For at least 30 years I have collected, collated and organised my music library resulting in about 300 GB.
I started with Musicmatch and the iTunes. This was written as a general guide before moving to Musicbee.
1. The first requirement is to name your folders and track filenames correctly because if you change them later that upsets the links to that music file.
2. You should have a hierarchical organisation. e.g. Classic Rock > Rolling Stones Albums > Individual Albums + Miscellaneous Singles.
3. Track names should be Artist - Title. It’s amazing how easy it is to get confused if you only have the track number and title. I’m pedantic and all track names follow the same format down to removing underscores, including capitals etc. CD’s usually only tag by track number and song title.
4. Once you have your music files organized then you can approach your music manager. Enter all the information you have available. Title, artist, album are necessities but year, track #, bit rate will help you later. This should be done automatically but often you’ll have to edit the information for the correct format.
5. Use a music manager that allows SMART playlists. This will allow your playlists to be dynamic and forever transferable.
Musicbee actually stores your smart list criteria in a file.
6. The next step is to get smart. Classifying your music is the tricky bit. Genre just doesn’t cut it except for clear cases like classical, reggae or country etc. There are too many variants of rock, jazz and blues etc. And what about energy ? How do you choose easy listening, upbeat, party dance etc. with just one genre description in the genre field ?
7. I use a music field that is permanent. For example “rating” only resides locally and is not transferable. I use the music field “comments” and I place data in that field and then use that for searches and the creation of playlists, by using the search function alone. I use a shorthand notation to list a comprehensive series of elements describing the music sound. It’s an open ended system where more is better so to speak.
I would start with something simple that describes genre, style, rating and energy.
8. I can pull up the most obscure playlist at a moments notice, not by a named playlist but by searching on one or a number of parameters. It’s all because I have rated and described my music as I listened to it.
9. I started with the ‘$’ symbol as a measure of popularity. $ = good, $$ = very good, $$$= hit , ^ excellent, @ party, _ easy listening ~ instrumental
Now, I have expanded information to major instruments, ethnicity, language and dance types. For example (cl) is clarinet, =de is for German, {bn} is for bossa nova etc.
Rammstein - Du haust Mich, |||=de.me^^^.m@`.vm.$$$ deutsch, male vocal, Europen metal, metal party.
Tina Turner - Nutbush ||.sm^.d@`.fu^^^.vf`.$$$ female vocal, funky, motown, disco party
Beach Boys - Do it again |.su^^^.u@^.vm.$$$ male vocal, surf music, surf party
Richard Wagner - Ride of the Valkyries !~oc^^^.op.$$$ [c] powerful, instrumental, orchestral, opera
Kenny Rogers - Gambler _|.cw^.cr^.vm.$$$ male vocal, country, crooner
ABBA - Waterloo ||.rp^
[email protected].$$$ female vocal, rock/pop, pop dance
Alter Ego - Why Not ~||.e@^.ee^.tr^^.al.hp^$$ instrumental, electronic rock/dance, trance, hip hop
Black Sabbath - Electric Funeral |||.ps^.sp.gg.mh^.vm.$$$ male vocal, psychedelic, guitar riffs, heavy metal
Topic: Organising Your Music Library (Read 7396 times)