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[tommyrot]

(10-01-2023 16:21)simbun Wrote:  Most of the weaknesses you assign to browsing by tags is because you've assumed poor tag quality. If you had an equally poor folder structure then you'd still be better off browsing by tags, so ultimately your point is just that it's easier to maintain a folder structure than it is tags, and to that I think most will agree. On the other hand, if you were to clean up your tags you'd have a much richer visual and functional experience which is why many/most people do.

I know nothing about classical music but I would have thought there were some decent tagging programs out there, have you not tried any?
Depending on your collection size it should pretty straight forward to tidy up composer, conductor and maybe orchestra (I use foobar2000 and the sqlite plugin for this type of work), or, if your folder structure is just as you like it then bring those values into the tags themselves, which is trivial in foobar2000.

At the end of the day you get out what you put in, like most things really.

Hi Simbun,
Yes, you're right to grasp the most salient point, which is how much easier it is to maintain a folder structure (which imposes a logical grouping and hierarchy to the music which makes browsing music a doddle) than it is to get lost in the weeds of tags.

To answer your other question, yes, I've tried countless tagging applications including MusicBrain, Picard, SongKong and Metadatics, and I've nothing but the highest admiration for the developers. I think they do a fine job. But their achilles' heel is that they're only as good as the DBs they use – mainly MusicBrainz. It matches music recorded after 1980s fine, but much of my treasured collection predates that. I've recordings that go back to 1930s and 1940s. For anything earlier than 1980, I find MusicBrainz lacking.