I am attempting to understand if PLEX is the proper tool for organizing this information or I should be considering some other tool for organization.
I have a PLEX pass and a reasonable library of video items.
Additionally I have a directory of music files that is pointed to by the PLEX server.
This directory, named “MUSIC” contains about 7000 tracks from about 400 albums. Some of this information is old it came from ripped LP records.
The MUSIC directory is organized by
Artist Name >>
Album Name 1
Track Name 1
Track Name 2
etc.
Album Name 2
etc.
Some of the Artist Name directories contain only one or two tracks—i.e. no album name.
This organization approach was developed long ago and the scheme has stuck.
I have updated the meta data using PLEX. What I observe is that for the same artist some albums have no meta data and other albums are wrong/incorrect. This for music that was downloaded from Amazon last week.
I have many artists included in my MUSIC directory that are fairly well known but they do not show up in the PLEX ‘by Artist” list. They are on the directory based system and if I point to the actual directory it will play in Windows Media Player.
I have other artists that only have a couple of tracks but they do not show up.
There seems no way to list the tracks that are on an individual album – just play it. This makes it almost impossible to make a selective playlist with a pick and choose approach.
My conclusion is that this is the wrong tool or I do not understand how to use it.
If this is the wrong tool, I would appreciate a recommendation for the correct tool that could integrate with PLEX to help make playlists.
I use Linux. The tool I use on Linux is Music Brains Picard.
I use it because I can create my own renaming / structure rules for (to me) maximum Plex compatibility.
I get everything ready before I put into the “Music” directory for Plex to index.
Everything is in an Artist / Album(s) / [ Disc n ] / nn - title format
After passing my albums/tracks through Picard (into a temporary holding directory in case things don’t go right), I move the finished tracks back into the main area.
An example of my Foreigner (which isn’t perfect)
[chuck@lizum Foreigner.2014]$ ls -la
total 32
drwxr-xr-x 10 chuck chuck 330 Apr 9 2021 ./
drwxr-xr-x 113 chuck chuck 4096 May 25 16:13 ../
drwxr-xr-x 2 chuck chuck 4096 Aug 15 2022 Agent Provocateur (1984)/
drwxr-xr-x 2 chuck chuck 4096 Apr 9 2021 Can’t Slow Down (2009)/
drwxr-xr-x 2 chuck chuck 4096 Oct 14 2019 Foreigner - 4/
drwxr-xr-x 2 chuck chuck 4096 Oct 14 2019 Foreigner - Double Vision/
drwxr-xr-x 2 chuck chuck 4096 Oct 14 2019 Foreigner - Foreigner/
drwxr-xr-x 2 chuck chuck 4096 Oct 14 2019 Foreigner - Mr. Moonlight/
drwxr-xr-x 4 chuck chuck 46 Oct 14 2019 Foreigner - No End in Sight: The Very Best of Foreigner/
drwxr-xr-x 4 chuck chuck 46 Oct 14 2019 Foreigner - The Definitive Collection/
[chuck@lizum Foreigner.2015]$ ll -R Agent\ Provocateur\ \(1984\)/
Agent Provocateur (1984)/:
total 302544
drwxr-xr-x 2 chuck chuck 4096 Aug 15 2022 ./
drwxr-xr-x 10 chuck chuck 330 Apr 9 2021 ../
-rw-r--r-- 1 chuck chuck 1383805 Apr 9 2021 00-foreigner-agent_provocateur-remastered-cd-flac-1984.jpg
-rw-r--r-- 1 chuck chuck 374 Apr 9 2021 00-foreigner-agent_provocateur-remastered-cd-flac-1984.m3u
-rw-r--r-- 1 chuck chuck 29008191 Apr 10 2021 01 - Tooth and Nail.flac
-rw-r--r-- 1 chuck chuck 28490776 Apr 10 2021 02 - That Was Yesterday.flac
-rw-r--r-- 1 chuck chuck 33637251 Apr 10 2021 03 - I Want to Know What Love Is.flac
-rw-r--r-- 1 chuck chuck 30603891 Apr 10 2021 04 - Growing Up the Hard Way.flac
-rw-r--r-- 1 chuck chuck 29217449 Apr 10 2021 05 - Reaction to Action.flac
-rw-r--r-- 1 chuck chuck 37438315 Apr 10 2021 06 - Stranger in My Own House.flac
-rw-r--r-- 1 chuck chuck 33887377 Apr 10 2021 07 - A Love in Vain.flac
-rw-r--r-- 1 chuck chuck 29845861 Apr 10 2021 08 - Down on Love.flac
-rw-r--r-- 1 chuck chuck 32117187 Apr 10 2021 09 - Two Different Worlds.flac
-rw-r--r-- 1 chuck chuck 24100243 Apr 10 2021 10 - She's Too Tough.flac
-rw-r--r-- 1 chuck chuck 40852 Apr 10 2021 cover.jpg
[chuck@lizum Foreigner.2016]$
My renaming rules, which I do tweak/evolve over time a bit
If this works for you, you’re welcome to use and modify as you deem appropriate. (Music is extremely subjective – with exception of the minimum structure Plex requires)
This will automatically create Disc 1/Disc 2/... only if required after matching.
I have a question regarding the inclusion of the Disc information and album track numbers. Obviously lots of content is not related to discs – could be ripped LPs or ripped streamed contents. It will still be in the Artist>>Albums>>Title directory format.
Will the absence of disc numbers and/or track numbers affect PLEX in some way?
If I create a .m3U playlist (required for phone, my automobiles and useful for Media Player) can PLEX use that file for playlist information?? My initial reading indicates that a third party app is required to interface with PLEX. Is that correct?
My observation is that apparently PLEX has more basic/rudimentary tools and the the use of third party tools for organization is the current paradigm for more advanced users. Your direct answer saved me much time trying to uncover capabilities that are not part of PLEX.
I don’t think a disk number is that important unless there is more than one disk in the album. Track numbers are very important. Fallow the naming convention and all will go well.
I believe your “observation” of Plex’s tools is incorrect. Plex is a media server not an organizational tool.
MusisBrainz Picard is worth it’s weight in gold when it comes to organizing music.
Thank you for your assistance and taking the time to respond.
I would not have thought that track number were important. Back in the ‘old’ days having a track number was important to the [early] CD recording software and early versions of players. I thought that that requirement had gone the way of the buggy whip with the advent of streaming, DVDs and ripped LPs. Apparently not.
My guess is that about 70% of my library is not compliant – no track numbers, just track names. I do not understand the need for those numbers and would like some notion of if they are absolutely needed. Adding track numbers to all of my current library seems daunting and of course I would like to avoid it.
You are correct, PLEX does not have organizational tools. It apparently responds to the metadata that is contained in its database. In my view the PLEX selection methodology for playing or playlist creation is rudimentary at best. A way to get around that process is to have playlists that can in turn be used on various devices – phone, auto, PLEX, etc.
MusisBrainz Picard looks very robust. I can certainly adopt it but I would like an answer to the need for track numbers in PLEX. My auto and phone and Windows Media app do not need that information. Possibly it is no longer needed in PLEX.
These are simple file/folder players. Plex is not like that. It tries to build a database structure, to provide you with the ability to generate automated play lists and explore your music collection in various ways.
These are the basics of music in Plex which cannot be circumvented:
All audio tracks in Plex are a member of a “release” (read: “album”, “single”, “EP” etc.)
Each release/album in Plex is assigned to one “Album Artist”.
(individual tracks of an album can each have their own “Artist”)
Samplers/“Best Of” compilations etc. are just like regular albums. The only difference is that a compilation album usually has “Various Artists” as its “Album Artist”.
If you want your albums not to be split into part-albums, you better assign track numbers to each track.
Plex doesn’t have support for the “folder full of unsorted tracks”.
Plex doesn’t read m3u playlist files.
Plex doesn’t need a playlist file in order to import an album. An album in Plex is defined by the folder structure, and by the embedded meta tags “Album Artist” and “Album Title”.
