Here is a summary of how I do it:
General
- Only standard characters are used. Not allowed are: ß ä â (and similar) / ? ; “ ´ ` \ :
- Allowed are: - ‘ # ! ,
- Tags are reflected in the file and folder names. That’s why letters and signs must be compatible with file and folder naming conventions.
- Any tags which are not defined in the user’s standard are deleted as a rule.
- Multiple disc albums are generally summarized to form one album. Tracks 1-20 of disc 2 become tracks 20-40 in the summarized album. Therefore %disk% and %total disks% are never applied.
%artist%
Popular music:
Performing artist of the track
<last name>, <first name>
(Beatles, The), (Rogers, Kenny), (Pink Floyd)
Classical music:
Composer
<last name>
%album artist%
Artist (performer, orchestra or conductor) under whose/which name the album has been released. Compilations will contain “Various Artists”
<last name>, <first name>
(Beatles, The), (Rogers, Kenny), (Pink Floyd), (London Philharmonic Orchestra), (Boehm, Karl), (Various Artists)
%title%
Popular music
<Name of the track>
Classical music
Op. <no.>, <name of the work> – <roman no. of mvmt.>. <name of mvmt.>
(Op. 7, Piano Sonata No. 7 – II. Largo, con gran espressione)
(KV 525, Serenade No. 13 ‘Eine kleine Nachtmusik’ – I. Allegro)
%album%
Popular music
<album name> (<year of release or performance> )
Classical music:
<composer (last name only)> - <album name> (<year of publication or performance> )
This enables a search for composers within the album list as most applications do not support the search for composers.
%year%
For ‘normal’ popular music albums this is the same for all tracks and equal to the release date of the album (see %album%).
For compilations entries will vary per track.
For classical music this is the year of composition or of the debut performance.
%composer%
Mandatory for classical music, optional for popular music
<last name>, <first name>
(Wagner, Richard), (Mendelssohn Bartholdy, Felix)
%track%
Relative no. of the track within the album
Mandatory for all commerially sold albums, if the order of the tracks shall be maintained. For self-compiled albums such as collections of individual tracks of a decade the track no. can be omitted.
%Comment%
Optional tag, free for any information. For classical music additional information such as the conductor or special performers can be added.
File and folder structure
Level 1: Music library
Level 2: Album Artists (equal to the tag %album artist%)
Level 3: Albums (equal to the tag %album%)
Level 4: Tracks (named: <%artist%> - <%title%>
