Music Management and File Structure Advice Needed
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  1. #1

    Default Music Management and File Structure Advice Needed

    So after a lengthy battle with my files and having to remove duplicates and such I think Ive got it under control. Im reaching out for some help. What is the most efficient, easiest way to manage music. Is it easier to just dump all your music into one big folder or label your folders with the artists name then put the file in that folder then let Traktor deal with it.. I posted a screenshot of how my music folder is set up it's your typical c/mymusic arrangement.

    file structure.jpg
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  2. #2
    Tech Guru DJAdeSands's Avatar
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    It's gonna differ between DJ's, who all have seperate ways of doing things. Personally I have mine in date order, with each genre having it's own tree.
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  3. #3
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    I personally think its a waste of time having any other information in a track filename than artist and title.

    Everything else should be manipulated through a database like Itunes or similar.

    If you build a complicated file and folder structure, you are just building a much less powerful and more manual database.

    TLDR: File structure doesnt really matter, metadata is where its at.

  4. #4
    Tech Mentor jimmyv's Avatar
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    I use iTunes and love it. I know a lot of people hate it, but it is totally idiot proof for me. I have my whole library, then I make playlists based on genres. But I also have all of the fields filled out; genre, BPM, key, date imported, album etc. in case I need to do a search it is all there.



    itunes.jpg

  5. #5
    DJTT Moderator Dude Jester's Avatar
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    Drag and drop from iTunes into your impeccably set up traktor playlists
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  6. #6

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    Sorry but I dont use iTunes.
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  7. #7
    Tech Guru Patch's Avatar
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    You should. Smart playlists are a MILLION times better than folders.

    I've only been using iTunes for about a year, and my system now is awesome.

    You should definitely look into using iTunes instead of a folder structure.

    The answer to your original question:

    Is it easier to just dump all your music into one big folder
    Yes. But tag 'em well, and use Smart Playlists to build your lists.
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  8. #8

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    Quote Originally Posted by Patch View Post
    You should. Smart playlists are a MILLION times better than folders.
    Foobar is a million times better than iTunes. It's more powerful and versatile. Foobar will also handle every audio format you throw at it, most importantly FLAC, something iTunes and Apple still refuse to incorporate, and that is quite possibly the biggest reason not to use iTunes. ALAC being broken in Traktor 2.7.0+ is a pretty big example of why proprietary file formats are a really big hassle.

    The Discogs auto-tagger component from Foobar is capable of automatically tagging files with complete Discogs data. This means record label, catalog number, and other release data gets automatically added. It's also been really improved with updates lately, which fix a lot of the previous quirks it had.

    With the right theme, Foobar can also be a pretty decent looking player as well. Different components can be added to increase versatility. Foobar's smart playlists can do anything Apple's can do, if not more since Foobar is capable of handling metadata iTunes can't.

    Foobar also automatically reads any changes to a file instantly. If I edit a track in Traktor, such as rating it or adding a comment, perhaps adjusting the genre, Foobar instantly sees it. iTunes still doesn't do this.

    On Windows PCs, iTunes is a pretty big resource hog, and was nearly unusable for large libraries. Thankfully, the new version of iTunes has seen a very decent increase in performance and this isn't the case any more.

    Foobar isn't perfect though. It's pretty confusing to set up and configure for beginning users. Like iTunes, it has some quirks that can be slightly irritating.

    Anyway, as for file structure, I have a Music folder which has folders for every letter of the alphabet, and then artist folders inside those, with everything in album folders. I don't let Traktor "deal" with it, as one of Traktor's issues is that it won't put albums in proper track order if the tags aren't right.

    For example, if you buy/download music from Bandcamp, you'll see that the music tags are similar to this:

    Artist Name - 01 - Track Title

    This is fine if the album is one artist. If it's a various artists compilation though, it will display in Traktor in the alphabetical order of the file folder. This means tracks will be completely out of order.

    I use MP3Tag to rename all the files to:

    01 - Artist Name - Track Title - Album Title

    That is how I organize my music collection.

    If you choose to organize your files manually, I recommend coming up with an absolutely foolproof method and sticking with it. It's very tedious work if you decide you don't like your organization methods and have to redo everything.
    Last edited by Glitchwerks; 11-25-2014 at 08:47 AM.

  9. #9
    Tech Guru Patch's Avatar
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    Can you use Foobar Smart Playlists in the Traktor Browser?

    That's the main reason for creating Smart Playlists for me...
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  10. #10

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    Quote Originally Posted by Patch View Post
    Can you use Foobar Smart Playlists in the Traktor Browser?

    That's the main reason for creating Smart Playlists for me...
    Sort of! While there isn't a specific node, you can choose a playlist in Foobar, select all the tracks in it, and drag them to a playlist in Traktor.

    It's not going to beat Traktor's iTunes integration though.

    I do want to make it clear that I'm not necessarily saying people should switch their media players, especially if you're happy with what you're currently using. I know Foobar users and open source advocates can look like zealots and I'm not trying to be "that guy."

    I just suggest taking a look at all the tools available, then use what works best for you.

    Foobar isn't going to beat iTunes "out of the box." iTunes is still the best media player in that regard, and it's also the best looking with one of the best UIs out there, in my opinion.

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