How do people label their mp3 files?

**stonestatue** · 08-22-2008, 08:44 PM

I have an extensive collection of mp3 files, and I like to have them all labeled "correctly", however that is considered. Usually, I'll label an mp3 file in this format:

Band Name - Song Title.mp3

So, if I'm listening to Dreams by Van Halen, it would be labeled "Van Halen - Dreams.mp3". I try to name the song title by however it would be listed on the CD.

However, I'm confused as to how to label songs sung by a duet. I don't know if I list one or two, and in what way. How does everyone else do it?

This is going to be particularly important when I load all the songs into Road Runner.

**monkeyracer** · 08-22-2008, 09:47 PM

I think it's more how they are tagged than just the filename, that makes a difference.

I use this format:

Song Number - Artist - Song Name.mp3
(02 - Van Halen - Dreams.mp3)

If there is more than one artist, I tag (id3) it on the song title like this:
Artist - Van Halen
Title - Dreams f/the Other Artist

But the filename is still the same.

I did it this way for better support with my iPod. Rather than have a different entry for each artist and the artist/featuring, I just made all songs by the album's artist. In RR, the tags are usually read rather than the filename.

**colin** · 08-23-2008, 01:31 AM

I try to keep all my music searchable within my frontend, so it's all labeled as /music/artist/album/song title.mp3

ID3 tags are the exact same as the path so there's no confusion. No punctuation at all, it's not really needed... works great from what I can tell.

If there's a second artist, I put the song title with Feat XXXXX so that way you can still search for that specific text (XXXXXX) or you can browse it by the main artist and his/her CD.

* Exceptions are like Jay-Z and Linkin Park, who is labeled as shown. They have a CD with both names so the artist is both names. There's a song featuring Amy Lee somewhere (I labeled it yesterday) and it's by the main artist with a "Feat Amy Lee" at the end so if Amy Lee is searched for, itll come up, but if the main song name is searched for, itll give both options...

**we87** · 08-30-2008, 11:31 PM

While everybody is on the subject, is there a good program to automatically go through your mp3 collection and put the ID3 tag for you? I've seen a few but never really liked them, none of them worked well imo.

**stonestatue** · 08-31-2008, 12:01 AM

Yes actually. Zortam ID3 tag editor.

**rebelleader** · 09-15-2008, 08:36 PM

I name my files as follows:

Artist - Album - Track # - Song Title.mp3

**Ringfinger69** · 09-27-2008, 06:14 PM

iTunes FTW.
Hammered out the columns Title, artist, album and genre.
Since those will be the four catagories I will be using to search for song with centrafuse. I figured I'd be nice to friends and family who don't remember titles to songs but they know the the other three catagories.

**nfsp_trans_am** · 10-16-2008, 12:17 PM

I could never find a program that would do what I wanted with my MP3 filenames. So I wrote one.
It's still a work in progress, but I'm almost ready to beta it if anyone want's to have a go.
What it does is reads the ID3 tag from the mp3 file, then renames the file like so:
(whatever folder you want)\artist\artist - title.mp3
so for me instead of stupid names like "h:\download\music\DMB_08_crush_before_these_crowded_streets.mp3" I get
"H:\Music\Dave Matthews Band\Dave Matthews Band - Crush.mp3"
and if I have a batch of all my mp3 files and there is a duplicate filename (say a live version) it will add a (1) or (2) or so on, just before the .mp3 like so:
"Dave Matthews Band - Crush (1).mp3"
the program is setup to use a control string you input. Mine is "artist - title" but you could do something like "artist - album, track - title" and get something like:
"Dave Matthews Band - Before These Crowded Streets, 08 - Crush.mp3"
anyway, you get the idea.
Like I said, if anyone wants to beta, or just has some good ideas to add to the program, PM me.

**danielkh** · 10-17-2008, 08:53 AM

Originally Posted by stonestatue

Yes actually. Zortam ID3 tag editor.

I tried this, and it is ok, but when searching I also ran across Fixtunes. It's automatic and REALLY impressive! For renaming and getting rid of dup's.

http://www.fixtunes.com/

**vtecfelon23** · 10-17-2008, 11:26 AM

ouuuu... fixtunes... just what i need. i spent a good 3 hours the other night trying to get rid of dups and such. I still have soo many incorrect labels.. I am going to try this tonight. thanks Daniel!