How to Get Zune to Organize Collection Right... A MUST READ!!!!!

[MyDingo21]

To organize your music try what i did to get everything working in Zune software......

1. download MP3Tag and install(we will need this later)

2. I deleted everything off my device to be safe and started fresh, you might consider that but make sure all your content is still on your computer!!!

3. Delete your ZuneStore file so it completey rebuilds your Zune softwares collection.
(Props to Justananomaly for this (11-30-2007))

1) Close the software and unplug your Zune.
2) Click Start > Run and type (where Username is your windows account name):
XP: C:\Documents And Settings\Username\Application Data\Local\Microsoft\Zune
Vista C:\Users\Username\Appdata\Local\Microsoft\Zune
3)Delete the ZuneStore file located there.


4. Open MP3 tag and import ALL your music then select it all and
(Props to jubby2000 (12-03-2007))

go to Tools>Options>Tags>Mpeg
Under "Write" choose ONLY ID3v2 and ID3v2.4 UTF-8. That's it. You don't necessarily have to change your metadata (unless it's wrong), but you do have to click on them and hit "Save" to make sure it saves in the correct format. Zune is very careful about with format your tags are in(it's stupid i know). This will eliminate the option of Zune not reading your tags.

5. Open your Windows Media player and organize everything by editing the meta tag. Let's say before i did all this "We the Best" album by DJ Khaled was messed up in the Zune and appear as 2 different albums or not even recognize the aritst. After selecting every song in the album using WMP and right-click>advanced tag editor i would check through the tabs and make sure ALL the meta data was right for the album universally so Zune doesn't pick something wrong and mess up everything. I would make sure the original artist is always the same and click apply in the Advanced tag editor. You'll get the hang of the editor trust me.

6. After making sure all the meta data was correct in names and albums using Advanced Tag editor in WMP, it's time to load your Zune software.

7. You should notice that everything is perfect. If it isn't then i recommend you go back to WMP and organize your music some more using Advanced Tag editor option in WMP.

8. I found that it's much harder and slower to sync your collection using Zalternator and WMP. But now that everything is organized this should not be a problem.

I took the time to make this whole thing because i found myself desperate well before this to organize everything. I know how you feel. I was so close to switching over to Ipod but hang in there!!!!!!!

- By MyDingo21 (1-26-2007)

[CameleonMK]

I hope this helps people. Thanks for contributing.

[Jon]

Yeah this is helpful, welcome to ZuneBoards too.

[CameleonMK]

Oh I didn't even notice. Indeed welcome.

[MyDingo21]

no prob. it's the least i can do to help others 'round dis forum.

[deejaybos]

I've been using MP3Tag for years to organize my music in Winamp. I'm fairly OCD about all my music being nice and neat and easy to sort through in Windows and MP3 Players and software.

I just got my Zune the other day and was fairly confident that my tags were good enough to just get on the Zune and let me sort through real easy. I was 99% right.

The way I have my music on my computer is Genre -> Artist -> Album

I was hoping I'd be able to browse through the Zune in the same manner, unfortunately not, but I guess I'll get over that. What I don't like is how the Zune organizes the tracks for multi-CD albums.

My naming convention for MP3s that are in multi-CD albums is:

CD# - track# - Artist - TrackTitle

So in a multi-CD album folder it looks like

CD1-01-X-Y
CD1-02-X-Y .. etc
CD2-01-X-Y
CD2-02-X-Y .. etc

On the Zune it looks like:

01-X-Y
01-X-Y
02-X-Y
02-X-Y .. etc

My question: Is there a way to 'trick' the Zune into separating the tracks properly or am I going to have to retag my multi-CD albums to make it look like 2 different albums?

[mr.handsomeman]

sounds like a lot of work. Anyone want to come to my house and do it for me? LOL, I'm just playing.

[scrizz]

nice tutorial there

[detroit_zune313]

wow nice tutorial, I will try this right when I get home

[jacobmervine]

cool its mainly fixed all my probs i have thanks very much!

[deejaybos]

Any of you have any tips for what I was asking above?

[FlyingIsFun1217]

I've been meaning to clean out my collection and organize and fix all of the ID3 tags for quite a while now. I guess I'll just have to try using your method when I do

Nice guide! STICKY!

FlyingIsFun1217

[Skullslasher]

beautiful sounds great,cant wait to try it out when I get home,hopefully itll finish my problems with artists

[got zune?]

Thank you so much for posting this, i'm gonna give it a shot and see how it works for me.

[AquaToad]

Great! i will totaly do

[MyDingo21]

Originally Posted by deejaybos

I've been using MP3Tag for years to organize my music in Winamp. I'm fairly OCD about all my music being nice and neat and easy to sort through in Windows and MP3 Players and software.

I just got my Zune the other day and was fairly confident that my tags were good enough to just get on the Zune and let me sort through real easy. I was 99% right.

The way I have my music on my computer is Genre -> Artist -> Album

I was hoping I'd be able to browse through the Zune in the same manner, unfortunately not, but I guess I'll get over that. What I don't like is how the Zune organizes the tracks for multi-CD albums.

My naming convention for MP3s that are in multi-CD albums is:

CD# - track# - Artist - TrackTitle

So in a multi-CD album folder it looks like

CD1-01-X-Y
CD1-02-X-Y .. etc
CD2-01-X-Y
CD2-02-X-Y .. etc

On the Zune it looks like:

01-X-Y
01-X-Y
02-X-Y
02-X-Y .. etc

My question: Is there a way to 'trick' the Zune into separating the tracks properly or am I going to have to retag my multi-CD albums to make it look like 2 different albums?

As for this... what i did is have 2 separate folders for each CD. i know it isn't the best way but let's say u have Tupac:greatest Hits name mother folder Tupac greatest hits then make 2 sub folders creating Tupac: Greatests HitsCD1 and Tupac: Greatests HitsCD2 . that's seems to be the easiest way to get around that. i undertand your problem but that would simply take awhile .......

BUT have u tried highlighting all the mp3's just in CD1 and before "<keep>" try writing "CD1 <keep>" not positive if MP3Tag will except it but give it a try try it with 1 mp3 first to be safe lol

[ben52192]

Nice tutorial, but why do you have to do this whole process? Can't you just edit a file's metadata in Mp3Tag then replace the edited file with the old file in your Zune software?
EDIT: Oh wait, this process is if you wanna do it all at once. Right?

[PoN]

Welcome to zB and nice contribution. This will help alot of Zune Noobs

[LightingZaria]

hello and welcome to zuneboards. Great tutorial, and I'm trying it out right now. I have a question though. I can't seem to find Microsoft Zune under App. Data, and so I can't delete the ZuneStore file. Will that affect the tags at all?