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Topic: Using parentheses instead of square brackets or curly braces (Read 2822 times) previous topic - next topic
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Using parentheses instead of square brackets or curly braces

Hello, I try to keep my folder structure as simple as possible:

Code: [Select]
Music/
    Artist/
         OriginalYear - Album Name
    Van Halen/
         1979 - Van Halen II/
               01 - Track Name.flac
               02 - Track Name.flac
               cover.jpg
     ..

I try not to add metadata information into the folder names because they are all embedded into the FLAC files. However, there is a situation when I have multiple versions of the same album, such as the original pressing and an MFSL or DCC Remaster. I can name them three different ways:

Code: [Select]
    Artist/
         YYYY - Album Name
         YYYY - Album Name (DCC Remaster)
         YYYY - Album Name [DCC Remaster]
         YYYY - Album Name {DCC Remaster}

The parens ( ) look the best but I noticed many people prefer using square brackets or curly braces. I find the square brackets and curly braces more annoying to look at when the media playing software displays the name of the albums.
Now, you probably say that certain albums have something like (Deluxe Edition) officially in parens and that is the information the parens should be used for and square brackets for metadata. But what if I only use parens?

Code: [Select]
Artist/
         YYYY - Album Name
         YYYY - Album Name (Deluxe Edition)
         YYYY - Album Name (DCC Remaster)
         YYYY - Album Name (1993 Remaster)
         YYYY - Album Name (DADC Austria Pressing)
         YYYY - Album Name (1984 JP 32XB-7934)
         YYYY - Album Name (Vinyl Rip)

Is there anything wrong in the only parens approach? I mention again I only use parens when I have multiple version of the same album, otherwise I use:

Code: [Select]
Artist/
         YYYY - Album Name
         YYYY - Album Name
         YYYY - Album Name

I would be grateful for any suggestion.

Re: Using parentheses instead of square brackets or curly braces

Reply #1 –
This is how I keep my files organized.   I use square brackets for dates and track numbers, and parenthesis for notes

Code: [Select]
Alice In Chains
├── [1990] - Facelift
│   ├── Alice In Chains - [01] - We Die Young.flac
│   ├── Alice In Chains - [02] - Man In The Box.flac
│   ├── Alice In Chains - [03] - Sea Of Sorrow.flac
│   ├── Alice In Chains - [04] - Bleed The Freak.flac
│   ├── Alice In Chains - [05] - I Can't Remember.flac
│   ├── Alice In Chains - [06] - Love, Hate, Love.flac
│   ├── Alice In Chains - [07] - It Ain't Like That.flac
│   ├── Alice In Chains - [08] - Sunshine.flac
│   ├── Alice In Chains - [09] - Put You Down.flac
│   ├── Alice In Chains - [10] - Confusion.flac
│   ├── Alice In Chains - [11] - I Know Somethin (Bout You).flac
│   ├── Alice In Chains - [12] - Real Thing.flac
│   ├── Alice In Chains - [1990] - Facelift.jpg
│   ├── Alice In Chains - [1990] - Facelift.m3u
│   └── folder.jpg -> Alice In Chains - [1990] - Facelift.jpg

Code: [Select]
Eisbrecher
├── [2008] - Sunde
│   ├── Eisbrecher - [01] - Kann Denn Liebe Sunde Sein.flac
│   ├── Eisbrecher - [02] - Alkohol.flac
│   ├── Eisbrecher - [03] - Komm Susser Tod.flac
│   ├── Eisbrecher - [04] - Heilig.flac
│   ├── Eisbrecher - [05] - Verdammt Sind.flac
│   ├── Eisbrecher - [06] - Die Durch Die Holle Gehen.flac
│   ├── Eisbrecher - [07] - Herzdieb.flac
│   ├── Eisbrecher - [08] - 1000 Flammen.flac
│   ├── Eisbrecher - [09] - This Is Deutsch.flac
│   ├── Eisbrecher - [10] - Zu Sterben.flac
│   ├── Eisbrecher - [11] - Mehr Licht.flac
│   ├── Eisbrecher - [12] - Kuss.flac
│   ├── Eisbrecher - [13] - Blut Und Tranen.flac
│   ├── Eisbrecher - [14] - This Is Deutsch (SITD Remix).flac
│   ├── Eisbrecher - [15] - Alkohol (Rotersand Remix).flac
│   ├── Eisbrecher - [16] - Kann Denn Liebe Sunde Sein (SITD Remix).flac
│   ├── Eisbrecher - [2008] - Sunde.jpg
│   ├── Eisbrecher - [2008] - Sunde.m3u
│   └── folder.jpg -> Eisbrecher - [2008] - Sunde.jpg

Re: Using parentheses instead of square brackets or curly braces

Reply #2 –
What if you have two versions of Alice In Chain [1990] - Facelift? the original you have now and an MFSL?

Code: [Select]
Alice In Chains
├── [1990] - Facelift
├── [1990] - Facelift [MFSL] ? or (MFSL)


I'm only interested in the naming of top folders, not what comes below.

Re: Using parentheses instead of square brackets or curly braces

Reply #3 –
I would go with this:

Code: [Select]
Alice In Chains
├── [1990] - Facelift
├── [1990] - Facelift (MFSL)

Re: Using parentheses instead of square brackets or curly braces

Reply #4 –
Thanks. I was thinking about using the parens as well. Last year I ripped 100 of my CDs and used curly braces such as

Aerosmith {1993 Remaster}

However as my collection grew I noticed that none of my albums ever used parens, so I thought what is the point in going with square braces or curly braces then.
 I would like to re-rip my collection this year as I bought new HDD and optical drive.

Re: Using parentheses instead of square brackets or curly braces

Reply #5 –
Quote from: zoliky on
I noticed that none of my albums ever used parens
I'm probably one to blame for the {} suggestion, but ... well, YMMV. I have things like https://ant-zen.bandcamp.com/album/rob-u-rang-friends - () in both artist and album and titles, and I have some tiltles by https://www.metal-archives.com/bands/Sunn_O%29%29%29/612

And more:

Behemoth: Zos Kia Cultus (Here and Beyond)
Kill II This: Mass. [Down.]-Sin (Drone.)
Meat Loaf: I'd Do Anything For Love (But I Won't Do That)
No-Man: ((Speak))
Psycroptic: (Ob)Servant
Queensryche: Another Rainy Night (Without You)
Steven Wilson: The Raven That Refused To Sing (And Other Stories)


Quote from: zoliky on
I would like to re-rip my collection this year as I bought new HDD and optical drive.
Why re-rip? (You ripped to too low bitrate?)

Re: Using parentheses instead of square brackets or curly braces

Reply #6 –
You're nothing to blame for. In fact, I appreciate your suggestion. I didn't know certain artists and albums have the parens in their name. I thought it was only used to add additional information such as Deluxe Edition. I will still keep using the curly braces. Do you have an idea if the square brackets [] are used in artist and album names?

Re: Using parentheses instead of square brackets or curly braces

Reply #7 –
I use the tags:

ALBUMSgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band
RELEASESuper Deluxe Edition
ALBUMSUPP
Where ALBUMSUPP is just additional information that I need to uniquely identify the album e.g. MFSL as you suggest.

I also use the following tags for the track title:
TITLEStrawberry Fields Forever
SUBTITLEOriginal Mix
TRACKTYPEBonus
For both I keep supplementary information in square brackets, so it would become:

YYYY - ALBUM (RELEASE) [ALBUMSUPP]
and
TITLE (SUBTITLE) [TRACKTYPE]

I haven't had any albums or track titles with square brackets, but I'm sure there will be.

Re: Using parentheses instead of square brackets or curly braces

Reply #8 –
Quote from: zoliky on
Code: [Select]
Music/
    Artist/
         OriginalYear - Album Name

I'm curious - how do you handle artists like Credence Clearwater Revival, who released more than one album per year?

Re: Using parentheses instead of square brackets or curly braces

Reply #9 –
I just use the same year

Code: [Select]
    1973 - Album Name
    1973 - Album Name


and in the FLAC metadata I extend that by adding the month as well like: 1973-02 or 1973-08 but in the folder structure I don't care about being so specific. The music playing app will sort them in correct order, that's what matters to me.
There are rare cases when two albums were released the same year and same month such as Guns N Roses "Use Your Illusion", what puts them in order in this case is the "I" and "II" in the album title: Use Your Illusion I and Use Your Illusion II
 

Re: Using parentheses instead of square brackets or curly braces

Reply #10 –
Quote from: zoliky on
Do you have an idea if the square brackets [] are used in artist and album names?
Rare!
* I gave an album title with [], (where for good measure, the band used "2" rather than "II" in their spelling).
* I have one album where the band name has ], and that is a parody.

So rare that I use square brackets to distinguish bands with the same name. I populate the album artist sort order tag to keep Ghost [JP] from from Ghost [PL] from Ghost [SE] and Leviathan [US-OH] from Leviathan [US-NY].
I see it is common to use square brackets to distinguish album version / pressing among those who care about that as well.

And that, to me, makes another case for using {} around year. Should I accidentally mass-delete tags, then I know that whatever is before { is artist related, and then album title (and version) will be found after }.

Quote from: doccolinni on
I'm curious - how do you handle artists like Credence Clearwater Revival, who released more than one album per year?
Typical in written references would e.g. Jones (1987) when that is unique, and Smith (1993a), Smith (1993b). It isn't hard to make another tag for that. Or a DAT2 with month whenever that is needed - depending on your OCD level, you might argue for
King Crimson /
     1974-03 Starless and Bible Black
     1974-10 Red
but that the alphabet makes the following sufficient:
Black Sabbath /
     1970 Black Sabbath
     1970 Paranoid
 :))

Re: Using parentheses instead of square brackets or curly braces

Reply #11 –
Quote from: Porcus on
Quote from: zoliky on
Do you have an idea if the square brackets [] are used in artist and album names?
Rare!
* I gave an album title with [], (where for good measure, the band used "2" rather than "II" in their spelling).
* I have one album where the band name has ], and that is a parody.

So rare that I use square brackets to distinguish bands with the same name. I populate the album artist sort order tag to keep Ghost [JP] from from Ghost [PL] from Ghost [SE] and Leviathan [US-OH] from Leviathan [US-NY].
I see it is common to use square brackets to distinguish album version / pressing among those who care about that as well.

And that, to me, makes another case for using {} around year. Should I accidentally mass-delete tags, then I know that whatever is before { is artist related, and then album title (and version) will be found after }.


Thank you so much for your time and for sharing your ideas.  I appreciate it. Do you think something like this would be okay to use for the same album with multiple releases?

Code: [Select]
YYYY - Album Name [1993 Remaster]
YYYY - Album Name [MFSL Remaster]
YYYY - Album Name [DCC Remaster]
YYYY - Album Name [AFZ Remaster]

Re: Using parentheses instead of square brackets or curly braces

Reply #12 –
Quote from: zoliky on
Do you think something like this would be okay to use for the same album with multiple releases?

Code: [Select]
YYYY - Album Name [1993 Remaster]
YYYY - Album Name [MFSL Remaster]
YYYY - Album Name [DCC Remaster]
YYYY - Album Name [AFZ Remaster]

Yeah, and I would have the bracketed part in an <albumversion> tag. (However I think I remember that it is possible, with foobar2000 and the quicksearch component, quicksearch for same album and omit everything after a "[".)
Also the albumversion I would have like
1979 Album Title [1993 remaster]
1979 Album Title [1997 remaster MFSL]
1979 Album Title [1999 remaster '20th anniversary']
1979 Album Title [2004 reissue '25th anniversary' 3CD CD1; 1999 remaster]
1979 Album Title [2004 reissue '25th anniversary' 3CD CD2; original master]
1979 Album Title [2004 reissue '25th anniversary' 3CD CD3; rough mixes]
or something like that. You have to take a stand on whether multi-CD sets shall be one more subfolder depth. Also it sometimes happens that you get
1979 Album Title [1988 CD bonus]
1979 Album Title [1993 remaster 1996 reissue]
when the first CD release had a bonus track, and the 1996 reissue is no new remastering (well maybe a new glass master with slightly different track boundaries, fixing some stupidity that was done in 1993) ...

Re: Using parentheses instead of square brackets or curly braces

Reply #13 –
Quote from: Porcus on
but that the alphabet makes the following sufficient:
Black Sabbath /
     1970 Black Sabbath
     1970 Paranoid

Funny, because the same happens to be true for Credence Clearwater Revival themselves:



However, I feel uncomfortable leaving it up to a lexicographical accident, so I add the month even in those cases.

Re: Using parentheses instead of square brackets or curly braces

Reply #14 –
I think I'm lucky most of what I have for albums released in the same year are usually Part 1 and Part 2 etc

Code: [Select]
Guns N' Roses
├── [1987] - Appetite For Destruction
├── [1991] - Use Your Illusion I
└── [1991] - Use Your Illusion II
Five Finger Death Punch
├── [2007] - The Way Of The Fist
├── [2009] - War Is The Answer
├── [2011] - American Capitalist
├── [2013] - The Wrong Side Of Heaven And The Righteous Side Of Hell (Volume 1)
├── [2013] - The Wrong Side Of Heaven And The Righteous Side Of Hell (Volume 2)
├── [2015] - Got Your Six

But I only have a couple like this where it's a remix album or something outside the normal discography.
Code: [Select]
Nine Inch Nails
├── [1989] - Pretty Hate Machine
├── [1992] - Broken
├── [1992] - Fixed
├── [1994] - The Downward Spiral
├── [1995] - Further Down The Spiral (US + UK)
├── [1999] - The Fragile
├── [2000] - Things Falling Apart
├── [2002] - And All That Could Have Been
├── [2005] - [With Teeth]
├── [2007] - Y34RZ3R0R3M1X3D
├── [2007] - Year Zero
├── [2008] - Ghosts I-IV
├── [2008] - The Slip
├── [2018] - Bad Witch

Re: Using parentheses instead of square brackets or curly braces

Reply #15 –
This is what I settled on (for now):

I don't use () for adding release info and I don't recommend it, also because I've seen albums which use that in the title.
But I can use it for things like Album Title (Original Soundtrack) or The Goldies Collection (Volume 1-3).

I use {} for adding short bits of info about a release that's relevant to the sound or the track listing. Mostly for remasters, like Artist - 1998 - Album Title {2012}. And things like {vinyl}, {Deluxe} or {Japan}.
The more detailed info about a release is always in the file tags.

I use [] for less important technical bits about the format, like [mp3] or [24-96] (anything that's not 16-44 lossless and doesn't significantly affect the sound).