Thoughts on Organizing A Digital Library Using Tags

[nicoff]

My physical music collection consists of LPs, cassettes (!), and CDs.

I added the digital versions of that collection to my digital music library (Using Roon and Qobuz). So now my entire physical music collection is available in digital format.

I decided to use Tags to identify the “LPs”, “Cassettes” and “CDs” from the rest of my digital library.

The result is that with the press of a button I can now see in Roon my entire “LP”, “Cassette” or “CD” collection with album art and metadata. Moreover, I can export to a spreadsheet the list of my physical collection and now, for the first time ever, I can have a printout of my entire physical collection listed by artist, album, format (LP, cassette, CD) or any way I should to organize it.

I will now be creating a new tag for my downloads. I don’t have many, so that should be easy.

Also learned that I can take my entire collection of ripped CDs and using a metadata editor add a tag that would be recognized by Roon. That means that tagging the CDs should be a lot less time consuming.

 

[Randy Myers]

That sounds like a good plan. I wrote a database application to track and inventory my music collection.

 

[still-one]

I have used Music Collector for years. I have all of my music whether that is CD's, Downloads, Tagged Tidal files, LP's entered and noted with the resolution of each. All of that is synced on my iPhone, iPad and laptop. Everything always at my fingertips.

 

[nicoff]

I have used Music Collector for years. I have all of my music whether that is CD's, Downloads, Tagged Tidal files, LP's entered and noted with the resolution of each. All of that is synced on my iPhone, iPad and laptop. Everything always at my fingertips.

That’s a nice software. I can see the need for specialized software like this when one has an extensive physical collection. [emoji106]

 

[nicoff]

I have now completed all my "tagging". I organized the digital versions of my physical library into categories ("My LPs", "My cassettes", and "My Ripped CDs"). For the first time, I can now browse the digital version of my entire physical collection without having to get up from my seat to browse shelves or drawers.

One of the most underestimated feature of Roon is its music database management capability. Bookmarks, for example, are very powerful; they are dynamic (meaning that anything that I add to my library is automatically added in real time to a bookmarked category provided the music meets the Bookmark criteria). One example of a Bookmark could be "All My High-Resolution Beethoven by HvK and BPO". Some manufacturers have developed their own apps for playing music with their devices. They all can catalog your music by categories like Artist, Genre, Albums, Composer, and Tracks. But those apps do not come close to matching Roon's music database management capabilities or, for that matter, its integration with music services like Tidal or Qobuz.

 

[TheOctopus]

I have now completed all my "tagging". I organized the digital versions of my physical library into categories ("My LPs", "My cassettes", and "My Ripped CDs"). For the first time, I can now browse the digital version of my entire physical collection without having to get up from my seat to browse shelves or drawers.

One of the most underestimated feature of Roon is its music database management capability. Bookmarks, for example, are very powerful; they are dynamic (meaning that anything that I add to my library is automatically added in real time to a bookmarked category provided the music meets the Bookmark criteria). One example of a Bookmark could be "All My High-Resolution Beethoven by HvK and BPO". Some manufacturers have developed their own apps for playing music with their devices. They all can catalog your music by categories like Artist, Genre, Albums, Composer, and Tracks. But those apps do not come close to matching Roon's music database management capabilities or, for that matter, its integration with music services like Tidal or Qobuz.

Very elegant solution! I am wondering if there is a quicker/more efficient way of adding multiple albums of the same performer in Roon? The one thing I find very tedious is when I work up to adding another performer and then have to manually select/add over 50 albums! Is there a way to select multiple albums to add at once??

 

[nicoff]

Very elegant solution! I am wondering if there is a quicker/more efficient way of adding multiple albums of the same performer in Roon? The one thing I find very tedious is when I work up to adding another performer and then have to manually select/add over 50 albums! Is there a way to select multiple albums to add at once??

Yes there is.

Using a computer, this is how you do it (assuming that you subscribe to a music service like Qobuz or Tidal)
1. In Roon do a search for, say, "John Coltrane". You will get dozens of albums. Look for the ones that are not in your library (Roon shows them under the View All option)
2. Right-click on any album to select it.
3. Once you select one album, then you can click (right-click or left-click) on any other album to add it to the selection. If you want to add all of the albums to your library in one go, click on the left top corner where it says "1 selected" and you can then choose the "Select All" option.
4. Then click on the three vertical dots on the top row and select 'Add To My Library". All the albums that you selected will be added to your library. Note: You can also add those albums to a playlist the same way.

Sounds complicated but once you do it once or twice you get the hang of it. It will literally take you seconds to add dozens of albums to your library this way.

 

[TheOctopus]

Yes there is.

Using a computer, this is how you do it (assuming that you subscribe to a music service like Qobuz or Tidal)
1. In Roon do a search for, say, "John Coltrane". You will get dozens of albums. Look for the ones that are not in your library (Roon shows them under the View All option)
2. Right-click on any album to select it.
3. Once you select one album, then you can click (right-click or left-click) on any other album to add it to the selection. If you want to add all of the albums to your library in one go, click on the left top corner where it says "1 selected" and you can then choose the "Select All" option.
4. Then click on the three vertical dots on the top row and select 'Add To My Library". All the albums that you selected will be added to your library. Note: You can also add those albums to a playlist the same way.

Sounds complicated but once you do it once or twice you get the hang of it. It will literally take you seconds to add dozens of albums to your library this way.

Oh wow, thank you! That saves a lot of time! You should get a Roon University channel going on youtube! You have your first subscriber!