Question about Music Library file structure

[jimbobs]

Had an issue with scanning/rescanning my music library. I learned here that it was a permissions issue. Now I want to add other music files from a different hard drive. There are organised by Artist (directory), Album Name (sub-directory), Tracks. Do I need to flatten this directory structure to import into LMS?

[Grumpy Bob]

Had an issue with scanning/rescanning my music library. I learned here that it was a permissions issue. Now I want to add other music files from a different hard drive. There are organised by Artist (directory), Album Name (sub-directory), Tracks. Do I need to flatten this directory structure to import into LMS?

No you don't need to flatten the directory structure - at least that's the general file structure I use!

Robert

[jeroen2]

No you don't need to flatten the directory structure - at least that's the general file structure I use!

I use the same structure as well. In principle, at least that's my understanding, the scan function uses the file tags to determine artist/genre/album, etc.. Only if those are not available it uses the file structure (this can be set in the LMS scanning preferences).

I always use tagging software to clean up the tags before scanning (iTunes had made quite a mess of those, so it required a lot of fixing).

[d6jg]

Had an issue with scanning/rescanning my music library. I learned here that it was a permissions issue. Now I want to add other music files from a different hard drive. There are organised by Artist (directory), Album Name (sub-directory), Tracks. Do I need to flatten this directory structure to import into LMS?

What tool do you intend to use to put new music onto LMS?

[jimbobs]

What tool do you intend to use to put new music onto LMS?

I don't have a single library at present so have music scattered over a number of computers. My intention is to move all my music onto a USB connected harddrive (with a backup routine) and then clean up the library. So right now, I'm taking that drive from computer to computer. However, when I scan afterwards, the results are erratic. Sometimes, I get everything,sometimes a few tracks instead of a full album. I have used the "Set Write Permissions" button which has helped a lot but still not getting everything.

[d6jg]

Do you know how to use SSH on the Pi if so install WinSCP on one of your PCs. Connect to the Pi and navigate to the USB drive. Right click on the top level and set user / group accordingly (you’ll need to repeat the same user / group from a working folder) AND then tick the “recursively” option.
This will change the permissions on the entire USB drive.
You can use WinSCP to copy music across in future without pulling the USB and swapping it around.

[jimbobs]

...
I always use tagging software to clean up the tags before scanning (iTunes had made quite a mess of those, so it required a lot of fixing).

What tagging software do you use? Picard was recommended to me. Some of my music was ripped by me from original CD's years ago and tags are all messed up. One particular set of 4 CD's with 80 tracks, shows up as 4 albums but only a few tracks on each for a total of 10 tracks.

[jeroen2]

What tagging software do you use? Picard was recommended to me. Some of my music was ripped by me from original CD's years ago and tags are all messed up. One particular set of 4 CD's with 80 tracks, shows up as 4 albums but only a few tracks on each for a total of 10 tracks.

I uze Picard on a Mac. But found that in order for LMS to show multiple disk albums properly they need to be all in one folder, with tracks and disk numbers set correctly. (tag them first, then merge the folders).

[garym]

But found that in order for LMS to show multiple disk albums properly they need to be all in one folder

I do not find the same. My multiDisc albums are organized with subdirectories under ALBUM directory. For example,

Neil Young/
.............../Archives Volume II/
........................................../Disc 1/
.................................................. ../01 - track name
...
........................................../Disc 2/
.................................................. .../01 - track name
etc.

These all show up in LMS as a single album (that is the 10 disk Neil Young Archives Vol. II shows up as a single album in LMS, even though each disk is in a separate directory). The disks have a Disk Number tag. And importantly, in LMS > Settings > My Music, I have set the "Group Discs" option to "treat multi-disc sets as a single album".

edit: you might need to do a complete "clear and rescan" of your library after selecting this group disc option.

[d6jg]

I do not find the same. My multiDisc albums are organized with subdirectories under ALBUM directory. For example,

Neil Young/
.............../Archives Volume II/
........................................../Disc 1/
.................................................. ../01 - track name
...
........................................../Disc 2/
.................................................. .../01 - track name
etc.

These all show up in LMS as a single album (that is the 10 disk Neil Young Archives Vol. II shows up as a single album in LMS, even though each disk is in a separate directory). The disks have a Disk Number tag. And importantly, in LMS > Settings > My Music, I have set the "Group Discs" option to "treat multi-disc sets as a single album".

edit: you might need to do a complete "clear and rescan" of your library after selecting this group disc option.

For this to work the ALBUM tag must be 100% identical across all 10 discs.