# Help me oragize my music files **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 28, 2005, 12:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-oragize-my-music-files/328229 "2005-10-28T00:18:11Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![robdavsuss](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/58956e/32.png) [@robdavsuss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robdavsuss)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2005, 12:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-oragize-my-music-files/328229/1 "2005-10-28T00:18:11Z")
Any ideas would be appreciated. I know I can manage the music in my media player with playlists, and maybe I’m being too anal retentive about all this. However, I’m curious about how I should organize my music in the folder it’s kept in. Currently, my files are in one folder on my hard drive, in alphabetical order and listed as so: Artist – Title. However, I deviate a little from this for four different genres. [ul] [li]Classical music is grouped together as: Classical - Artist - Title[/li][li]Holiday music is grouped together as: Holiday Music - Artist - Title[/li][li]Oldies (pre-Beatles rock and pop) is grouped together as: Oldies - Artist - Title[/li][li]Soundtracks are grouped together as: Soundtracks - Name of Movie - Title by Artist[/li][/ul] Does anyone else do anything like this? How do you organize your music files? ---
**Author:** ![rjung](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/45deac/32.png) [@rjung](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rjung)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2005, 12:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-oragize-my-music-files/328229/2 "2005-10-28T00:37:18Z")
I throw everything into iTunes. When I want something, I type a few letters and let the computer pull it up. Manual organization is _so_ '90s. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2005, 1:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-oragize-my-music-files/328229/3 "2005-10-28T01:05:00Z")
> [@robdavsuss](#): > > Does anyone else do anything like this? How do you organize your music files? I make everything Artist - Song Title. Anything else, like album title, track number, or movie soundtrack title is stripped from the name and copied into details instead. What advantage is there to making more than one format or in muliple folders? That just sounds like it would make it more difficult to locate songs, not easier. I’m obviously missing something, fill me in. ---
**Author:** ![panamajack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/47e85d/32.png) [@panamajack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panamajack)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2005, 1:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-oragize-my-music-files/328229/4 "2005-10-28T01:05:50Z")
Of course, using iTunes with Classical you want to put the composer in the ‘Artist’ field (somebody out there went through the trouble of actually editing iTunes resource strings(?) to make it actually say it). The best thing about iTunes is smart folders/playlists. I assume there are other programs that do this as well, maybe even some that don’t reorganize your music for you. ---
**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2005, 1:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-oragize-my-music-files/328229/5 "2005-10-28T01:41:38Z")
ITunes tries to be too clever for my liking. Plus the various links to ‘music stores’ or whatever - if I want software to organise my current stuff, that’s what I want it to do. I like [MediaMonkey](http://www.mediamonkey.com/), and the way things are organised might seems a bit more logical for someone who’s been doing it by manual methods. Also, you can choose any external media player (e.g. Winamp) for tracks to be played through. ---
**Author:** ![rjung](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/45deac/32.png) [@rjung](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rjung)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2005, 7:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-oragize-my-music-files/328229/6 "2005-10-28T07:17:42Z")
> [@panamajack](#): > > The best thing about iTunes is smart folders/playlists. I assume there are other programs that do this as well, maybe even some that don’t reorganize your music for you. > [@GorillaMan](#): > > ITunes tries to be too clever for my liking. Plus the various links to ‘music stores’ or whatever You guys 'n gals know that these features can be turned off, don’t you? ---
**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2005, 10:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-oragize-my-music-files/328229/7 "2005-10-28T10:29:03Z")
> [@rjung](#): > > You guys 'n gals know that these features can be turned off, don’t you? Whenever possible, I prefer to use software that doesn’t need de-commercialising. All I want is something that edits tags, and gives me lists according to those tags. That’s what MediaMonkey is designed to do. ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2005, 4:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-oragize-my-music-files/328229/8 "2005-10-28T16:15:14Z")
Oragize: v., from “Oragizami”, the ancient Japanese art of folding mp3s into decorative shapes.