Media library advice please, Windows
 

This must have been discussed before but I'm wondering what people here
are using these days.

I've sort of managed with the Microsoft WMP offering until now but I'm
sure there are better library managers around. Advice for me to generate
a short list would be appreciated. I'm probably going to be looking at
MediaMonkey and Foobar2000 which happen to be freebies. Any others I
should check? Free would be nice but not essential.

My current preference is to save as FLAC. Some 50% of my current
collection is 320k MP3 (others are mostly .wav) so I will have to rip
quite a few CDs again (hundreds) to get FLAC versions. This needs to be
a quick and painless procedure with online access to artwork and
metadata where available. Would also need manual entry of artwork etc.
I've scanned quite a few vinyl sleeves and use these files in my WMP
setup. Want to reuse them where appropriate.

Whatever I use must be a dnla server.

The library manager should be able to convert any existing uncompressed
files in my WMP library to FLAC.

To be able to sort and display using physical locations as well as by
metadata. Sort results to display as text and/or artwork.

Ideas, comments?

Thanks.

Media library advice please, Windows
 

On Mon, 25 Jan 2016 10:38:23 +0000, Sumatriptan
wrote:

This must have been discussed before but I'm wondering what people here
are using these days.

I've sort of managed with the Microsoft WMP offering until now but I'm
sure there are better library managers around. Advice for me to generate
a short list would be appreciated. I'm probably going to be looking at
MediaMonkey and Foobar2000 which happen to be freebies. Any others I
should check? Free would be nice but not essential.

My current preference is to save as FLAC. Some 50% of my current
collection is 320k MP3 (others are mostly .wav) so I will have to rip
quite a few CDs again (hundreds) to get FLAC versions. This needs to be
a quick and painless procedure with online access to artwork and
metadata where available. Would also need manual entry of artwork etc.
I've scanned quite a few vinyl sleeves and use these files in my WMP
setup. Want to reuse them where appropriate.

Whatever I use must be a dnla server.

The library manager should be able to convert any existing uncompressed
files in my WMP library to FLAC.

To be able to sort and display using physical locations as well as by
metadata. Sort results to display as text and/or artwork.

Ideas, comments?

Thanks.


JRiver MediaCenter. It's head and shoulders above any other program
that I've heard of for library handling. It's also very versatile and
configurable.

It does online look up of CD meta data and cover art, but you can tell
it to use your own cover art if you wish. It can use all the common
file formats, including FLAC and will do file conversion.

http://www.jriver.com/index.html

Their very old versions are free and be good enough if you're only
interested in audio.

http://files.jriver.com/mediajukebox...ebox140166.exe

Media library advice please, Windows
 

On 25/01/2016 11:25, Bill Taylor wrote:


It does online look up of CD meta data and cover art, but you can tell
it to use your own cover art if you wish. It can use all the common
file formats, including FLAC and will do file conversion.

http://www.jriver.com/index.html


Thanks Bill,

I guess nobody else wants to reveal what they are using.

Anyway, I'm probably going to be using Foobar2000. After tinkering with
it for a day or so it has done everything I can imagine needing.

Media library advice please, Windows
 

In article , Sumatriptan
wrote:
On 25/01/2016 11:25, Bill Taylor wrote:


It does online look up of CD meta data and cover art, but you can tell
it to use your own cover art if you wish. It can use all the common
file formats, including FLAC and will do file conversion.

http://www.jriver.com/index.html


Thanks Bill,

I guess nobody else wants to reveal what they are using.

Didn't seem much point in "revealing" that I base my approach on Linux,
simply ripping to flac files using a simple cdparanoia-based process, and
doing my own scans of covers, etc. No dnla or 'library manager' in sight
here. Just flac files with appropriate names to drop onto a player program.
:-)

Jim

--
Please use the address on the audiomisc page if you wish to email me.
Electronics http://www.st-and.ac.uk/~www_pa/Scot...o/electron.htm
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Audio Misc http://www.audiomisc.co.uk/index.html

Media library advice please, Windows
 

On 26/01/2016 13:58, Jim Lesurf wrote:

Didn't seem much point in "revealing" that I base my approach on Linux,
simply ripping to flac files using a simple cdparanoia-based process, and
doing my own scans of covers, etc. No dnla or 'library manager' in sight
here. Just flac files with appropriate names to drop onto a player program.
:-)


Well, your comments were useful in that they gave me pause to consider
if a library manager was my best option. I decided it was and after
entering the first 250 items here is what I think:

The Foobar2000 program is quite minimal and script based which allows
automation of some of the chores while allowing users to decide on
exactly how and where files should be organised. Great time saver and I
now have a folder and naming structure just as it would have been if I
had done the job manually. This means I could ditch the Foobar2000
program and revert to a manual store/play system if I ever decided.

Plenty of support for scanned-in and downloaded artwork as well.

Downside:
Like many open source programs, nobody wants to do the documentation so
support is haphazard and mostly forum based. But it is all
there...somewhere.