Sorting a large MP3 collection

[chablis97]

Hi guys,

I am currently sorting a very messy and very large MP3 library (1,000's of albums).  I would appreciate advice from anyone who has been in the same situation, questions . . . . .

- I was intending to split them up by artist name in sub-directories called, 123.., A, B, C, etc.  Is this the right way to go?
- If it is, where should artists beginning with 'The' go, into 'T' or the relevant dir based on the word after 'The'?
- Where should Soundtracks go?
- Where should Compilations (Various) go?

Help appreciated.

[kizer]

Heres mine.
09
a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
i
j
k
l
m
n
o
p
q
r
s
t
u
v
w
x
y
z

I put well A's in the A's and so forth. For Albums that start with "The" I just throw them in the T folder I suppose it make more sense to put "The Beatles" in the b folder since its a B band, but I don't. hahaha

As for compilations and whatnot I don't really collect them and the soundtracks I normally rename the artist and the album name to say for instance Godzilla because my tracks have the artist name in it so I know who is who playing.

[Barcrest]

I have mine sorted like that with sub folders for

Compilations
Sountracks
Singles

The singles are proper CD singles with B sides etc. These are seperate folders to the A-Z

[chablis97]

Thanks for the feedback guys.  Barry, so does your complete dir structure looks like this? . . . .

09
a
b
c
Compilations
d
e
f
g
h
i
j
k
l
m
n
o
p
q
r
s
Singles
Soundtracks
t
u
v
w
x
y
z

[Barcrest]

\mp3\Sorted By Letter\Artist A\
\mp3\Sorted By Letter\Artist B\
\mp3\Sorted By Letter\Artist C\
\mp3\Compilation Albums\
\mp3\Sountrack  Albums\
\mp3\Singels\

Looks like that, makes it easy to find stuff when adding new music.

[spudgunman]

same here, i have 300gb and use the same structure listed. Its the only way to deal with  it all.

[Barcrest]

I also recomend using the artist name in the final folder...

\ACDC - Back In Black\
\Beast Boys - Ill Communication\

This avoids confusion with albums that share the same name but are by different artists.

[chablis97]

Thanks guys.  I'm getting there.  A to T done, 1,2,3, U to Z, Compilations and Soundtracks to go. . . .

[kizer]

Mine are
E:/A/Aero Smith/Pump

Reason being if I need to copy my Aero Smiths I just copy their folder I suppose if I was copying "Single Folders" it would be best use the artist name in the album folder name, but since all my files are tagged properly it would be easy to figure an album out fast.

[d78]

I've always had the best luck with this:

Artist\Album1\01-track name.mp3
                  \02-track name.mp3
                  \03-track name.mp3

Artist\Album2\01-track name.mp3
                  \02-track name.mp3
                  \03-track name.mp3

[jacktucky]

I've always had the best luck with this:

Artist\Album1\01-track name.mp3
                  \02-track name.mp3
                  \03-track name.mp3

Artist\Album2\01-track name.mp3
                  \02-track name.mp3
                  \03-track name.mp3

Me too.  This also makes it look nice in Xbox Media Center

=J

[d78]

I've always had the best luck with this:

Artist\Album1\01-track name.mp3
                  \02-track name.mp3
                  \03-track name.mp3

Artist\Album2\01-track name.mp3
                  \02-track name.mp3
                  \03-track name.mp3

Me too.  This also makes it look nice in Xbox Media Center

=J

It's also very easy for winamp to rip CD's into this file structure automatically. That is a big reason I do it.