MP3 Management

Introduction

This post is for anyone managing their personal MP3 collections and in need of better tooling or information that you might or might not have already discovered.

Getting Started

Here is what I use:

• Software
• Apple iTunes
• MP3 Tag Studio
• Hardware
• Apple iPod nano

iTunes

Love it or hate it, it is still a great tool for working with your MP3s. To understand why, lets look at all the features it provides.

First, take control of iTunes by clicking on Edit–>Preferences from the main menu and turn off all automatic updating settings. I personally do not like it when software tries to be too clever. The following is a series of iTunes preference dialog screenshots (at least those of interest) along with additional notes (starting from the left tab to the right tab and with my iPod connected):

Nothing to note. The defaults are fine.

As shown above, the Music sub-tab of the iPod tab is the most interesting. The podcast, photos, contacts, and calendars sub-tabs are nothing too special. You can either opt to manually manage or have iTunes manage those settings. If you have Microsoft Outlook, I can see setting your Contacts and Calendar to automatically update. Otherwise, you can leave it as a manual setting and manage it yourself especially if you have a Palm device. For information on working with your Palm device I recommend reading the iPod manual for more information.

Nothing to note. The defaults are fine.

Nothing to note. The defaults are fine.

I think there are better ways of doing this than leaving iTunes in control. For example, setting up your own server or using Windows shared folders (for in-home use only). Of course, this all assumes you know how to do that. If not, then you have iTunes, of course.

Nothing to note. The defaults are fine.

There is a lot to say about this tab, so using the numbers in red in the screenshot above, here is the corresponding breakdown:

1. I suggest creating a directory that has the sole purpose of being a dumping ground for where all new music is imported to. I would call this your “import folder”. This is not be considered your “iTunes Library” despite how iTunes would have it. I think your iTunes Library (a.k.a. MP3 collection) should be located in a different directory which you maintain yourself and which iTunes has no knowledge of. This allows you to import to one folder, correct any importing mistakes (yes, iTunes will make mistakes), and then move your corrections to the folder where your real MP3 collection resides. Read “iTunes Tips and Tricks” below for further information.
2. This is very handy as it keeps your imports organized. The flaw with this is that when importing soundtracks or CDs with many artists involved, you might see a lot of directories by artists you might/might not be familiar with. The good news is that inside each artist folder is the name of the soundtrack (a.k.a. album). This is where you have to manually merge all the songs back into one album. Hence, #1 above.
3. Unnecessary. As mentioned in #1 above, the iTunes library is really your “import folder”. Read “iTunes Tips and Tricks” below for further information.
4. You do not want this. iTunes has a 40MB footprint. Check your Windows task manager to see what I mean. I suggest using Winamp instead (a 15MB footprint). Plus, with Winamp, you can have Skype automatically pause it when answering incoming calls.
5. This might sound contradictive to #4 above but is handy when you are importing a lot of music at one time and don’t want your Windows taskbar to fill up.

The Importing sub-tab of the Advanced tab needs a few remarks as shown here:

Notice that I have the import setting as “custom”. Here are my custom settings:

An MP3, after all, is a compressed format so there will be degradation of the original CD recording. The default settings are to record at a flat rate of 128kbps. I suggest upping it to 192kbps for a slightly better import. This assumes that you do not mind eating up just a little more hard drive space. I also suggest using a medium VBR as shown above. Recording in stereo at 44.100kHz is fine. Going any higher is beyond what you get from your CD by default.

iTunes Tips and Tricks

With iTunes configured, here are a few tips and tricks to keep in mind. First, however, I want to clarify the concepts of the “import” and “mp3 collection” folders mentioned earlier:

• Import Folder - This, by default, is what iTunes considers to be your “library” but it is really just a scratch folder for importing new music. This is where you can fix up your artist and album folder structures before moving them for permanent storage to your MP3 Collection Folder.
• MP3 Collection Folder - This is where your “real” library is located. It is where you keep your entire MP3 collection for permanent storage.

With this in mind, it is easy to keep the iTunes library (a.k.a imports) clean:

Keeping the library clean, allows you to simply drag-and-drop an entire folder structure or song into the library at any time for fix up. Then you can delete the library view when finished so it is clean for your next import or song fix up. For example, lets say I want to fix the genre of the “Alhambra” album by The Tea Party. Here is what I would do:

1. Make sure the library view (show above) is clean of all song content.
2. Find the Alhambra album in your MP3 Collection and then drag-and-drop the entire folder on the library view. Doing so, yields the following where the genre is set as Alternative & Punk:
   
3. Next I select all songs in the library view, right click, and select Get Info from the pop up menu which yields the following dialog (changing the genre to “Rock”):
   
4. Next click OK and you’ll be returned to the library view with all songs changed from the original genre of Alternative & Punk to Rock instead:
   

That is it.

MP3 Tag Studio

While iTunes is very handy for importing new music, correcting song information, managing your MP3 collection, and syncing with your iPod, it can not handle some finer details of song editing. For example, some MP3s run on forever with no sound. There is no need to eat up unnecessary hard drive space so why not fix it? This is where MP3 Tag Studio is your one and only tool for correcting these kinds of things.

There is much that could be explained when using MP3 Tag Studio but I am only going to point out two very useful tools: Trim MP3 and Repair MP3.

Lets say that we want to trim the X-Files Theme Song (14 X-Files Theme.mp3) from the The X-Files: The Album movie soundtrack. The original recording is 14 minutes and 13 seconds long but the actual song is only 3 minutes and 25 seconds long. So to trim the MP3 just launch MP3 Tag Studio and browse to the folder where the MP3 file is located and trim it setting the trim settings for 3:25 at the end of the song. Like so:

Just hit the Cut! button and you are done.

Well, almost. Since my song was in VBR format, the MP3 header information still thinks the song is 14 minutes and 13 seconds long. We do not want that so we must repair the header information. To do this just click on the repair tab, select the song (if not already selected) and hit Execute! button using the settings as shown here:

That is it.

Conclusion

So spend less time managing your MP3 files and more time enjoying what you have.

No comments yet.

Leave a comment

You must be logged in to post a comment.