| CD Trustee CD database software for Windows | |
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Cataloging MP3 and WMA files |
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Here's how CD Trustee handles MP3 and WMA files: CD Trustee allows you to select MP3 or WMA files on a hard disk or on a CD, and automatically catalogs those files as an album. It reads the artist and song name from the tag in the MP3 or WMA file, as long as this information exists in the file. If not, it uses the file name for the track title. In fact you can catalog any files, not just MP3 or WMA files, but tag information does not exist in those other files. You must indicate the folder containing the MP3 or WMA files, and it will catalog all the MP3 or WMA files found in that folder. Alternately, you can choose the files you want to catalog, by selecting one or multiple files from any folder on your hard drive or CD. You can also tell it to start at the root directory and include all sub-directories. In that case, it will find and catalog every MP3 or WMA file on that disc automatically, including on your entire hard drive if you want. It's best to follow along once you have started the program. Without actually viewing the screens, reading these instructions will be more confusing. Start by pressing the "Catalog MP3's" button on the main CD Trustee screen. The cataloging process requires you to choose an "Artist" and "Album" to contain the MP3 or WMA files you catalog during any one session. The "Artist" can be something like "My MP3 files", and the "Album" can be something like "My Jazz MP3's", or anything else you can think of. It's totally up to you. In this way you can organize your MP3 or WMA files into different Albums based on the type of music they contain, or based on any other scheme you decide. This is probably more useful than simply having one huge list of all MP3 files on your hard drive. You can then assign these albums to any genre or sub-genre, or otherwise categorize them, and print out or display just those albums. After selecting the album, click the button that says "Choose entire folder to catalog" if you want to catalog every song on that disk or in a folder, or else click the button that says "Choose files to catalog" if you want to select individual files on that CD or hard disk. Then choose the drive letter of your CD drive or hard disk, and possibly the folder name containing the files, and press the button that says "Catalog files" on the next screen. If you want to catalog all files on a disk, choose the root directory of that disk and then place a check mark in the box that says "include sub-folders". As long as the MP3 or WMA files exist on your hard drive or on a CD inserted into your drive, you can play those songs by clicking on them, which will start up Windows Media Player or another program you have associated with MP3 or WMA files. There is also a playlist feature. This will let you quickly build playlists by selecting songs from your database, then play the songs in that list. It will let you copy all MP3 or WMA files associated with a playlist to a folder on your hard drive, in case you want to burn a CD containing just those songs. You can also create a new "album" in CD Trustee from the songs in a playlist. The best thing to do is to download and install CD Trustee, press the "Catalog MP3's" button, and experience it first-hand.
Sane Soft, LLC |