[jyjjy777]

Hey guys,
I just got my first HD mp3 player, a Zen Xtra, and I HATE the interface. To resemble anything close to functional everthing must be meticulously tagged and even then I find it annoying.
I asked a friend with more experience with these things and he claims they all work similiarly... but I find that hard to believe. Is there any player out there that will let me do something as simple as use navigatable folders?? I have 90 gigs of mp3s collected over the last 10 years and i don't want to spend 20 hours or whatever it will take(even with software) to go through and make sure they are all tagged exactly properly. My collection is organized simply and effectively in folders, artist\album\files, and I would like something that doesn't require more than that if at all possible.
Does this exist(and hopefully at a reasonable price)?
Thanks,
Dan

 

[sleepyh0b0]

try the older iriver models, or the X5

 

[Super King]

Yup, try Archos players, iAudio players, and the older (H1xx/3xx) iRiver models.

 

[blessingx]

sanity = properly tagged files.

I'm sure there is software out there that would rewrite tags if you already have them organized in the way you describe. I can't offer a name as I'm not on Windows, but it shouldn't take much time at all (certainly less then learning a new DAP interface). You basically just want to wipe current tags and replace with your directory structure.

 

[Potatoe1313]

Archos will allow you browse by folder, well not realy allow, but force you to browse by folder. When my Archos Gmini 120 crapped out, I went with a Rio Carbon Pearl (warning: only 6GB) because it allowed me to browse by folder whenever I want to (which happens to be all the time). Fortunately, I got into the habbit of tagging my files regularly, so I now have 60GB of music with proper tagging

, and I can't imagine what it must be like to live without ID3 tags.

 

[gamefreak]

Quote:

Originally Posted by blessingx sanity = properly tagged files. I'm sure there is software out there that would rewrite tags if you already have them organized in the way you describe. I can't offer a name as I'm not on Windows, but it shouldn't take much time at all (certainly less then learning a new DAP interface). You basically just want to wipe current tags and replace with your directory structure.

Try TheGodFather (free). It can do Tag->Filename and Filename/Folder/Whatever->Tag. Very handy

 

[jyjjy777]

Ok, so are those all my options playerwise? Anyone with any other suggestion?
The gmini sx 200 is looking interesting, any comments on the player?

 

[nikongod]

i would say tag everything and let it be done. i actually liked the interface on my zen wayyy alot more than the interface on my archos av3100 (upgraded hdd) player. if you simply put tags in, the zen does EVERYTHING else. with the archos you have to manually sort, or have some external sorting software. either way the archos is limited to the file structure.

if you have partial tags, there are programs that will go through your whole library, and find/insert missing information where they can.

after everything is loaded up for the zen, it is reallly stupid-fast to find music. sorting by whatever you want (on the fly) is pimp.

 

[nikongod]

i'l act sory for the double post later, maybe.

if your music is all sorted already, into folders that you are comfy with then the above mentioned archos (and probably other) players will run superbly.

i would STILL (regardless of what you do) get some software to find the id-tags and fill them in for you. it makes life soooo much easier as you change mp3 players.

 

[GSTom1]

Try this program...it works great!

Mp3/Tag Studio

 

[allenf]

If you were to use Redchair's Notmad Explorer to manage transfers that will do the tagging for you during the transfer onto the Zen.

 

[yyoo]

iTunes 5.0 supports folders. I haven't tried the folders feature myself, but you might want to play around with it.