Extracting subset of mp3s from large NAS filestore-how?

[windbag]

I have an expanding music database as I rip my CDs to FLAC & mp3 files to my NAS, as :
Artist/Album/FLAC/xx.flac & Artist/Album/xx.mp3, with the Artist folders set in a particular structure.

This enables me to play either type via Sonos, but I’d also like to play mp3s in the car, which has a limited capacity via card (32GB).

I can extract just the mp3s using FreeFileSync, which does a great job – but there are already too many mp3 files for the card capacity.

So I need to flag a subset of folders as my “prime listening” to keep within the card capacity.

I’ve tried labelling some as “not4car” in the filename, which works, but is a very longwinded job, as the majority of albums (eg compilations, live etc) need so marking.
Even marking the prime ones by adding “prime” or some-such to the filenames is laborious and makes the filenames look naff.

I’d like to find a way of tagging “prime” folders so that an app can extract them on the basis of that tag when I make a subset-copy for the car SD card.
I can’t see anything in FreeFileSync that could help.

Anyone know a quick way to achieve this?

 

[Donnie Fisher]

Tags might work for you ...

Right click > Properties > Details > Tags

allows you to add tags into the files ( and folders I think - not 100% sure )

then you should be able to search for the tags. ( next bit from a website: ) However, if you’re outside that folder (say, you want to search your whole PC or the entire Documents folder), you’ll have to add the “tags:” operator to the beginning of your search. The easiest way to do this is to just type “tags:” into the search box, and then type the tag text for which you want to search.

 

[windbag]

Hi Donnie
Thanks for your response and apologies for late reply (no reply notification received, Doh!)

Tags might work for you ...
Right click > Properties > Details > Tags
allows you to add tags into the files ( and folders I think - not 100% sure )

In: Right click > Properties > I don't get "Tags" in either folders or files (It would primarily need to be folders)
...so I can't progress your suggestion
Tried on both internal hard drive and NAS folders/files
For info, I'm on a Win10 PC

 

[Donnie Fisher]

No problem, found an easier way maybe - Libraries. Although I'm windows 11, I think this works for windows 10 too.

If you right click a folder, you should be able to be select and options like " Include in Library ".
Then when that menu expands, it'll show things like documents, pictures, but also " create new library "
If you select that, then it will automatically create a new library called the name of the folder you right clicked on. ("Libraries" normally appear after the "This PC" section in explorer)
On the left hand explorer tree, under the Libraries section, your new library folder will appear and you can rename it in the normal way - Say like CarMP3.
To add other folders, you right click the folder > Include in Library > CarMP3 (which will now appear in the menu item list)

To remove a folder, you right click on the CarMP3 library folder itself > properties > and the added folders will appear in a list which you can edit / remove etc.


In explorer, all you have to then do is select the CarMP3 folder from the left hand side, and the right hand pane will show all the music folders you added in. It doesn't duplicate the files, but makes them a collection.


Going by your naming scheme, I see that if you added an artist folder, that would also include the FLAC sub folder ? A possible way round that might be once you have selected the CarMP3 library folder, you use the search function in the top right of the window to search for "mp3" . This will then return all the mp3 files that are just within the folders of your CarMP3 library and not all music folders.

 

[windbag]

No problem, found an easier way maybe - Libraries. Although I'm windows 11, I think this works for windows 10 too.

If you right click a folder, you should be able to be select and options like " Include in Library ".
Then when that menu expands, it'll show things like documents, pictures, but also " create new library "
If you select that, then it will automatically create a new library called the name of the folder you right clicked on. ("Libraries" normally appear after the "This PC" section in explorer)
On the left hand explorer tree, under the Libraries section, your new library folder will appear and you can rename it in the normal way - Say like CarMP3.
To add other folders, you right click the folder > Include in Library > CarMP3 (which will now appear in the menu item list)

To remove a folder, you right click on the CarMP3 library folder itself > properties > and the added folders will appear in a list which you can edit / remove etc.


In explorer, all you have to then do is select the CarMP3 folder from the left hand side, and the right hand pane will show all the music folders you added in. It doesn't duplicate the files, but makes them a collection.


Going by your naming scheme, I see that if you added an artist folder, that would also include the FLAC sub folder ? A possible way round that might be once you have selected the CarMP3 library folder, you use the search function in the top right of the window to search for "mp3" . This will then return all the mp3 files that are just within the folders of your CarMP3 library and not all music folders.

Thanks for the suggestion. Just found that libraries don't work on networked areas - which excludes all my NAS music files!
But what I was doing was to extract a (non-FLAC) subset to my scratch drive as subset to copy to the car mp3 memory card.
It was that subset that was already too big and that I wanted to extract a "best of" reduction.
I'll try making a new non-FLAC subset and then apply libraries there.
Unsure how that will react to subsequent copies as I generate more files in my original NAS source and then (potentially) overwrite some areas of the scratch copy
Will find out ! .