[skyking376]

Movies + TV Shows I fully understand and have been comfortable with for 5+ years. Now it is finally time for music.

My setup is a Unraid NAS and MINIX-NEO box to run CoreElec. I use Aeon Nox: Silvo for skin. This setup is NOT connected to the internet on purpose so any and all of the "pretty stuff" has to be (or I want it to be) local only. 

Using MusicBrainz Picard 2.5.1 here is what I think I know from reading/research:
1) Tag all music with musicBrainz Picard using "Clear existing tags", and use "ID3v2.4 version".
2) Add script -- $setmulti(albumartists,%_albumartist%)
3) Cover Art -- "Embed cover images into tags", and "only embed a front image"
4) Tagging is key so file/folder structure is pretty flexible but I have it as C/Music/Artists/Albums/songs 1,2,3,etc

If I want "local" pretty pictures I need some sort of media manager to scrape those files. I have been using MediaElch to scrape the main artist (that gets artist.nfo, fanart.jpg, folder.jpg, logo.png files), then the individual albums (that gets album.nfo, cdart.png, folder.jpg files). I have tested only about a dozen artists. I think I might need/want separate artist folder as newer versions of kodi are mentioning this new feature, but not sure how to use it or if I need it?

Some questions are music setup related and some are probably Aeon Nox Silvo skin related:
1) [Music layout question] I didn't try any compilations, various artists, soundtracks, or xyz other thing I can't think of yet. Given I want to have all pretty stuff local am I good to go (to tag/scrape 10,000 songs) or did I miss a step?
2) [Music layout question]  Before I start, do I need to setup the separate artist folder?
3) [Music layout question] Creating a playlist, is it the same on all skins? How to create a playlist?
4) [Skin question] I couldn't find correct link that didn't fork 20 times that a noob like me could follow about making my music section look awesome similar to this or this. If there is a guide that isn't 5+ years old can you point me in the right direction?
5) Probably more skin questions once I learn more...

If I forgot important info let me know.
Thanks for the input team...

[Karellen]

3) Cover Art -- "Embed cover images into tags", and "only embed a front image"

This one is questionable. My experience is that a lot of the times you end up with low quality images embedded in the file.

1) [Music layout question] I didn't try any compilations, various artists, soundtracks, or xyz other thing I can't think of yet. Given I want to have all pretty stuff local am I good to go (to tag/scrape 10,000 songs) or did I miss a step?

Nope cannot see any steps missed. Have you been through the guide? I think you have judging by some of the comments... https://kodi.wiki/view/HOW-TO:Create_Music_Library
"other thing I can't think of yet" might be Audiobooks (wiki)

2) [Music layout question]  Before I start, do I need to setup the separate artist folder?

First scan the music file tags. This means disabling the setting "Fetch additional information during update".
Once your music files are scanned into the library, Kodi will have a list of artists.
Using section 3.4 run an Export to create your artist folders... https://kodi.wiki/view/Import-export_lib...lders_only

4) [Skin question] I couldn't find correct link that didn't fork 20 times that a noob like me could follow about making my music section look awesome similar to. If there is a guide that isn't 5+ years old can you point me in the right direction?

What in particular do you want? The images look like standard views in Aeon Nox Silve so you shouldn't have to do anything special.
Of course you stated you don't want to connect to the internet, so you need to figure out how you will obtain your local artwork and save it correctly... Music_artwork (wiki)

I wouldn't be scraping all 10,000 songs at once without testing a little bit first.

[skyking376]

1) Didn't know about "you end up with low quality images embedded in the file". So is the the idea of having "Artist Folders" described below, yes/no?
2) I think i will deal with any oddballs at a later time (compilations, soundtracks, audiobooks, etc)
3) So I think I understand file/folder structure a bit better from this link section 3.2. As it says it is not required but I am right at start so no issues organize them like this: Artist Information, Artist Music, Compilations, Classical, Audiobooks all at same level, then different artists (Madonna, Smash Mouth, Will Smith) inside Artist Music folder, Compilations underneath compilations folder, Classical underneath Classical folder, etc, etc, etc...
4) From my question #3 and this link section "2 Fetching additional artwork" I believe it makes sense why I only got (artist.nfo, fanart.jpg, and folder.jpg) for the artist Smash Mouth. But using MediaElch I got (same but also logo.png) for Smash Mouth. Is it because "banner", "clearart", "logo", "fanartxx (extrafanart)", "landscape" are Experimental or I have a setting incorrect? Not 100% clear on this one.

I think I am getting closer but a few forks in the road still exist.
1) Should I make sure to NOT embed images using MusicBrainz Picard since they can grab lower quality? Or is there a setting or order of operations of where it grabs images (ex. all pretty pics from my labor, if not then embedded images, if not then online (but not in my case)). What should I do?
2) If I am going down this rabbit hole might as well do it correctly, just once. So with all the bells and whistles with #4 above "Fetching additional artwork" what settings, checkboxes, instructions to make it work? I think Kodi v18, something called Artwork Beef, and some file "advancedsettings.xml" (don't know where to find that one). Very "grey area" on this one.
3) I do have option to connect to internet if needed but 99% of time I purposely don't. If using "Universal Artist Scraper" and "Universal Album Scraper" are those results downloaded to artist folders? My thinking is let Universal album/artist scrapers do most of work then modify individual files as needed. Then disconnect internet.


More questions I am sure to follow...