How do you organize your files?

[hotwire]

Right now I have one music directory with all my audio files in it.  I don't use database enough because initial loading of it is slow, and I prefer the directory view so i can see my other, non audio files.

So I'm looking for advice of how to reorganize the directory structure of my music to make it more efficient for me wanting to fine a particular song.  Thanks to all in advance.

[bascule]

I believe most people use:

Artist#1
 +Album#1
   -Track#1
   -Track#2
   -etc
 +Album#2
   -Track#1
   -Track#2
   -Track#3 etc
 +Album#3 etc
Artist#2
 +Album#1
   -Track#1
   -Track#2
   -Track#3 etc
Artist#3 etc

Personally, I have a flatter structure, partly because I hate lots of subfolders and partly because I exclusively use the Database, so it does not really matter to me

Artist#1-Album#1
   -Track#1
   -Track#2
   -Track#3 etc
Artist#1-Album#2
   -Track#1
   -Track#2
   -Track#3 etc
Artist#2-Album#1
   -Track#1
   -Track#2
   -Track#3 etc
Artist#2-Album#2
   -Track#1
   -Track#2
   -Track#3 etc
Artist#2-Album#3
   -Track#1
   -Track#2
   -Track#3 etc
Artist#3 etc-Album#1 etc

And, of course, if your files are well tagged, which I presume they are, as you have used the Database, MP3Tag can do all the re-organisation automagically for you...

[soap]

/music/ARTIST - YEAR - ALBUM/## - TITLE.mp3
/books/AUTHOR/BOOK/## - TITLE.mp3
/podcasts/SHOW/ISODATE - TITLE.mp3

The advantage I see over bascule's method is that albums get sorted by release year, the downside I see is longer folder names.
Of course, everything is tagged 100% properly and consistently so changing structure is as easy as a button push.

[Job Van Dam]

I sort my folders by Music genre:

Music-Sounds/
Electronic-Remixes
Miscellanous
Other
Pop
Rap
Rock
Sets*
Sets Alternate**
Sounds
Video Game

* 42 sets in this folder, these ones actually get put in the playlist. I listen to them and if I like it I keep it and put it in the Sets Alternate folder. If I don't like it I delete it.
** the rest of the sets are here, not in the playlist. There mixed of ones I've heard and liked or ones I haven't heard. I randomly choose one from here to re-populate the Sets folder back to 42.

I have been thinking of merging the two folders considering what Rockbox is capable of.

[Soader03]

Me:

Songs
  Artist
    Album
      Title of the songs

Pictures
  Random Folder

Videos
  Artist
    Album
  Other Videos

[AlexP]

/Music/Artist/Album/xxx.ogg
/Spoken Word/Author/Book/xxx.ogg

[Yotto]

I'm an indie music packrat, so I have more artists than Rockbox can (Or maybe could, I haven't gone back since I changed it a long time ago) display in one directory.  So, mine is:

music/A/Artist/Artist - Song.mp3

Where "A" above is the letter of the alphabet that starts the Artist.

Joni Mitchell would be in J, not M, if you're curious.
And The Police are in T, not P

[DefineByte]

Music/Artist/(Year) Album/## - Track title.ogg

or

Music/(Year) Album/## - Artist - Track title.ogg

for compilations.

For albums with multiple discs I have a 'CD' folder for each disc:

Music/Artist/(Year) Album/CD#/## - Track title.ogg

For singles I use

Music/Artist/(Year) Single name (Single)/## - Track title.ogg

I may change how singles are organised at some point.

[psycho_maniac]

\Cd's\Artist\Album\song number - song title.mp3
downloaded songs go to unsorted because i can use the "search funcion" or ill know where the song is at.
\Downloaded

[belly917]

For all ripped CD's (or stuff from e-music.com)

• Music/Artist/Year Album/##-Track.ogg

For all singles and soundtracks

• Music/!genre singles/genre/Artist-Track.mp3

genre can be Alternative, Rap, Soundtracks, Rock, Romantic, etc..

[hotwire]

Thanks for the advise everyone.

To that extent, I may be considering at this time Music/A/Band Name that Starts with A/Song.mp3

As an alternative, does rockbox have a "jump to letter" feature?, even in the file browser, or perhaps for Database itself... I find the scrolling even through my artists list on Database can be a little long.

If not, do you think it worthwhile I propose a patch in the patch tracker?

[belly917]

... I find the scrolling even through my artists list on Database can be a little long....

If you hold down play/pause (at least on the iRiver targets) while scrolling it will act like a page up/down, allowing you to get to your intended artist quicker.

I know it's not exactly what you asked for, I just thought I'd mention it in case you weren't aware of it's existence.

[bascule]

As an alternative, does rockbox have a "jump to letter" feature?, even in the file browser, or perhaps for Database itself... I

You have answered your own question.

See the DataBase Wiki (linked in my sig) for examples of Database browsing by artist initial  

[hotwire]

As an alternative, does rockbox have a "jump to letter" feature?, even in the file browser, or perhaps for Database itself... I

You have answered your own question.

See the DataBase Wiki (linked in my sig) for examples of Database browsing by artist initial  

So this is a request that has already been made.  Thanks.

[RenatoN]

I use the following:
A-F/Artist/Year-Album/Title
G-M/Artist/Year-Album/Title
N-S/Artist/Year-Album/Title
T-Z/Artist/Year-Album/Title

Frank Zappa would be under F, Pat Metheny under P, etc..

Renato