Author Topic: Auto-organize / library location question.  (Read 4011 times)

henrykrinkle

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I've used MusicBee for a few years now so I feel like a bit of a dumb-ass but I have a question regarding library settings. 

I recently had a HD crash but thankfully all of my data was recovered.  My laptop has two drives: C drive for (mostly) program files and such, and an E drive for data (music, photos, etc.).  Previously I had all the music on the C drive so set-up was fairly straightforward. 

I've now installed MusicBee on the C drive and able to play music from the E drive but I would like to have the library auto-organized as before.  Can anyone tell me how I should go map things before I mess things up?  I've already spent hours restoring my computer and would like this step to be as painless as possible.

Thanks in advance.

psychoadept

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henrykrinkle

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Thank you!  Please correct me if I'm wrong, but my takeaway was that the "music library" does not necessarily contain the music files.  So I can have the "music library" on the C drive and the mp3s on the E drive.  I just don't want to click "auto-organize" and have all my files migrated to the C drive.

Thanks again.

psychoadept

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Thank you!  Please correct me if I'm wrong, but my takeaway was that the "music library" does not necessarily contain the music files.  So I can have the "music library" on the C drive and the mp3s on the E drive.  I just don't want to click "auto-organize" and have all my files migrated to the C drive.

That's correct.  As long as the "to folder" in auto-organize is set to E:\something, the audio files will not be moved to C:.

http://musicbee.wikia.com/wiki/File_Organization#Auto-Organize
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henrykrinkle

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Thank you again!  I had a feeling that was the case but didn't want to assume anything.  Much appreciated.

henrykrinkle

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I hate to be a bother but I have two more questions regarding the library:

1) does the red exclamation next to auto-organize ever go away?  It doesn't bother me but the exclamation gives me pause that I missed a setting somewhere;

2) More importantly, the Inbox.  I thought I understood how to use it (from previous time with MusicBee) but I think now that I have the program on the C drive and my music on the E drive I have to change a setting somewhere.  When adding new music I always put it in the Inbox, fix tags, etc, and then send to the library.  But now - after sending to library - the files don't migrate; they remain in the same place.  I know I could do a manual workaround but I'm guessing there's a way to automate this.

Thanks in advance for any further advice.

psychoadept

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1) No, that's always there for the sake of people who don't get what auto-organize does just from the name.  :)

2) Auto-organize rules should be applied as soon as something is added to the Library (not the Inbox).  Check which drive your auto-organize rules are taking files FROM, and if it matches where the files are while they're in the inbox.  If that's not it, could you describe your workflow in more detail>
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henrykrinkle

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Wow - thanks again for the response Psycho.

1) great.  Non-issue;

2) my auto organize is set up for the data drive (E:\Music\).  When I download music it generally goes to my C drive.  I then add to inbox and you saw the rest from my post above.  I'm thinking the easiest fix would be to just start with the files on the E drive.  Would that work or is there a better way?

Thanks again.

psychoadept

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That's probably the easiest solution.  Or you could set up one rule to send files from c: to e: and another to keep them organized on e:.
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henrykrinkle

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Think that's what I'll do.  Thanks again for the help - much appreciated.

theta_wave

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2) my auto organize is set up for the data drive (E:\Music\).  When I download music it generally goes to my C drive.  I then add to inbox and you saw the rest from my post above.  I'm thinking the easiest fix would be to just start with the files on the E drive.  Would that work or is there a better way?

Thanks again.
Personally, I'm often not satisfied with the tagging from purchased music (I organize albums by genre and then artists), so I leave auto-organize off and set Musicbee to monitor my download folders that Musicbee then dumps into the inbox.  After I fix the tags the way I like them, I initiate the file organizer (CTRL+R) that follows a specific ruleset I made for it.

henrykrinkle

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Think I'm going to stick with my current method (seems like less work for me) but thanks for the suggestion.

redwing

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I have exactly the same setup as yours. MB on C drive, music files on D drive. I have a folder named "inbox" on D drive and store all not-ready-for-library-yet files in it. I also have "New" subfolder inside "inbox" folder, and all newly purchased/ripped files go to that folder. Once all tagging is done in inbox node, I send them to library, and they get auto-organized into "Music Files" folder on D drive.

henrykrinkle

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I have exactly the same setup as yours. MB on C drive, music files on D drive. I have a folder named "inbox" on D drive and store all not-ready-for-library-yet files in it. I also have "New" subfolder inside "inbox" folder, and all newly purchased/ripped files go to that folder. Once all tagging is done in inbox node, I send them to library, and they get auto-organized into "Music Files" folder on D drive.

Thanks.