File Structure and Cover Art

Roon Software Discussion
1

G’day,

A few questions from a newbie.

Back in the Christmas 2001/2002, I began to convert my CDs into 128k-256k bit rate VBR MP3 files. I just stored everything in a directory called MP3 with the format ‘artist-album name’ for the directory for each CD. For example:

Ayers Rock-Big Red Rock
Carlos Santana-Supernatural
Creedence Clearwater Revival-Pendulum (40th Anniversary Edition)
Eagles-Long Road Out of Eden - Disk 1
Eagles-Long Road Out of Eden - Disk 2
The Beatles-Past Masters - Volume One

I’m now about to rip all of my CDs into FLAC 16/44 and have them managed by Roon. But I can’t find any information in the Roon Knowledge Base that seems to cover recommendations for how to go about this process.

DIRECTORY AND FILE STRUCTURE

Is there a recommended way to organise the music file collection for Roon to handle it well?

For example, would it be better to have a master directory, say FLAC, the have a directory for each artist, and the directories for each CD.

Is it best to put all of the tracks of a set of CDs into one directory, or use a separate directory for each CD?

Is there a naming convention for the files and directories?

COVER ART

Also, how do I handle CD cover art and notes?

If Roon can’t find it, or is incomplete, I’ll be wanting to scan the cover art and sleeve notes add it to my collection. Is there a defined way to handle this?

That is, what resolution should the cover art be scanned at, 150 dpi, 300 dpi or what?

What is the preferred image file format, JPG, TIF, PNG or what?

Is there a naming convention for the cover art and sleeve artwork files?

Any guidance would be most appreciated.

Best Regards, Lloyd Borrett.

2

For file/directory organization, what I’ve done is to have a master directory (called MusicDir), and under it directories whose name is the “primary” artist. “Primary” is rather variable in my case: Sometimes the conductor (if one), sometimes the principal performing artist (eg, vocalist), sometimes ‘Multiple Artists’ (when the CD is more of a collection). Under this level of directory, eg, James Levine, there will often be several directories, one for each “album” (which may comprise more than 1 CD; when there’s more than 1 CD, I supply disc number when I rip, eg, via JRiver or dBpoweramp).

Some of the file/directory organization can be updated via Roon after ripping, via Roon’s editing capabilities.

As for cover art, I mostly scan CD covers, using an HP Officejet Pro 8600 (multifunction device, which isn’t high-end for scanning) and HP’s software (Printer Assistant), getting a .jpg file at 600 dpi (I’ve found still higher resolutions usually aren’t worth the trouble and file size). I take the resulting .jpg file and crop it, clean it up and adjust it (eg, brightness, colors) in Corel Photo-Paint. Except for the cropping to get clean edges, most of this work is simply a hobby (or anal compulsiveness). Finally, I take the final .jpg file and have Roon import it (via the edit functions). Roon often copies the .jpg under the concerned directory (that is, the one I used for the Roon edit) as folder.jpg.

As for sleeve notes, there’s been a recent discussion (“How Big Is Your Library”). Right now I favor scanning a CD cover back (or liner notes) as a .jpg, then converting the .jpg to a .pdf, then putting the .pdf under the concerned directory. Further, one could create one’s own notes (eg, via Word) as a .pdf and put that under the directory.

3

The format artist/album name convention is good. For multi-disc/box sets, check out the additional guidance here.

4

Hi Lloyd,

Adding to the good advice above from James, there also this How can I ensure multi disc sets and box sets are identified properly? in the Roon Knowledge Base … that’s worth read.