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General => General Discussions => Topic started by: urfausto on November 22, 2019, 05:31:33 PM

Title: music library - main folders organization
Post by: urfausto on November 22, 2019, 05:31:33 PM
how do you organize your library folders: directly by artist or by genre first?
Title: Re: music library - main folders organization
Post by: psychoadept on November 22, 2019, 05:51:01 PM
There have been some other discussions about this:

https://getmusicbee.com/forum/index.php?topic=14088.0
Title: Re: music library - main folders organization
Post by: urfausto on November 22, 2019, 08:29:06 PM
ok thanks.
i'm undecided if use one or the other, i think i will have to check the genre tagging managment whitin musicbee because i have much stuff that's quite borderline with genres (like trip-hop, jazz-hop, dream-rap or something like these). i kinda set my personal state about genres and don't always agree with an official tag.
Title: Re: music library - main folders organization
Post by: psychoadept on November 22, 2019, 09:33:23 PM
One useful feature MusicBee offers in that regard is the configurable "genre category" that you can use to group genes
Title: Re: music library - main folders organization
Post by: urfausto on November 23, 2019, 03:44:36 PM
One useful feature MusicBee offers in that regard is the configurable "genre category" that you can use to group genes

how do u configure such fuctionality? and one more question regarding this: can you configure the folder name view too?
Title: Re: music library - main folders organization
Post by: psychoadept on November 23, 2019, 05:00:27 PM
Genre Categories: https://musicbee.fandom.com/wiki/Tags_Preferences

Sorry, I don't know what you mean by folder name view.
Title: Re: music library - main folders organization
Post by: urfausto on November 24, 2019, 10:04:22 AM
awesome.

in the left panel there is a grouping option named 'Folder Name' and it organises the list by folders in which album are placed.
Title: Re: music library - main folders organization
Post by: urfausto on November 24, 2019, 10:49:30 PM
ok i found it myself lol: you can add the little file explorer box below and right click to rename folders and so on... wow it's really packed full of options and so it is quite hard to manage hehe...
Title: Re: music library - main folders organization
Post by: urfausto on November 30, 2019, 12:41:29 PM
anyway i think i'm decided to resort back to the artist name folder sort fashion, because in a case i have some releases which are classical music collection with more different key instrument based sub-collections/directories inside, then as from other forum threads there is case of artists with different genres per album.

or is it better to have just the album folders and skip artist folder without getting too much confusion? i would have anyway a huge amount of them in my library.
so i could still sort genre with directly album folders in them and rename the folders to artist-album-year or something alike.


i will use genre from inside MB because it's the best choice.
and to have less confusion i will put album folders inside in folders by artist name (eventually it doesn't change much to have artist folders or not, just slightly better organization)

now i have some problems:

1) where do i put compilations? do i put them in various artist folder hence having completely different genres and artists in one folder only or do i put them in folders by genre generating folders that are not by artist?

2) how do i batch modify tags of multiple albums shown inside an upper category sorting within MB?

3) where do i put single tracks and how are they managed within MB. if i put them in the main artist folder how is the structure viewed by MB if my sorting option is 'every album is inside its folder'
Title: Re: music library - main folders organization
Post by: psychoadept on November 30, 2019, 02:16:34 PM
A lot of this you'll have to figure out based on your own preferences. I'll just recommend that you not over think file organization. MusicBee can handle things like genre "folders" internally, with a column browser or filters or whatever makes sense to you.

For files, do something that's easy to maintain, easy to navigate, and doesn't take a lot of manual input. The default album artist/album/track is a good start. I add first letter folders to keep things from getting too cluttered, except for compilations and soundtracks which get their own folders based on their unique album artist value (set automatically by Picard). Single tracks go in the root album artist folder (an exception based on Track Count = 1). If you're using the album-per-folder option, you could just as easily put them in a "Singles" folder or something like that. MusicBee would then treat them as one group.

If it's really important to you to use genre in the file structure, think about how you organize them as physical media. Maybe you could use a custom tag like "album genre" to make multi-genre albums easier to handle. (You might also be able to do this with a virtual tag, setting a different
value based on album artist for compilations.)

My organization template uses a fair number of exceptions and virtual tags to handle special cases, but generally once an album is run through Picard and organized, it never moves again no matter what I retag or reorganize in MusicBee.
Title: Re: music library - main folders organization
Post by: urfausto on November 30, 2019, 07:02:22 PM
compilations and soundtracks which get their own folders based on their unique album artist value (set automatically by Picard).
ok this answer my 1 point, i will put them too aside artists main folders.

Single tracks go in the root album artist folder (an exception based on Track Count = 1). If you're using the album-per-folder option, you could just as easily put them in a "Singles" folder or something like that. MusicBee would then treat them as one group.
this answers my 3 point, i think i will leave them in the main artist folder because i have already other folders called singles with other folders in it, so it's fine like this.

If it's really important to you to use genre in the file structure, think about how you organize them as physical media. Maybe you could use a custom tag like "album genre" to make multi-genre albums easier to handle.
i guess the standard genre tag is ok, what's different with an album genre tag? think i don't have many multi-genre albums or i can just put my own in the genre tag already by modifying it with right click.

(You might also be able to do this with a virtual tag, setting a different
value based on album artist for compilations.)
how is album artist tag retrieved or managed in picard and mbee?


the point eventually is how do i retag all this library if i have many possible variations like artist/singles & ep/blabla single/track x or artist/x collection/cd1/symphonies, etc etc. i can't move everything! :-X  :-X

thanks a lot for your advices!
Title: Re: music library - main folders organization
Post by: psychoadept on November 30, 2019, 09:36:40 PM
i guess the standard genre tag is ok, what's different with an album genre tag? think i don't have many multi-genre albums or i can just put my own in the genre tag already by modifying it with right click.

If you're sure you're only going to have one genre tag per album, you have a relatively small set of genres (like <25), and you're not going to change your mind later and do something with multiple genres and/or genre categories then by all means stick with the main genre tag. I was thinking of it similar to album artist, where you need a single value for the whole unit rather than identifying each track specifically.

Quote

how is album artist tag retrieved or managed in picard and mbee?

I'm not sure what you mean. Either Picard or MusicBee's auto tag by album feature will set a single album artist for the whole album (unless you've messed with the configuration so that they don't).

Quote
the point eventually is how do i retag all this library if i have many possible variations like artist/singles & ep/blabla single/track x or artist/x collection/cd1/symphonies, etc etc. i can't move everything! :-X  :-X

Exactly why I recommend staying away from genre for file organization, it gets too complicated very quickly. What do you do when one artist performs in multiple genres, let alone when you have compilations and such? If I wanted to find my files by k.d. lang, I wouldn't know whether to look under Country or Pop or Jazz, and that still wouldn't find the compilations. Whereas within MusicBee I can easily find them all in seconds without caring how they're organized.

If you set up a basic template you're happy with, then add exceptions for singles, eps, multiple discs, or whatever you want done a little differently, once you're happy with the results you can walk away and let MusicBee handle the details. (Although I am assuming you're not often changing the album or artist tags on a track.)

Personally I just use Disc-Track# for multiple discs, which gives you 1-xx and 2-xx, etc, in the same folder - no need for exceptions. I know some people like to have separate folders for albums, eps, etc which I don't worry about but seems logical enough if you know what you're looking for. For me it's all about how quickly I can find the files I'm looking for, if I honestly have to find them the hard way rather than with MusicBee (which rarely happens).

Title: Re: music library - main folders organization
Post by: urfausto on December 02, 2019, 01:15:26 PM
how is album artist tag retrieved or managed in picard and mbee?

I'm not sure what you mean. Either Picard or MusicBee's auto tag by album feature will set a single album artist for the whole album (unless you've messed with the configuration so that they don't).

ok so this album artist tag is a very popular one and it is always automatically managed depending on the tagged release, if i get this right.


Exactly why I recommend staying away from genre for file organization, it gets too complicated very quickly. What do you do when one artist performs in multiple genres, let alone when you have compilations and such? If I wanted to find my files by k.d. lang, I wouldn't know whether to look under Country or Pop or Jazz, and that still wouldn't find the compilations. Whereas within MusicBee I can easily find them all in seconds without caring how they're organized.

If you set up a basic template you're happy with, then add exceptions for singles, eps, multiple discs, or whatever you want done a little differently, once you're happy with the results you can walk away and let MusicBee handle the details. (Although I am assuming you're not often changing the album or artist tags on a track.)

Personally I just use Disc-Track# for multiple discs, which gives you 1-xx and 2-xx, etc, in the same folder - no need for exceptions. I know some people like to have separate folders for albums, eps, etc which I don't worry about but seems logical enough if you know what you're looking for. For me it's all about how quickly I can find the files I'm looking for, if I honestly have to find them the hard way rather than with MusicBee (which rarely happens).

perfect, the 1 most important thing for me is to tag everything then i can even let the folders unchanged because i don't really care about a perfect storaging i'm fine with the mb's view and messy folders as long as they serve the container purpose, even because mb for what i understand doesn't care about one folder cotaining another folder right? like:

-artist x
-singles, albums, ep
-album y
-track z
Title: Re: music library - main folders organization
Post by: urfausto on December 02, 2019, 01:26:24 PM
wait a second! i can't even think of moving/copying folders because i have in many cases some files which are not actually managed by mb such as artworks, pdfs, etc. so i'm really fine with actual folder structure and won't mind about names of the folders.
Title: Re: music library - main folders organization
Post by: psychoadept on December 02, 2019, 02:27:59 PM
wait a second! i can't even think of moving/copying folders because i have in many cases some files which are not actually managed by mb such as artworks, pdfs, etc. so i'm really fine with actual folder structure and won't mind about names of the folders.

Just use the "also move remaining non-media files" option and those files should move with the rest of the album
Title: Re: music library - main folders organization
Post by: urfausto on December 02, 2019, 04:48:21 PM
wait a second! i can't even think of moving/copying folders because i have in many cases some files which are not actually managed by mb such as artworks, pdfs, etc. so i'm really fine with actual folder structure and won't mind about names of the folders.

Just use the "also move remaining non-media files" option and those files should move with the rest of the album
oh right.

what happens when u have some albums which are multiple cds in one folder and multiple cds in separated folders? i guess that's my greatest problem, that folders can be quite messy but all songs of all albums are every and each in their respective folder or at least so should be.
Title: Re: music library - main folders organization
Post by: psychoadept on December 02, 2019, 07:35:36 PM
I suggest monitoring what happens with one or two of those and adapting accordingly. And have backups in case something goes haywire.
Title: Re: music library - main folders organization
Post by: urfausto on December 02, 2019, 08:41:47 PM
k, thanks again.
Title: Re: music library - main folders organization
Post by: Foliant on January 05, 2021, 10:14:55 AM
A lot of this you'll have to figure out based on your own preferences. I'll just recommend that you not over think file organization. MusicBee can handle things like genre "folders" internally, with a column browser or filters or whatever makes sense to you.

For files, do something that's easy to maintain, easy to navigate, and doesn't take a lot of manual input. The default album artist/album/track is a good start. I add first letter folders to keep things from getting too cluttered, except for compilations and soundtracks which get their own folders based on their unique album artist value (set automatically by Picard). Single tracks go in the root album artist folder (an exception based on Track Count = 1). If you're using the album-per-folder option, you could just as easily put them in a "Singles" folder or something like that. MusicBee would then treat them as one group.

If it's really important to you to use genre in the file structure, think about how you organize them as physical media. Maybe you could use a custom tag like "album genre" to make multi-genre albums easier to handle. (You might also be able to do this with a virtual tag, setting a different
value based on album artist for compilations.)

My organization template uses a fair number of exceptions and virtual tags to handle special cases, but generally once an album is run through Picard and organized, it never moves again no matter what I retag or reorganize in MusicBee.

please tell me what needs to be written in the organization template so that I also have performers in
folders by letters of the alphabet, and inside Artist - album - title?
Title: Re: music library - main folders organization
Post by: frankz on January 05, 2021, 01:19:04 PM
please tell me what needs to be written in the organization template so that I also have performers in
folders by letters of the alphabet, and inside Artist - album - title?
https://musicbee.fandom.com/wiki/Functions#Left_.2F_Right
Title: Re: music library - main folders organization
Post by: Foliant on January 05, 2021, 06:10:28 PM
please tell me what needs to be written in the organization template so that I also have performers in
folders by letters of the alphabet, and inside Artist - album - title?
https://musicbee.fandom.com/wiki/Functions#Left_.2F_Right

Thank you, very helpful! I have one more question:

given structure, grouped by first letter
$ Group (<Artist>, 1) \ <Artist> \ <Artist> - <Year> - <Album> \ <Track No.> <Name> is used for me only for one category of the genre.
For everyone else, I would like to use without grouping <Artist> \ <Artist> - <Year> - <Album> \ <Track #> <Name>.

That is, I select an album - send - move to an organized folder - select the desired genre category, but at the top, in the line "template for specifying names and files", there is always the first template (with grouping). And every time, no matter what category of genre (folder) I choose, everything is ordered with grouping. Is there a way in which I could set an exception for multiple folders along the path of their location, so that MB knows when to group and when not? The current exclusions in the organizer window only work for moved files.
Title: Re: music library - main folders organization
Post by: frankz on January 06, 2021, 04:26:51 AM
Thank you, very helpful! I have one more question:

given structure, grouped by first letter
$ Group (<Artist>, 1) \ <Artist> \ <Artist> - <Year> - <Album> \ <Track No.> <Name> is used for me only for one category of the genre.
For everyone else, I would like to use without grouping <Artist> \ <Artist> - <Year> - <Album> \ <Track #> <Name>.

That is, I select an album - send - move to an organized folder - select the desired genre category, but at the top, in the line "template for specifying names and files", there is always the first template (with grouping). And every time, no matter what category of genre (folder) I choose, everything is ordered with grouping. Is there a way in which I could set an exception for multiple folders along the path of their location, so that MB knows when to group and when not? The current exclusions in the organizer window only work for moved files.

I'm going to make a suggestion here, and please don't take this the wrong way.

It may be that what you want to do is too complicated for you to achieve with the limited skill set you have at this early stage in your use of MusicBee.  And, rather than focusing on getting it done by asking for someone to guide you through every single step of the process, it would be more beneficial to you in the long run to focus on increasing your skill set by reading the available materials and doing things manually in the meantime.  Reading about the different functions and tools and experimenting with them until you are able to develop your own methods for achieving your goals.

In other words, right now you're probably better off leaving your files arranged as they are now, and gradually folder by folder or as you add new files and learn more about MusicBee, working out a process.  It will go a lot better that way versus having us come up with a wholesale solution that you can immediately apply to all of your files.

I still don't use automatic organization because I have so many "edge cases" that would require exceptions to the rules that it would basically make them not rules.  I've got a series of "Move to Organized Folder" templates, and even so every once in a while it comes up that one of those isn't right and I have to do something new.  It's just the way life is that sometimes it's easier in the end to do things manually to get them the way you want them.
Title: Re: music library - main folders organization
Post by: Foliant on January 06, 2021, 05:55:38 AM
OK, I understand your hints, I ask too many questions that have no answers. However, I read the old threads before asking a question.
Title: Re: music library - main folders organization
Post by: frankz on January 06, 2021, 06:02:55 AM
OK, I understand your hints, I ask too many questions that have no answers. However, I read the old threads before asking a question.
It's not that you ask so many questions.  Questions are fine. The problem is that these issues are very specific to you and your process, and that it is ultimately for you to decide what the best process and procedure is for this complicated folder organization system you seem to be set on keeping.

At some point you have to decide whether doing this automatically is more important to you or whether maintaining this very specialized and specific method of file organization is more important to you and act accordingly. I don't think you can do both.

You don't need all these levels of folders with MusicBee. In MusicBee, you click a Genre Category or Genre and all of the matching songs are there regardless of what folder they're in. They can all be in one giant folder. It doesn't matter.  I'll never understand why people open the most functional and powerful library manager on the planet and immediately want to use it to maintain a rigid system of file-system folder management. Of course, it can do that too, because it can do practically everything.  But, if you want to do that, it's going to be a lot of work.  It's up to you to decide if maintaining your folder structure is worth that amount of work.

Just some friendly advice from someone who used to think I'd lose track of all my files if they weren't named Artist - Album - TrackNo - Title until I unlocked the true power of MusicBee.
Title: Re: music library - main folders organization
Post by: Foliant on January 06, 2021, 06:25:28 AM
it's just about fears and habits. Habit is nothing, I have already abandoned many nested genres. But there is a concern that after placing all the files in one folder, I will not be able to find anything without musicbee.

Another problem is tags. I have 40,000 tracks (not all of them I need, I plan to rethink my methods of collecting music and get rid of what is not fun) but a smaller part of them with tags. This is a very long job. Even if you use MusicBee tools or other tagging services, it is very long, because there are a lot of wrong genre tags on MusicBrain, Discogos. Everything needs to be manually entered, I browse my 2 main sites, where I get information about tags.

On top of that, this tag confusion in MusicBee is splitting the same album apart. It is very uncomfortable. See when the album Album 1 contains tracks from 3-10, and elsewhere the remaining 1-2 tracks.
The advantage of storing in one folder is that it doesn't matter what subgenre the artist has. If he's in progressive metal, then he has something to do with it for sure.
Title: Re: music library - main folders organization
Post by: frankz on January 06, 2021, 06:34:53 AM
Like I said, cling to how you have things and that's fine. MB will deal with your files wherever they are just fine.  It'll read in everything you tell it to and present it as you desire.

But it's going to be very difficult to get it done automatically going forward if that's your goal.  That's the thing you're going to have to trial-and-error and work at.
Title: Re: music library - main folders organization
Post by: hiccup on January 06, 2021, 07:31:42 AM
On top of that, this tag confusion in MusicBee is splitting the same album apart.

++2 for the responses Frankz has given in this thread.

To add to all that wisdom… it's very simple to prevent albums getting split up, and it is amazing to me how many users still seem to struggle with it:
Look at: Preferences > Sorting/Grouping > Grouping > 'the following fields define an album'.
All you have to do is make sure the songs in your albums have the same <Album Artist> and <Album> tag. Then your albums will not be split up.

The only complication (and perhaps the reason why users struggle with it so often) can be that MusicBee will display an Album Artist even when the tag in reality is empty.
So that could mislead you to think you have set your Album Artist tags, while in reality they are empty and they need some attention.
(nobody so far has been able to explain to me why it is useful that MusicBee does this)
Title: Re: music library - main folders organization
Post by: Foliant on January 06, 2021, 07:55:39 AM

Quote
Look at: Preferences > Sorting/Grouping > Grouping > 'the following fields define an album'.

thanks, I understand you. The problem is that not all tracks on an album contain the same information. I noticed that somewhere the year is not marked, somewhere the name of the album is missing. All this can be fixed if I had 100 albums, not thousands :)
Therefore, the file manager helps out from year to year. After all, it doesn't matter what tag, all the tracks on the album are in one place.

But it's time to change your habits, because MB is really fantastic!
Title: Re: music library - main folders organization
Post by: hiccup on January 06, 2021, 08:22:15 AM
The problem is that not all tracks on an album contain the same information.

This is a way to display all tracks that have an <Album> tag but not an <Album Artist> tag. (even when MB is misleadingly suggesting that tag is present)

Create a virtual tag 'No Album Artist'
Code
$IsNull(<Album>,,$IsNull(<Album Artist>,no album artist,))

Then in the left navigator panel create a filter:

(https://i.imgur.com/8gR32lW.png)
Title: Re: music library - main folders organization
Post by: Foliant on January 06, 2021, 12:12:57 PM
The problem is that not all tracks on an album contain the same information.

This is a way to display all tracks that have an <Album> tag but not an <Album Artist> tag. (even when MB is misleadingly suggesting that tag is present)

Create a virtual tag 'No Album Artist'
Code
$IsNull(<Album>,,$IsNull(<Album Artist>,no album artist,))

Then in the left navigator panel create a filter:

(https://i.imgur.com/8gR32lW.png)

Thank You!
Title: Re: music library - main folders organization
Post by: frankz on January 06, 2021, 12:53:29 PM
Please stop sending me private messages directing me to different threads and asking me to answer them.  I am not your personal customer service department.
Title: Re: music library - main folders organization
Post by: phred on January 06, 2021, 02:21:32 PM
Please stop sending me private messages directing me to different threads and asking me to answer them.  I am not your personal customer service department.
I assume this was directed at the person who posted last.

@Foliant- if you have a question about something on a different thread, please post your question, publicly, on that thread. If someone knows the answer, they will reply.
Title: Re: music library - main folders organization
Post by: frankz on January 06, 2021, 02:28:19 PM
I assume this was directed at the person who posted last.

@Foliant- if you have a question about something on a different thread, please post your question, publicly, on that thread. If someone knows the answer, they will reply.
Yes, bad habit of not quoting a post if directly precedes my reply.  It was a rule on some board I used to visit I guess.
Title: Re: music library - main folders organization
Post by: hiccup on January 06, 2021, 03:43:59 PM
Yes, bad habit of not quoting a post if directly precedes my reply.  It was a rule on some board I used to visit I guess.
After half a glance I assumed it was directed at the OP of this thread.
It's tricky discussing things like this publicly on the forum.
Title: Re: music library - main folders organization
Post by: frankz on January 06, 2021, 03:55:51 PM
Yes, bad habit of not quoting a post if directly precedes my reply.  It was a rule on some board I used to visit I guess.
After half a glance I assumed it was directed at the OP of this thread.
It's tricky discussing things like this publicly on the forum.

I ignored it the first time it happened, but I woke up to another email notification today and didn't want to encourage further private interaction by engaging in the discussion privately.  I probably have less couth than I should.
Title: Re: music library - main folders organization
Post by: phred on January 06, 2021, 03:59:05 PM
The best reason for discussing issues publicly is that others who are experiencing similar issues can follow the thread and possible get resolution. Private "solutions' help no one other than the person sending the PM. We're all trying to help one another here and requesting help privately is somewhat selfish.
Title: Re: music library - main folders organization
Post by: hiccup on January 06, 2021, 04:15:24 PM
The best reason for discussing issues publicly is that others who are experiencing similar issues can follow the thread and possible get resolution.
I was not referring to discussing technical support issues, but to publicly discussing a beef.
Title: Re: music library - main folders organization
Post by: The Incredible Boom Boom on January 08, 2021, 12:53:41 PM
Another problem is tags. I have 40,000 tracks (not all of them I need, I plan to rethink my methods of collecting music and get rid of what is not fun) but a smaller part of them with tags. This is a very long job. Even if you use MusicBee tools or other tagging services, it is very long, because there are a lot of wrong genre tags on MusicBrain, Discogos. Everything needs to be manually entered, I browse my 2 main sites, where I get information about tags.

At the end of the day, if you want MB to organize your files in the semi-complex structure you wish to maintain, then all - each and every single one - of your music files needs to be tagged according to how you wish to implement that structure. Every file from every album will need to be consistent. MusicBee does not manage files by folders. It manages files by tags, as it should. If you wish to incorporate a particularly detailed directory structure within MusicBee, you're not going to be able to do it without MONTHS of correcting your tags.

Quote
The problem is that not all tracks on an album contain the same information. I noticed that somewhere the year is not marked, somewhere the name of the album is missing. All this can be fixed if I had 100 albums, not thousands

If you're not willing to fix these thousands of albums, then you won't have your desired structure within MusicBee and should stick with whatever file manager you were using before, because all the tracks on an album must contain the same information album-level information. MusicBee is a tag manager, not a file manager, and if your tags are all over the place, then it will display your files all over the place.

I proposed this in one of your threads, but the main issue here is you're jumping the gun. You need to get all the tags in all the thousands of your albums consistent and afterwards figure out how to have MusicBee organize them. You won't be able to do it backwards like you're wanting.
Title: Re: music library - main folders organization
Post by: MujikMusical on January 13, 2021, 02:46:43 AM
Another problem is tags. I have 40,000 tracks (not all of them I need, I plan to rethink my methods of collecting music and get rid of what is not fun) but a smaller part of them with tags. This is a very long job. Even if you use MusicBee tools or other tagging services, it is very long, because there are a lot of wrong genre tags on MusicBrain, Discogos. Everything needs to be manually entered, I browse my 2 main sites, where I get information about tags.

At the end of the day, if you want MB to organize your files in the semi-complex structure you wish to maintain, then all - each and every single one - of your music files needs to be tagged according to how you wish to implement that structure. Every file from every album will need to be consistent. MusicBee does not manage files by folders. It manages files by tags, as it should. If you wish to incorporate a particularly detailed directory structure within MusicBee, you're not going to be able to do it without MONTHS of correcting your tags.

Quote
The problem is that not all tracks on an album contain the same information. I noticed that somewhere the year is not marked, somewhere the name of the album is missing. All this can be fixed if I had 100 albums, not thousands

If you're not willing to fix these thousands of albums, then you won't have your desired structure within MusicBee and should stick with whatever file manager you were using before, because all the tracks on an album must contain the same information album-level information. MusicBee is a tag manager, not a file manager, and if your tags are all over the place, then it will display your files all over the place.

I proposed this in one of your threads, but the main issue here is you're jumping the gun. You need to get all the tags in all the thousands of your albums consistent and afterwards figure out how to have MusicBee organize them. You won't be able to do it backwards like you're wanting.
Very useful information, thank you. It really has an advantage when you are a member of the forum group because you will know how to handle things or situations when you encounter them in the long run.
Title: Re: music library - main folders organization
Post by: Languageservicesco. on September 03, 2023, 10:21:13 PM
Hi,

I am back on my regular search for a music manager and thought I would give MusicBee a go again. I came up with the same problem I have had before of albums being split up. Searching on the forum I found this thread. My question relates to this comment made above:

"If you're not willing to fix these thousands of albums, then you won't have your desired structure within MusicBee and should stick with whatever file manager you were using before, because all the tracks on an album must contain the same information album-level information. MusicBee is a tag manager, not a file manager, and if your tags are all over the place, then it will display your files all over the place."

I am wondering what the purpose is of the grouping setting "files for each album are organized in their own folder" if it isn't to get over this issue. Would someone be able to provide some clarification of this, as I am sure it would be useful for lots of newcomers to the program? I would add that I am having albums split up that are organized in their own folders and which have identical tags. I am using the setting mentioned above.
Title: Re: music library - main folders organization
Post by: Steven on September 04, 2023, 10:33:36 AM
yes that is the intention of the setting and should work
Title: Re: music library - main folders organization
Post by: The Incredible Boom Boom on October 14, 2023, 01:38:13 AM
I am wondering what the purpose is of the grouping setting "files for each album are organized in their own folder" if it isn't to get over this issue. Would someone be able to provide some clarification of this, as I am sure it would be useful for lots of newcomers to the program? I would add that I am having albums split up that are organized in their own folders and which have identical tags. I am using the setting mentioned above.

I don't utilize that setting, so I don't have a definitive answer.
Can you provide screenshots of your tags using the Tag Inspector?