Comments on: How I stay digitally organized: media files /2008/12/03/how-i-stay-digitally-organized_media-files Cars, Computers, and trying new things Sun, 14 Nov 2010 00:15:07 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0.1 By: Rothgar /2008/12/03/how-i-stay-digitally-organized_media-files/comment-page-1#comment-12117 Rothgar Mon, 22 Mar 2010 18:23:25 +0000 /?p=463#comment-12117 I actually typically don't play music much through my computer itself because the main places where I do work I have a HTPC with a receiver set up. I mainly play music through XBMC on my MythTV machine or using software on my phone (Nitrogen for Windows Mobile and the built in audio player for Android) while driving or working out. If I do play music from my computer (and it isn't through Pandora/Last.fm/etc.) I have been using Zune software because it looks the best, is dead simple to manage playlists, and their DJ mixes work better than anything else. The biggest problem with Zune is it is a resource hog, but my machines typically handle it just fine. I also used Windows Media Player built into 7 because I was able to stream my music from my home server while I was at work. But once again it is kinda a resource hog. If you are using Windows 7 the media player in media center is really nice but has problems with a SMB share and is more designed for a 10-15' interface. In Linux I use Banshee, XBMC, or rythumbox depending on which computer/VM/partition I am on. If you want to stream music using UPnP I recommend Twonky if you have some money or MediaTomb if you don't. Twonky allows for the folder separation (ABC DEF...) like you like without needing to actually put files in those folders which is really cool. I use that to stream to my PS3 occationally. I actually typically don’t play music much through my computer itself because the main places where I do work I have a HTPC with a receiver set up. I mainly play music through XBMC on my MythTV machine or using software on my phone (Nitrogen for Windows Mobile and the built in audio player for Android) while driving or working out.
If I do play music from my computer (and it isn’t through Pandora/Last.fm/etc.) I have been using Zune software because it looks the best, is dead simple to manage playlists, and their DJ mixes work better than anything else. The biggest problem with Zune is it is a resource hog, but my machines typically handle it just fine. I also used Windows Media Player built into 7 because I was able to stream my music from my home server while I was at work. But once again it is kinda a resource hog. If you are using Windows 7 the media player in media center is really nice but has problems with a SMB share and is more designed for a 10-15′ interface.
In Linux I use Banshee, XBMC, or rythumbox depending on which computer/VM/partition I am on.
If you want to stream music using UPnP I recommend Twonky if you have some money or MediaTomb if you don’t. Twonky allows for the folder separation (ABC DEF…) like you like without needing to actually put files in those folders which is really cool. I use that to stream to my PS3 occationally.

]]> By: puck /2008/12/03/how-i-stay-digitally-organized_media-files/comment-page-1#comment-12116 puck Mon, 22 Mar 2010 16:32:24 +0000 /?p=463#comment-12116 Hey, I just came across your blog via Lifehacker and then found this post. Funnily enough, I am using almost exactly your way of organizing music and pictures, and I even use Tagscanner and tagged all my files by hand too! My folder structure looks like this: AB\Artist\Artist - Year - Album\Track - Title.ext I ditched Artist - Track - Title.ext for this version, as I found some apps have problems with those otherwise long filenames. I also added AB, CD, EF and so on as a structure to minimize the amount of folder I see when I enter my music folder. If I would have to face all the Artists folders at once, my Windows-Explorer would certainly go nuts over so much subfolders. As you obviously also like to browser your music by Cover, I'd like to know what software music player you are using the most? I tend to fall back to Winamp again and again, as Songbird, Foobar a.s.o. really start to annoy me after a month or so. But Winamp doesn't have a nice cover view imo... Or do you browse via explorer and then just play the files in some player? Keep up the nice blog! Greetings from Germany, puck. Hey,
I just came across your blog via Lifehacker and then found this post.
Funnily enough, I am using almost exactly your way of organizing music and pictures, and I even use Tagscanner and tagged all my files by hand too!
My folder structure looks like this:

AB\Artist\Artist – Year – Album\Track – Title.ext

I ditched Artist – Track – Title.ext for this version, as I found some apps have problems with those otherwise long filenames.
I also added AB, CD, EF and so on as a structure to minimize the amount of folder I see when I enter my music folder. If I would have to face all the Artists folders at once, my Windows-Explorer would certainly go nuts over so much subfolders.

As you obviously also like to browser your music by Cover, I’d like to know what software music player you are using the most?
I tend to fall back to Winamp again and again, as Songbird, Foobar a.s.o. really start to annoy me after a month or so.
But Winamp doesn’t have a nice cover view imo…
Or do you browse via explorer and then just play the files in some player?

Keep up the nice blog!
Greetings from Germany,
puck.

]]>