Software to catalogue classical music collection
Wed, Feb 13 2013, 9:44AM
#2
RE: Software to catalogue classical music collection
Hello I am the designer of Musichi Suite, our application was designed from the ground up for classical, we have out of the box, a composition field [on top of the Album tag], multi-lines tag for instruments and performers, a Genre that goes beyond the word "Classical" and a timeline tag "Style or Period"so for example
Composer>Mozart, Wolfgang Amadeus (1756-1791)
Composition> Mozart, Flute & Harp Concerto K299 in C-M; Rampal, Laskine, Paillard Chamber Orchestra
Album Artists>
Rampal, Jean-Pierre [Flute]
Laskine, Lily [Harp]
Orchestre de Chambre Jean-François Paillard
Instruments>
(04.03) Winds>Flute
(03.13) Strings>Harp
Genre>
(02.02) Concerto>Double
Period>
(06) Classical
All metadata is stored inside the audio file so you are never a prisoner of any library format or proprietary software....all that for mp3, wav[yes we can tag wave],flac, m4a and a few more. Plus a reference data base and a search engine to clean composers, performers and 6000 compositions in the catalog.
I doubt that there are many software out there that offer so much to classify and play in HiFi our favorite style of music.....
Wed, Feb 20 2013, 5:42PM
#3
RE: Software to catalogue classical music collection
I've explored many of these solutions and none are perfect. Custom meta fields are necessarily portable to different applications. I've settled on using the comments field in iTunes to fill in gaps. I don't import by CD, but rather by work. An example entry for, say, Mozart's K.626:
Period: Classical; Genre: Choral Music; Work Type: Requiem; Conductor: Jordi Savall;
Smart play lists can then pull by period, conductor, soloist, or any combination of elements. If something's well regarded by Gramophone, I may include a "Gramphone: Strongly Recommended", which gives further options.
It takes a bit of time, but simple scripts make it easier to tag automatically based on existing meta data from a CD. There's much to be said to being able to automatically pull all Romantic chamber music played by Hilary Hahn. The benefit is that this system isn't limited and it's cross-platform and application compatible.
Fri, Feb 22 2013, 6:31AM
#4
RE: Software to catalogue classical music collection
Hi,
I have just started looking at MusiCHI, but it seems to only relate to cataloguing music already on a computer - i.e. I can't catalogue vynil, say.
Is this so?
Sat, Feb 23 2013, 8:06AM
#5
RE: Software to catalogue classical music collection
For MusicHI, indeed you need to have files for the metada to be saved, for Vynil you can make you own database in MsAccess or any ssimple DB engine. Excel does not cut it becasue it is basically a single table
Sat, Feb 23 2013, 8:11AM
#6
RE: Software to catalogue classical music collection
Well perfection is not of this earth......
The problem of cross-platform is that you go to the lowest common denominator which is the pop/rock paradigm and does not work so well.
Any decent players (and iTunes IMHO is not one of them) has support for custom meta fields Jriver, MusicBee, MusiCHI etc so you can escape the square peg in a round hole.........
Sat, Mar 30 2013, 7:06PM
#7
RE: Software to catalogue classical music collection
To my simple mind, if the collection is mostly on CDs, it is certainly easier to rip them to a hard drive using something like dBpoweramp as that will do 90% of the tagging, thus saving a lot of typing. Then you just need the database software. Assuming you want to play the music as well as catalogue it, then the choice of software may depend on the technology for playing it. MusiChi looks like a reasonable solution for those with UPNP-compatible players. Personally, I think that Muso is excellent if you use iTunes, Winamp or Logitech (Squeezebox). It works really well for classical music and has a very nice interface. Have a look at http://klarita.net/muso.html
Mon, Apr 8 2013, 6:13PM
#8
RE: Software to catalogue classical music collection
I finally found the perfect solution (both hardware and software) for managing my classical music: 3beez's Wax Music Management System (www.3beez.com). I wanted a simple, turnkey solution for preserving my sound files in rich quality (ALAC) and with full metadata (not just album and artist tags). My audio rack had space for only one more component. I wanted software that could capture essential metadata like composer, conductor, librettist, soloist, or the cast of my favorite opera. I reviewed software solutions (e.g. J.River Media and Media Monkey) and also "complete systems" (e.g. Naim HDX with Naim UnitiLite and Meridian Control 15 with Media Core 600). The software solutions were incomplete and aesthetically unappealing. While the "complete solutions" had impressive hardware, the software for these systems was very limited in the metadata they could present and the prices were way over my budget. Wax provided everything I needed for organizing my music library for $5000, less than half the cost of these other systems.
Wax's cataloging system is ideal for a large library. You can divide genres into subgenres for better organization and fast searching. One of the most compelling features of Wax is its "flexible metadata". You can add an unlimited amount of additional metadata to your work or to a specific track and you can add different metadata tags to different genres. You need to enter the additional metadata manually because such information is not present in the ID3 tags of the original recording. If you are satisfied with the iTunes-style metadata wax imports, you don't need to do any additional work. I found it was worth the additional effort to improve the metadata.
Adding my music to wax was easy. I ripped my CDs using wax's ripping software and imported my iTunes library from my computer using wax's bulk import feature. Once you have your library in wax, it is quick and easy to find your music. You can play an entire work from start to finish or in random order, and it is easy to set up playlists. I control wax from my iPad (using a remote desktop application). The sound quality is excellent. (I connected an external USB DAC to the waxbox.) Wax's GUI is elegant and viewing my metadata on my iPad is a wonderful and engaging experience.
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I've used it successfully since 1996 including many PCs and versions of Windows. When I upgraded my PC in 2006 (Windows XP) I was able to add a floppy disc drive. Have never yet succeeded in backing-up Collector to CD and now as I prepared to upgrade to a new PC with Windows 7 I was alarmed to read your initial comment re incompatability. A bit of relief from your Update re Windows 7 32 bit. Looks as though my MSW 7 is 32/64 - hope that's going to be OK. How do you back-up? Would welcome any other comments you may have.
DerekHAus