is there an mp3 utility that will...

S

Sprkslfly

Gawd
Joined
Jun 28, 2004
Messages
514
Apologies in advance for the "novel", but due to the nature of taggers/renamers involved, I thought I'd better be as specific as I can to start with. ;)

I know we've got some really knowledgeable folks here and I would really appreciate your help in finding if such a tool exists! As most of the googleing I've done is coming up with one utility that can do one operation, and another that will do another part...etc

I would like to be able to take and batch redo a HUGE collection of mp3 folders (and sub-directories) and am *hoping* that there exists a single utility that can produce an output that yields what follows. I've already got album names done...but am including that info since the process I have in mind would be dependent upon the album naming.

Album folder structure base: artist - album name
(I can manually modify what I haven't already to the actual format I use for bands that I have with more than 2 albums which will appear as: Artist (year) - album title

Album song structure output: track number - track name

It should also be able to "pull" the names from the file names themselves....as I've changed formats a few times over the last 10-15 years. (ie: folder is named appropriately, but when it was ripped, I used artist - album - track name or artist - track # - track name or something like that...) As the collection has grown, I've found that this format seems to work the best for my needs and fast (on the fly) access:
EG:
/root
-compilations
adult
classical
comedy
/adult
/christmas
/artist
jazz
rock
etc

Batches are sometimes as large as 1000 albums (probably more) per genre.
with approximately 40 genres to do :eek: So if I start at a root directory, I'd like it to be able to do every directory/sub-directory inside (so as to not bog it down *too* much)

*IF* it can do ID3 tags at the same time and can "auto-insert" tags based on the above structure (and obliterate any pre-existing meta-data/info in the process) that would be my ultimate find! -Otherwise, I just found a really nice ID3 tag stripper (but since I mentioned it above might ought to reconsider finding not only a tag stripper, but rather, a meta-data stripper. Assuming that would include ID3 tags by default! lol

Thanks in advance for your help! =)
 
MediaMonkey is a great app for library management, but it's not really an "auto" type app (at least the free version isn't; IDK about the pay version).

I've tried letting WMP10 and the Zune software both auto-do my entire library in the past, and the results were mixed. Some stuff was right, other stuff (especially soundtracks and anything that was an import album like, say, anime stuff, X-Japan, B'z, or Drunken Tiger) was messed up really bad and mislabeled.

I gave up on the whole "auto" thing and just did stuff myself, really. It takes awhile, but MM has album lookup on existing mp3s which is something most other apps don't do....things usually get matched correctly, and a few clicks later you're done with that album.

Whatever you do ~ I would suggest if you do try to let an app auto-manage, that you backup your library to a spare drive or just another folder at a minimum, that way if your stuff gets messed up, you're not pulling double work trying to fix all the screwups.
 
zero2dash said:
MediaMonkey is a great app for library management, but it's not really an "auto" type app (at least the free version isn't; IDK about the pay version).

I've tried letting WMP10 and the Zune software both auto-do my entire library in the past, and the results were mixed. Some stuff was right, other stuff (especially soundtracks and anything that was an import album like, say, anime stuff, X-Japan, B'z, or Drunken Tiger) was messed up really bad and mislabeled.
Click to expand...

Yeah I hear that. (the replies are much appreciated BTW)

zero2dash said:
I gave up on the whole "auto" thing and just did stuff myself, really. It takes awhile, but MM has album lookup on existing mp3s which is something most other apps don't do....things usually get matched correctly, and a few clicks later you're done with that album.
Click to expand...

*nods* I've tried using CDDB oriented apps before and the more popular artists (in particular) have multi-options almost every time the query replies come back, kind of defeating the purpose IMO. But if it comes down to no other option(s), that still beats complete manual overhaul!

zero2dash said:
Whatever you do ~ I would suggest if you do try to let an app auto-manage, that you backup your library to a spare drive or just another folder at a minimum, that way if your stuff gets messed up, you're not pulling double work trying to fix all the screwups.
Click to expand...

Definitely sound advice. Learned that the hard way myself about 5-6 years ago. lol
Not a mistake I'll make again let me tell ya! ;) (I think that was with Tagger/Renamer)
 
Music Brainz Picard is an excellent, free program to help with this.

It will fill in any missing data on your ID3 tag. Then you can sort by albums, etc. and rename all your files according to the info on the ID3 tag. Then to get the folders in order, use iTunes or something like that. You should have an organize library option that will reorganize your folders outside of the program as well as in your user interface. (Does that make sense?)

Unfortuantely however, it isn't an end all be all. It is imperfect not in mislabeling, but rather in not having the information on a lot of the albums.

Struggles as most do on comedy, foreign albums and soundtracks.

Hope this helps. Good luck, it is a big task no matter how you choose to do it.
 
I think Winamp is the most accurate tagger I've tried. But you can't edit the downloaded info before applying it. Hopefully they'll fix this with an update.
 
mmgood said:
Music Brainz Picard is an excellent, free program to help with this.

It will fill in any missing data on your ID3 tag. Then you can sort by albums, etc. and rename all your files according to the info on the ID3 tag. Then to get the folders in order, use iTunes or something like that. You should have an organize library option that will reorganize your folders outside of the program as well as in your user interface. (Does that make sense?)

Unfortuantely however, it isn't an end all be all. It is imperfect not in mislabeling, but rather in not having the information on a lot of the albums.

Struggles as most do on comedy, foreign albums and soundtracks.

Hope this helps. Good luck, it is a big task no matter how you choose to do it.
Click to expand...

Will definitely have to check that out! -Also, if you could elaborate a bit more on the "You should have an organize library option that will reorganize your folders outside of the program as well as in your user interface. (Does that make sense?)

I should clarify a bit about my folder section...what I meant initially was that I've got the folders named and sorted in good order. I was just curious that if something could use my formatting of the artist - album name (of the folder), and subsequently incorporate that into the tagging process (once the track format of track# - track name is done). :)

Snarl said:
DBPower Amp is my weapon of choice, has great Batch Processing
Click to expand...

Used that a couple times about 4-5yrs ago IIRC...liked it but forget what it was that I didn't care for at that time. Need to check it out again as I'm sure its come a loooooong way since then! Thanks for the reminder :)

And again I appreciate your suggestions folks!! =)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top