  There are other media management programs that do this already.