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Topic: Organizing my new flac archive! (Read 6325 times) previous topic - next topic
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Organizing my new flac archive!

Hey guys, I have about 200 CD's that I've decided to archive using the FLAC codec.  I used these directions.  Now, my question, is how do you all go about organizing your music?  What filename naming schemes do you use?  What kind of directory structure do you use?  If this thread should be elsewhere, mods, please move it.  I thank you for your input!  I just wanna do this right the first time around
 

Organizing my new flac archive!

Reply #1 –
For normal albums:

<artist name>\<album name>\<song number> - <song title>.flac

For compilation albums:

<album name>\<artist name>\<song number> - <song title>.flac

For classical music and pieces where the composer and orchestra are both important:

<composer name>\<artist/orchestra name>, <composition name> <volume number>\<song number> - <song titleflac

All located in a directory labeled "jukebox" on a network accessibl drive.  I also have a duplicate directory labeled "portable" with a version of the jukebox converted to OGG Vorbis at 192kbps (q6).

-rt

Organizing my new flac archive!

Reply #2 –
I use something close to retilghman's scheme, except that I include genre info:

<genre name>\<composer name>\<album name or compositition type>[ - <performer names>]\<track num> - <title>.flac

Off topic:  I've written a little win32 console app to re-number mp3s and flacs.  Say I have a directory with 35 flacs numbered 01 - title.flac...through 35 - title.flac.  And say I want to put 7 new tracks at the head of the list.  This little console app will renumber all the files, bumping the track prefix in the file name up by an arbtrary number.  I'm willing to share the executable & the source.  Anyone interested?

Organizing my new flac archive!

Reply #3 –
If you want all your files to be independent of your directory structure (like I do), I've found the best filename scheme to be Artist - (Year) Album - ## - Title for ordinary albums. My compilations are named VA - Album - ## - Artist - Title. VA stands for Various Artists. VA can be replaced with OST if the album is a soundtrack. This keeps everything in absolute perfect order regardless of directory structure. I don't collect classical music so including composers and performers and so on is not an issue for me.

If you want files that compliment your directory structure, a nice way go to is Artist (Year) Title / ## - Title for ordinary albums. Compilations would then be named VA (Year) Album / ## - Title.


Examples:

Independent filename: Air - (2004) Talkie Walkie - 06 - Surfing On A Rocket.mpc
Directory dependent it would be: Air (2004) Talkie Walkie / 06 - Surfing On A Rocket.mpc

Organizing my new flac archive!

Reply #4 –
The only warning I would make about placing all file data in the file name is in regards to cd burning file name restrictions.

Remember that file names per the CD R/RW "Joliet" standard cannot exceed 64 characters, so if you plan on making a CD for backup or whatever and have very long filenames you will either have to:

1. rename all files
2. compress the files in an container like zip or rar
3. truncate the names

Basically a stupid PITA I always remember when I try to bckup a bunchof bookmarks or favorites and get a boatload of errors (alays forget to export to a single file).

Best,
rt

Organizing my new flac archive!

Reply #5 –
I use <album name>\<song number> - <song title> {<artist name>}.flac for compilation albums, this way the songs appear in the correct order in a file listing and because of the accolades I don't get into trouble with song titles or artists containing a dash (-).

Organizing my new flac archive!

Reply #6 –
Quote
if you plan on making a CD for backup or whatever and have very long filenames you will either have to (...) truncate the names

If your files have tags (containing tracktitles etc.) then you can restore the filenames. This is useful for restoring truncated filenames.


How I organize my music (i hope it helps you):

<Artist> \ <Year> (4 spaces) <Album> \ <Number> (4 spaces) <Title>

or for classical:

<Composer> \ <Album> (<Most important performers>, <Year>) \ ...

Organizing my new flac archive!

Reply #7 –
Alright, thanks much guys!  Your input has helped me a lot!


Organizing my new flac archive!

Reply #8 –
Thanks for looking at my EAC guide, the reason that I chose that format was that it makes for really easy conversion of the files.

I maybe different in that I usually tend to listen to albums in their entirety and is the basis for my file folder type. I also tend to like earlier or later albums, so having the release year in the directory helps me to quickly sort the files for listening.

Btw, I added more info to the page today.

Updated Instructions

You also might want to reference the .aspx versions of the page vs. the old temp .html pages. I haven't quite got everything cleaned up yet.

Take Care,
Cal