assuming you have a collection that isnt just prince, and paisley park/npg artists, do you put prince in pop, rock, soul, funk, what?

i initially started putting his records in pop/rock, but then thought he started out as an R&B artist, so maybe everything should be in there - that was his musical root after all.

but it doesnt really fit that well, and im not giving him a section all of his own

so for me, hes just going in R&B.

i think he would be cool with that.

ultimately, whatever the the music, prince was an R&B vocalist. so that seems the most appropriate place to file his music.

Everything is alphabetical. I don't separate by genre.

I just use iTunes (now called "Music") for organization. Just alphabetically by artist.

For how I tag his music, I use R&B/Pop . . . I tried a few different genre tags but nothing felt quite right. R&B/Funk might have been the other option, but R&B/Pop felt more natural.

I have heard of people simply putting "Prince" in the genre category. Which works too.

Here's how I do mine on iTunes:

Everything is under the band's name:

Prince,

Prince and the Revolution,

Prince and the New Power Generation,

New Power Generation,

But under the "Sort Artist As" in the ID3, I put Prince, so it sorts by "Prince", but the display name is the name of the band. If it's a album, it still sorts as Prince. The Lovesymbol album I put "Lovesymbol" for Sort Album As.

As an example, I do the same with Janet Jackson. She mostly goes by Janet from 1993 forward. So, it'll display Janet for The Velvet Rope, but the SORT ARTIST AS is "Jackson, Janet", and SORT ALBUM AS is "Velvet Rope, The."

Even with David Bowie's Blackstar, I got funky and put a ★ emoji for the display, but the ALBUM SORT AS is Blackstar. I pulled out a peace sign on Sign ☮ the Times, but the ALBUM SORT AS is just Sign O The Times (with no marks around the O.) There is a Prince symbol like on his motorcycle in the emojis and characters, ⚦, ⚨, ⚩, that you can use for his name when it was if you want, but still SORT ARTIST AS should be Prince. Just to be geeky.

Albums like 1999, 3121, 21 Nights I use the Sort Album As, and spell out the name. Nineteen Ninety-Nin, Thirty-One Twenty-One, Twenty-One Nights. They fall right in place, opposed to the albums with numbers being at the top or bottom of a list.

With anyone else, It's last name first.

Jones, Jill

E., Sheila

Grant, Amy

Smith, Michael W


If a band starts with A, you leave the A as the first letter.

A Flock of Seagulls, not Flock of Seagulls, A.

If it starts with THE, you put that at the end.

Who, The.

Rolling Stones, The.

With other Prince acts, they're under their own name, in display and SORT ARTIST AS, too.

The Family is SORT ARTIST AS Family, The

Apollonia 6 (I think this is just sorted as Apollonia 6, not Apollonia Six, because it's going to fall under A regardless)

Vanity 6 (same as Apollonia 6)

Madhouse

Time, The

Leeds, Eric

E., Sheila

etc etc for sorting.

You can add a genre to the ID3, but doesn't matter much. If you wanna sort by that later, just add a column in iTunes to sort everything that way. You can throw all Prince music into its own playlist, sort by genre, and delete what doesn't fit in the playlist.

But the SORT AS is the biggest thing for me. Keep an album's name or artist's name for authenticity, but use the SORT ARTIST AS or SORT ALBUM AS to keep it in line.

The only other note I made in an ID3 tag is in the Comments. Anything that's just some old MP3 I have, I don't put anything. But if I've ripped a CD or VINYL to lossless formats, I tag with ELS CD or ELS LP. Any 12" or 7" I have is under the ELS LP (as a general vinyl tag). I also have a tag for any lossless files I've downloaded that aren't from my personal CD/LP collection: ELS ALAC. This type of notation is strictly for my own use. I made a rule when I ripped all my vinyl that if I had something on vinyl and CD (like Purple Rain), that the vinyl would take presedence in the library. So I wouldn't rip the CD of PR, but I'd rip the vinyl and let that be the files in there. Just cuz - if I have vinyl, I wanna hear my vinyl, even on digital lossless files.

(ELS are my initials, obviously. And for those who have ever gotten my Tony M.-Less edits from Diamonds and Pearls and , you'll likely see that in the ID3 tag.)

My file structure is the same.

I have Music > A, Music > B... one for every letter for basic MP3s or other lossy files (iTunes download, etc).

For those CD and LP rips, they have their own folder:

ELS CD > A.

ELS CD > B, etc.

Or ELS LP > A

ELS LP > B, etc.

Just to keep them in their own folder and subfolder.

Those lossless ALACs I have are in their own folder too.

ELS not my rips > A, etc.

That's just for my own use, and it's pretty easy. I have 26 for the basic alphabet, plus those 3 other files. Of course, everything in those folders are sorted to their own artist > album subfolders.

Sounds like a lot, but once you get your own system down to keep your stuff organized, it's second-hand nature. And if you ever have to dig for a file for whatever reason, you'll know exactly where to go without looking in iTunes at the file path.

along Michael Jackson, Johnny Guitar Watson, Terence Trent D'Arby, Kid Creole & The Coconuts, David Bowie....separate from Soul, Blues and Rock

#1

Under "Prince" LMAO

renfield said:

On the left in my room for those things and in stacks around my place.

All Prince and related artists are allocated to Funk. No other artists are.

Releases by the Time, The Family, Flash, 94 East, Andy Allo, Madhouse are all renamed as Prince.

NPG releases are kept as NPG, apart from Newpower Soul, which is Prince.

Appolonia 6, Vanity 6 and Jill Jones are kept as their own names.

I have a separate cabinet for all my Prince music and I try to keep it in chronological order.

I mark it as "Prince" for the Genre, then apply it to associates as necessary. Dude was too prolific to just say "R&B" and have it apply to everything. Of course, whatever works for you is fine!

in the folders or playlists that are titled: "Prince"

was this a trick question?

Yeah, everything "Princely" i have has been filed in the "O ( + >" folder.

Alphabetically. Windows media puts it under- Prince, Prince & the Revolution, Prince and the NPG.

Away from the window, direct sunlight and any central heating appliances.

mb71 said:

Away from the window, direct sunlight and any central heating appliances.

.

You allow sunlight in?!?!

udo said:

mb71 said:

Away from the window, direct sunlight and any central heating appliances.

.

You allow sunlight in?!?!

Yes. I can't live in perpetual darkness for the sake of a music collection, and my place is too small for it to have a room of it's own. The physical music collection is a quarter the size it used to be anyway, so it's no biggie.

Yeah, I just "file" by artist/group's last names.

Under Purple Music

I listen to Prince music/Proteges etc exclusive from other music all the time

renfield said:

Everything is alphabetical. I don't separate by genre.

This. So in my vinyl collection, Prince is bookended by Michael Powers (blues) and R.E.M. (alt rock). That said, I do have his protege artist LPs immediately following the main Prince section, arranged alphabetically by artist. Same way I have the solo Beatles immediately following the group LPs (though there, the order is John/Paul/George/Ringo).

assuming you have a collection that isnt just prince, and paisley park/npg artists, do you put prince in pop, rock, soul, funk, what?

billymeade said:

I mark it as "Prince" for the Genre, then apply it to associates as necessary. Dude was too prolific to just say "R&B" and have it apply to everything. Of course, whatever works for you is fine!

I def have mine in chronological in order.