The way Minim shows the contents on a NAS

[lyapounov]

(18-04-2025 17:41)Peter StreamMagic Wrote:  Since Minim Server is a tag based program it seems logic to me Folder View is not on top.
If tagged properly Minim Server can do exactly what you want without using Folder View.
Select Artist→Year→album leads to same albums you defined in your folder structure.
Selecting Year→Artist → album leads to the same output.
Intelligent browsing, once you get used to it, you probably experience it searches better, more flexible than using your fixed folder structure.

If you allow me, I disagree for one simple reason: "tagging properly" does not exist, specially when it is about classical music. Rock is simple: you have one album title, one artist, etc.

But how do you tag the 5th symphony of Beethoven by Karajan the 1963 version in a proper way ? Which album title do you use ?

In database design, you should never have redundancies. The name of the composer is somewhere else, so should not be part of the title. Same with the main artist, same with the date of recording. So remains Symphony number 5. In your library, can you imaging scrolling through all Symphony number 5 from all composers until you find the Beethoven Karajan 1963 version ? And also, there not only symphony number 5 on this album, there is another symphony. But then comes another publish of the album under a different label, and damn, the same recording is with another symphony, inducing change in album title. And OMG, they reissued a 24 bits version where all symphonies are under a single album (not in this case, but for example the recent whole Shostakovitch symphonies - concertos and Lady Macbeth by Andris Nelsons under a single album; not to mention that for us french people Chostakovitch starts with a C, while in the anglo saxon world it starts with a S, but this is another story); then all your tagging are screwed.

When such changes, a folder structure needs only to move files, much easier than retagging. I barely use tags for this reason BTW.

Long time ago, I was teaching database. Creating the model of classical music was my favorite exam for my students. Because you have many concepts: album, track, work, part of work, artists, recording, remastering, etc... And all don't always fit together nicely ! Just try, and you'll see that there is no "proper tagging".

I have over 10 000 albums, and I can tell you that the folder structure is the best by far. I have top level which is Renaissance, Baroque, Classical, 20th Century, Opéras, Jazz, Blues, Rock, World Music, Movies, French songs, and all well structured under this top arbo.

This is why BTW I love Minimserver which allows to browse by folder structure, and I hate Roon, who spat at me when I asked for a folder structure saying that this was a very stupid idea.

Just my 2 cents.

"De gustibus et coloribus non es disputandem"

Cheers