I am brand new to digital music and am just getting started with my Fuze. So far so good.
I began by pasting files into the Music folder in Internal Memory, as the manual says. But then I thought it might make sense to create separate sub-folders within the Music folder for each artist, and paste the files to the appropriate sub-folder. It doesn’t seem to make a difference when I use the Fuze itself – it organizes everything by genre, artist, album, etc on its own. But the sub-folders make it easier for me to see which artists I’ve got loaded in the Fuze when I’m looking at the files from my computer in Windows Explorer.
Is there a downside to creating these sub-folders? Am I setting myself up for some sort of trouble, or creating limitations I’m not aware of?
Thanks.
JEP
What you’re looking for is the “Folder” view, at the bottom of the listing views.
Drag&drop notes: If you’re using Windows (XP or later), the default connection is MTP. For me, I’ve found that copying and database update is faster in MSC mode rather than MTP, but YMMV. Whichever mode you use, stick to one mode, as files copied over using one mode aren’t visible on the PC side (nor accessible) when connected in the other mode. The Fuze will still see all the files.
I use MSC for MP3s. For DRM’ed audiobooks (Overdrive from my library), I switch to MTP.
The lists you see on the player (Artists, Albums, Genres, etc.) are populated from the ID3 tags contained within the audio file. But with recent firmware updates, you can browse and play by folder as mentioned.
The OP’s question was about putting the songs into album subfolders. Far from being a downside, it’s the natural way to group things. Absolutely do it–go ahead. The Fuze looks for all the music files on the unit in folders or subfolders.
If you couldn’t separate out your own albums while organizing things from the computer, you might be courting insanity. I know I would–it would list all the 01-FirstSong.mp3 tracks, all the 02-SecondSong.mp3 tracks, etc.
The Fuze reads tags off the mp3s and lists them for Album, Artist, etc. But with the current firmware, if you scroll down the Music choices you’ll also see Folders and, within that, your own folders and filenames. So you can find things either way: through the ID3 tags or through your own organizing system.
Thanks. Question answered.