How to organize 1000's of music files on my PC

[KLund1]

HI All,
This has been a MAJOR PAIN for many years.!
I have about 7000-8000 music files on my PC that I have collected ever since Napster! I got Mp3 to 24-bit/192kHz (not iTunes)
I have been using iTunes to manage them, but it is no longer supported. And it was not very good over those years!
My problems:
I have 1000's of duplicates songs. Most have the same file name. Most have different bit rate, length by a few seconds, and/or come from different albums, and sources. Some are live vs studio. Same song, different artist.
The metadata on 100's is corrupted, or not correct in one way or another. Or I have compilation disk songs that I want to show original album covers, not the complication cover art. I have files that MusicBranz can't ID, even when I fill in the meta fields I know.
iTunes is not cutting it for me. I delete a song from the library, but the file remains. I often loose my login info for iTunes, and the 40-50 songs I have purchased over the longs years become unavailable. I then have to go through the pain of recovery. Album art is often wrong.
I have 6 different iTunes folders on my C and D Drives! Most music files are in 1 folder, but not all.
What program, paid or free, that can replace iTunes for a Win 10 PC? I know it will be a lot work to sort through the problems. But I want it to be a one time fix. I do not want have to repurchases 1000's of song files. The few purchases from iTunes I can get elsewhere.
I looking for something that can do what iTunes doses but easier and permanent. I want to keep all this 'local', no 'cloud' stuff.
I want to be able to organize my file collection. Then, hopefully, be able to cast it to my HI-Fi over Ethernet and/or blutooth (This part I know about, I think).
Please let me know what might work for me. Web pages, links, programs names, ideas, suggestions, etc is all good.
Thanks

 

[idf.bts]

Too many problems to solve in one shot with one tool.

Break down your problem, then start matching a solution to each problem. Unfortunately, I suspect many of them are going to be manual steps.

People have not learned since the days of Betamax... do not associate you music with anything proprietary.

I would suggest you start from 0 and move only files you want to the new music collection. I store my music files alphabetically by band/artist. Folder A-D, E-H, etc. Then within each the band name. When the folder gets too long I break it into two. If you have any proprietary music files here is a perfect chance to get rid of them.

Do this right now once and you have a durable music collection.

 

[Hronists]

itunes is perfect for organising music files on mac. just check that box, that says "Keep music folder organised" and relax. there's one thing tho - music files should have all metadata. when I had physical files I didn't care about organising - I just dropped them on itunes and listened to music.

 

[50nstillhifi]

Seems you have avoided using the Windows media program associated with Microsoft-based PCs.. any reason for this?

 

[orsen]

musicbee can handle most stuff, not sure how it handles same name, different format tho
may need to try a duplicate finder to help clean up

 

[cpt_paranoia]

1. Take a backup copy of your files
2. Install MusicBee. Import your iTunes library (MusicBee will use your iTunes database file).

That's your starting point. If metadata has become corrupt, you may be able to infer from filenames, assuming they aren't corrupt too... If filenames are corrupt, but metadata is good, auto-organise from metadata, to a parallel folder, so you don't overwrite duplicates. Run a duplicate finder.

Sorting out libraries that have been cobbled together from multiple sources in a disorganised way are a pain to sort out. I keep my media in 'source' folders; mostly my ripped CDs, but some Bandcamp downloads, etc. Each CD has a folder

<path>\<source>\<album artist>\<album>\<track #> title

A decent media manager (e.g. MusicBee) will seamlessly merge the different 'sources'.

 

[Semanon]

First things first: Back up what you have today. Collect it all in one working folder. Clean, fix, or delete items with bad metadata - these will haunt any effort to organize your collection. It’s going to be manual, because if there is no valid data, the computer can’t help. If it’s daunting, just do 10 each day. In two months you will have 600 done. Think long term curation.

Then it’s on to duplicates. You have to decide which to keep and which to delete. A software program can help, but can’t decide for you. Any of the methods above will work, but the format needs to be consistent. There are file renaming programs that will rename a batch of files. Try the freeware versions until you find one you like.

THEN can you use a file management program to manage the collection. If you import a bad database you will just be chasing the problem down the road. Garbage in, garbage out.

 

[Semanon]

musicbee can handle most stuff, not sure how it handles same name, different format tho
may need to try a duplicate finder to help clean up

I’m a huge fan of music management platforms. I’ve used plenty over the years. Some exited the market. Some changed cost model. Some changed the interface from nice to crap. But these changes made me select a new platform. Because I had organized and curated my music collection, transfers were relatively painless.

Upshot: don’t rely on a platform to organize your music for you, only manage it. If a platform does not work with your organization format, move on. Musicbee is sweet, but 5 years from now they might charge or create pricing tiers, or go out of business, or there might be something better. Be prepared to pack up and move.

 

[cpt_paranoia]

Musicbee is sweet, but 5 years from now they might charge or create tiers, or go out of business

I used to use MediaMonkey as a media manager. Moving to MusicBee was trivial, because I don't let these tools manage the physical library (unless I specifically ask it to auto-organise some tracks, and then it's only ever into my physical structure, using organisation rules). The management tools are only used for manipulating metadata, and merging sources into a single, logical library for browsing & playback, and some specific operations. The advantage of a logical library is that you can sort and search by any of the metadata fields; this is useful when sorting out a chaotic library.

 

[Semanon]

I don't let these tools manage the physical library (unless I specifically ask it to auto-organise some tracks, and then it's only ever into my physical structure,

Totally concur. I once let a platform organize my music, and I hated the way it reorganized and reformatted. Fortunately, I had a back-up. Lesson learned.

 

[JoeESP9]

I highly recommend not dumping a lot of music files into one large directory. Although Music Bee (what I use) and most other player applications use the metadata to keep track of the "library" it's not such a good idea.

I have sub folders in the main music library folder. The folders are for an artists or bands name. For instance; I have a folder titled Miles Davis that has a separate sub folder for each of his recordings. For compilations I created two folders (Jazz, Pop/Rock). Each of those has folders for the appropriate recording. All of my classical recordings are in a different classical only folder. Internally it follows my jazz/rock/pop folder.

There are +22K FLAC (only file format I use) files in my jazz/pop/rock folder. Some of them are HD recordings. Music Bee easily handles all of them.

 

[idf.bts]

I used to use MediaMonkey as a media manager. Moving to MusicBee was trivial, because I don't let these tools manage the physical library (unless I specifically ask it to auto-organise some tracks, and then it's only ever into my physical structure, using organisation rules). The management tools are only used for manipulating metadata, and merging sources into a single, logical library for browsing & playback, and some specific operations. The advantage of a logical library is that you can sort and search by any of the metadata fields; this is useful when sorting out a chaotic library.

Totally concur. I once let a platform organize my music, and I hated the way it reorganized and reformatted. Fortunately, I had a back-up. Lesson learned.

Interesting. Serious question, what is there to "manage" here? I just have a folder tree like I would for any type of document.

I guess I have always been a do the work up front type. Nothing enters that folder tree unless its perfect. I mean if I find a missing album cover its stop everything and fix that. I have never had the need to manage the collection save for moving it. Now it sits on a NAS with redundancy, so I have a somewhat permanent solution.

 

[bhunter]

I'd use the file system to organize as suggested by JoeESP9 above. I breakdown as follows: genre>artist>album>song. I currently have 14 genres. I sort primarily by album artist. All the album directory names are prefaced with the date of release>CD/Side Number>artist name>album name>any other relevant info I want all separated by dashs.
Hence:
1977 - Arne Domnerus Group - Jazz at the Pawn Shop - 2014 - HD 24 192
1993- Erich Kunzel - Down On The Farm
2000 - Big Mama Thornton - The Complete Vanguard Recordings - 3CD

Sadly, I have yet to find anything better than a Mac running itunes for managing the collection's meta data. There are a lot of Apple scripts available to maipulate the collection. I would not, under any circumstance allow iTunes, or any other player, "manage" the directory structure.

That said, I use a dedicated computer—Mac Mini—for music and like all my data I back it up to several networked devices. One of those devices periodically moves offsite. Good luck with getting your files organized.

 

[Semanon]

Interesting. Serious question, what is there to "manage" here? I just have a folder tree like I would for any type of document.

Lots of stuff. Playlists, sort by metadata tags, import CD/file information from the web, slick user interface, device syncing, searches, filtering, all your stuff visible is one place. Nothing someone with good skill can’t do, but with a nice interface.

 

[JoeESP9]

@bhunter
That's a lot of genre's. I could get by with just 2, music I like and music I don't.

I've never considered genre important. However, EAC (my ripper of choice) usually picks up the genre (70% of recordings) and Music Bee shows that in the display. If there is no genre in the metadata I usually don't bother to add one. It's an easy edit in Music Bee to add genre.

 

[idf.bts]

Lots of stuff. Playlists, sort by metadata tags, import CD/file information from the web, slick user interface, device syncing, searches, filtering, all your stuff visible is one place. Nothing someone with good skill can’t do, but with a nice interface.

I can see value in the importation and lookup, as noted there are tools that do that standalone. I guess people treat music files like I did Matchbox cars in the day. Organize, reorganize, then a new carrying case for my birthday and all hell breaks loose. It could be weeks before the dust settles and all the cars are in their new place.

 

[Semanon]

I can see value in the importation and lookup, as noted there are tools that do that standalone. I guess people treat music files like I did Matchbox cars in the day. Organize, reorganize, then a new carrying case for my birthday and all hell breaks loose. It could be weeks before the dust settles and all the cars are in their new place.

I’d say you are a rare bird. Most music collections I see are haphazard at best: toss the Matchbox cars in a shoe box, then root around to find what you want. Lots of these platforms will scan your hard drives for anything that looks like a music file and import it (which drives me batty).

I had a haphazard library at first, then saw how out of control it could get. Now I have a rigid structure. I also have an ‘incoming media’ folder where newly acquired media lives until it is vetted. As I say, my collection is carefully curated.

 

[E-Stat]

Another free alternative is Logitech Media Server (LMS) which creates a MySQL database with rich metadata. Supports a wide range of players including Win, MacOS, iOS or Android phones/pads, Raspberry Pi platform, et. al.

 

[hendertuckie]

I use Swinsian software on my Mac Computers. It has a nice feature called "Find Duplicates". It's not free, 20 bucks is what I paid and it's been worth every penny.

 

[idf.bts]

I’d say you are a rare bird. Most music collections I see are haphazard at best: toss the Matchbox cars in a shoe box, then root around to find what you want. Lots of these platforms will scan your hard drives for anything that looks like a music file and import it (which drives me batty).

I had a haphazard library at first, then saw how out of control it could get. Now I have a rigid structure. I also have an ‘incoming media’ folder where newly acquired media lives until it is vetted. As I say, my collection is carefully curated.

Those were the cars of my friends. Mine were always clean and neat in the box, and ONLY THEN were they available for the smash up derby.

I have learned my lessons with 3rd party software that portends to be free. Even paid nowadays for that matter. I like to invest in my memory, and as a consequence I get less bloatware on my computer.

LOL, I have an incoming folder also. Mine is called "MUSIC_STAGING". I am as lazy as the next punter, my rigor on this comes from messing it up more than once and back to zero again to organize it. You laugh at my Matchbox cars but looking back it was le training ground extraordinaire!