Tip #3324 - Music Organization
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Q:
I got an iPod for Christmas from my kids and I finally have all my music
loaded on it and all of that good stuff. Now, do you have any tips I can
use for keeping my playlists organized? I would like to create different
lists for different activities I do, but I don't want them to get all
messy. Any advice would be greatly appreciated!
A:
First of all, welcome to the wonderful world of iPods! I'm sure you're
enjoying it as much as everyone else who has one does. This is a very
good question, because in a day and age when music players are so popular,
it's typical to have a huge collection of music on just one device and
it's easy to just let it "go crazy" and get all jumbled together.
This tip is good for anyone who has any type of music player. It doesn't
have to be just an iPod. If you have an MP3 player or if you just have
a lot of music stored on your computer, you can use these organizational
tips as well.
Below are six tips
you can use to keep your playlists organized and neat. The tips will also
help you in understanding what you need to do to follow up to proper playlists.
If you follow these tricks, you will have the best music collection in
town! Plus, you will be able to find particular songs much faster and
sometimes, you just can't beat that. Okay, here we go!
1.) Create
Subfolders - One of the most important things to do when making
playlists is to create subfolders that will stay on your hard drive. What
do I mean by subfolders? Well, you should put all of your music into different
categories. You can either separate it by genre or whichever way you'd
like to do it. Create a new folder for each type. For instance, one folder
for country, one for pop, one for classical and so on. Don't just keep
all of your music in the main music folder (My Music) on your C: drive.
Subfolders are definitely the better way to go.
2.) Check
Your ID3 Tags - First of all, ID3 tags are used to store the
important information about your music files, such as the song title,
the artist name, the album name, etc. It's also the information that shows
up on the screen of your iPod or MP3 player. (Read here
for more information on ID3 tags). Sometimes when you put music onto your
player, it comes through all wrong. So, make sure you take the time to
edit your ID3 tags correctly. Now, you may need a software program to
help you do this and one good example is called TagScanner.
3.) Have Proper
Music Management Software - It's pertinent that you have the
best music management software for yourself and for your music player.
There are several you can choose from too. If you have an iPod, you probably
use iTunes, but some other options are Windows Media Player, MediaMonkey
and MusicMatch Jukebox. Each program brings its own features, so you'll
just have to decide what all you want and then go get it!
4.) Keep It
Legal - If you're using an illegal music download program, you
may get some files that come through in an odd way. They may have a weird
file name and the songs may also sound a little different than the original
version. You don't want that, do you? Yes, you may have to pay for a good
online music service, but it's well worth it in the end. Good examples
are again, iTunes and there's always Napster.
5.) Create
Proper Playlists - As was stated in the question, it's fun to
make different playlists for the different activities you're going to
be doing. This is also a perfect way to keep your music organized. If
you combine certain songs together, you'll come up with some pretty jammin'
playlists, along with keeping them neat and tidy. Another thing you can
do is just create playlists from the subfolders you created in step one.
Keeping all of your music in separate categories is the perfect way to
stay organized when it comes to your tunes.
6.) Your Hard
Drive Size - Depending on how much music you download onto your
computer, it's important to have a hard drive that will be able to fit
it all in. Running out of room will certainly mess up your organized music
files. Yes, you may have more than one hard drive on your computer, but
it's not ideal to store some of your files on one hard drive and the rest
on the other. It's important to have all of your music files together
in one spot, so just make sure you have enough room. If you think you're
going to run out soon, delete some songs you don't listen to very often
or just stop downloading!
There you go. Hopefully
these tips will help keep your music collection in line and in order.
Yes, if you follow all of these steps, it will take you quite a bit of
time to complete your organized music collection, but trust me, it will
be worth it in the end. Now, get going!
~ Erin
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