Looking for ideas how to sort my mp3 collection please

[Cov]

I have collected so many mp3 files that I would like to sort out the big mess on my HDD now.
I wonder what you think would be a nice way to sort them possibly.

For example ...


1. A to Z ...

Alanis Morissette
Alphaville
Amy Whinehouse
.
.
.
Spargo
Steve Wonder
Tanya Stephens
ect


2. By genre ...

Pop
Raggae
Meditation
Hip Hop
Jazz
Blues
Soundtracks
R & B
Instrumental
World


3. By country / language ...

English
Africa
Japan
France
Spain
Italy
German
Indonesia
Philippins
Miscellaneous



Besides this, when I look for a modern program that helps with indexing / tagging ... google comes up with something called "file / mp3 sorter" on many different websites .... that's a little strange.

Has anyone any experience with this one ?


Thanks in advance.

[peterb]

If the mp3 files are tagged, then they can be sorted by anything that can read the tags - the ipod for example only uses id3 tags - the files are randomly named.

For filing I use a convention artist/album/track - but I use the id3 tags for display.

I use Amarok linked to a Mysql database to give data on playtimes, favourites etc) but Amarok is a linux program.

Itunes allows you to sort files on the id3 tag data.

[Trash Man]

I like itunes, nice and swish with all the coverart.

[aidanjt]

If the mp3 files are tagged, then they can be sorted by anything that can read the tags - the ipod for example only uses id3 tags - the files are randomly named.

For filing I use a convention artist/album/track - but I use the id3 tags for display.

I use Amarok linked to a Mysql database to give data on playtimes, favourites etc) but Amarok is a linux program.

Itunes allows you to sort files on the id3 tag data.

There's a Windows port of Amarok, but it isn't as well polished.

[Twigman]

Winamp allows you to search easily. I like it.

[CaptainCrash]

foobar2000 will handle just about anything to do with audio files on a PC that you could ever imagine, and then some more besides.

It takes a while getting to grips with its full capabilities, but if you're willing to make the effort it will repay you in spades. If you have a huge music collection, you'll soon wonder how you ever managed without it.

[format]

I just have Artist/Album/Songs.

Artwork is usually stored as a jpeg in the album folder.

[james_d]

Mediamonkey is great for sorting out a huge collection. Once it's scanned your library it has various filters under 'files to edit' so you can quickly see which tracks need attention.

Auto-tag from amazon works well, and auto-rename from tags will get the file names looking right once the tags are in order.

[oldskooladdict]

I don't really go in for commercial music in the whole, it tends to be music where labels is important - drum n bass, oldskool etc, so I use the following:

Artist - Track Title - Record Label.mp3

As a file name convention.

Then I use a freeware app called MP3 Tag which reads the file names based on the convention above and applies it to the ID3 tags for the files - so they are read on my mp3 player correctly.

I can find tracks very quickly either manually or using the vista search, it seems to work really well.

I tried many other ways - grouping by label, artist, style etc - but it was a bit of a nightmare!

[2Cold Scorpio]

I've always filed my music like how WMP does by default: by artist, then by album as sub-groups. I use this setup even when filing mym usic manually. It just makes the most logical sense to me. This is the actual file structure, mind you.

For each song's file name, I keep it simple: Track Number Track Title (example: 02 Master of Puppets.wma -or MP3 or FLAC, whichever). The meta-tagging (either done by WMP or I put it in manually) takes care of artist name and album title (using Tile view in XP conveniently displays these), as well as year and genre for player and mouse-over display.

Frankly, I don't use the Library function in any player, WMA included (which is my main player); I just keep an explorer window open to my music directory and go through it manually. To me, its faster (since I know where everything is anyways). I guess I'm just a bit old fashioned. I rarely even use playlists except for albums I want to play all at once (and this is usually reserved for video game soundtracks like Final Fantasy VI or XII or something).

[Skinleech]

On my XBMC Xboxes I have them listed like so:

Artist\Year - Album name\Track number - Track title

All files are properly tagged thanks to Tag & Rename, as well as having all the artwork.

[shaithis]

Get hold of "Tag & Rename", it allows you to easily add ID3 tags and rename your music files based on the criteria you set. It will search multiple amazon sites (among others) for track listings and cover art.

Personally, I like the structure:

Artist\Album\nn - Artist - Album - Track.mp3

[Cov]

Hi thanks for all your answers.

Well I have found the following method as suitable for me now:

1. Comlete Albums --> Artist --> *Year* *Titel of Album* --> *Track No* *Track Title*
Example ........................ Christina Milian --> 2004 That's about time --> 02 Dip it low

2. Compilations.... --> same as above

3. Oldies .............--> (the 50s & 60s & 70s & 80s) ... same as above

4. Foreign ...........--> Africa
.........................--> Germany
.........................--> Japan
.........................--> China
.........................--> Philippines
.........................--> Indonesia
.........................--> France
.........................--> Spain
.........................--> Italy

5. Instrumental ... --> Techno
......................... --> Meditation
......................... ect ect

6. Jazz ............... --> same as above


What do you think ?

[Zadock]

Mediamonkey is great for sorting out a huge collection. Once it's scanned your library it has various filters under 'files to edit' so you can quickly see which tracks need attention.

Auto-tag from amazon works well, and auto-rename from tags will get the file names looking right once the tags are in order.

Another vote for media monkey here! Not only does it do the above but you can also standardise your entire library in a few clicks e.g. the tag formate e.g. Artist:album:song or song: artist: album etc etc

You can change the file type Ogg, MP3, WMA, FLAC... pretty much every format available, the bit rate.

and it will remove duplicate files.

Has a nice cross fade mode for continuous music and has a DJ mode where it becomes full screen with a variety of options as to what controls are available which is good if your having a party

[crofty83]

Another vote here for Tag & Rename. The best i've used so far

[MaddAussie]

if you want to auto tag things (and sort the physically on your hard drive) look at MetatOGGer its a great little app (even if its french )