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Author Topic: How do you organize your digital music  (Read 13204 times)

Chris Carpenter

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How do you organize your digital music
« on: August 20, 2011, 02:07:25 PM »

I've struggled with this one for a few years and I'm interested in some new ideas. How do you organize your live collection of singles? I've tried dumping everything in one folder, but I always end up missing stuff. I'm trying to get some ideas what folders I should think about classifying. BPM? Subgenre (it's all "pop")? Artist? Year?
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Tracy Garner

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Re: How do you organize your digital music
« Reply #1 on: August 20, 2011, 02:39:20 PM »

I've struggled with this one for a few years and I'm interested in some new ideas. How do you organize your live collection of singles? I've tried dumping everything in one folder, but I always end up missing stuff. I'm trying to get some ideas what folders I should think about classifying. BPM? Subgenre (it's all "pop")? Artist? Year?

I use Serato ScratchLive software.

The library is on an external HD.
I have a folder called Music
The structure looks like this:

\music
\music\country
\music\classic rock
\music\dance
\music\dancehall reggae
\music\60s
\music\70s
\music\80s

etc...

Then I use those same folders as crate names in the SSL software.
When I add new music, I just drag only those folders to be imported.

Here is an example of how I do my folders

\music\urban\201108 (for August, 2011). I put all of the urban music I receive in August, in that folder. Then I can drag ONLY that folder for import and analyze in the SSL software.

Finally, I perform a full backup once a week using Microsoft SyncToy 2.0 and it works perfectly.
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John Livings

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Re: How do you organize your digital music
« Reply #2 on: August 29, 2011, 01:32:02 PM »

On a Mac, I-Tunes works great.

Regards,  John





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Chris Carpenter

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Re: How do you organize your digital music
« Reply #3 on: August 29, 2011, 03:22:17 PM »

On a Mac, I-Tunes works great.

Regards,  John
Yeah, I don't DJ with itunes, so I'm thinking something along the lines of directory structure.

Tracey's idea is a good one, but I didn't had much luck with it. It ended up with way to many directories to quickly browse. Still trying new things, though.
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Tracy Garner

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Re: How do you organize your digital music
« Reply #4 on: October 21, 2011, 09:16:14 PM »

Yeah, I don't DJ with itunes, so I'm thinking something along the lines of directory structure.

Tracey's idea is a good one, but I didn't had much luck with it. It ended up with way to many directories to quickly browse. Still trying new things, though.

Any updates? My directory and album crate structure is like this but I still have search capability. I will screenshot my hard drive and serato library for you if you are still trying to figure out which way to go.
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g'bye, Dick Rees

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Re: How do you organize your digital music
« Reply #5 on: October 21, 2011, 09:27:05 PM »

1
10
11
100
101
110
111

etc.
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Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain...

Chris Carpenter

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Re: How do you organize your digital music
« Reply #6 on: October 21, 2011, 11:48:31 PM »

Any updates? My directory and album crate structure is like this but I still have search capability. I will screenshot my hard drive and serato library for you if you are still trying to figure out which way to go.
I'm working on a solution using windows libraries that will allow me to categorize music in several different fashions. I will report back if it is actually useful.
1
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101
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111

etc.
That's incredible how your filing system automatically expands bit length depending on size requirements ;)
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Chris Davis

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Re: How do you organize your digital music
« Reply #7 on: October 22, 2011, 01:20:57 AM »

Yeah, I don't DJ with itunes, so I'm thinking something along the lines of directory structure.

Tracey's idea is a good one, but I didn't had much luck with it. It ended up with way to many directories to quickly browse. Still trying new things, though.

I don't DJ, but I saw you posted here so I checked out this thread. 

Basically I have found the free program "MP3Tag" to be useful for my own personal purposes at home.  You can use this to list and organize all your files - and make batch changes to the ID3 track data - which is really what it excels at and was meant for.  Then you can also double-click and launch any MP3 files using the media player application you have associated with Windows. 

This program will allow you to create a "playlist" from any selected MP3 files.  Then if you open that playlist file, these previously selected MP3 files are all that you will see. 

You can put your entire library of files into the same directory (flat directory structure), and it will work - or you could also use it with a recursive structure just as well.  Just point this program at the root directory where all your MP3's are, and it will scan the entire directory path each time you open it.  So the list is always current (no associated database to mess with).  The only downside is it takes a few moments each time for it to scan.

Then the nice part is that it displays all the files in a single flat window, whether or not you have them in a single flat directory.

I am not sure of any other functionality beyond that...

So it would probably be quite a stretch for live DJ work, but I like it for my personal use at home.



Edit: forget the playlist idea, you can just click on the Genre column and sort by that if you like.
« Last Edit: October 22, 2011, 01:38:55 AM by Chris Davis »
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Chris Carpenter

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Re: How do you organize your digital music
« Reply #8 on: October 22, 2011, 03:38:59 AM »

I don't DJ, but I saw you posted here so I checked out this thread. 

Basically I have found the free program "MP3Tag" to be useful for my own personal purposes at home.  You can use this to list and organize all your files - and make batch changes to the ID3 track data - which is really what it excels at and was meant for.  Then you can also double-click and launch any MP3 files using the media player application you have associated with Windows. 

This program will allow you to create a "playlist" from any selected MP3 files.  Then if you open that playlist file, these previously selected MP3 files are all that you will see. 

You can put your entire library of files into the same directory (flat directory structure), and it will work - or you could also use it with a recursive structure just as well.  Just point this program at the root directory where all your MP3's are, and it will scan the entire directory path each time you open it.  So the list is always current (no associated database to mess with).  The only downside is it takes a few moments each time for it to scan.

Then the nice part is that it displays all the files in a single flat window, whether or not you have them in a single flat directory.

I am not sure of any other functionality beyond that...

So it would probably be quite a stretch for live DJ work, but I like it for my personal use at home.



Edit: forget the playlist idea, you can just click on the Genre column and sort by that if you like.
+1 on the recommendation. MP3Tag is an incredibly useful little program. My personal favorite is the ability to build tags from the filename, and vice versa. I have tried the playlist idea, and so far, it is the one I use most of the time. It still has its quirks, though, so we'll see.
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Chris Davis

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Re: How do you organize your digital music
« Reply #9 on: October 22, 2011, 12:49:56 PM »

+1 on the recommendation. MP3Tag is an incredibly useful little program. My personal favorite is the ability to build tags from the filename, and vice versa. I have tried the playlist idea, and so far, it is the one I use most of the time. It still has its quirks, though, so we'll see.

You could also have a Windows Explorer window open in the background in addition to MP3Tag.  That way, you could access specific files more quickly without changing the overall playlist view in MP3Tag.
P.S. Of course, if you have a specific filename in mind, then a flat directory structure would be the easiest to manually scroll through.  But we as humans use playlists and smaller data sets for organization, although in the end the computer doesn't care one way or the other.
In addition to MP3Tag, I'd like to see the same guy make a different program (or make "DJ mode" options available within the same program).  This would be to clean up the real estate that is normally used to edit tags/prevent tag edits, and maybe have a more robust set of features for file playback in exchange.  Just thinking though...
« Last Edit: October 22, 2011, 01:03:38 PM by Chris Davis »
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ProSoundWeb Community

Re: How do you organize your digital music
« Reply #9 on: October 22, 2011, 12:49:56 PM »


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