Update: 2007.09.13
 
I have been reviewing various music players just out of curiosity.  It is interesting to note that most players today do not even supply a method to view the file names.  They create their lists by reading the ID3 tag which is a slow process with a collection as large as ours.  For example Ubuntu with Music Match Juke Box required almost 45 minutes to create a list of our Jazz collection.  It is because of this I continue to populate our collection with a ID3 type 1 tag so that it remains compatible with other operating systems, software players, and hardware.  That being said I am glad that our system is file-name based as we are able to read all 20,000 files in about 30 seconds.  This is something that most MP3 collectors cannot do as they have not followed a standard file-naming convention.  Many collectors have the Artist name, Date, Album name etc embedded in the names of the directories and if a file is removed from the directory structure there is no way to identify what the file is except by reading the ID3.  Now if such a file is played on a hardware device that displays File-name and does not have a provision for displaying the ID3 one has no idea of what the file is.   I know it seems redundant to have a file name which contains all the data only to repeat this info in the ID3 tag but our file always work regardless of hardware or software.  I have tested our files on many players and you always know what the file is you are playing regardless of whether the player is file based or ID3 based.  This is a consideration that many collectors have not even considered.
 
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In the past all the MP3 players I wrote used lists on the drive to play from.  This new player works quite differently as it creates a list of all MP3's on a drive in memory.  Since the lists are created in memory rather than written to the drive the program will now run from CD’s and DVD’s with no problem.  Since this new MP3 player has a list of all MP3 files held in memory searching for a file, or files, is exceedingly fast.   For example among the 20,000 files on my main music drive is an album by Wes Montgomery called “Finger Pickin”.  By entering “wes mont fing” in the search window all the selections of that album are placed in the list window in less than one second. 

 

 

 Here you can see all 20,868 files on my D: drive loaded into a single list box. 

We continue to use an associated graphic file to provide much more information than what can be included in a file name or an ID3 tag.  Since many people in our trading group are avid Jazz fans or musicians we want to know all the musicians on the album,  the tune names, album commentary as well as the cover graphic.  All of this we include in the associated graphic file.  This also creates a visual elements to enhance the listening experience making the system ideal for a living room entertainment center.  Several of our group have a dedicated computer hooked into their Hi Fi – Stereo systems with the video going to their HDTV.  Having all your music on a hard drive sure makes it easy to play without having to deal with disks and boxes.

 

 

 

 

To facilitate this we create a graphic file the same name as the .mp3 with the extension .tif in which we can include what ever we desire.  If for example track four of an album is being played and there is no graphic attached to track four, the program looks to see if there is a graphic for track one, and if it exists it is displayed. 

 

The "Export" button brings up the export window which allows you to send a file or files from one location to another. The files can be placed in a single volume or in several volumes sized for the media on which they are to be recorded.

 

The ID3 button displays the ID3 tag on the file if it exists.  If not you can create one or change an existing tag.

 

The Utils button brings up this window