Genre / Style

[Oggy]

Re: Genre / Style

It's interesting how different preference can be - some people seem to be content with just a few genres, while others have loads of genres, styles & moods and yet others also tag bpm & key!

There are so many variables in a personal library, the obvious ones being what genre / style people listen to, and the size of the collection. What works for 100 CDs, may not be so good for 10,000 CDs, and for some, optional tags are clearly essential; for others an irrelevance.

Modern dance music, whatever 'style', or 'genre' it is called this week, has long passed me by, but for others, a few BPM either way, is essential for knowing which 'style' it is. Perhaps they need some more Euro Trance, and just chill.

Does Nirvana Unplugged, become 'Accoustic', rather than, Grunge, Pop/Rock, Rock?

We could all use Popular and Other. KISS, job done. Simples!

From what I've seen from most of my friends files, Artist / Album with track numbers, and song titles are the only things they care about. I respect that, and in some ways I am jealous, because they are relaxing listening to music.

To each there own, BUT, it would be great if there was a little more standardisation, to offer us more personal choice: with compatibility.

[schmidj]

Re: Genre / Style

Exactly how I listen to my music in my car, player in my smartphone set to random, bluetooth to car "radio". But I've now filled up my 256 GB micro SD card (128K +/- VBR copies of my FLAC library. I can't yet afford the 400 GB micro SD cards, so I'm going to have to weed some tracks out in the transfer process...

[Jailhouse]

Re: Genre / Style

It's interesting how different preference can be - some people seem to be content with just a few genres, while others have loads of genres, styles & moods and yet others also tag bpm & key!

A lot of this depends on how one listens to one's library. Most of the time (and literally all of the time since I dumped Zune for foobar2000), I listen to one huge playlist containing everything I've ripped, save for tracks that contain errors as manufactured and songs I can't bring myself to listen to, with playback set to Random. Basically, I treat my library as a radio station with a very large and varied playlist. Given that, I don't currently need even the few genres I use, and as I've mentioned, Style is useless to me.

Sometimes I feel like the Henry David Thoreau of music playback: "Our life is frittered away by detail... simplify, simplify."

[Jailhouse]

Re: Genre / Style

Joni Mitchell went from Folk to Jazz over a period of time, whilst artists like Neil Young and Frank Zappa, you never knew what you would get from album to album. Often these style changes were seismic.

Zappa was a style unto himself.

[evasv]

Re: Genre / Style

Evasv,

'BPM' would be good for DJs I guess?

'KEY SIGs' would be good for musicians who transcribe the music they listen to.

I don't think I would add these though because - manually - they would take months to detect and compile!

Paul

Yes, professionals would have most use of those tags of course, but I know a few "common people" who add them for reasons I do not know.

I think there are programs that you could set up to detect and tag over night(s), but I don't know how long it would take... I believe bpm would be fairly accurate, but key sometimes a little harder to detect correctly. But I'm no expert here and I don't use those tags.

[monsterjazzlick]

Re: Genre / Style

It's interesting how different preference can be - some people seem to be content with just a few genres, while others have loads of genres, styles & moods and yet others also tag bpm & key!

Evasv,

'BPM' would be good for DJs I guess?

'KEY SIGs' would be good for musicians who transcribe the music they listen to.

I don't think I would add these though because - manually - they would take months to detect and compile!

Paul

[evasv]

Re: Genre / Style

I know I have mentioned this before on these forums, but if you want sound quality, I really think you should at least investigate/consider using a portable DAC/Headphone amp.

If you obtain a high quality DAC (from the likes of HRT, Audioquest, Cambridge Audio etc.), it is an affordable and flexible solution.

You can use it with an Apple/Android mobile device with an appropriate USB adaptor (as long as the mobile device supports audio over USB). You can also use it with a Windows PC and an Apple PC.

Great tip! You are right since sound quality is a priority of mine. Downside is another device to connect.

I actually have use for a laptop DAC, so this route would be a double solution.

[evasv]

Re: Genre / Style

Tagging by Style almost seems like a lifetime project, labour of love, especially when artists change style, not only album by album, but track by track. I'm not that dedicated, but it's good to have the choice to do this.

Mood, seems an interesting tag, but even then, one person's death metal, may be bedroom music for another!

The great part of this, is that dBpoweramp, Asset and Foobar, allow us the flexibility to indulge our personal preferences and individual taste in music, offering many different solutions. Hopefully other manufacturers are beginning to offer these options, too.

Yes, it's unfortunately a lifetime project. I try to nail the most basic tags to avoid re-tagging. But for the rest (including style, mood), I have accepted that they need some attention once in a while. I'm also picky about the basic tags, but more loose about the others to save time and not go insane...

It's interesting how different preference can be - some people seem to be content with just a few genres, while others have loads of genres, styles & moods and yet others also tag bpm & key!

[Oggy]

Re: Genre / Style

Oggy,

Yes, the STYLE tag for people like Herbie Hancock and Miles Davis can change a couple of times per decade, at least. Same for Madonna etc. I have changed the STYLE tag within a CD album on a handful of occasions but it is something I try to avoid if at all possible.

Funnily enough, the Sony Walkman had something (via a s/w d/l/) you could run called a: 'Mood Sensor' (or similar). It looked quite interesting but I never indulged (as the device spent more time in the repair centre than it did in my hands!). I notice that the site: 'All Music' makes use of the 'Mood' tag.

Paul

Hi Paul,

Joni Mitchell went from Folk to Jazz over a period of time, whilst artists like Neil Young and Frank Zappa, you never knew what you would get from album to album. Often these style changes were seismic.

[monsterjazzlick]

Re: Genre / Style

I know I have mentioned this before on these forums, but if you want sound quality, I really think you should at least investigate/consider using a portable DAC/Headphone amp.

mville,

I am pretty sure you kindly mentioned it, in detail, in my: 'Windows Media Player vs. Foobar/dBpa/VLC/Groove-Music' thread.

Paul

[monsterjazzlick]

Re: Genre / Style

Tagging by Style almost seems like a lifetime project, labour of love, especially when artists change style, not only album by album, but track by track. I'm not that dedicated, but it's good to have the choice to do this.

Mood, seems an interesting tag, but even then, one person's death metal, may be bedroom music for another!

Oggy,

Yes, the STYLE tag for people like Herbie Hancock and Miles Davis can change a couple of times per decade, at least. Same for Madonna etc. I have changed the STYLE tag within a CD album on a handful of occasions but it is something I try to avoid if at all possible.

Funnily enough, the Sony Walkman had something (via a s/w d/l/) you could run called a: 'Mood Sensor' (or similar). It looked quite interesting but I never indulged (as the device spent more time in the repair centre than it did in my hands!). I notice that the site: 'All Music' makes use of the 'Mood' tag.

Paul

[Oggy]

Re: Genre / Style

I know I have mentioned this before on these forums, but if you want sound quality, I really think you should at least investigate/consider using a portable DAC/Headphone amp.

If you obtain a high quality DAC (from the likes of HRT, Audioquest, Cambridge Audio etc.), it is an affordable and flexible solution.

You can use it with an Apple/Android mobile device with an appropriate USB adaptor (as long as the mobile device supports audio over USB). You can also use it with a Windows PC and an Apple PC.

Very good point, a friend's Audioquest Dragonfly Red, really did offer very good sound. I should imagine the cheaper Black, is no slouch either.

[mville]

Re: Genre / Style

I'll check out the Sony.

And yes, size is an important factor. I'm used to a small player but may go bigger for better functionality. But most important is sound quality.

I know I have mentioned this before on these forums, but if you want sound quality, I really think you should at least investigate/consider using a portable DAC/Headphone amp.

If you obtain a high quality DAC (from the likes of HRT, Audioquest, Cambridge Audio etc.), it is an affordable and flexible solution.

You can use it with an Apple/Android mobile device with an appropriate USB adaptor (as long as the mobile device supports audio over USB). You can also use it with a Windows PC and an Apple PC.

[Oggy]

Re: Genre / Style

I'll check out the Sony.

And yes, size is an important factor. I'm used to a small player but may go bigger for better functionality. But most important is sound quality.




I used to have genres like that too - decades, subgenres, moods etc and kept adding new ones, until I had about 70 and gave up. It is a crude but simple method as you say, but there's a practical limit I think. In my case I went for styles instead, and also introduced the mood tag, and Asset took care of the decades by default. The downside is of course the lack of compatibility with all players and apps.

I have a few playlists, but when I started with Asset I appreciated the flexibility with trees and custom tags, so now I have many of those and I just love to browse around in my collection by many sort methods/tags.

When I was younger I had my whole collection of LP's in my head, but now with so much digital music that's impossible for me. I tend to buy all kinds of music (I listen to everything except hip-hop, the hardest rock (glam is ok though!) and I don't really understand the modern music styles the kids listen to). Anyway this is one of the reasons I think tagging and sorting is practical since it helps me to keep track of but also learn about my collection. Since I do my own tagging (not importing) I also learn about different styles while I'm doing it.

If you want a small, excellent sounding player, then the Astell & Kern range is excellent, though not exactly bargain basement. As usual, the software is basic, and I'm not sure that it has the options of the Sony.

Apart from not corrupting Paul's thread, the reason for starting this thread was to see how the market and manufacturers are developing with their software and what they offer in the way of functionality and search options. A portable player is certainly a long way from Asset and Foobar, but should be usable.

The days that I could remember my first 200 LPs by heart, are long gone, though I still display my files by the same method, Alphabetically, chronologically, displayed by surname. The only difference is a page of small cover art, rather than several rows of spines.

Searching by Genre is useful if a friend asks if you have any ..... specific genre, and you can hand them a tablet to choose. Definitely not as much fun, and arguably rewarding as pulling out, and recognising LP sleeves, but very easy and efficient.

Tagging by Style almost seems like a lifetime project, labour of love, especially when artists change style, not only album by album, but track by track. I'm not that dedicated, but it's good to have the choice to do this.

Mood, seems an interesting tag, but even then, one person's death metal, may be bedroom music for another!

The great part of this, is that dBpoweramp, Asset and Foobar, allow us the flexibility to indulge our personal preferences and individual taste in music, offering many different solutions. Hopefully other manufacturers are beginning to offer these options, too.

[evasv]

Re: Genre / Style

I'll check out the Sony.

And yes, size is an important factor. I'm used to a small player but may go bigger for better functionality. But most important is sound quality.

As my wife has what seem hundreds of Compilation CDs, I have Genres including, Oldies, 50s, 60s, 70s, 80s, 90s, Top 40, Disco, Party, and of course, Christmas! It's a very crude tagging method, but is very simple to use.

I used to have genres like that too - decades, subgenres, moods etc and kept adding new ones, until I had about 70 and gave up. It is a crude but simple method as you say, but there's a practical limit I think. In my case I went for styles instead, and also introduced the mood tag, and Asset took care of the decades by default. The downside is of course the lack of compatibility with all players and apps.

I have a few playlists, but when I started with Asset I appreciated the flexibility with trees and custom tags, so now I have many of those and I just love to browse around in my collection by many sort methods/tags.

When I was younger I had my whole collection of LP's in my head, but now with so much digital music that's impossible for me. I tend to buy all kinds of music (I listen to everything except hip-hop, the hardest rock (glam is ok though!) and I don't really understand the modern music styles the kids listen to). Anyway this is one of the reasons I think tagging and sorting is practical since it helps me to keep track of but also learn about my collection. Since I do my own tagging (not importing) I also learn about different styles while I'm doing it.