# Classical Music Organiser



## Ankyspon (Sep 14, 2012)

Hello
I have many downloads of classical music on my laptop. I would like to organise these into free software where they can be organised logically, retrieved and played.
I wonder if anyone has done this and if so, I would love to hear from you.
Rgds - Mike


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## crmoorhead (Apr 6, 2011)

Ankyspon said:


> Hello
> I have many downloads of classical music on my laptop. I would like to organise these into free software where they can be organised logically, retrieved and played.
> I wonder if anyone has done this and if so, I would love to hear from you.
> Rgds - Mike


If you have downloaded these legally, surely you have all the information you need? I use itunes (this is free to download) to rip my own CDs (using the 'retrieve CD information' function), but my own organisation system which runs as follows:

-Artist is listed as the composer
-Performing artists listed under 'comments'
-Album listed as Composer: Work title, "AKA", Op. #
-Genre listed as classical subgenre from the following list: Opera, Choral, Concerto, Orchestral, Symphony, Electronic, Film Music/Incidendal, Ballet Music/Suites, Vocal/Song Cycles, Solo Instrumental, Keyboard/Piano Works, Chamber and Oratorio.
-All 'mark as compilation' options deselected.
-Multiple recordings of the same piece numbered differently eg labelling the movements 1-4, I-IV and A-D will allow iTunes to sort them naturally.

The above system has increased in complexity with time, but it means that I can find out all the basic informaton I need while being able to find specific items or collections of similar works very easily. Having everything in the genre of 'Classical' is too limiting. Even opera comes under this genre as standard with downloads or using the iTunes CD information tool.

The only way of being organised in this way, however, is to label all your music consistently as and when you obtain the digital format. Back when I used to listen to non-classical in a big way, I also used to input the year of release/recording for each song. That way I could order all my music so that I could view it chronologically or create playlists based on the year. It is very little work for each disc, but a lot if you have a thousand tracks to do at once. I know of no automatic system of analysing, naming and sorting works. Also, as I say, everything you have legally should be labelled already with multiple different tags. It is only a matter of having a consistent format.


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## Crudblud (Dec 29, 2011)

I use foobar2000, it's a visually spartan but functionally advanced media player with an excellent and detailed tagger that can be augmented with information from freeDB, Discogs and other metadata sources if you so choose. It has something like 14 or 15 preset tag fields including artist, performer, composer and album artist (useful for sorting compilations with multiple composers under a conductor or ensemble name), and you can add your own for custom sorting if necessary. Obviously it cannot automatically and uniformly tag your collection for you, but you can't be that lazy, surely?


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## crmoorhead (Apr 6, 2011)

Crudblud said:


> I use foobar2000, it's a visually spartan but functionally advanced media player with an excellent and detailed tagger that can be augmented with information from freeDB, Discogs and other metadata sources if you so choose. It has something like 14 or 15 preset tag fields including artist, performer, composer and album artist (useful for sorting compilations with multiple composers under a conductor or ensemble name), and you can add your own for custom sorting if necessary. Obviously it cannot automatically and uniformly tag your collection for you, but you can't be that lazy, surely?


Hey, I might look into that!


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## Ankyspon (Sep 14, 2012)

crmoorhead said:


> Hey, I might look into that!


Hello Gentlemen - crmoorhead and crudblud (great Handle no pun intended!)
Thanks for your help. Actually I do use itunes but really hate it actually, although it maybe good but I have a reluctance towards Apple - good to eat though!
I will have a look at Foobar2000
Many thanks again
Cheers


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## Ankyspon (Sep 14, 2012)

Thanks for your very comprehensive dialogue in reply Sir. I appreciate all your steps that one needs to take to catalogue all the music stored. I do download legally using a range of music sites - emusic, classical archive, naxos, classicsonline, hyperion, DG etc. I just love all forms of classical music and can't get enough of it. Being mainly house-bound these days, I listen to Radio 3 and ClassicFM most days and when I hear a piece that I like out comes my laptop and I search for a download at the best price.
Bye - Mike


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