Specific PC audio player question

[tinpanalley]

I have a large collection of audio files (FLAC and 320kbps MP3) that I keep on a separate internal HDD. This is in addition to shelves of CDs and records. I have always simply used Windows Explorer because I keep everything organised by artist and then with subfolders for chronologically ordered albums. That organisation system plus my metadata method doesn't play nice with a lot of software out there. I don't use playlists at all. I find them pointless for my use. I listen to albums in their entirety 98% of the time and never shuffle my music except for the odd time when I listen to one song and then just search for another. (This, like random web browsing, can last hours if you're not careful when you have a massive collection )

The thing is that I'd really like some kind of GUI that could be the equivalent of skimming through records so I could look at album covers while I search for what I want and then clearly see the album I'm playing and its cover when I'm playing it while looking at other album covers in my library. Can anyone recommend a software I can use? I used to use Winamp but the GUI is awful. Then I've tried all these other programs I've read about (media monkey, musicbee, foobar) but they're ALL playlist and Windows library based. Nothing is just a simple GUI mixture of Windows Explorer and physically flipping through records and CDS. And no, foobar can't do EVERYthing. This simple thing I want, for example, is something that no foobar add-on is capable of doing.

I'd love to hear any suggestions. Thanks!

 

[Victorian Gray]

I have a large collection of audio files (FLAC and 320kbps MP3) that I keep on a separate internal HDD. This is in addition to shelves of CDs and records. I have always simply used Windows Explorer because I keep everything organised by artist and then with subfolders for chronologically ordered albums. That organisation system plus my metadata method doesn't play nice with a lot of software out there. I don't use playlists at all. I find them pointless for my use. I listen to albums in their entirety 98% of the time and never shuffle my music except for the odd time when I listen to one song and then just search for another. (This, like random web browsing, can last hours if you're not careful when you have a massive collection )

The thing is that I'd really like some kind of GUI that could be the equivalent of skimming through records so I could look at album covers while I search for what I want and then clearly see the album I'm playing and its cover when I'm playing it while looking at other album covers in my library. Can anyone recommend a software I can use? I used to use Winamp but the GUI is awful. Then I've tried all these other programs I've read about (media monkey, musicbee, foobar) but they're ALL playlist and Windows library based. Nothing is just a simple GUI mixture of Windows Explorer and physically flipping through records and CDS. And no, foobar can't do EVERYthing. This simple thing I want, for example, is something that no foobar add-on is capable of doing.

I'd love to hear any suggestions. Thanks!

Does this look anything like what you are looking for? (there are a couple of different views on the page).

http://www.jriver.com/audio.html

note: it's pay software.

fwi, I've been using the program for years to manage my music collection and wouldn't consider using anything else.

If you're interested, a great place to ask questions (i.e. how to create different 'views' of your collection) is their forum. Lot's of really knowledgeable people there.

http://yabb.jriver.com/interact/

 

[Jodell88]

Clementine might do the trick.

https://www.clementine-player.org/

 

[tinpanalley]

Does this look anything like what you are looking for?

Clementine might do the trick.

Thanks, I'll try both of these!
See, my collection on hdd is a database first. It's not just one giant folder where I dump every record and single track I own and let the tags sort themselves out in some regular media player library. Here's the main problem with getting some of these programs to work...
In my main music folder, I have all artists in their own subfolder. So far so good. But within each artist, things can be totally different from one to the next. Some artists can just be a listing of folders for records in chronological order. In other cases such as with several jazz artists or pop vocalists, an artist can be subdivided chronologically into record labels, then albums in order, sometimes even varying versions of albums. Then with more contemporary artists I may have a subfolder for EPs, albums and live recordings. The lack of uniformity across all these different organisation methods means no library organising software ever shows me my music as concisely as Explorer. But again, I just wish there was a better GUI. I guess the best would be Windows Explorer with a side GUI to look at library artwork and a 'now playing' of the complete record.

Thanks, these both look interesting.

 

[tinpanalley]

Does this look anything like what you are looking for? (there are a couple of different views on the page).

Well, this is pretty amazing...
Right now, I have Jriver set up so that it lets me scan my library by artist and then I made the second column a custom "Location" column and set that to my Root Music folder. So, every time I choose an artist (Sinatra is a particularly tricky one), that column gives me all the folders I've set up for organisation and then I can pick the albums according to the folders I've created. I think this might be a keeper!

 

[Victorian Gray]

Well, this is pretty amazing...
Right now, I have Jriver set up so that it lets me scan my library by artist and then I made the second column a custom "Location" column and set that to my Root Music folder. So, every time I choose an artist (Sinatra is a particularly tricky one), that column gives me all the folders I've set up for organisation and then I can pick the albums according to the folders I've created. I think this might be a keeper!

It's at version 20 right now. I've been using it since version 6 and never considered anything else since. I have to say, though, it's not the easiest program to use at times. Sometimes it almost seems too powerful hence my reliance on their forum for help over the years.

I'd certainly be surprised if you'll find anything more versatile when it comes to managing/using your media collection. I think it's worth every penny they charge (they do give good deals for version upgrades which happen roughly every year and a bit) and I don't say that about too much software these days.

Good luck