Aug 03 2011

Some iTunes Info

So, I have tried many different digital music organizers from obscurities like Helium Music Manager (which is just way too slow with the SQL database) to more popular ones like Media Monkey. However, I always go back to iTunes because I just like the feel of it. The reason I sometimes switch away from iTunes are the limitations it has (mainly, the limited number of tags).

In order to workaround this I have, over time, devised an excellent method for tagging music in iTunes. As a result I can easily browse music exactly how I like while still using god-awful iTunes. I will iterate through all the Tags that iTunes offers that I use so that you can gain an understanding of how well this works and perhaps implement it yourself (if you are a music fanatic as I am lol). I designed this method of organization so that my MP3 files can be easily used in any media player software – in case I do switch to something that I like in the future. I am only using simple tags that are saved directly to the MP3 files, not stored merely in the iTunes database.

BTW – no you do not have to tell me how much iTunes sucks – I know! Nevertheless, I choose to use it because I just don’t like how some of the other players out there feel.

Name
- In this field I obviously put the title of the song/piece.
- If any other artists are involved in the song that are not part of the rest of the record I will append something like the following: ‘(Feat. [artist], [artist], & [artist])’
- If the song is a remix I will append the following: ‘(Remix)’
- If the song is part of a mix album or a DJ set I will use this scheme on the title field: ‘[original artist] – [song title] [anything else appended]‘ (while I will put the name of the DJ or album artist in the Artist Field)

Artist
- Here goes the name of the Artist or group responsible for making the whole release/album/record/DJ set/compilation or whatever. If more than one artist is responsible for the release then something like this may be entered: ‘[artist] & [artist]‘

Album Artist
- In this field I write the standard name of the artist. For example, if an artist is known by many different aliases I will place here the main name he/she goes by or their actual name. This way It is easy to browse all the releases that a single artist entity has released without having to create a playlist. In the grid view the ‘Artist’ sorting method uses the Album Artist so it is even easier. If you would like to browse a specific Artist Alias it is merely a matter of either typing it in the search box or using the browser window to get to it. Also, for anyone using last.fm, the iTunes scrobbler uses the ‘Artist’ field and not the ‘Album Artist’ field for scrobbling – so you are safe when changing this field.

Album
- This is where the name of the release/album/record/DJ set or whatever it is goes.
- If the record is not an album but merely a release from some ‘underground’ label, I will write here the catalog number (for example, if it is a release from ‘Tech Itch Recordings’ i will write ‘TI 039′ – or if it does have a name it goes by ‘TI 027 – Biotactics’ this way it is easy to browse the releases of record label that releases pretty much only 12″ singles. This will not bother the last.fm scrobbler since such releases are typically not recognized by it anyways. (note: I will definitely not do this for catalog numbers like ’5050467319714′ – these are meant to have the actual album name used)

Year/Track Number
- Self explanatory. For vinyl releases obviously you will have to translate A1, A2, B1, etc to sequential numbers.

Disc Number
- If the release is a full album or LP (something that is at least 15-20ish minutes long) then I will always fill this field out.
- If the release is a 12″ single or a 45 or an incomplete album I will leave this blank. This makes it easy for browsing, simply create a smart playlist with the criteria that the ‘Disc Number’ is not blank and you have a list of full releases. You now have the guarantee that if you click play on one of the albums that you will have at least 20 minutes of listening – not just a single song or an incomplete album.

BPM
- To fill this tag I run ‘Mix Meister BPM Analyzer’ every now and then. easy peasy. Create playlists or use for DJing, self explanatory.

Grouping
- Here I will put a sub-style of the genre. I generally use the ‘Style’ field on discogs.com for this, unless I have my own type I want to add (such as country of origin). Make sure to separate them with spaces or however you wish. Now it is easy to set up a smart playlist with criteria ‘Grouping’ contains say….. ‘Ambient’ & ‘Rock’ & ‘Germany’ – lol – now you have a playlist of German Ambient Rock you can listen to if you have anything that matches those critera. Usually as I come across new styles I will create a smart playlist for it so I can browse styles easily (I use a folder structure for this ‘Genres > Electronic > Trance > Psy-Trance’). Easy peasy.

Composer
- This field is obviously meant for classical music – and so it will be used in such a manner… at least for classical music.
- If all of your music is not classical you might find another use for this: Record Labels. Back to our example earlier, ‘Tech Itch Recordings’ – simply type that into the Composer field and viola – you have all of the records released under Tech Itch Recordings available in the grid view by clicking Composers > Tech Itch Recordings! Since it doesn’t matter generally under what label classical music is released, but by whom it is composed, it is no problem. Now you have a list of Classical Composers and Labels that group similar music. Awesome. (and if you actually used this field to store the names of the band members who made the record… just insert it into the comment field if it matters so much to you… search box will still find it)

Comments
- I have no particular use for this field… if a song comes with this filled out I will just leave it be

Genre
- Here comes the broad genre name. If your music is say – trance – I would put ‘Electronic’ here and ‘Trance’ into the grouping field. I generally go by what discogs.com says on this field.

Album Artwork
- Here I obviously place the artwork of the album. I regularly do a ‘*.jpg’ search on my music folder and delete any excess files. I make sure that all the MP3 file have the artwork embedded onto the file.

—-

I use the automatically organize my iTunes folder option to organize my files neatly. Now everything is neatly stored in my iTunes folder > Music > Album Artist > Album > Track. Great. Now it is easy to copy the whole folder in between PCs and backup drives to keep my music backed up. Also this is useful for DJing.

You may say…. why go through all this work? My take on it is like this: When you get a new album or release it doesn’t take more than 30 seconds to go on discogs, look up the info, and fill it out for the whole album. You could start playing the first song and only for a few seconds are you filling out the information – then you are done. It really doesn’t take that much effort. The benefits are amazing. You can now browse your music in so many ways, you can find all Hardcore tracks, or specifically Hardcore Trance. So many options for sorting music, it is amazing. If you already have a very large library my suggestion is this: Do it gradually. You don’t need to do this all at once. When you click play on an album and it is not filled out, if you have time just look it up real quick and do it. Over time you will have filled out all your music. The music that never ends up being organized is perhaps shitty music – you can think about deleting those.

If one day you have some free time to devote to exploring your music library and organizing it – create a smart playlist with the criteria that any of the above fields are not filled out – now you have a list of all songs that have not been organized. Go through this, re-discover old music, look it up, fill out the info. Easy. Also, this way you will gain a better understanding of the different styles of music and how they interrelate. In the end, I believe it is only a positive thing to do if you love music, a great learning experience.

I hope you enjoyed reading this, now you know how weird I am lol.

PS - I am also programming my own Database Software at the moment, it will also be capable of organizing music. It is a work in progress though, will take a while to complete. What makes it special is that (when not used for music) it can be used with a simple HTTP or FTP server without any bulky SQL server while using very low bandwidth.

2 comments

2 pings

Bruno

October 31, 2011 at 12:22 am (UTC -5)

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[...] label classical music is released, but by whom it is composed, it is no problem. Now you have a List Of Classical Composers and Labels that group similar music. Awesome. (and if you actually used this field to store the [...]
+1
Andrew A. Sailer

November 3, 2011 at 8:49 am (UTC -5)

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I consider something really interesting about your blog so I saved to fav.

List Of Classical Composers | Music | Free Information Tips and Resources |

August 6, 2011 at 3:26 pm (UTC -5)

Reply

[...] label classical music is released, but by whom it is composed, it is no problem. Now you have a List Of Classical Composers and Labels that group similar music. Awesome. (and if you actually used this field to store the [...]
brian ofsie

December 10, 2011 at 1:39 am (UTC -5)

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Recent Blogroll Additions……

[...]usually posts some very interesting stuff like this. If you’re new to this site[...]……

tumblr

Considering that our world is now super-saturated with media and we cannot entirely escape its grasp without going “to croatan” as it were, doesn’t mean we cannot attempt the escape. Nearly every act of will by a person with a spiritual bent is an anarchistic Will to Power. Power over themselves, rather than power over the world around them. If you have trouble imagining that you can be free, the easiest way to recall what it was like was your first sexual experience ~

Remember the sensation of doing something simply because you desired it, not because someone said you could.The feeling of bodies and minds mingling, moments lapsing into minutes and hours – that is the taste of freedom. We constrain ourselves every day by pretending to be things that we aren’t, or feeding the ghostmachines of the world we live in ~

02/22/12
goodworkthanks:

PIZZA JET! (nick edwards)

02/22/12
The Experience Cipher
Some words I have previously posted to tumblr:

Were there no potentials for misunderstanding…, there would be no experience ~

Wisdom is encoded in the cipher of experience ~

Therefore wisdom is encoded in the potential for experience (meaning misunderstanding/differences) ~

One could watch events unfold and simply let them pass by or one could decipher the wisdom out of every experience. Everything that happens is the result of the buildup of a potential situation to the critical point of it happening. One person could see the same everyday/mundane activity being performed and see much wisdom come out of it while another would simply remain blind to it. We learn to decipher this code when we are ready for it. Thus all wisdom is already indirectly accessible to us via the experiences we have in our lives yet we need to decipher these messages to get their meaning. This post is basically the same idea as my earlier post titled Layers of Meaning (here) but explained in a different and simpler way ~
02/21/12
animare-animum:

Lorenz’s system displayed a kind of infinite complexity. It always stayed within certain bounds, never running off the page but never repeating itself, either. It traced a strange, distinctive shape, a kind of double spiral in three dimensions, like a butterfly with its two wings. The shape signaled pure disorder, since no pattern of points ever recurred. Yet it also signaled a new kind of order ~

iauiugu:

this is on my “things to read on wikipedia” list ATM

cool to know why now. It’s the means by which consciousness exists; a strangle loop, a double-reach around mobius

animare-animum:

I hate to break it to ya, but the Lorenz Attractor has nothing to do with consciousness or why it exists :P It also has nothing to do with a moebius strip. A moebius strip is a one sided two dimensional surface in three dimensional space. This graph is not a surface but it is simply a three dimensional line graph of a system of three non-linear differential equations. What makes a moebius strip special is the fact that it is a loop that only has one side. The lorenz attractor is not a loop and never repeats itself and never returns to it’s starting point ~

While Chaos Theory may or may not have something to do with consciousness, the Lorenz Attractor is simply a mathematical model for a simple rotating water bucket system, measuring three different variables and graphing the results in the above image ~

What is amazing about this? It is an extremely simple system of 3 non-linear differential equations yet it exhibits chaos. I recommend the book by James Gleick called Chaos ~

Here is the Wikipedia summary:

The Lorenz attractor, named for Edward N. Lorenz, is an example of a non-linear dynamic system corresponding to the long-term behavior of theLorenz oscillator. The Lorenz oscillator is a 3-dimensional dynamical system that exhibits chaotic flow, noted for its figure eight shape. The map shows how the state of a dynamical system (the three variables of a three-dimensional system) evolves over time in a complex, non-repeating pattern.

iauiugu:

Yeah, my comments were full of shit. The mobius thing was a reference to a webcomic even. I also realize I was referring to this,

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dynamical_systems_theory

which the Lorenz attractor falls under, and I shouldn’t have said consciousness, as I meant to merely address how this visually models human behavior, which I shouldn’t confuse with consciousness.

Also, I now know I shouldn’t thoughtdump on Tumblr so often when in altered states of consciousness. Though really I should edit stuff more in general. I’m working on it, in particular my thoughts on how hierarchy begets a new opportunity for a collective raising of consciousness as how identitarianism is preventing this, and yet also how some identitarianism is the manifestation of more inherent structures/mechanisms of being an organism that can’t be ignored if one hopes to transcend them, and instead they must be addressed head-on to develop ways to challenge our own limitations. It’s been a long time coming.

Don’t be ashamed. It doesn’t matter whether your comments were full of shit or not. It is completely understandable to make generalized statements about things. You should thought dump — otherwise we would have never had the experience of this exchange and neither of us would have been the wiser. Creative people are never scared of being wrong or making a mistake. Making mistakes is part of the process ~

Chaos Theory does relate to the phenomenon of consciousness (in my own opinion, but I have yet discover in exactly what way.. beyond philosophical implications) but it doesn’t give rise to it, it is simply a human made theory. However, the Lorenz attractor has nothing to do with this, it is simply a mathematical model for a specific dynamical system relating to convection. It is basically a symbol for chaos theory because it is what has given rise to it ~

You once reblogged one of my posts (click here): the words in this post are wise. Namaste ~

02/21/12
iauiugu:

animare-animum:

Lorenz’s system displayed a kind of infinite complexity. It always stayed within certain bounds, never running off the page but never repeating itself, either. It traced a strange, distinctive shape, a kind of double spiral in three dimensions, like a butterfly with its two wings. The shape signaled pure disorder, since no pattern of points ever recurred. Yet it also signaled a new kind of order ~

this is on my “things to read on wikipedia” list ATM

cool to know why now. It’s the means by which consciousness exists; a strangle loop, a double-reach around mobius

I hate to break it to ya, but the Lorenz Attractor has nothing to do with consciousness or why it exists :P It also has nothing to do with a moebius strip. A moebius strip is a one sided two dimensional surface in three dimensional space. This graph is not a surface but it is simply a three dimensional line graph of a system of three non-linear differential equations. What makes a moebius strip special is the fact that it is a loop that only has one side. The lorenz attractor is not a loop and never repeats itself and never returns to it’s starting point ~

While Chaos Theory may or may not have something to do with consciousness (I do believe that it does), the Lorenz Attractor is simply a mathematical model for a simple rotating water bucket system, measuring three different variables and graphing the results in the above image ~

What is amazing about this? It is an extremely simple system of 3 non-linear differential equations yet it exhibits chaos. I recommend the book by James Gleick called Chaos ~

Here is the Wikipedia summary:

The Lorenz attractor, named for Edward N. Lorenz, is an example of a non-linear dynamic system corresponding to the long-term behavior of theLorenz oscillator. The Lorenz oscillator is a 3-dimensional dynamical system that exhibits chaotic flow, noted for its figure eight shape. The map shows how the state of a dynamical system (the three variables of a three-dimensional system) evolves over time in a complex, non-repeating pattern.

02/21/12
Lorenz’s system displayed a kind of infinite complexity. It always stayed within certain bounds, never running off the page but never repeating itself, either. It traced a strange, distinctive shape, a kind of double spiral in three dimensions, like a butterfly with its two wings. The shape signaled pure disorder, since no pattern of points ever recurred. Yet it also signaled a new kind of order ~

02/21/12
The whole world belongs to you ~

02/21/12
Life has become immeasurably better since I have been forced to stop taking it seriously ~

02/21/12
Leave him in error who loves his error ~

02/21/12
Just picked up this nice little toy: Do you see that little flash drive looking thing? That is a tiny 24bit audio interface + 1gb flash drive! I thought it would be funny to place it on top of my professional Delta 1010 audio interface for comparison. Nice package, very nice, this will be useful for my laptop when I need extra ADC/DAC on the go ~

02/21/12