# Organizing the music on a PC? (How do you do it?)



## Manok (Aug 29, 2011)

I've decided that the way I currently "organize" my music isn't cutting it anymore and I thought this would be a good place to ask how other people organize their music that they have on their computer? Both labeling and where do you keep it?


----------



## KenOC (Mar 7, 2011)

What player do you use?


----------



## EddieRUKiddingVarese (Jan 8, 2013)

I just use foobar2000


----------



## Manok (Aug 29, 2011)

I use iTunes, and i put organized in quotes because it's not exactly consistent, some things I never bothered to put any labels on and what not, mostly because iTunes has changed recently how it displays certain things.


----------



## KenOC (Mar 7, 2011)

Consistency trumps perfection. Here'swhat works for me on iTunes/iPod:

Name: Title of track
Artist: Composer's last name only unless something like "Bach, CPE"
Album artist: Whoever performs it
Album: This is the prime field for organization. I follow the music, not the CD compilation, and put the composer's name name first -- "Beethoven Sym 5 C-min Op.67 (Walter)"
Grouping: not used normally
Composer: Copy of artist
Genre: I have my own set of genres

Note I did NOT update my iTunes to the new version...


----------



## presto (Jun 17, 2011)

All my music is stored on an external hard disc, it’s all catalogued in alphabetical order so it’s very easy to find a particular composer and then a work.
I simply drag it into itunes for ipod use.


----------



## Wood (Feb 21, 2013)

Organisation may also be impacted by how you choose to play your pieces. In my case, I shuffle by composition, so it is vital that each work has a distinct album name.

CDs that contain several works generally have the same album name for each track when ripped, for instance 'Haydn: Symphonies 56-58.....'. I therefore edit this by putting the symphony number to which the track belongs next to the composers name. A quick and easy fix.

This method also requires that all tracks belonging to a piece are in ascending numerical or alphabetical order so that they are played in the correct sequence.

Note I wish that  I did NOT update my iTunes to the new version...


----------



## KenOC (Mar 7, 2011)

hayd said:


> Organisation may also be impacted by how you choose to play your pieces. In my case, I shuffle by composition, so it is vital that each work has a distinct album name.


Absolutely critical. The "Album name" must mean the collection of tracks that you want to be played together. A single CD may be best broken up into 2 or 3 album names. Regarding sequence, it's easy in iTunes to drag the tracks into the correct order. but I usually preserve the track # and simply sort by that within album name (usually the same as playlist).


----------



## ptr (Jan 22, 2013)

I store all my ripped CD's on a NAS (Network attached storage/HD).
Because I have some form of Collector OCD, I can't do the simple thing like Presto and sort everything alphabetically, nope, I have the following cataloguing from the top folder:

Popular music > Genre > Artist (sub-folders for collections) // Classical > Continent > Country > Composer surname > Specific CD (Sub-folders in each Country folder with collections of more the two Composers sorted on most common genre on disc, collections with specific musicians stored in sub-folder in the country of its birth (if known))

I use the excellent j.river Media Center 18 as a music software (used iTunes for some months years ago to evaluate, but I have nothing positive to say about it!). Because of my slight music OCD I have the following custom sorting in the software (MP3Tag) for classical:

Country > Composers Surname, then first name (Collections sorted composers name of first work ) > Works on CD > Work name with No and Op No > Performers (and in case of organs, what instrument used) > Year > Classical + Sub Genre > Any additional information is relevant!

This is not something I recommend unless You've got my kind of condition, it is much fun, but somewhat time consuming... 

/ptr


----------



## Crudblud (Dec 29, 2011)

I use foobar2000.










*Artist Name:* Composer
*Track Title:* <Composition>, <Op. No> _or_ (<Year of completion>) then [<Unique Title>e.g.: 'Archduke'] then _if multiple pieces/movements/sections_ [- <I/No. 1*> - <Tempo marking> _or_ e.g: Sarabande>]
*Album Title:* Release title, for single works use title and performer, e.g.: "Symphony No. 9 (Karajan)"
*Genre:* Always left blank
*Composer:* Composer
*Performer:* <Conductor>; <Ensemble>; <Soloist> and derivations/truncations thereof. In the case of an unnamed ensemble as in the picture, use <Pianist>; <Cellist>; <Violinist>, however, du Pré takes priority in this instance because she is the chief performer across the entire set, but still takes the standard Soloist spot in concertante works.
*Album Artist:* Left blank unless compilation with multiple composers and/or performers. Multiple composers = chief performer; multiple performers = composer; multiple composers and performers = record label.
*Track Number/Total:* Self explanatory
*Disc Number/Total:* Only used for multiple disc sets.
*Comment:* Occasionally used for sets comprising "historical" recordings, e.g.: Set was released in 2008, features a recording from 1936, Comment field for relevant tracks will say "1936."

*left blank if the division was made on disc simply to make a larger piece easier to follow

P.S.: I'm nowhere near as **** about it as I might seem.


----------



## jani (Jun 15, 2012)

I don't do it, i just export the music i bought to my laptop and everytime when i want to listen to them/copy the files to my music player ( whatever that might be at the moment) i am always able to find them easly, also by the way i use WINDOWS MEDIA PLAYER WAM WAM WAAAM!!!


----------



## Guest (Apr 17, 2013)

I use WMPlayer and mp3tag. What I'm not happy with is how to actually use these to label, since the auto-labelling if your use, say, Gracenote, won't necessarily do what you want with Beethoven, Conductor, movement etc.


----------



## Novelette (Dec 12, 2012)

MacLeod said:


> I use WMPlayer and mp3tag. What I'm not happy with is how to actually use these to label, since the auto-labelling if your use, say, Gracenote, won't necessarily do what you want with Beethoven, Conductor, movement etc.


Or worse, as sometimes happens with Gracenote, that all tracks are written in Chinese! Usually when that happens, there are no other track name lists available. =\


----------



## Weston (Jul 11, 2008)

My catalog system is too complicated and not of much interest, but it's something like this.

The file names are such that they sort correctly when I want to hear a large work in its entirety. For example: 
ENESCU_Piano Quartet No. 1_Tammuz-1.mp3 
ENESCU_Piano Quartet No. 1_Tammuz-2.mp3 
ENESCU_Piano Quartet No. 1_Tammuz-3.mp3
these being movements 1, 2 and 3, etc. Pretty basic. More detailed info appears in the ID tags and in my music catalog.

Movements that run together are made into one file, thus:
GRECHANINOV_Symphony No. 1 in B minor_Wildner-1.mp3 
GRECHANINOV_Symphony No. 1 in B minor_Wildner-2 & 3.mp3 
It still sorts correctly that way.

You will notice a brief nod to the performer in the file name too, but _before_ the movement number. That way BEETHOVEN_Symphony No 8_Szell-1.mp3 will not accidentally sort between BEETHOVEN_Symphony No 8_Dohnanyi-1.mp3 and BEETHOVEN_Symphony No 8_Dohnanyi-2.mp3. See?

I sort by file names rather than by album or title, and DEFINITELY not by track number! Track numbers are evil to me. I eliminate them from purchased mp3s. I usually rename purchased mp3 to fit my sorting system too. I also use a spreadsheet to keep track of where everything is backed up outside the computer. I back the mp3s up on CD more or less in the order they are purchased, so it's kind of random, which is why I need a catalog. Also the catalog can be loaded as a PDF file into my little iPod Touch to take with me shopping to prevent duplicate purchases.

I do something very similar with books.  No wonder I never seem to get anything done!


----------

