Automating ripped duplicate song titles / names

[Aussie Steve]

I am new to dBpoweramp so apologies if this has been covered before. When I have used other applications to perform CD ripping, most have had the option to automatically tweak the name of song titles that already exist in the target directory rather than prompt for an overwrite like dBpoweramp does. As an example, a song might be called "Field Of Trees" and in the program I used to use, if I had already ripped that song from a CD such as a various artists CD then tried it on another CD which may or may not be a different source disc to the first, the ripper would automatically name the file "Field of Trees (2)" as a file with the original name already exists and a subsequent rip would be called "Field Of Trees (3)" and so on. When I was ready, I would go looking for duplicates and listen to both and decide which one I wanted to keep. Is there some way to make the CD ripper in dBpoweramp do the same thing and automatically add an incremental number to the file name if it detects that file name already exists instead of prompting for an overwrite or having to manually rename the file? Thanks.

[garym]

Re: Automating ripped duplicate song titles / names

This sounds like you are dumping all your rips into a single directory. Why not use dynamic naming to automatically create separate subdirectories for each album. Then you'd have no track duplicates. I'd say the most popular approach is separate subdirectories for each artist then separate subdirectory for each album. For example

E:\music
E:\Music\The Beatles\
E:\Music\The Beatles\Abbey Road
E:\Music\The Beatles\Revolver
etc.

[Aussie Steve]

Re: Automating ripped duplicate song titles / names

Yes I am dumping them all into a single directory then use Foobar2000 to play them back. I have no use for a truckload of subdirectories. Given I have over 3,000 CD's I am happy with one mega directory containing all the ripped songs I like which is often only 1 or 2 from each CD. I used to use Creative Mediasource that came with my Soundblaster X-Fi Titanium sound card but it does not do secure ripping which is why I bought dBpoweramp and the Creative media player whilst having some cool features like adding the (x) to duplicated filenames and can also play FLAC files, it seems to get stuck after playing just a couple of FLACs if the auto-crossfade is turned on but with it off it generates annoying clicks on the change of track which foobar does not. Actually foobar handles FLAC files superbly. Although I can see some merit in having all the files split across the album names in a tree of sub-directories, it would be more an annoyance because I can recall which track is off which album for almost every song in my collection.

[garym]

Re: Automating ripped duplicate song titles / names

Obviously, to each their own. I've ripped about 5,000 CDs in my personal collection (and I'm only about 1/2 way through!) and I can't imagine having them all in a single directory. Actually the filenames and the file location is actually almost irrelevant in my own use case except for managing the file library itself. That's because each file has metadata (tags) that show artist, album, track, genre, etc. And most players, including foobar2000 (which I also use) creates an internal library database using the metadata in these tags themselves, independent of the filenames of directory locations. So for browsing in foobar2000 and selecting/playing, it is the tags that matter. Anyhow, I don't know of a way to create the filenames as you're suggesting with dbpa. The subdirectory approach was my only idea. Maybe there is a way and Spoon (the author) can chime in with options. Cheers.

[Spoon]

Re: Automating ripped duplicate song titles / names

You could put the cd disc id at the end of the filenames, such as ([cddb_id])

[BrodyBoy]

Re: Automating ripped duplicate song titles / names

You could put the cd disc id at the end of the filenames, such as ([cddb_id])

Or the album name, or whatever. I must be missing something.....if you use ANY kind of typical naming scheme that includes TRACK and ALBUM (even if you don't organize your files at all), wouldn't that virtually guarantee unique file names that eliminate this duplicates issue?

[BrodyBoy]

Re: Automating ripped duplicate song titles / names

I have no use for a truckload of subdirectories.

Well actually...seeing that it completely avoids this issue without having to concoct artificial identifiers for songs with the same title (a not-uncommon occurrence), you clearly DO have a use for them.

Although I can see some merit in having all the files split across the album names in a tree of sub-directories, it would be more an annoyance because I can recall which track is off which album for almost every song in my collection.

How would it be an annoyance? I'm not trying to be argumentative....I just honestly see nothing but benefits and no downside to organizing thousands of digital files in some logical way that makes them more manageable.