Hello all, I was wondering if there was a private media sorting program that would let me add tags and cover art. Preferably, something I can transfer from one computer to another without hassle.
1 Like
Picard
You can either proxy it over Tor or download the entire MusicBrainz database and host it locally: MusicBrainz Server / Setup - MusicBrainz
Thank you! that works well for music, now I need something for all of my other media like movies, pictures, and 3D models.
May I recommend Plex - if youâre comfortable your files on the cloud with them.
Or Syncthing.
Also, please clarify what exactly you mean by
What I mean by that is a local program that doesnât try to access the internet. I would love something that looks like a Netflix UI but for all of my media and that allows me to add my own tags for an easier time searching for things.
Hmm⌠hard to find a tool that does what you want that doesnât access the internet especially when you want access of the same on multiple devices. I think itâs too specific and much of an ask.
Oh sorry, I mean something that I can have on a hard drive and when I plug it into another computer, all of my settings go with it. I donât mean something that I can access wirelessly.
I assume I will have to have the program installed on both, but the storage is on an external hard drive. Odd scenario I know.
You can use âdigiKamâ for offline image and video tagging and sorting. It is more targeted towards images, but also works for video. Unsure of audio support. Example filtering by tags in digiKam (YouTube).
digiKam can write metadata (like tags and stars) directly to the files. This way you are not locked into the software, and can use other programs as UI for filtering the files by tags.
If you have to sort many media files I recommend setting up custom keyboard shortcuts for faster media culling.
I donât think digiKam supports covert art.
I know you asked for computer, but if interested in android I would recommend looking at aves (gallery).
Hi. Welcome to Privacy Guides!
Try getting to know a program like Obsidian.
Itâs a local first.
Consider having your vault (media base) encrypted, say through the Cryptomator program from the recommended tools.
In Obsidian, try to use the built-in plugins, without community plugins (itâs safer, but itâs up to you)
The program has a tagging system, it perfectly accepts various file formats and will even allow you to sort everything not only as folders, but also as a graph or canvas.
Addendum. You can restrict Obsidianâs access to the internet. There are several options, from the original firewall of your OS to third-party solutions.
I was wondering what people use to manage their local music library. I found a couple of my old iPods and am not sure if if iTunes is the way to go or if there is a FOSS or privacy alternative people use here.
I use a Windows machine so it would be preferable to have it work on that but, feel free to offer suggestions for any platform as it may help someone else 
Currently been trying out MediaMonkey (donât think its any better then iTunes for privacy) as its free version also makes it simple to extract music off the old iPods since, going into the iPod and copying the music from the hidden folders doesnât seem to work anymore.
1 Like
Audacious might be a good FOSS app for you. Itâs also available on Windows, MacOS, and Linux
1 Like
Will take a look into it! I also want to take a look at Clementine. Both have come up in my searches but, originally needed to find a program to extract the music from the iPod first, which now MediaMonkey has solved.
EDIT / UPDATE:
So far liking Clementine the best of the FOSS options (even though it does not offer iPod support for Windows).
MediaMonkey was hugely helpful (would probably recommend this to most people) and made it super easy to extract and tag all the music I had on my iPod. Clementine was the only player that didnât have an issue reading the Artist / Title / Album as is and showing it that way in the library.
2 Likes
Take a look at Musicbee, itâs quite complete and very customizable.
Will check it out! I have seen this one recommended a few times. Correct me if I am wrong but I donât think this one qualifies as a FOSS application. Its not a strict requirement, for example MediaMonkey is not either, for me or my threat level but wanted to mention it as it was part of my initial post.
You are correct, Itâs not foss, itâs a personal project.
Is MusicBee open source?
No. There has been lengthy debate on this topic among users, but Steven is firm that he will consider making MusicBee open source only when heâs no longer developing it.
I use musicbrainz picard to sort music files and then you can use whatever you want such as jellyfin or plex
Clementine is dead, use Strawberry Music Player (I believe itâs a maintained fork of Clementine). Donate to it - itâs a great project.
Musicbee(MB) is the best on Windows. Iâm rocking on it for 8+ years even after moving to Fedora. Iâve tried out nook and corner of MB and canât find any app close to it. It requires DirectX and .net runtime.
The two obstacles I still face on linux with music players are
- Most apps are based on playlists only (like strawberry).
- Compared to Windows, the Linux apps specifically with album view(Lollypop, Elisa) consume more memory when browsing through library.
On Linux I canât find a single app like MB with all packed in. So I need to rely on different for different purposes like
Lollypop - For album view
Tagger, Puddletag, Kid3 - Edit tags
Qmmp - Nice and minimalist always on top player
cmus - Terminal music player.
DeaDBeeF - DIY heavily customizable one.
1 Like
Yeah I like this tool. I have also found MediaMonkey to be super helpful with this as well, with the auto tagging and file organization options. The audio signature that musicbrainz uses to identify songs is pretty cool.
Strawberry charges $20 for Mac or Windows users. Clementines latest release was 3 weeks ago. Its website seems to not be well maintained though.
Strawberry is FOSS - it charges for distribution, but building it yourself is free. This is a valid FOSS model.