Folder Structure

[bodiebill]

Reluctant to say how I do it because I was ridiculed years ago when I posted something similar on the JRiver forum, but here goes 🙂

 

For classical I have a strict way to name folders. Example:

 

\Classical\Modern\Berg, Alban (1885-1935)\(1908) Piano Sonate opus 1_Yeol Eum Son_2015

 

Based on the folder level and name, JRiver automatically tags the files:

.Genre = Classical

.Period = Modern

.Composer = Berg, Alban

.ComposerDates = 1885-1935

.Work = (1908) Piano Sonate opus 1 (Berg, Alban)

.Artist = Yeol Eum Son

.RecDate = 2015

.Album = (1908) Piano Sonate opus 1 (Berg, Alban) - Yeol Eum Son 2015

.WorkDate = 1908

 

The dot before the tag name (my own convention) indicates that it is a calculated field, for which editing is not needed (and not allowed).

The only fields/tags that I edit manually, usually later when needed, are ratings, comments, etc.

Some fields, such as .WorkDate, WorkRating or AlbumComment, are relational in the sense that when they are assigned to one file, they are automatically assigned to all files/performances that belong to the same work, or files that belong to the same album.

 

At one time I put a lot of work into this, as you can see from just one example of how a field -- in this case .Work -- is calculated, using regex (regular expressions) and JRiver's expression language:

=If(Isequal([.GenreHL],Classical),If(IsEmpty(Regex(FileFolder(),/#^(.+)\._(.+)#/,-1)[R2]),Regex(FileFolder(),/#(.+)_(.+)_(.*)#/,-1)[R1] /([.Composer]/),Regex([Filename (name)],/#(.+)\.(.+)#/,-1)[R1] /([.Composer]/)),)

 

For almost a decade I have used this system without problems, and without having to think about tags other than the few manual ones that I add later. Works like a breeze.

 

And similar for non-classical, but there it is all much simpler.

 

By the way, I use JRiver as database only, not as player.

[bodiebill]

22 minutes ago, hopkins said:

 have found there is no "best" way of organizing a music collection...

 

Agreed. It was done for my own use and refined over time. Not easy to just copy it to someone else's system. Also, a fair bit nerdy discipline (adherence to folder/file naming conventions) is required to maintain it. 🙂 Hence my reluctance posting it.

But who knows it could help someone else out there to setup something along these lines.

 

Quote

In my app, which is basically an album grid with some search, sorting, and filtering, I miss having a folder structure. But I am thinking as well of making things a little more flexible. 

 

One idea I have is to create a freely defined "folder" tree, and drag and drop albums or artists in the different "folders" (with potentially the same album included in different trees/folders). I'd like to find an existing software to play around with this idea (with actual files) and then see if it the concept is relevant for a music collection. 

 

Interesting. However I am not sure exactly what you want to achieve. What is 'freely defined'? Are the folders real or virtual (i.e. simulated by tags)? Why do you miss folders?

 

In spite of my own method, I do think that a fully tag based approach is equally viable.