New user- my adventures with MusicBee and questions regarding the library

[CrazyBaldhead]

Hi there- I've just started using MusicBee. I've been an iTunes user for years due to the fact that it's one of the few available music players that automatically copies files added to the library onto their own neatly organized folders. That specific function has always been vital to me as I have a huge constantly updating music collection that I've been building for years. I've always felt that iTunes had terrible playback quality though and was on the lookout for alternatives.
I was happy to discover (only yesterday) that MusicBee could serve as my new music player as it has the exact same library organizing function and have been hard at work configuring it.
Alas, I came to find out that some older .mp3 files that showed up with full track information on iTunes had no actual id3 tags for their titles- all related information was apparently written on the iTunes Music Library.xml files and conversion to id3 was not possible. To cut a long story short, I was able to import the .xml library file into MusicBee which made track information showable just like in iTunes. But just when I thought I was done, I found out that after importing the library file, MusicBee had taken to renaming all my files and moving them out of their folders onto the main one- probably due to me having the "auto-organize" setting on. I just did not expect that importing the library file would trigger a renaming of all existing files!
Needless to say, as the files were renamed, all non-id3 tagged files lost their title info and I was left looking for ways to get it back. I was able to recreate folder structure by re-importing them into iTunes but the title information was as good as gone. In the end, I had to resort to adding title info by hand- a process that took no less than 3 hours . I acknowledge this all was my fault for allowing MusicBee access to my entire library without testing out its functions first and becoming familiar with it- I just wanted to be rid of iTunes once and for all as soon as possible. At least now I have fully functioning id3 tags.

On to my query at last: I want to make sure I don't mess up again- I'm kinda worried about touching the autoorganize function now, so I'd appreciate some guidance. I would like MusicBee to operate in the EXACT same manner iTunes does, meaning that files added onto the player are also automatically added to my main music library by foldered order of Artist > Album, as that is the iTunes setting.
Is this setting correct for what I want it to do? <Artist>\<Album>\<Disc-Track#><Title>
Will triggering an auto-organize mess with anything further or am I good to go and can finally let MB handle my library at this point?

Thanks and apologies for being so long-winded!

[psychoadept]

Hi, welcome to the forum!

Sorry you had this trouble!  I would suggest doing a manual organization first ("organize files" in either the file menu or tools menu, depending on version of mb).  That way you will see where everything is going and be able to fix anything that doesn't look right.  Once you're happy with that (and as long as new files added to the library have correct tags) you should be okay to turn on auto-organize.

[theta_wave]

Hi, welcome to the forum!

Sorry you had this trouble!  I would suggest doing a manual organization first (organize files in either the file menu or tools menu, depending on version of mb).  That way you will see where everything is going and be able to fix anything that doesn't look right.  Once you're happy with that (and as long add new files added to the library have correct tags) you should be okay to turn on auto-organize.

With great power comes great responsibility.  I want to echo your recommendation for new users not to switch on auto-organize.  I would suggest that they utilize the MB's inbox feature to check their tags and then organize (CTRL+R) using any custom rules they set.

[CrazyBaldhead]

Hi, welcome to the forum!

Sorry you had this trouble!  I would suggest doing a manual organization first ("organize files" in either the file menu or tools menu, depending on version of mb).  That way you will see where everything is going and be able to fix anything that doesn't look right.  Once you're happy with that (and as long add new files added to the library have correct tags) you should be okay to turn on auto-organize.

Thanks! I figured the format out to my liking. <Artist>\<Album>\<Title> works well for me.

With great power comes great responsibility.  I want to echo your recommendation for new users not to switch on auto-organize.  I would suggest that they utilize the MB's inbox feature to check their tags and then organize (CTRL+R) using any custom rules they set.
[/quote]

Well, there is simply not much documentation on the topic at this point other than this forum and the wiki. It would be great if each option was explained adequately within the program, either through floating text or other means.

[Bee-liever]

Well, there is simply not much documentation on the topic at this point other than this forum and the wiki. It would be great if each option was explained adequately within the program, either through floating text or other means.

There's a big red exclamation mark next to the option with a pop-up warning


I can't see how Steven could make it clearer not to turn on auto-organise if you don't want MB to move your files around.

[CrazyBaldhead]

I can't see how Steven could make it clearer not to turn on auto-organise if you don't want MB to move your files around.

Funny, because that warning does not and never did appear on my mb v. 2.5.

[Bee-liever]

Funny, because that warning does not and never did appear on my mb v. 2.5.

My apologies, CrazyBaldhead.
I thought that was introduced in 2.5, but I guess it must have been early in the 3.0 build instead.

[CrazyBaldhead]

My apologies, CrazyBaldhead.
I thought that was introduced in 2.5, but I guess it must have been early in the 3.0 build instead.

It's ok. I'm glad you were not actually trying to be snarky. I saw you work with skins, so could I perhaps ask you to confirm whether the color of scrollbars in MB is skin-dependent (or can I alter that somewhere)? I tend to like darker skins but most of them darken the scrollbars to the point of them being barely visible.

[Bee-liever]

I saw you work with skins, so could I perhaps ask you to confirm whether the color of scrollbars in MB is skin-dependent (or can I alter that somewhere)?

The scrollbars are skin-dependent.
If the skin has an .xml extension, you could open it with a text editor and adjust the RGB values of 'Panel.ScrollBar' elements to you liking for yourself.

[Elhem Enohpi]

Unfortunately, the auto-organize section of the wiki is empty at the moment, but you can find some useful information here:
http://musicbee.wikia.com/wiki/How_to_Create_a_File-Naming_Template

You should most likely use:
<Album Artist>\<Album>\<Disc-Track#> <Title>
rather than:
<Artist>\<Album>\<Title>
as you mentioned.

That way, the Album Artist tag will be used for the folder name. If it's not present, then it automatically uses Artist instead. And normally you'd prefix the song name with the disc number (if it exists) and the track number for the filename; that's what iTunes does.

If you really want MusicBee to organize the files EXACTLY like iTunes does, there are a few other differences. The way it deals with compilations, songs with no track number, songs with "illegal characters" like ":" in the names, and some other small things. There are ways to make it more iTunes-like in the auto-organize preferences, but if you don't plan to use iTunes anymore, it may not be necessary.

One big difference is that MusicBee creates multiple Artist and Genre fields when there are more than one of them, and that's not compatible with iTunes. If you happen to have tracks in iTunes that use a semicolon to list several artists or genres, for example: "Genre: Folk; Country; Bluegrass" iTunes treats that as one specific genre. If you edit the tags in MusicBee, it will rewrite the tags into three separate Genre fields. If the song gets re-imported into iTunes, it will only see the first one: Folk. If you search for or have a smart playlist with "Bluegrass" in iTunes, that song won't show up anymore.

I found the "Mp3tag" software helpful for inspecting tags before importing to MusicBee...

[CrazyBaldhead]

Unfortunately, the auto-organize section of the wiki is empty at the moment, but you can find some useful information here:
http://musicbee.wikia.com/wiki/How_to_Create_a_File-Naming_Template

You should most likely use:
<Album Artist>\<Album>\<Disc-Track#> <Title>
rather than:
<Artist>\<Album>\<Title>
as you mentioned.

That way, the Album Artist tag will be used for the folder name. If it's not present, then it automatically uses Artist instead. And normally you'd prefix the song name with the disc number (if it exists) and the track number for the filename; that's what iTunes does.

If you really want MusicBee to organize the files EXACTLY like iTunes does, there are a few other differences. The way it deals with compilations, songs with no track number, songs with "illegal characters" like ":" in the names, and some other small things. There are ways to make it more iTunes-like in the auto-organize preferences, but if you don't plan to use iTunes anymore, it may not be necessary.

One big difference is that MusicBee creates multiple Artist and Genre fields when there are more than one of them, and that's not compatible with iTunes. If you happen to have tracks in iTunes that use a semicolon to list several artists or genres, for example: "Genre: Folk; Country; Bluegrass" iTunes treats that as one specific genre. If you edit the tags in MusicBee, it will rewrite the tags into three separate Genre fields. If the song gets re-imported into iTunes, it will only see the first one: Folk. If you search for or have a smart playlist with "Bluegrass" in iTunes, that song won't show up anymore.

I found the "Mp3tag" software helpful for inspecting tags before importing to MusicBee...

Wanted to say thanks, this is useful information! I have successfully fully migrated from iTunes to MB and have been happily using auto-organize with the <Artist>\<Album>\<Title> template for a few days now. It was simply a matter of convenience and being used to that specific template for many years at this point.
Musicbee's online tag search has been nifty and quite accurate, except for some compilations I've collected over the years. Re-tagging those was my greatest issue, but I managed it in the end.