Posted by Gary on 04/29/06 15:44

I've had mp3 players for a long time. Every one I've owned allowed
you to take the files of mp3s, heirarchically arranged, into the
player. So I developed this structure which has worked for me for a
long time:

mp3s
---Books
------Author1 - Book Title 1
------Author2 - Book Title 2
---Classical
------Composer1 - Album Name 1
------Composer2 - Album Name 2
---Comedy
------Performer1 - Album Name 1
------Performer2 - Album Name 2
---Folk
------Performer1 - Album Name 1
------Performer2 - Album Name 2
---Popular
------Performer1 - Album Name 1
------Performer2 - Album Name 2

and so forth.

Withing each folder was a series of mp3s, usually starting with a two
digit track number, giving the name of the particular track. I never
concerned myself with tags...some files had them, others didn't.

Now the iPod (just a few days old) presents me with a totally new
organization. All the files will go into the same folder and will be
grouped together by their tags. So I have to tag a huge number of
files with Genre (Book, Classical, Comedy, Folk or Popular),
Performer, Album Name and Track. There are programs to help do this,
but the job is still massive. First I have to add the tags...then
organize files into playlists.

I think I'm suffering from shock. Yet I don't want to return the iPod
(Video 60gb)...it's such a cool piece of hardware.

---

Just an afterthought. The Windows-type organization seems more suited
to people who think of their collection as a bunch of albums. The
iPod-type organization seems more suited to those who think of their
collection as a bunch of individual tracks.

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