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How Do You Name Your Music Files

  • Total voters
    16
  • Poll closed .
ahoustondj

ahoustondj

Mac Daddy DJ
Aug 13, 2007
20,235
3,465
Texas
When naming your Music Files, do you use last name first or last? For instance will you label John Legend as is or do you label it Legend, John? How about Group names do you name a group The Temptations; Temptations,The; or Temptations? Vote in the Poll.
 
Agree with Wes for files that I get from pools, iTunes and Amazon. For those that I rip that are in CDDB, I go with that usually. Otherwise, I will use a bulk tool (KJ File Manager) to put last name first.
 
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Ours is first name, last name and a few other twists...some examples

Brad_Paisley not Paisley_Brad

We remove all articles (a, of, the, etc) in front of names

Temptations not The Temptations or Temptations, The

Folks with bands or long names are put under the main artist's folder

Bruce_Springsteen not Bruce_Springsteen_&_The_E_Street_Band

We also don't deal with artist name changes

John_Mellencamp not John_Cougar, etc
 
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I do it just as J mac laid it out...although when I first ripped my library back in 2001, I did it as "Sintra, Frank" since all my CD's were in alphabetical order.

Changing all the file names and tags was a massive undertaking using an mp3 file changing program (and before RockIt's was available).

Plus my genres are more detailed then most...50s & 60s Dance, 70s Dance, 70s Disco, 80s Dance, 90s Dance, 2000s Dance and 2010s Dance instead of lumping them all into just one called Dance.

My OCD forces me to go this route...although it works great for me!
 
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This goes back to when i "worked" part-time in the local radio station.
It was last name first.
It was "Supremes" not Diana Ross and the Supremes.
It was "Lil Bow Wow not Bow Wow.
It was "Daniel, Charlie Band"
There are no "A" "the" , they are dropped.

If an artist has a minimum of 5 hits, then they get their own folder in the decade they started in.
 
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Doesn't matter to me -- Rockit does find operations, not left to right search. So you type in "zep", and it finds everything by Led Zeppelin. Type in "Tull" and it finds all Jethro Tull songs.

An example -- I just opened Rockit, and typed in 1981 in the search box. I came up with two songs (I'm using only about a 1,000 song library for testing). Two songs came up -- Centerfold, and Crawling from the Wreckage. Both released in 1981.

So it doesn't matter.

For software that uses a left to right search, it might matter -- that's why I don't do it that way.
 
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I agree with Ricky about the program not caring how you do it.

Labeling for me: an artist / band by a persons first and last name is almost always labeled last, first (Adams, Bryan / Healey Band, Jeff). Some are not (R. Kelly). Almost all bands are kept as is (Boyz II Men / Bon Jovi). I can't think of one that is not as is.

As stated previously by others, 'A' and 'The' are removed from the beginning unless required (A Teens).
 
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What's the point of labeling?

I don't read filenames -- I read tag data. Hell, Rockit can tag WAV files, as well as MP3s -- bet you did not know that -- that's why I wrote a manual that nobody f_cking reads.

I think I need to go back to programming missile guidance systems -- I think Kim Fat Un would pay me bigger bucks...
 
Depends on how Limewire has it listed ;)
 
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I name my albums like this...

Kool G Rap - Half A Klip

Files within an album like this...

Half A Klip - 08 - Kool G Rap - With A Bullet.mp3
 
Until reference materials change their formulas for artist listings (e.g. Joel Whitburn, Norm M. Nite, etc) their look-up file naming shall remain supreme.

Last Name first, numerical group names spelled and alpha arranged.
 
DJ Wes said:
So Cap, how would you name 'Aqualung' by Jethro Tull?
Click to expand...


That's in Cap's contract -- Section M, subsection 32, paragraph 19 -- file nameing conventions. You can find it right under how to cook stuffed clams, and right above "Is yogurt really good for you?"

:cheers:
 
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SoftJock Rick said:
What's the point of labeling?

I don't read filenames -- I read tag data. Hell, Rockit can tag WAV files, as well as MP3s -- bet you did not know that -- that's why I wrote a manual that nobody f_cking reads.

I think I need to go back to programming missile guidance systems -- I think Kim Fat Un would pay me bigger bucks...
Click to expand...

Ricky, I agree that tagging does not care. For myself, I will clarify - for my organization purposes, the artist folders are named as I stated. For tagging purposes, all artists names are as they appear (first last / band).

I have a system that I have been using for decades .. and is ready and capable of adapting to almost any change in what the past had and what the future may bring.
 
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ittigger said:
Ricky, I agree that tagging does not care. For myself, I will clarify - for my organization purposes, the artist folders are named as I stated. For tagging purposes, all artists names are as they appear (first last / band).

I have a system that I have been using for decades .. and is ready and capable of adapting to almost any change in what the past had and what the future may bring.
Click to expand...


Well, to each his own, but I can find the tune I want much faster -- in fact I don't even use Windows search functions. So if you look at the setup, it's like this:

So, I can just click on the navigation tree, and everything is already sorted and categorized -- there's also 3 search functions -- entire drive search, current list search, and full library search. I can find anything in under 10 ms. That comes in handy when you have 5 seconds left on the song currently playing, and decide to change out the next song you want to mix into.

As long as your tags are valid, the filename can be 1.mp3 for all I'm concerned. I still use AudioGrabber (in fact I wrote the tutorial for it). I can empty and reload my working library in under 5 minutes. It's an XML document, and incredibly fast.
 

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Ricky - again, I totally agree with you. The current programs could care less about how one organizes their files.

My organization is done solely for me and my knowledge of the past and thoughts of the future - probably some other things tossed in for good measure too.
 
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