Media Libraries - How Do You Organise Yours?

[stereohaven]

For a long time I have used iTunes and streamed my media to the TV via an Apple TV.

Recently I have been using other things to play media (such as Windows Media Centre via an Xbox 360) and decided that rather than let iTunes look after and organise all my media I would like to start afresh with some new media libraries that any software could access but I could organise manually, mainly because I'm a control freak...

At the moment my media is on my laptop and an external drive but I intend to move it all to a NAS in the future.

I'm thinking folders for Music, Movies, Videos (off of phones), TV, Pictures and then a pretty standard structure inside such as:

Artist --> Album or Programme --> Season

So, to make sure I do this right first time, how do you organise yours? Any top tips? Do you specify if a Movie or Programme is SD or HD in the folder title?

[NewsreadeR]

I don't really do a lot with mine tbh

I have an external NAS that has all my music on, and I just listen to it occasionally.

I should really look at networking the hose and then using PCs dotted about or through the TV etc But I really cannot be bothered.

99% of the time if I want to listen to music, I jup hop onto YouTube.

[Scubbie]

The NAS drives I have have those 3 folders already set up. Obviously I've added content to them though.

The fist NAS needs tidying up, but my 2nd is all set up nicely:

Music

Artist --> Album
Various Artists --> Album
Various Artists --> Group of Albums (i.e. Now collection) --> Album

Video

Documentaries --> Source - Group title
Movies --> Genre --> Movie folder (inc. different resolutions & subs)
Television (Other) {one off shows, special events}
TV Series --> Series name --> Season nn
TV Series --> Series name --> Season nn (720p)

There is another folder that is available too: Pictures.

Careful what you put in there as anyone on your LAN could potentially access them.

[SatDish]

I use this..........

[SatDish]

sorry on the home made wine.

[Scubbie]

sorry on the home made wine.

Don't worrt, we'll file your response in the 'Fiction' section.

[mindriot]

Artist --> Album or Programme --> Season

I pretty much use this method to organise stuff media on my NAS, its half way between this and what Scubbie is using.

Artist -- > Album
Artist --> Unknown album (for those other odd tracks that don't belong to an album etc)
Various Artists --> Album

TV --> Series Name --> Season
Movies --> Title
Documentaries --> Title

I keep just under 100 movies on there so it doesn't need as much complexity as the solution she is using and most of my stuff is standard def. The majority of the media is music or tv series really and for those this structure has served well. The structure you chose would be better to reflect the content you are actually organising rather than what other people have. If you keep a serious mix of standard def and high def video then you might want a structure that separates them etc... what works well for you and your media will likely be individual to your tastes (and in the case of a NAS some of the system functionality for streaming servers etc).

[NewsreadeR]

so it doesn't need as much complexity as the solution she is using

Scubbie downloads the internet for fun.

[Scubbie]

Scubbie downloads the internet for fun.

pmsl - What are you suggesting?

[mindriot]

Scubbie downloads the internet for fun.

What else is it for?