Private Media Sorting Program?

Questions
21

I don’t disagree. I am not sure I am at the point where I need to pay $20 yet. I do question whether clementine is actually dead or not though.

22

I host jellyfin on my server and then I have a bunch of apps that are compatible w/ Jellyfin to access my library on my LAN (or away from home via tailscale)

Desktop
Feishin - Great UI. Basically in maintenance mode for the last 6 months or so as the creator wants to spin off onto a new music player project

Mobile
Symfonium I have bought maybe 10 Android apps in my life, this is the only one I still use daily
FinDroid - I use this more for video watching IIRC. It’s been a while

23

I believe there was a time where development on Clementine slowed to a hault, and Strawberry picked up where it left off. They have different feature sets at this point.

Looking at recent commits for Clementine seem to show mainly language translations updates, build fixes, and maintenance stuff. Looking at Strawberry I see very active development of features and bug fixes.

24

Any easy way to export a whole iTunes library to some of these programs?

25

I agree it does not look like there is any real active development going on but to @anonymous322 point paying $20 for a single version of an app or being stuck paying $5/month for updates could be considered a bit of a steep price for casual music library management.

26

Just to halt disinformation on this:

  1. Linux builds are free for everyone, only Mac and Windows you pay for
  2. You can build from source for free for any Mac and Windows, just requires some setup to do
  3. 20/ post is not ideal. Just do a 5$ membership and then cancel it for the software.
  4. Unless there is an atrocious bug, you also don’t have to be an update junky. It’s still quite stable.

I paid for a membership as it supports a FOSS developer and 5$ a month is a non issue for me for use on Windows.

Otherwise, just use Linux and then it’s free.

27

I hope @anonymous332 finds that process worth it then.

I am personally not a fan of mandatory donations. Note that I do recognize the hard work they do for their projects. It’s just that it ruins the “FOSS” philosophy somewhat even if the destination OS isn’t FOSS itself.

Couldn’t they implement a suggested donation/pricing model that projects like ElementaryOS has?

28

This is more disinformation about what is and is not FOSS.

If the church of the FSF says it’s fair play, it’s about as official as you can get. Free as in freedom, not free as in beer.

Except for one special situation, the GNU General Public License (GNU GPL) has no requirements about how much you can charge for distributing a copy of free software. You can charge nothing, a penny, a dollar, or a billion dollars. It’s up to you, and the marketplace, so don’t complain to us if nobody wants to pay a billion dollars for a copy.

If you don’t want to pay, you certainly don’t have to. But this is a valid business model for FOSS and is a FOSS thing to do. In this case you also get the source code and a means to build it yourself without needing to pay, which is a bonus.

29

Thanks for correcting, I did not know that!

30

As an aside, I actually think it’s quite hard to use this model in the modern age, and am actually surprised to see a live example of it. Typically if you try this model, someone else will automate the build process and distribute binaries circumventing the payment, as is the FOSS right. The most common model nowadays is a web service AGPL licensed, but you pay for someone else to deal with hosting it.

31

I am a little unclear about what ‘disinformation’ you were originally referring too.

It does feel a bit disingenuous to force Mac and Windows users to “donate” if you are offering the application for free to Linux users, especially when the dev is already creating the exe and dmg files on patreon which is counter to his point thats its to much work to do.

I realize the application could be compiled for free but, my guess is the dev understand most users are not going to be willing to try that on their own.

32

I will never understand why tags have not been integrated as a feature in cloud services. As an example, imagine you have a big movie library in the cloud. Wouldn’t it be nice if you can add tags like the genre (e.g.: comedy), name of actors (e.g.: Meryl Streep), medium (e.g. live action), etc…

Even cloud services that are not E2EE don’t have this feature, and I don’t understand why.
Sometimes, I don’t remember the name of a movie, but I remember the genre and who directed it. Tags could really come in handy.

And again, I’m just using movie files as an example, but it can be any type of file or folder, e-books, music, home videos & photos, work stuff, etc…Tags can really come in handy when you’re searching for a file.

33

You can try using Tagspaces

Local or Internet
Tags and Folders

34

This looks interesting, but doesn’t look like what I’m looking for. In my opinion, tags should be an inherent feature of all cloud services. I don’t want to rely on a third party. The UI also doesn’t look great.

35

We’ve side tracked quite a bit. Perhaps disinformation had too much strong connotation, just wanted to clear up confusion.

36

For ID3tag easy mass editing, I recommend mp3tag

  1. Data collection when using Mp3tag: We’re not tracking any usage statistics when you’re using Mp3tag. If checking for updates at startup is enabled at ‘Options > Updates’ or when you explicitly trigger the check via the ‘Help’ menu, Mp3tag sends a request to one of our servers. This request doesn’t contain any information about your installation other than the Mp3tag version that gets sent in the user-agent header.
37

Usually I wouldn’t post something like this but, considering the GPLv3 license of the software I don’t think there is an issue. Someone created another repo that offers the latest version for Windows and Mac free.

38

I’m also looking for an iTunes alternative, and MusicBee seems to be the closest thing to it. I hope Apple doesn’t continue iTunes for Windows because I still use it frequently. A lot of alternatives, including FOSS have terrible UI & UX by comparison.

One of the reasons I still use iTunes is because it allows you to sync playlists with your devices. Unfortunately, it is much harder to do that when you use an Android phone. I’ve been using DoubleTwist, but the sycing is often buggy. I am seeing that MusicBee allows syncing with Android, but it’s not clear to me how it works.

Which app are you using on Android for it to sync?

I don’t want other apps to have easy access to the audio files I plan to sync. In other words, I want to isolate my audio libraries on both my desktop and my phone. Can MusicBee do that for the former?

39

I really like Strawberry Music Player, granted the UI isn’t for everyone.

The Codeberg repo @anonymous326 linked is no longer available after the creator reported it.

There are these two github repos. One does daily builds for Windows, one offers builds for both Mac and Windows.

40

No android apps. Musicbee(MB) desktop is enough.

Tbh Idk why isolation is needed here. I’ll share how I do it with MB.

Tagging is a joke on smartphones so dump everything on PC. Create a MB library – drag and drop music folder. Then follow these

Choose what to sync

  1. If your library is small or there is enough space in phone - sync entire library.

  2. Limited space/ sync selected content - You may have many playlists but for simplicity always have a master playlist containing all playlists.

Syncing

  1. Plug in android → select USB file transfer in phone.

  2. On MB click the phone icon :mobile_phone: which will pop near search bar (top right). New tab opens with phone model name. Lets call it sync tab.

  3. Sync tab → Music
    As said earlier select Synchronize music → All music → Library for syncing entire library or Synchronize Playlists → Selected playlists only → Select playlists to be synced. If you’re syncing entire library select all playlists which will bring everything onboard.

  4. Idh any podcasts, audiobooks and videos but the process must be similar.

  5. On Android → Create a new dedicated folder for this sync. It can be straight under Internal storage or Internal storage → Music → New folder.

  6. Return to PC. MB → Sync tab → Settings
    This where we specify how the sync is done.

    • Uncheck(disable) auto sync when the device is connected.
    • Next enable 2 way sync must be disabled by default so don’t bother.
    • Enable delete files that are not on the auto-sync list from the device, Enable confirm deletion under it. Both are optional but enabling keeps the collection clean.

  7. Media storage:

  • Storage path: Pixel-ABC[1]\Internal Storage or SD card\Your folder[2].

  • Select use naming template or preserve folders and filenames. Idk the latter will give errors if path exceeds 256char limit - confirmation needed.

  • Specify path for all 4 items. Number of new folders depends on how many \ you give here. Take this for example

    • Album: Avengers Endgame, Year: 2019, Artist: Alan Silvestri, Title: Whatever It Takes, Filename in PC: Whatever It Takes.mp3, Track#: 01 of 05

    • Windows path: M:\Music\Marvel\Avengers\Endgame\whatever it takes.mp3

    • Storage path in MB: Pixel-ABC\Internal Storage or SD card\MB Sync

    • If you select

      • preserve folders and filenames in MB the files can be found in Pixel under Internal \MB Sync\Marvel\Avengers\Endgame\whatever it takes.mp3[3]

      • use naming template[4] - Lets take it as <Year>\<Artist>\<Album>\<Title> then files can be found under Internal \MB Sync\2019\Alan Silvestri\Avengers Endgame\Whatever It Takes.mp3

  1. Conversion:
    Converts FLACs and loseless to the mp3 quality you specify. :warning: Asfaik it works seamlessly for true loseless formats and resulting file size is reduced but it may inflate file size for fake loseless files depending on mp3 quality you choose.

  2. Playlist storage:
    Playlist path: Just give a name for your playlist folder like MB Playlists\ and choose format as M3U. All playlists will be saved under Internal \MB Sync\....m3u.

  3. Artwork & lyrics storage:
    Do a sample check which of those settings are with your android music player. Some apps are compatible with artworks risized to 200px, priortize .lrc files over embed lyrics etc.

  4. Preview & sync:
    Finally click Preview. It’ll take some time and show list of files, operations and space required. Review, make needed changes and sync. Sometimes MB may pause syncing automatically incase PC/android is busy or for unknown reasons and resumes sync automatically.

  5. Syncing subsequent changes:
    Lets say some changes like tags, playlists, folders and filenames are made. Just click preview then sync again and you’re good to go.

Tips:

  • Enable continuous folder monitoring: Ctrl + O or Edit → Preferences → Library → Monitored folders ->Enable continuously monitor.
  • Locate missing files: Do periodically or before every sync for library(if possiblefor playlists too). Select all → Menu ->Tools → Locate Missing files.
  • After editing tags which you use to sort like Year, Album, Artist etc will get written to file as soon as you save but the changes will reflect in library layout only after app restart.
  • MB is compatible with wine on linux - editing tags and playing music willl be fine but some like sync doesn’t work :joy:

All the steps above are for PC → Android only.

Sync: Android → PC

Asfaik Android to PC sync cannot be done via USB. Since I do everything and listen in PC, the only reason I see Android → PC as a necessary one is to sync ratings and play count. I haven’t tried this - it needs[5] MB Wifi Sync App (free) and Poweramp (paid)/GoneMAD (paid)/Musicolet (free)[6] or using syncthing too. For more details you can search web and musicbee forums (State of two way syncing, Syncing PC to Android Device and Wifi android device syncing).

You’ve come this far so spare some time for tag editors and android music players.

Tag Editors:

OS App Availability Note
Windows (and Mac) Mp3tag Free (paid), Proprietary For Windows, there is nothing MB can’t do but if you need a software focused for tags go with this. Its not OSS but fully capable for offline use. Can be customized with scripts. Compatible with wine too.
Linux Puddletag FOSS mp3tag replacement in linux. Some features will differ.
Windows, Linux, Mac and Android Kid3 FOSS Superb compatibility with tagging standards[7]. Powerful like other apps and has command line support - useful for bulk Not every user will find this app user friendly.

Android Music Players:

Applications Availability Privacy friendly?[8] Note
Auxio, Gramophone, Fossify Music Player FOSS Yes[9] FOSS apps are suitable for those who don’t need tons of of customization and advanced features. These apps have such features but there are gaps which are filled by proprietary apps.
VLC FOSS Yes[10] Same as above. Versatile file compatibility. There are some issues with external playlists.
Musicolet Free, Proprietary Offline only Full featured player with customization options.
Poweramp Paid, Proprietary Privacy Policy[11] Value for money. Tons of features and customization features. Their privacy policy, forum and knowledge base contradict each other.[12] Degoogled apk can be purchased from their website. Checked with app manager and I found no trackers except googleplaybilling api.

Linux audio players.

Musicbee, quodlibet(linux)[13], Poweramp, Musicolet, Mp3tag and puddletag are my daily drivers and go to apps. I also wander around new apps and new features in existing apps occassionally.

Happy Listening!

  1. Device name or model as shown in MB ↩︎

  2. lets call it as MB Sync ↩︎

  3. I haven’t checked this it can be under Internal\MB Sync\Music\…mp3 ↩︎

  4. click … to create your own template. Preview option must be helpful ↩︎

  5. all these 4 android apps are proprietary ↩︎

  6. to read and write play count and ratings reliably. GoneMAD free version has targeted ads. ↩︎

  7. ID3, vorbis ↩︎

  8. Inter Process Communication(IPC) not considered ↩︎

  9. Offline only apps ↩︎

  10. The OG of media players ↩︎

  11. Privacy policy - unclear retention period and explicitly states targeted advertising. Idk whether one time purchase can be justified for potentially unlimited retention period. ↩︎

  12. In Forum and FAQ the mods and developer explicitly state no tracking is involved and provide the reason for internet permission. ↩︎

  13. Lollypop is not working recently on my PC. So switched to this one ↩︎