Im curious as to how other people organize their music files with regards to the scanning of the box art, etc. Do you save everything into a subfolder, keep in the same folder as the music, give them filenames that define what it is an image of (ie: Booklet Page 01-02) and lastly do you combine the booklet files together either in a cbz/cbr file or make them into a PDF so you can read it like a book?

Thanks for the input.

I don't collect non-audio content, so I don't have a systematic way of going about that, but I have gone through a number of different phases trying to figure out how to coherently sort the audio itself. I've got about 6500 albums in my collection, of which ~700 are game soundtracks. A lot of sorting methods failed on me as the volume expanded, but what I ultimately resolved on is a sort by system with an index spreadsheet to help me locate by artist. (It also stores all the artist transliterations so I can easily convert Japanese names to Kanji in the ID3 tags.) The parent folder presently looks like this:



And from there, games are labeled as Title (Year, Artists), with "various" for projects with more than 3 significant contributors. My MSX folder, for example:



And a chunk of MSX logs in my spreadsheet:



It gets the job done for now. I should have listed developers rather than publishers. My biggest blunder though is a failure to consistently distinguish between game rips from official soundtracks. An obvious meh shown above is SCC Memorial Series Joint Disk being split into two folders for the games it represents. If I were adding it today, I wouldn't have divided it, but it's going to be a lot of work to go through and modify entries like that. I'll sometimes modernize my more antiquated sorting methods as I run into them, but I haven't systematically revamped it all in ages. It takes a lot of time, especially when ID3 tags come into the picture.

---------- Post added at 10:22 PM ---------- Previous post was at 10:20 PM ----------

Why do I have Gameboy and Gameboy Advance sorted together when they sound radically different? I probably only had one or two entries for each when I first created that folder. A lot of things like that need to be updated some day.

---------- Post added at 10:23 PM ---------- Previous post was at 10:22 PM ----------

It also gets wonky the closer it comes to modernity. With modern titles routinely being released across 4 platforms with identical audio, which folder they get dumped in can feel really arbitrary.

---------- Post added at 10:31 PM ---------- Previous post was at 10:23 PM ----------

If I was going to collect scans, I think I would ideally want them to appear in the same folder as individual images named by page number. But I'm sure when you delve deep enough into that you run into non-conforming media. It would be a trial and error process. I definitely wouldn't compress them into a PDF--Or at least, if I did, I would still save the individual image files as well.

I don't collect non-audio content, so I don't have a systematic way of going about that, but I have gone through a number of different phases trying to figure out how to coherently sort the audio itself. I've got about 6500 albums in my collection, of which ~700 are game soundtracks. A lot of sorting methods failed on me as the volume expanded, but what I ultimately resolved on is a sort by system with an index spreadsheet to help me locate by artist. (It also stores all the artist transliterations so I can easily convert Japanese names to Kanji in the ID3 tags.) The parent folder presently looks like this:



And from there, games are labeled as Title (Year, Artists), with "various" for projects with more than 3 significant contributors. My MSX folder, for example:



And a chunk of MSX logs in my spreadsheet:



It gets the job done for now. I should have listed developers rather than publishers. My biggest blunder though is a failure to consistently distinguish between game rips from official soundtracks. An obvious meh shown above is SCC Memorial Series Joint Disk being split into two folders for the games it represents. If I were adding it today, I wouldn't have divided it, but it's going to be a lot of work to go through and modify entries like that. I'll sometimes modernize my more antiquated sorting methods as I run into them, but I haven't systematically revamped it all in ages. It takes a lot of time, especially when ID3 tags come into the picture.

---------- Post added at 10:22 PM ---------- Previous post was at 10:20 PM ----------

Why do I have Gameboy and Gameboy Advance sorted together when they sound radically different? I probably only had one or two entries for each when I first created that folder. A lot of things like that need to be updated some day.

---------- Post added at 10:23 PM ---------- Previous post was at 10:22 PM ----------

It also gets wonky the closer it comes to modernity. With modern titles routinely being released across 4 platforms with identical audio, which folder they get dumped in can feel really arbitrary.

---------- Post added at 10:31 PM ---------- Previous post was at 10:23 PM ----------

If I was going to collect scans, I think I would ideally want them to appear in the same folder as individual images named by page number. But I'm sure when you delve deep enough into that you run into non-conforming media. It would be a trial and error process. I definitely wouldn't compress them into a PDF--Or at least, if I did, I would still save the individual image files as well.

Holy smokes! Thanks for sharing! You do a lot more detail than I do...I've been trying to fix the filenames and tags using MP3Tag, adding covers to the MP3s for each "album"...mostly rips of arcade and console games. Easy to do a cover for console games, either crop it so the dimensions match or change the canvas size and make the blank parts black.

Other than that, i just name them as the game. I have a handful of studio albums and decided to "complete" them by getting all the album art, though in some cases it seems next to impossible. I tested Actraiser Symphonic Suite by putting the booklet into a cbz file so it reads in the Comic Book viewer program but the naming convention allows for it to be read in order anyway.

Im relieved im not the only one putting them into a spreadsheet. I actually had all my music backed up onto an external drive and was extracting directly onto the drive when it coughed and maybe died. Havent been able to access it...spent about 2 weeks regathering the music i lost but on the upside i think i got some more complete albums out of the frustration.

Since many of the studio albums feature "arrange" or orchestral tracks, i separate studio albums from rips and just list the system they belong to. Didnt think about putting in the game companies....i might have to add that.

BTW whats your column B in your sample in kanji? Is it the japanese titles to the soundtracks?

Thanks again for sharing!

Funny you should ask. I have been working on a monograph about that very subject. I'm not going to hit you with all of it, but here the part that relates to structure:

Music is stored in an archive.
The archive opens only to Primary Folders.
Primary Folders open to Music Folders and Project Folders.
Project Folders open only to Music Folders.
Music Folders contain Music Files and a cover image that is always titled Folder.
Some Music Folders have an additional subfolder called Artwork. Artwork contains all additional files, including additional images, booklet files, track lists, lyrics, videos, etc.

Each Music Folder has the music for a single disc.
Each Music Folder's name is derived from the Album Title listed in the metadata, minus any initial articles (no A, An or Thes.)
Multi-disc albums also include the Disc Number, and Disc Name if there is one.

Associated Music Folders are combined in Project Folders.
Project Folders include the most inclusive definition of the following conditions:
Multiple discs of the same album, multiple albums in a numbered series, multiple versions of the same album, multiple albums for the same Project (ie, film, series, game, etc.), as well as any sequels or prequels, but not reboots or remakes.
Project Folders do not nest.
Project Folders have the simplest name that defines their contents.

Project Folders and unassociated Music Folders sort alphabetically into Primary Folders.

Once a Project Folder has more than forty Music Folders, it is upgraded in both status and location to a Primary Folder. Its Music Folder than inevitably sort into new Project Folders.
Once a Primary Folder opens to more than forty Music and Project Folders it is split into two approximately equal folders, at the simplest definition.

Music Files have the form of [Track Number] - [Track Name]
Music Files from multi-disc albums have the form [Disc Number]-[Track Number] [Track Name]
Track Numbers are derived from the Track Name listed in the metadata.

Files in Artwork Folders also have their file names standardized, based on what they are, but not what they are from. Cover images and potential sources of cover images also include their pixel size in the name.


I use to have much more complex means of sorting music, based on genre, and franchises, and composers. It was complicated and messy and constantly filled with exceptions. this approach has proven much, much easier to manage.

VERY IMPORTANT NOTE: Even more important than how I sort my music, is that I maintain a separate Music Database in an Excel spreadsheet. Five spreadhseets, actually. Most of the metadata that would typically be included in the files are kept there.

Example:
The Music Archive opens to this:
0 [Albums whose name begin with a number.]
A
B-
Bi
C
D
E
Edits [This is a special Folder that contians files that are on my Playlist, but modified from the original album. The Archive Files always have only the music as given.]
F
G
Gundam
H
I
J
K
L
M-
Mo
N
O
P
[There is no Q, as I have no albums beginning with that letter.]
R
S-
Si
So
St
Star Trek (1966)
Star Wars (1977)
Su
T
U
V
W
X
Y
Yamato (1974)
Z

L Primary Directory opens to:
Laputa
Last Starfighter
Lego Batman Movie
Lego Movie
Lennon Legend- The Very Best of John Lennon
Lensman
Lifeforce - Expanded
Lilo and Stitch
Lincoln
Lion King
Little Mermaid
Little Shop of Horrors
Long Tall Weekend
Look Sharp- [Album Name is Look Sharp!]
Looney Tunes Golden Collection
Lord of the Rings
Lost in Space (1965)
Lost in Space (1998)
Lost in Space (2018)
Luke Cage
Lupin III

Lost in Space (1998) Project Folder opens to:
Lost in Space (1998) - Score
Lost in Space (1998) - Soundtrack
Lost in Space (1998) (2 Disc) (Disc 1) [This album is listed as 2 Disc rather than Intrada, because Lost in Space (1998) - Score is also from intrada.]
Lost in Space (1998) (2 Disc) (Disc 2)

Lost in Space (1998) (2 Disc) (Disc 1) opens to:
Artwork
1-01 - Prologue.mp3
1-02 - Main Title; Major Mayhem.mp3
1-03 - Hologram Gags; You'll Do (Alternate).mp3
1-04 - Meet Dr. Smith.mp3
1-05 - Dog Tags, No. 1.mp3
1-06 - Reprogram the Robot; The Launch.mp3
1-07 - Bad Dream; The Robot Attack.mp3
1-08 - Where's Judy-; Judy Is Dying (Remix).mp3 [Track Title is Where's Judy?/Judy Is Dying (Remix)]
1-09 - Can't Kill the Man (Revised).mp3
1-10 - We're Lost.mp3
1-11 - The Proteus (Alternate).mp3
1-12 - Boarding the Proteus, Pt. 1; Boarding the Proteus, Pt. 2.mp3
1-13 - Spiders and Static; Spiders Attack (Revised).mp3
1-14 - Jupiter Crash.mp3
1-15 - A Strange New Place; Spider Scratch.mp3
1-16 - Matt and Judy.mp3
1-17 - Goodnights.mp3
1-18 - Energy Bubbles; Dog Tags, No. 2; John and West Set Out.mp3
1-19 - Will's Walk; Smith Persuades Will.mp3
1-20 - Will and Smith Set Out.mp3
1-21 - Decades Old; I'm Your Son (Revised); Time Machine.mp3
folder.jpg

Artwork opens to:
back.jpg
booklet 01-20 p1861.jpg
booklet 02-03.jpg
booklet 04-05.jpg
booklet 06-07.jpg
booklet 08-09.jpg
booklet 10-11.jpg
booklet 12-13.jpg
booklet 14-15.jpg
booklet 16-17.jpg
booklet 18-19.jpg
disc 01.jpg
disc 02.jpg
front alt p1861.jpg [Alternate Cover]
front p1861.jpg
inlay.jpg

There's more to it than this, but this gives a good overview.

BTW whats your column B in your sample in kanji? Is it the japanese titles to the soundtracks?

That's the artist name! I've been using last.fm for good lord, 16 years now, and it auto-renames more popular artists like Uematsu but doesn't recognize the majority of them, so I got in the habit of tagging them that way for consistency. I think it looks nicer and feels more authentic anyway. I put the Romanized name in the Comment field.

I also usually rename each track title to [game]: [title], which I really hate doing, but it's the only way to get last.fm to distinguish between a dozen different songs called "Battle", "Opening Theme", etc. It's easily reversible with the tagging software I use, if I ever choose to do that.

So like right now my Winamp looks like this (yes I still use Winamp):



If the artist had worked on multiple versions of that soundtrack, I'd have also specified ([system]) after the game, but in this case Kazuo Sawa only worked on the SNES port to the best of my knowledge.

That's the artist name! I've been using last.fm for good lord, 16 years now, and it auto-renames more popular artists like Uematsu but doesn't recognize the majority of them, so I got in the habit of tagging them that way for consistency. I think it looks nicer and feels more authentic anyway. I put the Romanized name in the Comment field.

I also usually rename each track title to [game]: [title], which I really hate doing, but it's the only way to get last.fm to distinguish between a dozen different songs called "Battle", "Opening Theme", etc. It's easily reversible with the tagging software I use, if I ever choose to do that.

So like right now my Winamp looks like this (yes I still use Winamp):



If the artist had worked on multiple versions of that soundtrack, I'd have also specified ([system]) after the game, but in this case Kazuo Sawa only worked on the SNES port to the best of my knowledge.

I was thinking of going back to using Sonique so dont feel bad about Winamp. ;-) Ive had multiple times where Media Player would give some weird server error and im wondering if that may have had something to do with my drive failure. I've finally managed to update all the covers/art for studio albums. I think there's maybe one or two where im missing some decent size images (like the rear of Elemental Gearbolt OST and Drama). But i didnt realize there's so many reprints and bootlegs, which makes saving the scans much more complex.

All the rips i named (in the Genre column) Video Game and all the studio albums are Video Game Soundtracks (to differentiate them).

Curious though, maybe you can answer this, why are some people obsessed with Lossless albums? I mean is there really a noticable difference between a FLAC, OGG or MP3 version of a song? I converted some OGGS and FLACS to MP3 and didn't notice anything different.

Compression emerged as a practical necessity because of bandwidth and storage limitations, but you could argue that it serves no practical purpose today outside of live streaming. I think it boils down to why not have the "complete" package. I have never personally noticed a bitrate-relevant quality issue at 192kps (every time I've thought I had, it just turned out that the recording was poorly produced in origin and sounds just as bad lossless). At 320, I think even the most attuned purist would fail a comparison test and level out to 50% accuracy over a large enough sample size. I think it's just the collector's obsession with having things in their ideal state. Like an opened mint copy of a comic book that shows zero detectable wear and tear is still going to sell for less than one never removed from its original packaging. 320cbr vs lossless can be thought of the same way.

I tend to still favor mp3, because I store all of my music on my desktop and stream it from there onto various devices throughout my house. Flac can sometimes lag on me. I'll often grab a relatively compressed (192vbr) and lossless version of the same recording if both are available.