2013-07-12, 19:19
Hi all
I'm writing this tutorial based on the experience I have had in sorting out my music library.
I started by following a tutorial found elsewhere on this forum, but have added a couple of processes before starting it as my library was in a serious mess.
I was halfway through the tutorial when I realised that m4a files were going to be an issue, so basically wasted a day. I'm writing this to help others avoid my mistake.
Before I start, I just want to say that this is what I found to work for me. There might be a better way to do this, and if there is, please do tell.
This is a very time consuming process. Depending on your library size and computing power, it can take a number of hours, even days to complete. Most of it is processing time, so you can set up a process and walk away until completed.
I've used a few applications to help sort my library out and these are as follows
1. Jaikoz
2. Magic Audio Converter
3. Music Brains picard
4. Mp3tag
Clean your library
In a previous attempt about a year ago to sort my library out, I had used Jaikoz to scan my library as there were a large number of files without names or tags. This did help out a lot as it uses the musicbrainz database for matching the accoustic fingerprints of unknown files. As a free user, you are limited to 5000 tracks per 24 hour period, so if you have a large database, you should consider upgrading to the premium version. Doing this back then helped to speed up the process below as much of my music was now identified. This also helped me to find missing artwork for my music, and embed it in the track.
I seem to remember that this process took a long time to complete, probably about a day.
Convert to mp3
The next thing I did was to convert any m4a files to mp3 using magic audio converter. This is the only application which I paid for, but it was worth it.
Not only does it do what it says, but it takes any tags found on the m4a and writes them to the mp3.
It can also delete the m4a when done so you don't have duplicates.
I decided to do this so that not only are all my files of the same type, but as you will read elsewhere, XBMC needs good tags to organise your library. I've found that m4a files dont work that well for me, where mp3 does.
To find all of your m4a files, open windows explorer and navigate to the parent folder where all of your music lives.
In my case, my music lives on a NAS so I went to V:/Music. In the search box, type m4a and wait for windows to finish the search.
Select one file in the search results and press "ctrl+a". This will select all files. Drag and drop all the files into Magic Audio Converter and wait for them to load. This can take some time if there are many files to load. In my case I had 3500 and it took about 30 mins.
Before converting, go to the menu bar and select "Options>settings" When the dialogue box opens, select the metadata tab and choose the last option. This will write ID3v2.4 tags which are the same as what will be used later in this process.
I chose to place the converted files in the source folder and to delete the source file. This keeps everything nice and tidy, and does not create duplicates.
When you are ready, go ahead and hit the convert button.
On my laptop, 3500 tracks took approx 17 hours to convert!!
Tag your files and update your library
To do this correctly, I followed this tutorial which I mentioned above.
It is very thorough and very helpfull
As per forum rules, all credit and much thanks goes to the original poster, Canozzie. Without them, my library would be still be a mess!
Tagging my files took a long time too. I have 20000+ tracks in my library and this took the best part of two days.
The result is an organised library, which will result in better enjoyment. Gone are my frustrations of hunting for the right track, or having random playlists etc.
I'm writing this tutorial based on the experience I have had in sorting out my music library.
I started by following a tutorial found elsewhere on this forum, but have added a couple of processes before starting it as my library was in a serious mess.
I was halfway through the tutorial when I realised that m4a files were going to be an issue, so basically wasted a day. I'm writing this to help others avoid my mistake.
Before I start, I just want to say that this is what I found to work for me. There might be a better way to do this, and if there is, please do tell.
This is a very time consuming process. Depending on your library size and computing power, it can take a number of hours, even days to complete. Most of it is processing time, so you can set up a process and walk away until completed.
I've used a few applications to help sort my library out and these are as follows
1. Jaikoz
2. Magic Audio Converter
3. Music Brains picard
4. Mp3tag
Clean your library
In a previous attempt about a year ago to sort my library out, I had used Jaikoz to scan my library as there were a large number of files without names or tags. This did help out a lot as it uses the musicbrainz database for matching the accoustic fingerprints of unknown files. As a free user, you are limited to 5000 tracks per 24 hour period, so if you have a large database, you should consider upgrading to the premium version. Doing this back then helped to speed up the process below as much of my music was now identified. This also helped me to find missing artwork for my music, and embed it in the track.
I seem to remember that this process took a long time to complete, probably about a day.
Convert to mp3
The next thing I did was to convert any m4a files to mp3 using magic audio converter. This is the only application which I paid for, but it was worth it.
Not only does it do what it says, but it takes any tags found on the m4a and writes them to the mp3.
It can also delete the m4a when done so you don't have duplicates.
I decided to do this so that not only are all my files of the same type, but as you will read elsewhere, XBMC needs good tags to organise your library. I've found that m4a files dont work that well for me, where mp3 does.
To find all of your m4a files, open windows explorer and navigate to the parent folder where all of your music lives.
In my case, my music lives on a NAS so I went to V:/Music. In the search box, type m4a and wait for windows to finish the search.
Select one file in the search results and press "ctrl+a". This will select all files. Drag and drop all the files into Magic Audio Converter and wait for them to load. This can take some time if there are many files to load. In my case I had 3500 and it took about 30 mins.
Before converting, go to the menu bar and select "Options>settings" When the dialogue box opens, select the metadata tab and choose the last option. This will write ID3v2.4 tags which are the same as what will be used later in this process.
I chose to place the converted files in the source folder and to delete the source file. This keeps everything nice and tidy, and does not create duplicates.
When you are ready, go ahead and hit the convert button.
On my laptop, 3500 tracks took approx 17 hours to convert!!
Tag your files and update your library
To do this correctly, I followed this tutorial which I mentioned above.
It is very thorough and very helpfull
As per forum rules, all credit and much thanks goes to the original poster, Canozzie. Without them, my library would be still be a mess!
Tagging my files took a long time too. I have 20000+ tracks in my library and this took the best part of two days.
The result is an organised library, which will result in better enjoyment. Gone are my frustrations of hunting for the right track, or having random playlists etc.
