How do YOU organize music on your computer?

I’ve split my collection into genres:

Alternative

Blues

Celtic

Classic Rock

Classical

Country & Western

Easy Listening

Gospel

Guitar

Hard Rock & Metal

Holiday

Industrial

Jazz

Latin

Oldies

Popular

R&B, Soul & Hip-Hop

Rap

Reggae

Soundtrack

My filenames are [Artist] - [Song Title]. If there are duplicates, I’ll add album info, as in [Greatest Hits] or other modifiers: [live], [remix], [3.45] (song length), etc.

Everything’s tagged.

With over 40,000 tracks, some folders have over 5,000 tracks of their own. Lots of files in a single folder!

I’m wondering if anyone finds an advantage to putting artists in their own folder, with sub-folders for albums? Or, does that just slow you down when looking for music to play or burn?

Not an aswer really but I am wondering too.I recently bought a 500gb ext harddrive.I am currently ripping thro WMP and putting in folders by genre.

Message Edited by marksj on 01-11-2009 08:42 AM

I have 43GB of audio files, mostly longer talks rather than music.  My primary organization is: genre\artist\album\track (filename).  For podcasts, I use podcasts\feed\filename.  That’s the only way I can keep things straight in my mind.  Everything has id3 tags so if I want to find all by one artist, that’s a simple matter for any music manager that uses id3 tags.  (I use Media Monkey.)

I find genre’s completely useless.  Since I’ve been collecting and actively involved in the music business for over about 35 years, that just makes orgainization uneccessarily confusing.  I use Artist/Album/Song-Title for my descriptive filenames; and use Artist/Album Title for a simple, yet effective directory structure.  I don’t have my entire music collection transferred digitally yet (lossless), but I’m making good progress.  I would guess at this point I have about 5 TB transferred digitally, with a little ways to go.

I don’t keep a permanent lossy copy of any piece of music as it will eventually be digitized in a lossless format.

And there are always countless recordings that I’m always restoring, so that adds to the fun. :smiley:

That’s pretty much how I organize things. I also have a separate folder for new stuff, so new music doesn’t get lost in the mire. They key with genres is to keep the number down to a reasonable number (like what you have), and don’t worry about whatever genre is put in by other people.

I initially had them all stored at two levels, artist\album. This wasn’t very useful…when I want to listen to classical music (for example), I don’t want to be sifting through a whole bunch of rock/pop/etc music.

Media libraries are pretty popular, like in WinAmp, MediaMonkey, or  iTunes. I don’t really use them myself, but I suppose if you use that, it wouldn’t really matter how you organize the physical music. 

On my laptop I have my 500 or so files in my Music folder, I dont really use folder except when I have several albums by one artist. On my PC (105,000 files) I have Folders with Artist These contain subfolders by album and loose files for unreleased or non-album tracks. Album Folders contain Tracks, Liner notes, and Artwork. I also put my music videos in the Artist folder.

I use Artist\Album## Title.ogg.

I will find the album cover on CD Universe web site and save it as folder.jpg, both the Fuze and file manager use it.

I have been thinking about changing it to Artist\Year - Album## Title.ogg so that I can choose a later/earlier album by the artist.

@hazza wrote:

I use Artist\Album## Title.ogg.

 

I will find the album cover on CD Universe web site and save it as folder.jpg, both the Fuze and file manager use it.

 

I have been thinking about changing it to Artist\Year - Album## Title.ogg so that I can choose a later/earlier album by the artist.

Yeah, that indeed helps.  I’ve started doing that as well.  It is especially useful with artists that have more than 1 self-titled album in their catalog…e.g. Seal-Seal (1991); Seal-Seal (1994)

Usually: Artist / [Year] Album Title, and the song/track title for the filename.

For some artists, I have separate folders for studio albums, live albums or bootlegs, and non-album tracks.

I have a “new” folder for stuff I’m not sure yet if I’m going to keep.

I also have a folder for temporary files that I delete after listening to once, such as podcasts, radio shows, stand-up comedy, etc.

Organizing by genre has never been practical for me because too many artists fall into more than one genre, and genre is subjective anyway.  Sometimes I can’t even decide or remember what genre I would put certain music in. lol

With 60+gb of music, I keep mine fairly organized. I have used the same format for a while now. In my main music folder I have single albums by artists. Artists that only have 1 cd or that I only have 1 cd by them go in there. Then in the bands folder I have Artist Name. When You click on an artist it goes to the cds by that artist. It seems to be a fairly efficient system. I can find my music quickly.

@fuze_owner_gb wrote:


@hazza wrote:

I have been thinking about changing it to Artist\Year - Album## Title.ogg so that I can choose a later/earlier album by the artist.


Yeah, that indeed helps.  I’ve started doing that as well.  It is especially useful with artists that have more than 1 self-titled album in their catalog…e.g. Seal-Seal (1991); Seal-Seal (1994)

I stopped thinking about it and just did it. Wikipedia is a fantastic resource. It helps, esp for artists that have heaps of releases like Madonna and Kylie.

@hazza wrote:


I stopped thinking about it and just did it. Wikipedia is a fantastic resource. It helps, esp for artists that have heaps of releases like Madonna and Kylie.

Its hard to believe that Kylie has been around as long as she has, and has put out that many albums. Plus she is still Hot. Im not a big Kylie fan. On my fuze the comprable would be Lita Ford

@conversionbox wrote:


@hazza wrote:


I stopped thinking about it and just did it. Wikipedia is a fantastic resource. It helps, esp for artists that have heaps of releases like Madonna and Kylie.


Its hard to believe that Kylie has been around as long as she has, and has put out that many albums. Plus she is still Hot. Im not a big Kylie fan. On my fuze the comprable would be Lita Ford

I’m so old, I saw her at a concert in the 70’s when she was a part of the original “Runaways” w/Joan Jett!!!  :smileyvery-happy:

For single artist albums:

<Artist>\<Album>##. <Title> [<Artist> - <Album>].xxx

For multi-artist albums (compilations, tributes, etc.):

<Album Artist>\<Album>##. <Title> - <Artist> [<Album Artist> - <Album>].xxx

I personally find it undesirable to have non-identifier items (like genre, year, etc.) in the folder\file names.  It makes locating files on disk more difficult if you can’t remember the year or genre.  Also, items like Genre are fairly likely to change as you organize your library.  If Genre is in the folder names, changing it breaks any playlists you have.

My philosophy is to use a file/folder naming scheme that best helps you physically find and indentify files on disk, without regard to how you might want to browse/playback your library.  Use tags, a good library tool (Winamp, MediaMonkey, etc.) and playlists to handle any other logical organization you might want, completely independent of how the files are stored on disk.

Message Edited by Skinjob on 01-13-2009 04:50 PM

I usually just make compilation directories called “Album 01,” “Album 02,” etc.  Pretty creative, huh?  My TV themes and movie music are in “TV” and “Movies,” respectively.  I usually tag my songs as “Title.mp3” and fill in the rest under “Properties” or with Mp3Tag.

 

I use genres, but not exhaustively.  “Old Stuff,” “New Stuff,” “Throwbacks,” and “The Wrath of Stuff,” with about three hundred or so tracks in each genre.  I do that mostly for shuffle play.  I also have “Television Themes & Music” and “Movie Themes & Music.”  All very original, yes, I know.

 

All the best.

@fuze_owner_gb wrote:


@conversionbox wrote:


@hazza wrote:


I stopped thinking about it and just did it. Wikipedia is a fantastic resource. It helps, esp for artists that have heaps of releases like Madonna and Kylie.


Its hard to believe that Kylie has been around as long as she has, and has put out that many albums. Plus she is still Hot. Im not a big Kylie fan. On my fuze the comprable would be Lita Ford


I’m so old, I saw her at a concert in the 70’s when she was a part of the original “Runaways” w/Joan Jett!!!  :smileyvery-happy:

Just an FYI… Lita is back in the game working on a new album. And Rumor is that she may go on tour and Open for Joan Jett… I would stand in line for days to see the runaways reunion that would no doubt insue.

@conversionbox wrote:


@fuze_owner_gb wrote:


@conversionbox wrote:


@hazza wrote:


I stopped thinking about it and just did it. Wikipedia is a fantastic resource. It helps, esp for artists that have heaps of releases like Madonna and Kylie.


Its hard to believe that Kylie has been around as long as she has, and has put out that many albums. Plus she is still Hot. Im not a big Kylie fan. On my fuze the comprable would be Lita Ford


I’m so old, I saw her at a concert in the 70’s when she was a part of the original “Runaways” w/Joan Jett!!!  :smileyvery-happy:


Just an FYI… Lita is back in the game working on a new album. And Rumor is that she may go on tour and Open for Joan Jett… I would stand in line for days to see the runaways reunion that would no doubt insue.

Alas…there will never be a “Runaways” reunion as Sandy West (the original drummer) died in 2006…:cry: