How to setup directory structure

[vbs]

Hi Guys,

I just discovered subsonic a few days ago and I am very amazed! Big thanks to all who are involved!

I have some questions though on how to correctly setup my directory structure. Maybe they are already covered somewhere else but I wasnt able to find. If you could provide me a hint where to look I would be happy too.

The guide says to use a structure like [Artist]/[Album]/[Song].

1. What to do about albums that consist of multiple CDs? Do they go like

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[Artist]/[Album CD1]
[Artist]/[Album CD2]
[Artist]/[Other Album]

Or is it possible to put them like this? I would prefer that as I would not have have to mix up the multiple CD albums with other albums.

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[Artist]/[Album]/CD1
[Artist]/[Album]/CD2
[Artist]/[Other Album]

2. Where to put compilations/various-artists-CDs?
Do we have to make a "fake" artist directory like "Various Artists" where all those albums go or is there another way for subsonic to handle such albums?

3. What is a good tool to make such a directory structure? Currently I am fiddling around with MediaMonkey as stated in the how to. Is that the way to go?

Much thanks for help!

[BKKKPewsey]

Either method will operate in SS but SS prefers option 1.
With option 2 (which I use) you can get some strange results back in search e.g. albums coming back as artists.
This is because the way SS interprets the directory structure and assume 1 directory back from the tracks is the album and 1 back from there is the artist.
This is fine for 1 cd albums but not for 2 or more cd albums (using option 2)
e.g. If I search for "the box" which is a box set by Van der Graaf Generator (4 cds) search will come back as "the box" as an artist

Any music tagging program can be used but I personally use Mediamonkey as with the addition of some scripts is a very powerful tagging and renaming application.
Once I get to grips with the changes in Mediamonkey 4 (about to be released from beta - on RC 3 at the moment)
I will add input to the wiki especially with regard to the very powerful (and can be dangerous) auto-organise file feature.

[vbs]

Okay, thanks for the clarification. I think I will go with option 1 if that is what is needed to make subsonic work correctly.
EDIT:
One issue with that approach: Where do I put cover images then? Do I duplicate them and put them in all CD directories or does subsonic recognize multiple CD directories so it is sufficient to put the covers only in the CD1-directory?

Any ideas about the "Various artist" problem?

Regarding the directory structure: I would like to use a tool that does not touch my files and if possible does not read the tags (they may be wrong). It would be perfect to have a program that interprets the files/structure just by the directory names and file names and moves them around to the desired structure for subsonic.
I found this program http://www.ghacks.net/2011/03/16/sort-your-music-with-mp3-folder-structure-maker/ but I did not test it yet. Maybe it does what I want?

[BKKKPewsey]

Any ideas about the "Various artist" problem?

There is no problem with compilations - I have a various artists folder with different genre under that.
eg Various Artist/Dance/Hed Kandi Winter Chill/tracks
Remember to tag the album artist as various, VA or whatever.

With regard to the album art you will need it in each cd/album as SS will treat each cd as a separate album.
Remember SS does use some of the tags info so it is a good idea to get your tags correct - once that is done the rest is easy.

[vbs]

Thanks Sir for your help!

I have to admit, I didnt really get that about the varios artist stuff...

Remember to tag the album artist as various, VA or whatever.

So in MediaMonkey I have the tags "Arist" and "Album Artist", right? So I have to put "Various" into "Album Artist", ok. But what happens if I do that? Is that some sort of magic value that subsonic recognizes?
And whats the benefit in doing so or what happens if I dont follow that scheme? I thought subsonic relies entirely on the directory structure regarding the detection of albums and artists?
Sorry for my dumb questions, I searched the forums already but was not able to find an explanation.

EDIT:
Ahh ok, I see. For some reason my MP3s either had that tag in the first place or MediaMonkey added it automatically, so thats why the VA-detection worked for me without entering the tag manually... Thats why I was confused...

[BKKKPewsey]

SS does not use the album artist tag (as far as I know) but Mediamonkey does and by assigning Various or whatever as the album artist will keep the album "together" within Mediamonkey
(difficult to explain, you need to see how MM works to understand).
The SS search index does use the artist tag so with a compilation the artist will appear in the songs list.
e.g. I have a compilation with a song by "Thunderclap Newman"
If I search for "Thunderclap" within SS it will find that song (Something in the air) within songs because SS has searched the artist tags.

There is a lot of talk on the forum about making SS more "tag oriented" so it is a good idea to keep ones ID tags in good shape as we never know what suprises Sindre has in store