How to build a media library
This is the fourth article of the series. In the previous ones we ‘ve covered how information is stored in digital audio files, as well as what tagging software can do to manipulate that information.
In this chapter we will examine the decisions involved in making a media library, such as what file and folder structure to use, how the information contained in tags will be formatted and which tags will have to be complete to consider files ready for the library.
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Things taggers do
In the previous article of the series we discussed the structure and limitations of digital music formats, and the media they’re usually stored in.
In this part we will look at the basic capabilities of tagging software such as group tagging, internet database lookup and file/folder stucture manipulation, and 10 things to watch for when choosing a tagger. This should establish a good guideline for choosing the tagger that works for you, as well as give you a clear idea on how to use any tagger efficiently.
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A brief overview of where and how things are stored
In the previous article in this series we have explored why having a digital music library with a consistent structure could be something you like. In this one we examine some technical aspects of storing digital music, namely a few of the file formats it can be stored in, how meta-information is stored and some basics on text encodings and file systems.
This should be able to help you decide which formats and options are best suited for you, as well as avoid a few common pitfalls when deciding on your tagger’s configuration. (more…)
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Why: An introduction to the benefits of organizing your digital music into a media library
Maintaining a library of hand-sorted categories (such as “Alternative” or “Jazz”) may be applicable to a small, 20GB collection (of 300 albums or so), but when things go up in volume (as in a 200GB hard-disk-ful of music) you just realize that browsing your music through the folder structure, let alone categorizing by hand, would just be too time consuming and inefficient. After all, you’re probably using a computer to browse through your music and those devices are made to help out with such things 
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This is the first of a series of articles on building a music library that is suitable for browsing through various library-capable audio players (Such as Winamp, Quod Libet, Rhythmbox, iTunes and a lot more) and consistent, thus capable of having its stucture manipulated with scripts. In this introductory part we cover some of the reasons to want a music library and the work involved. (more…)
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