Organizing and tagging music

[nicoff]

Originally Posted by Mikeylee

I hope this is the correct thread for this. I have a Sony HAP-Z1ES music server on the way thanks to Ivan I want to keep the files for that away from my iTunes which is a mess and contains a lot of low quality files. I am open to any guidance on the best way to organize and tag my music files on the computer. I intend to rip cds to flac, and I am starting to purchase some HR flac files from eclassic.com and HDTracks. I primarily listen to rock but have really gotten into classical and want to expand my classical library. Any suggestions on any or all of the above? Thanks.

I assume that you are on a Windows environment, if so any of the recommendations EAC, dbpoweramp, JRiver, and mp3tag work great.
I strongly suggest that BEFORE you start, you pick ONE method for cataloging your music and stick to it. That first decision is the most important one. The rest takes time but it is easy.

Also keep in mind that you can aconnect a CD drive to the Sony and have the Sony rip the CD to its internal drive. If you don't have a large collection of CDs, that could be an option for you.

[Mikeylee]

I did fail to mention I am a Mac guy. JRiver and dBpoweramp will work, but mp3tag will not work natively. All of your suggestions and assistance prove very helpful.

[audio bill]

SongKong is getting some positive reviews and has a free trial. However the trial software will only show you what it finds to change and not actually make any updates to your files. It is available for both Windows, Mac, and Linux.

[Antonmb]

Originally Posted by Mikeylee

I did fail to mention I am a Mac guy. JRiver and dBpoweramp will work, but mp3tag will not work natively. All of your suggestions and assistance prove very helpful.

For editing metadata on a Mac, besides JRiver of course, Metadatics is a powerful app. I use it to tag classical with the things you typically don't get wth any ripping software: conductor, orchestra, soloists, chorus, ensemble, etc.

[clpetersen]

Originally Posted by Mikeylee

I did fail to mention I am a Mac guy. JRiver and dBpoweramp will work, but mp3tag will not work natively. All of your suggestions and assistance prove very helpful.

If you are a Mac guy, look at XLD, which is free:

1) tagging is more limited as compared to JRiver
2) you can link it to a free Amazon Web Services account. If you want to find obscure artwork nothing will beat this.

XLD is not very user-friendly but quite powerful - I used it to transcode some hi-res stuff (24/192) to redbook (16/44.1) so Sonos would play those files. Worked where JRiver did not.

[clpetersen]

Originally Posted by audio bill

SongKong is getting some positive reviews and has a free trial. However the trial software will only show you what it finds to change and not actually make any updates to your files. It is available for both Windows, Mac, and Linux.

Gave the trial a shot. Impressive - let it run for ~2,000 tracks. It found numerous discrepancies between my library and the various databases. Need to look further to see if this will result in some type of improvement.

[scirica]

Originally Posted by clpetersen

Gave the trial a shot. Impressive - let it run for ~2,000 tracks. It found numerous discrepancies between my library and the various databases. Need to look further to see if this will result in some type of improvement.

Paul McGowan lauded SongKong in a recent blog. I may give it a try once they are ready to do DSD as well as PCM. The developer said that is coming very soon.

[Mikeylee]

I have been pondering everyone's great advise and info on how to go forward and trying to overcome the fear of tagging poorly. Now it is time for action because I just received my WW cables and hooked up my HAP-Z1es music server for the first time. HOLY SMOKES! It makes my aging system sound new!! This is going to be a ripping, tagging, and listening weekend!

[Mike-48]

Originally Posted by clpetersen

organizing folders and sub-folders is only for your benefit; the indexing/playback software could care less - only the tags are used. I used to pay attention to folder names and file organization (e.g. how it the music folder looked in Finder or Windows Explorer). At this point I worry only about getting the tags right.

I have not used your Sony player, so take this with a grain of salt. In general, the advice of clpetersen is exactly right, and it's a point often overlooked or not understood by beginners. I sure didn't understand it when I started!

The tags are used by good playback software to populate a database, and searching for (and cataloging) music is done through that database. The physical location of a particular file is just one attribute among many that are stored. Typically, the physical location is only used by the player to play the file -- not for you to find the music. That's best done by using other tags, such as artist, album artist, or the name of a piece.

I'll second the recommendation for dBpoweramp as a great ripping program if you're using a PC. If you do use it, pay the small fee for the licensed version, and look online for a tutorial at setting it up to get error-free rips.

As noted, JRiver is also great as a player, tag editor, and general music catalog. It does much more than that, too. (Windows and OSX)

MP3Tag is a great, free program for editing tags. Though I generally do that through JRiver, mp3tag is nice to have on hand, too. (Windows and OSX)

Have fun!