How to organize music files ? - Please suggest.

[ukjeyaraj]

I have my collection of audio songs, most of them in MP3 format. Recently started my collection in FLAC format and it grows very fast.

I like to have all possible info about the song(singers, composer, year of release, actors etc) as much accurate as possible. Until now I am using ID3V2 tag for the same.

All audio files are currently stored in language wise different folders. All files(except western) are named <moviename>-<Song>.mp3. Files of western songs are named <Artist>-<AlbumName>-<Song>.mp3

I am planning to add album art to my songs collection. It will be like CD Cover of the Album/movie(wherever available) for all the songs from the album/movie.

Now few queries

1) What is the best way to maintain album art in collection?
2) Instead of all songs (of a language) in one folder, should I keep one folder per album or movie?
3) Is embedding the album as part of audio file a good idea?
4) Currently the collection are played through PC / Zune 30GB player but soon planning for a PMP with flac and wma support. Will different players have different way of recognizing the album art?
5) Which is the better audio format (flac/wma/alac) in terms of usage with album art?

All your suggestions and tips will be of huge help.

 

[anm]

moviename is no different from album. So you can keep both western and Indian as artist-album-song-song#
It would be good if you keep albums in different folders.
What player are you using?
I am using itunes, and I can set cover art very easily. I THINK they are getting embedded inside the songs. I am using aiff.

 

[venkatcr]

I am also starting to learn and do this and let me mention what I have learnt.

1) What is the best way to maintain album art in collection?

I usually keep all things related to an album inside a sub directory. This includes the songs, CUE files, and album art. This I have learnt from EAC. I have also seen others maintain ALL album art in a single sub-directory. That may be easier to maintain.

2) Instead of all songs (of a language) in one folder, should I keep one folder per album or movie?

The paths I follow are as follows:

1. Music
1.2 Language
1.2.1 English
1.2.1.2 Genre / Singer / Group
1.2.1.2.1 Album

This way I can maintain the files quiet well during ripping. When you use an UI such as Foobar / J River, they don't care where your files are as they do their own indexing.

3) Is embedding the album as part of audio file a good idea?

I don't understand this question.

4) Currently the collection are played through PC / Zune 30GB player but soon planning for a PMP with flac and wma support. Will different players have different way of recognizing the album art?

With most applications you can set a path for it to follow for album art. This is the reason why keeping all album art in one sub-directory is an advantage. What I usually do is to find out where the application stores the album art it downloads and then save all album arts there. That way when you refresh the particular album within the application, it will find it easy to get the album art.

5) Which is the better audio format (flac/wma/alac) in terms of usage with album art?

Does not make any difference at all. It depends more on the application used.

Cheers

 

[anm]

embedding album art in a song will make each song file large. If there are 10 songs in an album, the same file is copied 10 times, so more space used.
OTOH, even if you move your songs around in different albums, your album art stays with the song.

 

[TaureanBull]

I am going through the same process as you are. I am generally following the same lines as told by venkatcr.

This album art thing is very addictive. Your music storage will never be same once you get into it.

I use MediaMonkey to tag my files. Its very user friendly. The best feature I like is that you can Auto Tag from Web! It gets all the info from web (mainly from Amazon so it works for Western Music well) and tags to your files including Album Art. :yahoo: But you get to be careful as sometimes there are several options from web. So match the correct album.

I store album arts downloaded from various sources in the folder of the Artist in which all his album's are stored. Sometimes if I dont like the Auto Tag album art, I manually change it to my liking. Sometimes I even put different for songs.

If I understand your question correctly, the idea of album art is good in case you use laptop for playing files. Else you wont see the album art on AVR/Amp display. Nevertheless, you can still keep it for your interest sake.

You can use any format of choice.

However, I would like to know if I can auto tag the song lyrics? Anyone who has tried this?

embedding album art in a song will make each song file large. If there are 10 songs in an album, the same file is copied 10 times, so more space used.
OTOH, even if you move your songs around in different albums, your album art stays with the song.

I dont think so. In that case, my disk would have run out of space. Can not imagine 350MB for a 35 MB file. As it is, I overwrite the files after tagging. I dont keep duplicate files if thats what you meant. IMHO, only addition to disk space should be the Album Art Size plus a little bit more. Normally 1-2 MBs at the most. Correct me If my understanding is wrong.

 

[anm]

IF you embed album art into each song - which is possible for some file formats like aiff, then each song will have album art embedded and hence extra space for the art, for each song. So again, if you have 10 songs in an album, and you embed art in each song, the art file is copied into each song. 10 copies of art are maintained, one for each song.

quote from Computer Audiophile CD Ripping Strategy and Methodology | Computer Audiophile

Embedded means the music file itself stores all the metadata such as track names, artists names, album name, and album art. This is by far the preferred way to store metadata when ripping CDs. The other way metadata is stored is by associating this data with certain files, albums, and artists and keeping the information in a separate database or file. An example of this concept can be illustrated using iTunes. iTunes is capable of both embedding metadata and associating metadata with files.

Embedding art is addictive, specially if you use appletv. When you use appletv, and ipod touch/ iphone as a remote, it shows the album art on ipod/ iphone as well. If I turn my projector on, then it also appears on the screen.

 

[shailenderb]

You can also use MP3Tag, a free software for organising your MP3 and Flac files. It can embed album art, remove copyright info, etc. Album art is normally in some KBs and does not occupy much of extra space (unless u go in for very high res scan). I haven't tried other formats on this, but it does not support wav / LPCM files.

Shailender

 

[ukjeyaraj]

Thanks for all those who gave inputs.

With the input I got uptil now, few things I intend to do are like

For Indian Movie Songs
1) Create one folder for each movie
2) Add All songs of the movie into that album
3) Keep the Album Art Image in the same folder

Now how to connect the album art with all songs in the folder by one shot (if it is possible)

Can I have Album Art for flac files, if so what is the editor required? I have winamp and media monkey

 

[TaureanBull]

Thanks for all those who gave inputs.

With the input I got uptil now, few things I intend to do are like

For Indian Movie Songs
1) Create one folder for each movie
2) Add All songs of the movie into that album
3) Keep the Album Art Image in the same folder

Now how to connect the album art with all songs in the folder by one shot (if it is possible)

Can I have Album Art for flac files, if so what is the editor required? I have winamp and media monkey

There are two options:-

Option 1 : When you want Album Art to be added automatically

Load all the songs of desired folder in media monkey. Select all>right click>auto tag from web. Then auto tag in new window.

Option 2 : When you want your own pic as Album Art.

Do the same as above till right click. Then select properties>album art and load your pic. You can add same album art for many songs or different for songs depending on the number of songs you select.


Guys, anyone on auto tagging of Lyrics in FLACs?

 

[sam9s]

I use MP3tag and Album Art Downloader to do what I need, yes its not automated as one would like but I have tried many automated applications including media monkey, but nothing makes the collection tagging as neat as the combination of the above two ...... and it takes just one dedicated night to tag all your music collection. Much better than banging your head to find a complete automated solution.

 

[TaureanBull]

I use MP3tag and Album Art Downloader to do what I need, yes its not automated as one would like but I have tried many automated applications including media monkey, but nothing makes the collection tagging as neat as the combination of the above two ...... and it takes just one dedicated night to tag all your music collection. Much better than banging your head to find a complete automated solution.

I dont agree with this. I can not spend all night changing track numbers, adding album info to thousands of songs. I use auto function to tag one entire album at one go. :yahoo:

But of course its a personal choice. I am sure you enjoy doing that, so do I.

 

[anm]

I think this has to be done over a period of time if you have a large collection already on hdd - let's say 2-3 albums a day, while you are listening to them. If you are ripping, then you can either do it as soon as you rip, or follow previous suggestion.

 

[Thad E Ginathom]

mp3tag --- Windows only

EDIT: was just looking at MusicBrainz Picard --- but not sure that my brainz is big enough to cope with it :lol:

EDIT again... EasyTAG.

 

[sam9s]

I dont agree with this. I can not spend all night changing track numbers, adding album info to thousands of songs. I use auto function to tag one entire album at one go. :yahoo:

But of course its a personal choice. I am sure you enjoy doing that, so do I.

Well I started doing this when my collection had not reached thousand , so I guess I am ok with this. Yes if you keep accumulating MP3/FLACS from all sources, without bothering to organize them and then suddenly one day feel the need to do so, manual updating would obviously sound tiring. For me the moment I add 20-30 songs in my collection I sit for an hour or so and update there information, using the applications I listed above ...... . I never let my collection reach a number where I start feeling to have an automated solution ...

 

[TaureanBull]

mp3tag --- Windows only

EDIT: was just looking at MusicBrainz Picard --- but not sure that my brainz is big enough to cope with it :lol:

EDIT again... EasyTAG.

Did you try mediamonkey?

 

[arunj]

I use MP3tag and Album Art Downloader to do what I need, yes its not automated as one would like but I have tried many automated applications including media monkey, but nothing makes the collection tagging as neat as the combination of the above two ...... and it takes just one dedicated night to tag all your music collection. Much better than banging your head to find a complete automated solution.

I use MP3Tag and iTunes to organise my collection. As long as the information is entered properly, iTunes will arrange it in the Artist>Album>Song directory structure.

Thanks for the info on Album Art Downloader; my days of manually downloading them off albumart.com is hopefully over!

Cheers,
Arun.

 

[Thad E Ginathom]

Did you try mediamonkey?

To be honest, I never gave too much attention to my music files before, always, for instance, preferring simple directory/file-name order (or disorder!) to any sort of library-based software. Just started looking at this stuff.

 

[ukjeyaraj]

Is there any website available for "autotag from web" of Indian movie songs. Also Is there any website having good collection of album art for Indian movie albums. I am interested in Tamil and Hindi Movies

 

[TaureanBull]

I have been looking for sites myself for Indian Songs Album Arts. But so far I have not found anyone with a consolidated list. Till now I just search with titles in Google-Image and select the best one as album art.

 

[spirovious]

This link may be useful-
Top 10 Free Programs to make the most out of your MP3 Collection