So sometime very soon I’m going to go through a whole revamp on my music library and needed some advice. I currently have about 3000 tracks on my laptop and have all my older tracks that from my CD collections or just old MP3’s on an external HD, and those are probably like 8000 (not sure about the exact number right now).
Basically I’m really picky with the way my files are organized and it can get annoying at times, for the current laptop tracks they are purely EDM so just the file names themselves I like them to be “Artist - Track Name (Mix) [Label] Release Date” the release date is optional, but that’s just how I want them as file names, no lower case letters, underscores and all that and that can be pretty time consuming with samples and or stuff downloaded on the internet, I even don’t like the “Purchased at Beatport.com” in the comments
So I want to literally go through all my tracks and do this, I know it will take ages, so I wanted to know if there are any simpler ways of doing this? Also, when I make changes or rename files directly from the original file properties themselves the changes either don’t show up when opened in iTunes or another media player i.e. if I add a comment or remove a comment or rename something it won’t show and it will still have all the original file information/properties, or I can’t seem to make any changes to the file properties under file “Details” (I’m on a PC). So are there any ways to fix that?
I prefer changing/updating all the original file properties then organzing/making playlists etc. on iTunes so that I can use the files anywhere and have the correct information and not have annoying or confusing file names or information even though I understand it would be easier to just import my whole collection to iTunes and manually edit through that but I feel it wouldn’t be worthwhile if I use the track on another source and it’s back to the original properties.
I know that was a long read but really wanted to clarify the info since this is a HUGE task that hopefully some of you have completed or are going through. Basically how should I organize/rename my tracks like that in the most efficient way and make sure they are permanent.
Oh and I’d also like to add/remove the artwork/covers for the tracks too into the original file properties.
MP3tag (Windows only) can do batch jobs using regular expressions (sounds complicated but actually, it’s not that hard to learn). Kid3 (Windows and Mac) has similar capabilities. It even has the advantage of being open source. However, I find Kid3’s GUI less intuitive than the one of MP3tag.
Of course, some media players (e.g., MediaMonkey, Foobar2000) also have extensive tagging capabilities but I find specialized tagging software to be even more powerful.
Thanks for the reply, those both look like what I am looking for! Just to confirm this is changing the actual file properties/information permanently right? And what do you mean about the “”? I have files that I manually renamed like that and on iTunes too e.g. “Butch - No Worries (Original Mix) [Cecile] 05-21-10” I know you can’t use “/” or some other symbols in file names but didn’t have any problems with that. But yeah I’ll definitely check both of those out, I got Trainspotter 2 as well but didn’t really figure out how it works
@itskindahot - yeah I’ll definitely look into MP3tag as well, I would prefer just something for editing the file properties as opposed to additional media player, I’m fine with iTunes but would want to completely edit all my file information and then re-upload my library so that I can make proper playlists etc… I end up editing a file from the original sourxe after I’ve opened it once to listen to for the first time on iTunes and then end up having 2-3 files of the same name in my iTunes library because I have to constantly relocate them because I change some of the original file properties so it gets annoying lol
Sometimes I feel like I spend more timing organizing my library than actually playing it. I’ve finally found what’s most efficient for me, so I don’t really get to do this unless I add new tracks.
^I agree man its seems like its a never ending issue…I’m always finding new and better ways to organize my files but really it is necessary to go thru every single file.
I found that mp3tag versions have an impact whether or itunes writes the info to the file correctly or at all. Try to standardize the tag version which can be done in itunes by right clicking and convert idtag to version 2.3 as not everything is compatible with 2.4
Thanks for all the replies, yeah that’s the thing before I even start to play my tracks I want them all organized and I don’t like the way iTunes does it so I’m hoping MP3tag and the other suggestions can help… Does MP3tag change the original file properties so that they show up in iTunes and any other media players or multiple sources (e.g. different computers, anything that plays MP3…) that’s basically all I want to do
viceversa - I’ll definitely look into converting the tags, that’s what I meant that when I update the mp3 file information on my PC under “Properties” and then “Details” and save it, those changes don’t show up after when I open the track on iTunes or whatever and it’s just the same original info OR all the fields are shown as blank under “Details” and I can’t make changes to anything, but when opened in iTunes the artist, name, etc. are there.
You can right click a song in itunes and select “convert IDtag”, that should force the tag to be written. Don’t forget to check your files aren’t “read only”
Alright will do, I knew about that but didn’t mess around with it, but will converting the IDtag make a difference to the original file properties? That’s my main concern I don’t want to make changes to file names, cover art etc. all through iTunes because that doesn’t seem to affect the original file properties, so making all those changes just on iTunes would be a waste, which is why I want the source file to have all the correct info from the beginning and trying to do
youll be so happy when youre done and only need to update the new music that you add to your library.
took me like 10 days, and im really not done. i got lazy and left alot of stuff untagged that didnt need to be (only really tagged alot of what i play out and such – so alot of obscure stuff got pushed aside)
updating traktor is the bain of my existance tho… cause i add atleast 5 new tracks to my library that i want to play with every day…
I know I just want to spend a bunch of time organizing everything and getting it all in order, not looking forward to it but it has to be done…
@padi_04 - I downloaded some test MP3 files I saw linked in some other posts which were brand new and I didn’t have on my laptop and so I first opened one of them in iTunes and in the properties converted it v2.3 and then changed some track info like the album name, which was the website where the file was from and so that was removed but when I closed iTunes and checked the original file properties the same information was still there, so the changes were just made in iTunes which is not what I want to do, I want to edit the original files to be named correctly when shown on any source. Because when the file opened in iTunes the changes were shown, but I then opeend it on Windows Media Player and it still shows the original info lwith the website in the album name, etc.
So is there any way I can do that, is that what I should use MP3tag and the other programs that have been recommend for or will that not make a difference to the original file as well. Also they should all be converted to v2.3 as recommended by viceversa as well?
