Re: Library Questions

James wrote: 
I have a very large MP3 collection that I've built over the past several
years.  I have meticulously maintained the ID3 tags the way that I want
them.  I recently purchased a Portable Media Center, which is absolutely
perfect for me.  I can sync it to my desktop computer, plug it into my car
stereo on my way to work, unhook it, bring it to my desk and listen for 8
hours, then do the reverse.

The problem: it has a lot of features that essentially rely on Windows Media
Player.  Up to this point I have HATED WMP.  I've been a Winamp user since
Day 1.  So, in this new found light, I decided to investigate WMP and found
that I still don't like it...but it might be worth the switch.

My question list:

1.)  How do I get album art for several thousand songs, in the most
efficient way possible?  I've ripped all of my songs from CDs using Winamp
Pro, so I have MP3s that don't have any "extended" information (album art,
etc.) and I've changed a lot of the ID3 tags the way I want(ed) them.  I'd
prefer to leave everything the same and just find the album art, but that
doesn't seem to be an option.

The Album Art Fixer (http://www.avsoft.nl/ArtFixer/default.htm) is the best automated way. Make sure you back up all your music first, and album art as WMP has a predilection for overwriting or even deleting these when it thinks your information is wrong.


2.)  I have organized my MP3s into folders by Genre, not by artist.  I don't
have any albums broken down...and a lot of my tracks only have the
artist/track name, no album info.  From what I can gather, album art goes by
folder, not by actual files.  Is this correct?  If so, how do I easily get
my tracks into the Artist/Album/Track Name format...especially when a lot
of the CDs are now missing.  I don't want to do this entire thing manually.

WMP will do it for you automatically if you set the correct Library options. However, it does not matter where your files are on disk, as the WMP ordering does not need to reflect the disk organization. When WMP RIPS however it will only lay out in the Album Artist/Album method. You can move the tracks later and it will update accordingly.

A set of unique files is created for each Album, so you can have multiple albums in a single folder if you desire.

Please read http://msmvps.com/thinice/articles/15229.aspx for more background on the metadata fields.



3.) I assume when I'm editing the information for an MP3 track in the WMP
interface, it's changing the ID3 tags? I do like the fact that I can
select an entire group of files and change the Genre, or the Artist, or
whatever.

Yes, but not always. Without actually inspecting the files you can never know if WMP has updated your file ID3 tags or if it has simply cached the information in the library and forgotten to write it out.

You may find that WMP cannot handle some ID3 tags, and that Winamp is required to fix them.
.

Relevant Pages

  • Library Questions
    ... How do I get album art for several thousand songs, ... etc.) and I've changed a lot of the ID3 tags the way I wantthem. ... artist/track name, no album info. ... I assume when I'm editing the information for an MP3 track in the WMP ...
    (microsoft.public.windowsmedia.player)
  • Please Help (Library questions)
    ... How do I get album art for several thousand songs, ... etc.) and I've changed a lot of the ID3 tags the way I wantthem. ... artist/track name, no album info. ... I assume when I'm editing the information for an MP3 track in the WMP ...
    (microsoft.public.multimedia.windows.mediaplayer)
  • Re: Id3 tag problem + album art
    ... within itunes all of my music is correctly taged and has album art attached to each song. ... In the windows explored they are shown to be correctly taged and everything but when i goto WMP it reverts back to the old name and stuff. ... Some of the album art does not even display and some are all black. ... If WMP and iTunes are both monitoring the same files then they will fight to the death over your ID3 tags. ...
    (microsoft.public.windowsmedia.player)
  • Re: Black Square Hell
    ... Backup the album art seperately if your own work is being wiped out by WMP. ... I have seen jpg images exhibit this behavior when my own Internet connection was not working correctly. ... This is because Windows Media Player will always change your album art with its own album art. ... When I first started following this newsgroup it was over the same problem: Windows Media Player kept replacing my own scanned artwork with its low-quality, small-size, sometimes-incorrect artwork. ...
    (microsoft.public.windowsmedia.player)
  • Re: Major problems with Zen Vision:M and WMP11b2
    ... After a few days of working with WMP, I was finally able to get everything ... My library of MP3's were carefully tagged and groomed with MP3 Tag ... Tools, including album art embedding. ... all of my songs displayed properly on my Zen Vision:M. ...
    (microsoft.public.windowsmedia.player)
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