I was looking for some help on how toarrange my bootlegs and official releases on my external HDD.

its a bit of a mess so i would really like some advice on:

How i should label the bootlegs (dates ect.)

what folders i should put the actual albums in.

Any advice is much appreciated

Thank you all

Prince > Album Title > Disk #

In the ID3 tag, I name the album as it is named, like "Funky Party 2 NIte" or whatever. If it's a multi disk set w/ different dates or something, I put that information in the Comment section of the ID3 tag.

I also fill in the "Disk ___ of ____", and the "Track ____ of _____" for each disk, and the Year.

I really try to fill in as much as I can to keep it sorted and easy to figure out. Sometimes it takes time because things don't always rip and fill out like you'd want them to. But to have a super organized library is SO worth it.

I even name 1993-2000 stuff as for the "Artist". Go into the "Sort" field and put "Prince" in both areas, so even though it displays it'll sort under "Prince". I'm slowly going through my library and changing all the sorts like that. Michael Jackson is now sorted under J, because I put "Jackson, Michael" in the sort field, etc.

I don't know how you guys find the time to do all this Because it is - not sometimes, but most of the time - such an enormous task... Guess I should spend more time in the office...

[Edited 8/17/10 21:18pm]

GuardianAngel said:

I don't know how you guys find the time to do all this Because it is - not sometimes, but most of the time - such an enormous task... Guess I should spend more time in the office...

[Edited 8/17/10 21:18pm]

It's just an ongoing process. However, in 2007 or 2008 I took about five weeks of adding artwork to every file I had. I did it for a couple of reasons, one being I wanted the artwork. The other was that my AppleTV had an option to have "floating photos" and to use CD artwork for that. I figured, the more artwork I had, the more interesting and varied the screen saver would be.

This is what the screen saver looks like. Now imagine that with tons of different artwork.

As far as everything else, I just do it when I add stuff now so it keeps it in check. When I first started downloading stuff in 1998/1999, I used to strip the ID3 tags, not really knowing how I'd use them. That bit me in the butt years later when I had THOUSANDS of files to retag and add artwork to. But it's done now, so the upkeep is easier.

ernestsewell said:

GuardianAngel said:

I don't know how you guys find the time to do all this Because it is - not sometimes, but most of the time - such an enormous task... Guess I should spend more time in the office...

[Edited 8/17/10 21:18pm]

It's just an ongoing process. However, in 2007 or 2008 I took about five weeks of adding artwork to every file I had. I did it for a couple of reasons, one being I wanted the artwork. The other was that my AppleTV had an option to have "floating photos" and to use CD artwork for that. I figured, the more artwork I had, the more interesting and varied the screen saver would be.

This is what the screen saver looks like. Now imagine that with tons of different artwork.

As far as everything else, I just do it when I add stuff now so it keeps it in check. When I first started downloading stuff in 1998/1999, I used to strip the ID3 tags, not really knowing how I'd use them. That bit me in the butt years later when I had THOUSANDS of files to retag and add artwork to. But it's done now, so the upkeep is easier.

VERY cool idea with the artwork, btw. Thank God I do not have Apple TV (yet) or the inevitable task ahead of me would have become even bigger as of this point!

I tag each album (and name the folders) like this example:

2011 - July 05 - PurpleAss Tour - Verizon Wireless Cafeteria, Jonestown, Mexico

2011 - July 05 - Aftershow - CocoLoco, Jonestown, Mexico

And do the same for rehearsals, soundchecks, oneoffs, etc.

I tag the artist of the live stuff as Prince Live and all of it goes in the folder by the same name. The studio stuff all goes under Prince. I tag each studio album with the year also, like: 1980 - Dirty Mind, 2010 - 20TEN. The associated artists go under Prince (The Time) or Prince (Whatever).

the outtakes are all tagged as Prince Outtakes for the artist part and then the year they were recorded for the album. Folders for all of these also.

It was a serious pain in the ass to do it and add all of the artwork, but it's totally worth the effort when you're trying to find something.

[Edited 8/17/10 21:49pm]

[Edited 8/17/10 21:58pm]

PopcornFetus said:

I tag each album (and name the folders) like this example:

2011 - July 05 - PurpleAss Tour - Verizon Wireless Cafeteria, Jonestown, Mexico

2011 - July 05 - Aftershow - CocoLoco, Jonestown, Mexico

And do the same for rehearsals, soundchecks, oneoffs, etc.

I tag the artist of the live stuff as Prince Live and all of it goes in the folder by the same name. The studio stuff all goes under Prince. I tag each studio album with the year also, like: 1980 - Dirty Mind, 2010 - 20TEN. The associated artists go under Prince (The Time) or Prince (Whatever).

the outtakes are all tagged as Prince Outtakes for the artist part and then the year they were recorded for the album. Folders for all of these also.

It was a serious pain in the ass to do it and add all of the artwork, but it's totally worth the effort when you're trying to find something.

[Edited 8/17/10 21:49pm]

[Edited 8/17/10 21:58pm]

this is similar to how i keep my libary, but I use itunes to keep it all tidy.

i use the 2010-01-29 - Bootname - Venue Name format and itunes then keeps everything in date order for me very nice! However i should mention that all those details are only in the sort album field (copied into notes) that way the album can be listed just under bootname

My folder structure...

Prince >

Prince >

Live Bootlegs >

[yyyy-mm-dd am/pm] city - label/taper - soundboard/audience

[year range of live tracks] bootleg title - label - soundboard/audience (for compilations)

Studio Bootlegs >

[year range of outtakes/demos] bootleg title - label

Official Albums >

[year of release] album title

Singles >

[year of release] single title

Internet Tracks >

Website Name >

loose tracks

Associated Artists >

Artist Name >

Official Albums >

[year of release] album title

Live Bootlegs >

[yyyy-mm-dd] city - label/taper - soundboard/audience

[Edited 8/19/10 0:06am]

GuardianAngel said:

I don't know how you guys find the time to do all this Because it is - not sometimes, but most of the time - such an enormous task... Guess I should spend more time in the office...

Some people like to nerd out with OCD filing tasks like this. I imagine their houses are just SPICK AND SPAN

Kara said:

My folder structure...

Prince >

Prince >

Live Bootlegs >

[yyyy-mm-dd am/pm] city - label/taper - soundboard/audience

[year range of live tracks] bootleg title - label - soundboard/audience (for compilations)

Studio Bootlegs >

[year range of outtakes/demos] bootleg title - label

Official Albums >

[year of release] album title

Singles >

[year of release] single title

Internet Tracks >

Website Name >

loose tracks

Associated Artists >

Artist Name >

Official Albums >

[year of release] album title

Live Bootlegs >

[yyyy-mm-dd] city - label/taper - soundboard/audience

[Edited 8/19/10 0:06am]

This actually just about the same as how I have it myself

I do have associate artists folder split into 2 - Productions (The Time, The Family etc) and Related Artists (W&L, Jesse Johnson, etc). All folders are date release ordered.

01 - Albums

02 - Singles

03 - Produced & Written / Albums / Singles & Tracks

04 - Related Artists/ Albums / Cover Versions / Singles & Tracks

05 - Internet Releases / Arranged by website/release date

06 - Bootlegs / Studio / Live / Related

Legends > Prince > official album title

..........................> live album title

..........................> b-side album title

I add the artwork and everything else is done with iTunes

It is a pain in the ass to redo all the files but luckily I'm not OCD and I only arrange certain parts to my liking.