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Topic: Auido media manager (Read 3924 times) previous topic - next topic
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Auido media manager

Hello everyone!

Well, I'm a music enthusiast. For years I've been building and maintaining an audio library collection. Now it has become 120Gb (mp3 format) in size, I'm trying to find a program able to manage all that data.

All the files have ID3v2 Tag and album cover-art embedded.

I tried itunes, winamp, wmp, aimp2, foobar and media monkey.

The most comprehensive seems to be media monkey. However, it's not free and has some minor interfaces annoyances.
All of the others seems to lack some useful features or have a poor development (foobar).
(foobar is fine but have a very poor development and support. Besides it has plenty of incompatibilities with its coponents)


My question is, beyond those media managers I've mentioned, which software would you use for media library management?

Cheers!

Auido media manager

Reply #1 –
Give MusicBee a try, it's good. Make sure to get the latest weekly update from the forum after installation as they contain lots of small fixes.

Auido media manager

Reply #2 –
Out of curiosity, what features does foobar2000 lack?

The only incompatibilities come from banning components that don't work well, and none of that banning relates at all to media management. None of the core file management code has any incompatibilities or poor development.

To say that it has "poor development" and "incompatibilities" is outright false in any context but the skinning one. Don't be mislead. Out-of-the-box, with the standard installer, you have a complete and robust set of tag and file management utilities.

The one weak point is in regards to album art, but even that is pretty robust these days.

Auido media manager

Reply #3 –
I'll second the MusicBee suggestion.
It has come a long way since it was introduced, and like foobar, only does audio files.
The author is very responsive.

I kinda like that.

Auido media manager

Reply #4 –
Quote from: Azevedo on
My question is, beyond those media managers I've mentioned, which software would you use for media library management?


There are many media manager programs available for the Windows environment.  If you have tried Foobar and don't think that it fits you, that's fine.

I use J. River Media Center 15.  It allows for a lot of customization based on capabilities in the program itself.  There is a plug-in interface but 3rd party plug-ins are not necessary.  MC 15 can handle quite large libraries (200,000+ tracks) without getting slow.  I have a lot of classical music so using tags beyond the standard genre, artist, album, track name set to browse my collection was crucial.  I reply on the ASIO audio output capability but MC also supports WaveOut, DirectSound, WASAPI exclusive mode, Kernel Streaming and DLNA.  Multi-library, multiple views, multi-room.  A secure ripper that works. Lots more features.

I use views based on browser panes like those iTunes offers.  Other MC 15 users use album covers oriented views. Here are some screenshots of my configuration.

http://naturelover.smugmug.com/Other/JRive...637847056_JrGUm
http://naturelover.smugmug.com/Other/misc/...691098968_mitFe

MC 15 isn't free but there is a 30 day free trial. the related Media Jukebox 14 program is free.

You are wise to figure out what works for you and search for a good fit.  Maybe J. River MC will work for you.  if not, there are plenty of other choices.

Bill

Auido media manager

Reply #5 –
Hands down, the best I've seen for any music enthusiast is Muso.  Nothing else I've seen comes close (and no, I've no link/ connection with it, it's just that good).  It is only geared towards providing a great interface to your music.  Tag editing, ripping, etc. etc. is left to tools built for that purpose.

Auido media manager

Reply #6 –
I use
1. Helium Music Manager: Helium supports most common music formats (MP3, MP4, OGG, WMA, iTunes M4A, FLAC, APE, and MPC, WAVE) as well as standard audio CDs. You can not only manage your music files but also album pictures, artist pictures, track information, artist relations, biographies, discographies, and lyrics.

2. Winamp + MEXP-Plugin: the fantastic ´library plugin MEXP now is open source; some of the outstanding features can be seen in this video: http://www.oiltinman.com/downloads/misc/mexptour/

Bye Byte
Wurlitzer

Auido media manager

Reply #7 –
I've always been very happy with foobar and suggest you give it another chance. All software takes a few days at least for you to become comfortable with it's idiosyncrasies and my experience as regards development and responsiveness is different from yours.

Keep a copy of VLC handy for those occasional hard to deal with samples. I also use Ableton Live when I'm feeling adventurous. Loads of fun playing with the effects and looping/slicing and dicing.

Auido media manager

Reply #8 –
Quote from: Azevedo on
All of the others seems to lack some useful features or have a poor development (foobar).
(foobar is fine but have a very poor development and support. Besides it has plenty of incompatibilities with its coponents)

For "incompatibilities" you may need to find updated components, or find out if they're even necessary anymore since Foobar2000 doesn't really need anything added on to be a great audio player and ripper. I don't know how anyone could fault it myself, that and it can also be used as a portable app.

Auido media manager

Reply #9 –
Quote from: Azevedo on
The most comprehensive seems to be media monkey. However, it's not free and has some minor interfaces annoyances.

There is a free version of MediaMonkey with some non-essential features disabled. The full version is $20. Doesn't seem like a a sound reason to disqualify.

Auido media manager

Reply #10 –
Hey everybody!

Thanks for all the responses and suggestions.

I forgot to metion that I also tried Songbird, but it has a very slow interface and is too heavy.

I tried to get along with foobar for a long time. The program itself is pretty robust but lacks support from component developers. Foobar should have a major GUI improvements.
I gave it up: too much incompatibilities.

Now I'm to choose between mediamonkey and musicbee.




Auido media manager

Reply #11 –
You'd probably get better advice if you listed specifics likes and dislikes, and also the key things you're looking for.

I've used Mediamonkey for years now and really like it. It's fast, handles large libraries, syncs with my Android phone, and works with my remote control.
 

Auido media manager

Reply #12 –
I use WMP12 because of its free AMG metadata integration + automatic folderization. It also handles WMAs (obviously) and AAC files.
EAC>1)fb2k>LAME3.99 -V 0 --vbr-new>WMP12 2)MAC-Extra High