-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- MP3 COLLECTION NOTES In an attempt to have the most accurate and consistently organized collection of MP3s possible, I have set forth the following conventions (developed in collaboration with Anthony Schmidt). I will attempt to adhere as closely as possible to the following rules, making revisions to this document as I encounter any exceptions. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- REVISION HISTORY 2003-07-14 First draft. -BJR 2003-08-04 Added "soundtrack" qualifier. Minor reformatting. -BJR 2004-04-15 Change split compilation rules. Made [live] qualifier less strict. Revised directory structure. Minor reformatting. -BJR -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- DIRECTORY AND FILE LAYOUT All MP3 files will be placed in a folder at least one level below the collection root folder. The bulk of the collection will exist within the artist folders described below. The following is a tree diagram of the file system starting at the collection root. MP3s +-- [crap] +-- [info] +-- [scripts] +-- [unsorted] +-- [Various Artists] +-- {yyyy - ReleaseTitle} * {ReleaseTitle - ## - ArtistName - SongTitle [qualifiers]}.mp3 +-- {ArtistName} +-- {yyyy - ReleaseTitle [qualifiers]} * {ArtistName - ReleaseTitle [qualifiers] - ## - SongTitle [qualifiers]}.mp3 The root folder ("MP3s") may contain one or more non-MP3 files related to tracking or auditing the collection. These could include scripts, text report files, etc. The following special folders exist: 1. The "[crap]" folder, containing songs which are too awful to be included in the standard collection, but humorous or notable enough to be saved. 2. The "[info]" folder, containing text files with notes about files in the collection. These are most likely generated by scripts (see below). 3. The "[scripts]" folder, containing automated scripts that gather information about the collection (which files are known to be missing, bitrates, etc.). The target of these reports should be the "[info]" folder. 4. The "[unsorted]" folder, containing songs and releases awaiting classification or finalization. 5. The "[Various Artists]" folder, containing represented releases featuring multiple artists. This folder is not generally useful, except in cases where order or continuity of a release matters (e.g, "Short Music for Short People"). As stated previously, most of the collection will reside below its associated artist folder. Every artist in the collection should be represented by his own folder. If an artist has previously released material under another name, both names are represented (e.g., folders exist for the band Charles Hårfager and their post-1995 name, Charles). A separate folder should exist, under that artist's folder, for every release represented in the collection. Since a song may appear on several releases, the following rules will determine where exactly a song should be placed. 1. In general, the earlier release is considered the "definitive" release for a given song. The actual file shall be placed in the folder of that release. The exception to this rule is when a single precedes a full length album; in this case, the full length is considered more definitive. File shortcuts may be placed in the folder of the "less definitive" release to indicate their presence but avoid duplication of the actual file. 2. Folders for releases which consist of previously released material need not be represented. This means that folders for B-sides collections or greatest hits compilations would not normally exist. However, if the release contains at least one song not otherwise represented (e.g., Nirvana's "Incesticide" contains tracks from the commercially unreleased Peel sessions), a folder should be included. 3. Singles are represented only if they contain at least one not otherwise available song. Singles follow the same rules as above; a single that contains previously released songs (either via a full length or previous single) should not be represented. 4. Promotional releases adhere to the same rule as singles above. 5. Unofficial releases ("bootlegs") may be represented if they contain material never commercially released. This could include live performances, unreleased studio tracks, etc. Bootlegs are not considered definitive. This means that a song, even if it first surfaced on a bootleg, will appear in the folder of the earliest official release. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- NAMING CONVENTIONS ARTIST FOLDER: {ArtistName} The name of the artist is given in its most common form, omitting 'The' where applicable (e.g, "Cure" rather than "The Cure"). As previously stated, bands which have changed their names are represented multiple times. Exceptions to this rule would include artists that have been known by other names but have never officially released anything under this name (e.g., "Nirvana" but not "Ted Ed Fred", etc. since no *official* releases exist under that name). Occasionally, artist names will be shortened where convenient ("Presidents of the USA" rather than "Presidents of the United States of America"). RELEASE FOLDER: {yyyy - ReleaseTitle [qualifiers]} The name begins with the four digit year (e.g., 1992, 2003). If multiple releases occur in one year, a single letter will be appended in alphabetical order corresponding to release order (e.g., 1993a for the first release, 1993b for the second release, and so on). The release title follows (using "The" is acceptable here). If the release is a split compilation, the release title is generally the two artist names listed alphabetically and separated by a single hyphen ("88 Fingers Louie-Kid Dynamite"). The qualifiers appear last within brackets. Some rules about qualifiers are as follows: 1. Singles are always qualified with "single". EPs are not generally qualified. Split releases are noted as such ("split"). Promotional releases should be qualified with "promo". Unofficial releases should be qualified with "bootleg". Demo releases should be qualified with "demo". Compilations including other artists should be qualified with "comp". Movie soundtracks should be qualified with "soundtrack". 2. If the release an import (this would be any non-US release), the country of origin is included as the first qualifier (e.g., "Loser [UK single]", "Odelay [Japan]"). The country name should be given in full, unless the abbreviation is more common ("UK" over "United Kingdom", "Germany" over "GER" or "DE"). 3. Parts of a set should be noted as digits in the last qualifier (e.g, "The New Pollution [UK single 1]"). All such releases should have separate folders (e.g., two folders for both discs of the Beatles' "White Album"). SONG FILE: {ArtistName - ReleaseTitle [qualifiers] - ## - SongTitle [qualifiers]}.mp3 The file itself should begin with the artist name, following the same rules as the artist folder. The release title with qualifiers comes next, following the same rules as the release folder. After the release title, the two digit track number is given, using a leading zero if necessary (e.g., "Beck - Odelay - 01 - Devils Haircut.mp3"). In the rare event that a release has more than 99 tracks, a 3 digit track will be used ("007", "103", etc.). For releases sourced from media with sides (e.g., cassettes or record albums), no reference is made to the side on which the song appears. The numbering would be the same as if the release had appeared in one continuous sequence (i.e., starting at '01' and ending with the total number of tracks). When referencing unlisted tracks on an album (e.g., the bonus tracks at the end of "Broken"), the numbering continues from the final listed track. In the case of Nine Inch Nails' "Broken", the bonus tracks "Suck" and "Physical (You're So)" are numbered "07" and "08", continuing from the final listed track 06, "Gave Up". "Broken" is actually a special case since on the physical media, these bonus tracks appear on audio tracks 98 and 99. In the interest of pragmatism, I have chosen to omit the 91 silent audio tracks and place the music tracks directly at the end of the main program. (In general, I will omit blank audio tracks.) Occasionally, an artist will include a hidden track located before the first listed track on a CD (e.g., the album "Songs for the Deaf" by Queens of the Stone Age). These tracks are numbered "00" which orders them immediately before the main program. Following the track number is the song title with qualifiers. The song title follows standard capitalization rules, which may be inconsistent with the title as given on the source (e.g., most Nine Inch Nails albums list songs in all lowercase). Capitalization rules are as follows (adapted from MLA Style): 1. The first word and last word in a title are always capitalized. 2. Longer words (four or more letters) are always capitalized. 3. Words with fewer than four letters are generally not capitalized. These include articles (a, an, the), conjunctions (and, as, but, if, or), and shorter prepositions (at, in, on, to). 4. Verbs are always capitalized, even if fewer than four letters (is, do, are). Some exceptions will apply, for instance, when a band occasionally uses all capital letters for a song title, or no spaces between words with mixed case (see Dillinger Four). In these uncommon cases, formatting as given on the source will be preserved. Parenthetical titles should be given following the above formatting rules (e.g., "Soul Suckin Jerk (Reject)" except in the cases noted below. Song qualifiers appear in brackets at the end. A qualifier may replace what appears to be a parenthetical title in a song list. Rules about qualifiers are as follows: 1. If the track was from a live recording, the "live" qualifier is used. This usually applies only to material performed at a concert (this means radio sessions or "live in studio" performances do not use the qualifier). Releases which include only live content need not include the "live" qualifier on each song. 2. Expanding on the previous rule, special live performances may include other qualifiers, such as the location or date of the recording (e.g., "live, Warped Tour 2001"). The exact text used in the qualifier usually depends on the data given in the source. 3. Remixes should use the "remix" qualifier. If the name of the remixing artist is known or featured on the source media's liner notes, it should be listed (e.g., "remix by John King"). 4. If a song differs from a standard version of the same song, the difference(s) may be noted as a qualifier (e.g., "Deadweight [edit]"). This may apply to shortened radio edits, demo versions, acoustic recordings, etc. As a final note, the extension for all MP3s should be "mp3", all lowercase. VARIOUS ARTISTS FOLDER: The "[Various Artists]" folder differs slightly in naming conventions as described above. RELEASE TITLE: {yyyy - ReleaseTitle} The release title is named according to the previous rules, except that in general, no qualifiers are used. This means "[comp]" will not be appended to the name. Also, no attempt will be made to organize compilations chronologically within a year. This means the single letter usually found after the year can be omitted. SONG FILE: {ReleaseTitle - ## - ArtistName - SongTitle [qualifiers]}.mp3 A Various Artists song file begins with the release title, following the same rules as above. After the release is the track number, which follows the same convention as given above for standard song files. After the release is the artist name, which follows the same convention as given above for standard song files. After the artist name is the song title with qualifiers, which follow the same convention as given above for for standard song files. CRAP FOLDER: There is no standard naming convention inside the "[crap]" folder, although most tracks will follow the "{ArtistName} - {SongTitle}.mp3" convention. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- GENERAL NAMING RULES AND LIMITATIONS 1. The space-hyphen-space (" - ") combination is to be avoided within titles, as this sequence has special meaning as a field separator. Releases which include hyphens in their names should not include spaces around the hyphen (e.g., "1 World-0 Future" by Terrorgruppe). 2. Due to file system limitations, some characters are not allowed in file names. Replacement characters are as follows: ? becomes - / becomes - \ becomes - * becomes @ | becomes ! : becomes ; " becomes ' < becomes [ > becomes ] In cases where replacement characters are necessary, the ID3 tag should represent the actual title. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- CONTRIBUTIONS I encourage suggestions, corrections, or new contributions to my collection. Send a message to the e-mail address below (under AUTHOR) to speak with me. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- AUTHOR Brian Rogers [bobbymcr@bobbymcr.com] -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Some conventions were adapted from those set forth by Anthony Schmidt [anthony@ysib.com]