Collectorz MP3 Collector
Collectorz MP3 Collector a fast and flexible MP3 collection manager, tagger, file renamer and playlist manager. ..
Introduction MP3 Collector is a fast and flexible MP3 collection manager, ID3 tag editor, file renamer and playlist manager. The collection manager is based on the popular Music Collector and Movie Collector products. It creates a database by scanning your harddisks, CDs and network for MP3 files. You can group, sort and filter the resulting database in a configurable Explorer-type interface, even when the actual MP3 files are not available. Other features: supports .M3U and .PLS playlist formats, configurable list printing, export to ASCII and HTML, graphical statistics.
Main screen
Collection Manager, tracks grouped on Location, Artist and Album
Collection Manager, tracks grouped on Genre and Artist The main screen works like the Windows Explorer, with some differences. The left side of the screen shows a "tree", the right side shows a "list". The list always shows the contents or "sub-items" of the selected item in the tree.
The tree shows a structured view of your database. It contains three "root" items: Collection, Playlist and MP3 Explorer.
The Collection item represents the database itself, and the items below it represent the MP3s in the database, possibly grouped in folders (e.g. Genre folders).
The Playlist item represents your current playlist, and the files in it are shown in the list.
The MP3 Explorer item represent your system, similar to My Computer on your desktop. By navigating through this tree, you can select folders and see the MP3 files they contain.
Note: the difference between the Collection and MP3 Explorer view is that the MP3 Explorer is a 'live' view of your system, whereas the Collection is a 'virtual' view containing files which may not be present (eg on a CD-ROM which is not in the drive) and that can be grouped in ways other than the folder structure on your disk.
MP3 Explorer
Playlist Manager
Adding MP3 files to the database (Collection) To add files on your system to your collection, use the "Add to Collection" function. When the Add to Collection screen opens, the selected folder or files are scanned. Any subfolders are scanned as well, so this may take some time if there are a large number of folders or files. When the scanning is finished, the files are shown in the preview list at the lower half of the screen. This shows how the files will be added to the collection, i.e. the values that will be used to create the collection entries. You can choose which fields are shown with the "Columns" button.
The Location field shows the location that will be used for all files in the preview. You can change it with the elipsis button, or you can select another existing location from the dropdown list.
When you press OK, the files are added to the collection if they are not yet present, otherwise the existing collection entries will be updated with the values shown in the preview.
Add to Collection screen
Editing tracks in the Collection
Edit Track screen If you want to make changes to an existing track in your database, select it in the main screen and use the Edit Track command (Edit menu) to open it. You can then type new values for the fields. The fields are grouped into tabs to keep the interface manageable.
To edit multiple tracks at once, use drag and drop in the main screen. If you drag a file from one collection folder to another, the corresponding lookup field will automatically be changed. For example, if you drag a file from the Year folder "1998" to the folder "1999", the year field of the MP3 will be automatically changed from "1998" to "1999".
ID3 Tag Editor The tag editor allows you to change the ID3v1 and ID3v2 tags of a single file or batch of files together. Most ID3v2 tags are supported, although some of the more exotic ones are left out to keep the complexity down. The tags can be updated with data retrieved from the filename, existing tags or manual input.
The tagger has a preview that allows you to review the new tags before they are updated. Changes to the tags are updated in the collection automatically, if the file is present in the collection. This helps to keep the collection synchronized with the actual files. Note: Read-only files are indicated with a red icon in the preview, writable files have a green icon. In the MP3 Explorer, you can use the File Properties function on individual files. The File Properties screen shows the MPEG information at the bottom, and allows you to edit the tags or rename the file directly.
ID3 Tag Editor screen
File Properties screen
File name Parsing
Parse Formats screen To extract data from a filename, or to rename a file, "filename formats" are used that describe the contents of the filename. With the Filename Formats functions you can add, edit or remove formats for parsing (extraction) and renaming. A number of often-used formats are included by default, which you can extend to suit your own filename conventions.
When extracting information, MP3 Collector tries to find the filename format that best matches the files, by trying them all and seeing which one can find most fields. The automatic selection may use the wrong format if it cannot determine which one is better. For example, a filename "Hello - Lionel Richie.mp3" will match both the "Title - Artist" and "Title - Album" formats, since it has no way of knowing that the first one is correct. If multiple formats are applicable, the one listed first in the Filename Formats screen is used. You can change the order of the formats in that screen by using the Move Up and Move Down buttons.
MP3 File Renamer MP3 Collector can batch rename files to any format, using the available tag or database information. Again, a preview shows the changes before they are made. The file renamer allows you to change the filename of a single file or batch of files together. This is done by specifying a format that the new filenames should have, e.g. "Artist - Index - Title".
Changes to the filenames are updated in the collection automatically, if the file is present in the collection. This helps to keep the collection synchronized with the actual files. The "Filename Format" field determines how the files will be renamed. You can see what the new filenames will look like in the New Filename column of the preview. Note: Read-only files are indicated with a red icon in the preview, writable files have a green icon.
Note: The small check or red cross in front of a file indicates whether or not the renaming will succeed. The red cross is a warning indicating that the file is read-only, or the new filename already exists, or there is not enough information available for the selected Filename Format. E.g, when the format is "%ix %t" but the file has no Track Index value, the resulting filename for title "Hello" would be "[Track Index] Hello.mp3". This is a valid filename, but probably not what you want.
Renamer screen
Searching
Filter screen All lists have "incremental search" functions. Just sort the list on the field you want to search on, then start typing the first letter of the value you are looking for. While you type the selection will jump to the first item that matches.
MP3 Collector also allows you to "filter" the items that are displayed in the main screen, making it only show a subset of the database, instead of the entire database.
Statistics The Statistics screen shows a graphical overview of your collection. You can view statistics charts for Artists (shown here), Genres, Locations, Labels etc... You can also see information like the total length and size of your collection, the average bitrate, and other noteworthy details :)
Statistics screen
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