How Do You Catalog Your Park Music?

[candleshoe]

Greetings all - been away for awhile, and it's nice to be back. I've been reading many posts and catching up on all the wonderful music news!
Forgive me if this has been addressed previously; I did some searches and did not find the topic addressed.

I have a question - how do you folks catalog your park music on iTunes? Commercially released CD's are not of question, of course, as I have those classified by their proper album name, with appropriate cover art, and then my "genre" is listed as "Disney Parks."

But, probably like many here, I have hundreds of tracks of park audio from random sources, and I need to get these lassoed up and cataloged appropriately, so I can actually find them when I want them!

For example, I usually list the artist as "Disney," and was thinking of listing the album for a track as "Name of Park - Name of Land" (e.g., "Disneyland - Liberty Square" and then the genre as "Disney Parks." Or, I could list "Name of Park - Name of Attraction" (e.g., "Disneyland - Haunted Mansion"). Should I have just one genre, "Disney Parks," or would that be an advisable area to differentiate between the parks - "Disney Parks - TDL" ?

I've been getting a little OCD on this, trying to figure out the best way to do this, and I wondered if anyone might share their tips as I embark on this mammoth task...

Much appreciated!

 

[eyore]

Greetings all - been away for awhile, and it's nice to be back. I've been reading many posts and catching up on all the wonderful music news!
Forgive me if this has been addressed previously; I did some searches and did not find the topic addressed.

I have a question - how do you folks catalog your park music on iTunes? Commercially released CD's are not of question, of course, as I have those classified by their proper album name, with appropriate cover art, and then my "genre" is listed as "Disney Parks."

But, probably like many here, I have hundreds of tracks of park audio from random sources, and I need to get these lassoed up and cataloged appropriately, so I can actually find them when I want them!

For example, I usually list the artist as "Disney," and was thinking of listing the album for a track as "Name of Park - Name of Land" (e.g., "Disneyland - Liberty Square" and then the genre as "Disney Parks." Or, I could list "Name of Park - Name of Attraction" (e.g., "Disneyland - Haunted Mansion"). Should I have just one genre, "Disney Parks," or would that be an advisable area to differentiate between the parks - "Disney Parks - TDL" ?

I've been getting a little OCD on this, trying to figure out the best way to do this, and I wondered if anyone might share their tips as I embark on this mammoth task...

Much appreciated!

This is something I really must get down to doing.
All my park stuff (plus backups) are spread over several external drives, multiple DVDs and Cds etc and all in no particular order. Much of it is just in folders called "Disney" or similar.
Maybe (long ago) being a librarian and more recently working in a bank (24 years) made me adverse to putting things in order so I sling stuff anywhere. I believe the term "organized chaos" fits. :lol:
You could probably do worse than following the playlist sections. That seems a reasonable way of sorting things.

 

[Tannerman]

Here's how I repurpose iTunes to work with park music:

iTunes Field --> Song Info
===========================
Name --> Attraction - Title
Artist --> Park/Hotel Resort Name
Album --> Land (or ___ Other OR ___ Hotel, such as 'WDW Other' or 'DLR Hotel')
Grouping --> Source Album Title (if applicable)
Composer --> Resort
Genre --> Disney Theme Park

As an example...

Name --> Finding Nemo Submarine Voyage - Score
Artist --> Disneyland
Album --> Tomorrowland
Grouping --> The Official Album of Disneyland Resort (2008)
Composer --> DLR - Disneyland Resort (California)
Genre --> Disney Theme Park

The above methodology is used with a pretty elaborate set of Smart Playlists for sorting and finding tracks quickly. The whole thing may not be your cup of tea, but I've found it works well with my park music, while also allowing it to coexist nicely with other non-park music in iTunes

 

[candleshoe]

Thanks, Tannerman - that seems like a solid way of organizing. Wanted to go into this with a plan!

 

[Emcduck]

Now I have been in in the middle of this for some time and I can tell you that in many ways it is the only real pain i have had with my collection.

I tried Tannerman's method (well something similar) and I'll tell you, that even though I liked it in the beginning, I found that for me that it does have it's problems. For efficiency, it seems to be best to keep everything in the same classification, so to accomplish that you would need to re-write all of your music. A lot of that music from various sources actually does have quite a bit of information attached to it. plus, what happens if you do have something that turns out to be from an old album etc, and you want to designate it so? you run into problems.

So all of my manipulation work is done using the Playlists and Playlist folders.

So for me I have as an example if I wanna put music used in Splash mountain area loop:
[Folder]- WDW Parks
[Subfolder] - Magic Kingdom
[Subfolder] - Frontierland
[Subfolder] - Country Bear Jamboree
[Subfolder] - Splash Mountain
[Playlist] - Splash Mountain AREA
[Individual songs]

I find that this way that the songs are retrievable, which is the whole Idea of organizing them in the first place.

Or are you looking for a schema to place them into albums?

 

[candleshoe]

Now I have been in in the middle of this for some time and I can tell you that in many ways it is the only real pain i have had with my collection.

I tried Tannerman's method (well something similar) and I'll tell you, that even though I liked it in the beginning, I found that for me that it does have it's problems. For efficiency, it seems to be best to keep everything in the same classification, so to accomplish that you would need to re-write all of your music. A lot of that music from various sources actually does have quite a bit of information attached to it. plus, what happens if you do have something that turns out to be from an old album etc, and you want to designate it so? you run into problems.

So all of my manipulation work is done using the Playlists and Playlist folders.

So for me I have as an example if I wanna put music used in Splash mountain area loop:
[Folder]- WDW Parks
[Subfolder] - Magic Kingdom
[Subfolder] - Frontierland
[Subfolder] - Country Bear Jamboree
[Subfolder] - Splash Mountain
[Playlist] - Splash Mountain AREA
[Individual songs]

I find that this way that the songs are retrievable, which is the whole Idea of organizing them in the first place.

Or are you looking for a schema to place them into albums?

Hi Emcduck -
I'm looking for methodology exactly as you described. Interested to see how others do it, so I can lasso my collection!
thanks much for sharing!

 

[Emcduck]

Hi Emcduck -
I'm looking for methodology exactly as you described. Interested to see how others do it, so I can lasso my collection!
thanks much for sharing!

Sure!

I have wrestled with this one and I wound up trying several styles (and you might want to take a portion of your collection and try out different ideas to see what works best for you.)

I wound up making multiple copies of my collection (each track under a different name etc) Then trying to clear out the duplicates, I wound up deleting good copies (sometimes only copies) of some tracks. Really mucked things up.

Finally I discovered that iTunes had the ability to keep breaking things down into finer and finer detail while retaining the whole. So I discovered that I could just listen to a given ride, an area, land, park or even a complete resort. I am also playing with another program to see if it can do something similar for my mp3 players made by other brands

 

[Ximagineer]

I use a combination of Tannerman and EMCDuck's methods (with slight variations) but I have found that utilizing the track and disc numbers as well helps keep things in even more precise order. I'll use the Haunted Mansion as an example: I mark all ride throughs and remixes as Disc 1, and just let them sort alphabetically. Then starting with Disc 2, I organize everything in order of the attraction. So Disc 2 is exterior - only have Howling Dog there. Disc 3 is Foyer music, so Track 1 is the complete scene put together. Track 2 is just Paul Frees spiels, Track 3 is all of the pipe organ variations. Moving on through the Mansion, Seance Circle is Disc 8 with Track 1 being the complete track, Track 2 being just Madame Leota spiels, track 3 being all the individual instruments, Track 4 being the spirit sound effects. You get the idea. After going through the ride, then I start with other related materials - Disc 18 is outakes and alternates. Disc 19 are the HM radio spots from Disneyland. Disc 20, I have all of the Grin Grinning Ghost variations, etc

Completely anal, I know, but it helps me find things even faster

 

[candleshoe]

I use a combination of Tannerman and EMCDuck's methods (with slight variations) but I have found that utilizing the track and disc numbers as well helps keep things in even more precise order. I'll use the Haunted Mansion as an example: I mark all ride throughs and remixes as Disc 1, and just let them sort alphabetically. Then starting with Disc 2, I organize everything in order of the attraction. So Disc 2 is exterior - only have Howling Dog there. Disc 3 is Foyer music, so Track 1 is the complete scene put together. Track 2 is just Paul Frees spiels, Track 3 is all of the pipe organ variations. Moving on through the Mansion, Seance Circle is Disc 8 with Track 1 being the complete track, Track 2 being just Madame Leota spiels, track 3 being all the individual instruments, Track 4 being the spirit sound effects. You get the idea. After going through the ride, then I start with other related materials - Disc 18 is outakes and alternates. Disc 19 are the HM radio spots from Disneyland. Disc 20, I have all of the Grin Grinning Ghost variations, etc

Completely anal, I know, but it helps me find things even faster

WOW - that's impressive!!

 

[Emcduck]

Pretty well illustrates... You will probably have to find what works for you.

 

[Ximagineer]

WOW - that's impressive!!

Thanks! I'm trying to catalog my photos in a similar fashion - filing them in specific folders on the hard drive based on park, land, attraction, order of attraction, etc, and then assigning keywords using Adobe Bridge. It's time consuming, but pays off when I'm looking for the right picture!

 

[angiehashemi]

This is why I haven't done much with my stuff in iTunes yet. I can't decide how I want to do it, and I don't want to start and have to do it all over again later. The only things I have put in iTunes so far are my actual CD's. Guess I will have to make some decisions too and tackle this next!

 

[Emcduck]

I would maybe install itunes (if that is your chosen music player) on a different computer if it is available.

Honestly, many of the issues that can arise within your chosen method won't be apparent until you begin to actually try and put it into practice. That is when you will be able to see with alarming clarity the limitations or possibilities that are possible. It will also allow you to see about how your entire collection will function with your chosen method.

I used the wait and see method too and it started to cost me as I wouldn't be sure of what I had and would re-purchase items and tracks I already had.

 

[angiehashemi]

I do have a cataloging software that I purchased for this very reason. I actually bought a non-Disney CD twice, because I didn't know that I had it. (This is the risk you take when you don't catalog an 700+ CD collection.) I have catalogued all of my Disney CD's, but I am still working on my non-Disney ones. If I am in question about a Disney track, I can just go to my catalog software and do a seacrh.

I just finished organizing my non-CD Disney music by park, but I have not went any further with that, but at least I can look it up to see what I have. I have an iPod touch, but I haven't put much Disney music on it that is not from a CD. I have a home network, so I can access what is on my computer throughout my house via TV or wireless access. I just haven't went that final step. I am not sure I am ready to take the plunge.

 

[eyore]

I do have a cataloging software that I purchased for this very reason. I actually bought a non-Disney CD twice, because I didn't know that I had it. (This is the risk you take when you don't catalog an 700+ CD collection.) I have catalogued all of my Disney CD's, but I am still working on my non-Disney ones. If I am in question about a Disney track, I can just go to my catalog software and do a seacrh.

I just finished organizing my non-CD Disney music by park, but I have not went any further with that, but at least I can look it up to see what I have. I have an iPod touch, but I haven't put much Disney music on it that is not from a CD. I have a home network, so I can access what is on my computer throughout my house via TV or wireless access. I just haven't went that final step. I am not sure I am ready to take the plunge.

I'm following this with interest.
The nearest I ever got to a catalog was with my videos many years ago (around 40 double drawers of stuff off the TV recorded in LP mode). I numbered the cabinets, drawers and the individual tapes and made a card index so I could look up the videos by name and say "right, that one's in cabinet 7, drawer C tape number 12 and it worked. Several hundred CDs is another matter as I need to know not only what I have, but where they are and there's no chance I'll pop a CD back in it's own space where I got it from.
A computerized catalog sytem would be great but I still haven't figured out how.
Keep these suggestions coming. There's hope for me yet.

 

[angiehashemi]

I don't want to put every CD I own on my computer. I would need a very large hard drive just to hold my CD's alone. I probably had close to 500 before I got married, and hubby added another 100+ or so when he came along. I have bought more since we got married, of course, and my Disney stuff is close to 200 now. I only keep my Disney stuff in the Jewel cases. All of the other CD's are in paper sleeves with their booklet and filed in CD boxes I got from IKEA. The boxes can hold quite a bit this way. Each box is labeled as follows A-E, F-K, etc. There are filed alphabetically in the box by artist.

I bought a software program from Collectorz.com. They make several types of cataloging software programs. I have their Movie Collector and Music Collector. They also sell scanners that you can use to scan the UPC code of the CD or DVD, and it will search the databases and allow you to choose entries from the list. You can manually type in the UPC code too, if you don't buy the scanner. For me, the scanner was not even a second thought with the amount I had to do. You can also insert the CD into the drive and tell the program to scan the CD and it will bring up the info that way too. You can always manually enter the info. if the data is not in their databases. I did have to do this with a handful of my Disney CD's. It was well worth the money for the program. I am very anal renetive when it comes to this stuff, so I may go further than the average Joe.

I have done all of my Disney CD's and all of my DVD's. Thank goodness I only have about 275 DVD's. I still have all of my non-Disney CD's to go though. It does still take time, which I am too short of these days. There are lots of things like this that can help do the work for you now Eyore!

 

[candleshoe]

Looks like I'm not the only one who was struggling with this! I'm grateful for all the responses and suggestions!

My Disney material is the last element of my music collection to be imported into iTunes - over 1500 different CD's. It took a few months -- I would take a canvas bag of discs to work, and throughout the day, pop in a CD, click import, and let it do it's thing in the background while I continued to work. I purchased my own external hard drives just to use for my "iTunes Jukebox." It proved to be a worthy investment. I bought one for work, onto which I put everything, and then when I am done - Disney being the last - I will take that drive home and replicate it on my home external jukebox, that way I have a backup.

As I worked on the project, I made sure each title had the correct track listing and album art, and was categorized in the appropriate genre system I came up with. I felt completely OCD, but it's worth it.

I've then boxed up all the jewel cases and cds and put them into storage - I was amazed at how much visual clutter disappeared when I removed all those discs from the room.

 

[eyore]

Looks like I'm not the only one who was struggling with this! I'm grateful for all the responses and suggestions!

My Disney material is the last element of my music collection to be imported into iTunes - over 1500 different CD's. It took a few months -- I would take a canvas bag of discs to work, and throughout the day, pop in a CD, click import, and let it do it's thing in the background while I continued to work. I purchased my own external hard drives just to use for my "iTunes Jukebox." It proved to be a worthy investment. I bought one for work, onto which I put everything, and then when I am done - Disney being the last - I will take that drive home and replicate it on my home external jukebox, that way I have a backup.

As I worked on the project, I made sure each title had the correct track listing and album art, and was categorized in the appropriate genre system I came up with. I felt completely OCD, but it's worth it.

I've then boxed up all the jewel cases and cds and put them into storage - I was amazed at how much visual clutter disappeared when I removed all those discs from the room.

I like the idea of an external as a juke box.
I may buy some flash drives (4Gb are fairly cheap now)and transfer some CDs etc to them. I used to have trouble in copying stuff to them as they got all jumbled up but I have since found a free program called Fat-sorter (only works with FAT drives) that gets them all in alphabetical (or numerical) order again (USB drives tend to play them in the order they were transferred off the PC - and that doesn't always mean in the right order).
I could have a drive for each major section at least.
I may actually start cataloging my stuff now as my TV and Hi-Fi both play from flash drives or even SD cards via a card reader.
Can't be worse than the jumble they are in now.

 

[Ximagineer]

Externals are so cheap now (at least in the States - 1TB for under $100) that you almost can't afford NOT to have everything on one (or two, as every time I need a new drive, I buy two - one for all my files and one for backup)

 

[angiehashemi]

I do quite a bit of video editing and photo editing on my CPU. I have 2 TB and 650 GB in the actual CPU. I have an external 500 GB and an external 300 GB hard drive as well. I just bought a 2 TB drive to back up some of the stuff on the 2 TB in my CPU, and I am using the 500 to back up the 650 GB in the CPU as well. I don't intend to ever let the main one get above 500 GB. It makes the computer run too slow when it starts getting that full.

Anyway, As you can see, I have quite a few hard drives already. I am only about 100 GB away one each of the TB drives in my CPU from filling them up. Crazy amounts of data, I know. I am glad they are starting to make bigger hard drives cheaper now. Otherwise, I am going to look like I have a library shelf of externals on my desk!