MP3 Sorter is a command-line utility for sorting MP3 files based on MP3 Tag information.
Most MP3 files contains information about the Artist name, Album name, Track number and Song title. This information us usually displayed by the player, and some music library software uses the information to allow categorization and searching.
But the files are still an awful mess on your hard drive or network server, and cleaning things up can be a daunting task. Do you have a "download" folder containing MP3 files, images, video clips and a few setup programs? Did you ever start sorting your MP3 files but gave up before you were half-way done?
Whether you're ripping your own CDs, purchasing music online, copying from friends and relatives or downloading from the 'net, it's the same problem and it's only getting bigger.
But why a command-line utility? Why not a fancy easy-to-use graphical interface? Because I'm lazy. Maybe I'll make one some day, but things that work tend not to get fixed around here :-)
So here's how it works. Let's say your downloads are in C:\Download and looks like this:
C:\Download\mountain_duet.mp3
C:\Download\nobody's_side.mp3
C:\Download\chess.mp3
C:\Download\florence_quits.mp3
C:\Download\quartet.mp3
C:\Download\anthem.mp3
C:\Download\merano.mp3
C:\Download\opening_ceremony.mp3
C:\Download\embassy_lament.mp3
C:\Download\where_i_want_to_be.mp3
C:\Download\pity_the_child.mp3
C:\Download\argument.mp3
C:\Download\heaven_help_my_heart.mp3
C:\Download\epilogue_-_you_and_i_-_the_story_of_chess.mp3
C:\Download\one_night_in_bangkok.mp3
C:\Download\the_deal_no_deal.mp3
C:\Download\endgame.mp3
C:\Download\i_know_him_so_well.mp3
IMPORTANT: I would never recommend you sort directly into your main collection, so you should create a temporary directory, say C:\Temp\MP3 since you will want to check the results and clean up your C:\Download directory before copying the sorted files into your main collection.
mp3copy C:\Download C:\Temp\MP3
If the MP3 files contain valid tags, you should now find a neatly sorted set of files and directories
C:\Temp\MP3\C\
C:\Temp\MP3\C\Chess - Original London Cast\
C:\Temp\MP3\C\Chess - Original London Cast\Disc 1\
C:\Temp\MP3\C\Chess - Original London Cast\Disc 1\01 - Merano.mp3
C:\Temp\MP3\C\Chess - Original London Cast\Disc 1\02 - Where I Want To Be.mp3
C:\Temp\MP3\C\Chess - Original London Cast\Disc 1\03 - Opening Ceremony.mp3
C:\Temp\MP3\C\Chess - Original London Cast\Disc 1\04 - Quartet.mp3
C:\Temp\MP3\C\Chess - Original London Cast\Disc 1\05 - Nobody's Side.mp3
C:\Temp\MP3\C\Chess - Original London Cast\Disc 1\06 - Chess.mp3
C:\Temp\MP3\C\Chess - Original London Cast\Disc 1\07 - Mountain Duet.mp3
C:\Temp\MP3\C\Chess - Original London Cast\Disc 1\08 - Florence Quits.mp3
C:\Temp\MP3\C\Chess - Original London Cast\Disc 1\09 - Embassy Lament.mp3
C:\Temp\MP3\C\Chess - Original London Cast\Disc 1\10 - Anthem.mp3
C:\Temp\MP3\C\Chess - Original London Cast\Disc 2\
C:\Temp\MP3\C\Chess - Original London Cast\Disc 2\01 - One Night in Bangkok.mp3
C:\Temp\MP3\C\Chess - Original London Cast\Disc 2\02 - Heaven Help My Heart.mp3
C:\Temp\MP3\C\Chess - Original London Cast\Disc 2\03 - Argument.mp3
C:\Temp\MP3\C\Chess - Original London Cast\Disc 2\04 - I Know Him So Well.mp3
C:\Temp\MP3\C\Chess - Original London Cast\Disc 2\05 - the Deal (No Deal).mp3
C:\Temp\MP3\C\Chess - Original London Cast\Disc 2\06 - Pity The Child.mp3
C:\Temp\MP3\C\Chess - Original London Cast\Disc 2\07 - Endgame.mp3
C:\Temp\MP3\C\Chess - Original London Cast\Disc 2\08 - Epilogue - You And I - The Story of Chess.mp3
Keep in mind that not all files will sort as neatly as these, so please be prepared for some cleaning up. Some MP3 files have URLs and other crap in the tags, some are all in CAPS, some are all lowercase and "Best of" releases and "various artists" albums don't make things any better.
You will save time though, and that's a promise :-)