[Flavius]

Dear All,


I'm a huge music lover, having a large collection of audio music (CD, FLAC files).
For the moment I'm using a Dune Base 3 media player for my video and audio files. But in case of video files the search is quite easy, always having my projector on. But in the case of audio files, the search is harder, at least for the moment.

So, I decided to arrange the audio files in dedicated folders, for each music album, band, musician and music genres. It's easier to find things, but still not what I want.

To achieve the final goal, I need your help, regarding what changes do I have to do in the dune_folder.txt (system file) in order to be arranged the folders as I want.

I would like to have the folders as follows: in a single column with infinite number of rows. On each raw I would like to have, from left to right the following items: first the picture (icon) with the CD, followed by the artist name and the album names (the two names, actually will be the name of the folder contain the music files).

The present content of the dune_folder.txt is:

icon_valign=top
use_icon_view=yes
num_cols=1
num_rows=4
caption_font_size=normal
paint_captions=yes
paint_path_box=no
paint_help_line=no
paint_content_box_background=no
content_box_x=1
content_box_y=1
content_box_width=1918
content_box_height=1078
content_box_padding_left=40
content_box_padding_right=25
content_box_padding_top=40
content_box_padding_bottom=40
background_order=before_all
text_right_side=0
animation_enabled=yes

So, your help is needed to find the right commend to position the text on the right side of an icon.

If you have ideas how should I do it, please be kind and help me out. I'm not a computer genius, so be please as explicit as possible (I'm in the category "PC and programing for Dummies").

As always I counting on you support, for which I'm great full to you. Thank you in advance.

Best regards,
Flavius

[Gennoise]

You seem to be moving in the right direction, but how do you expect to keep it updated once you start adding or removing albums? If you're planning to do all of this using microsoft notepad and paint, you're going to have a bad time.

Take a look at Musicnizer. There's no need to reinvent the wheel.

[Flavius]

Originally Posted by Gennoise You seem to be moving in the right direction, but how do you expect to keep it updated once you start adding or removing albums? If you're planning to do all of this using microsoft notepad and paint, you're going to have a bad time. Take a look at Musicnizer. There's no need to reinvent the wheel.

I'm agree with you, there is no need to re-invent the wheel. I tried to instal musicnizer, and I had a problems with accessing the music files, on the test samples. Let me be more elaborated.

I have stored my entire music collection on a NAS. I play the files from a Dune Base 3.0 through a network connection. For a reason, which for me is still a mystery, when I set up musicnizer from my PC, set up the route to the files was set up as a windows base route/path, but on the other hand for Dune we need to set up the route as Linux path.

Plus in addition to that, to use Musicnizer, as far as I understand it, you have to have a monitor/large display/iPad in order to see what you are about to play, which I don't have, and I don't want to power on each time I listen to music my Projector (the lamp is much to expensive to waist it on music).

So, in did I don't want to re invent the wheel, but I need a solution to listen music, and to be able to browse through music folders using only the small display from the Dune Base 3.0. To do that the simplest way for me was to list the folders in 1 column and on the side to have the folders names. To do that, I need the instructions for the dune_files.txt. Or, you can help me out to set up correctly the Musicnizer.

Anyway you chose to go, thank you in advance for the support.

Best regards,
Flavius

[Gennoise]

In that case you don't have to use dune_folder.txt structures at all. Their only purpose is to modify the graphical interface, but since you won't be using that, simple playlist files will do.

Let's assume your music is in a folder labeled "music" in the root folder of your NAS. In windows, you would access it using UNC path \\server\music\. The Dune doesn't understand UNC paths though, so you have to modify it slightly: smb://server/music/.

Now for each album, you would have to create an M3U file with one line per song, using the appropriate media URL syntax:

smb://server/music/artist/album/track 01.mp3
smb://server/music/artist/album/track 02.mp3
smb://server/music/artist/album/track 03.mp3
...
smb://server/music/artist/album/final track.mp3

Save it as "{Album Name}.M3U", then put the final playlist file in whatever folder structure you want.

[Flavius]

Let me see if I get it correctly:

- you are saying to generate a play list for each album that I have (more that 3000 albums), and in the Musicnizer to upload as a route the playlist file>

Is that correct?

If it is correct the above assumptions, it's a lot of work. It's much easier for me to have the correct syntax in the dune-file.txt, as I requested in the above messages.

So, if you know what commend line I have to introduce in the dune_file.txt, to have only on column and infinite number of rows; and after that to have on each raw first the icon showing the picture with the album, and after that the name of the folder, I will be more than pleased.

I have something similar with the movie folders (each move is an independent blu ray structure folder) and are presented in rows and columns with name tag below. I just want to move the name tag to the right side of the icon.

Thank you,

[Gennoise]

Originally Posted by Flavius Let me see if I get it correctly: - you are saying to generate a play list for each album that I have (more that 3000 albums), and in the Musicnizer to upload as a route the playlist file> Is that correct?

What I meant is if you choose to avoid musicnizer (which is fine), the best alternative is to create these playlists. The playlists are essentially shortcuts to your music collection. They allow you to put albums in multiple folders without having to keep redundant copies of each album.

If you want to use dune_folder.txt files, you not only have to create one playlist file for each album, but also a customized dune_folder.txt file for every folder. This is not easier, nor is it less work. If you won't use the on-screen display at all, there is absolutely no benefit in using dune_folder.txt structures.

At the end of the day, you'll find that learning how to use musicnizer is the best way to go. Otherwise you'll spend countless hours in notepad trying to find the correct parameter values.

PS: there's a graphical rework on its way (source). This might be just wishful thinking but perhaps it will provide an integrated music jukebox.

EDIT

Disregard what I said about playlist+dune_folder files. You can actually do it without setting a media_url parameter if the songs are in the index folders. But this is not really how you're supposed to use the dune_folder indexing feature.

[Flavius]

I have the following folder structure:

z:\CD - Jazz
z:\CD - Jazz\Abdullah Ibrahim - African River (1989)\*.flac
z:\CD - Jazz\Abdullah Ibrahim - Water From An Ancient Well (1992)\*.flac
z:\CD - Jazz\Al Di Meola - Casino (1991)\*.flac
.
.
.
z:\CD - Jazz\Wynton Marsalis - Standard Time, Volume 1\*.flac
z:\CD - Jazz\Wynton Marsalis - Standard Time, Volume 3 - The Resolution of Romance (1990)\*.flac

I consider if I put a system file "dune-file.txt" in the root folder "z:\CD - Jazz\" with the above presented instructions, plus the one which will move the name of the folder from the bottom of the icon to the right side of the icon it will be perfect for the moment; I will obtain exactly what I need.

Can you help me with the specific instruction? How to formulate the command "text_bottom=0" to have the text on the right side of the icon?

In the future, with some help I will try to implement the Musicnizer, but until then I have to do something easier, plus please don't forget, I'm not a computer genius .

best regards,

[Gennoise]

Why don't you just set the Dune navigator to list view instead of grid view? That way you can scroll through all of your folders using the up/down buttons.

Out of curiosity: why is the folder name "CD - Jazz" instead of just "Jazz"? If you want to use indexing software, there are certain naming conventions you need to follow. At the moment, your folder names are designed to be easily readable for humans, but a 'dumb' program doesn't understand your good intentions.

The most widely accepted folder structure is:

/artist name/album name/track# title.flac

Everything else (genre, release year,...) belongs in the ID3 tags of each individual song.

Examples:

Z:\Abdullah Ibrahim\African River\*.flac
Z:\Abdullah Ibrahim\Water From An Ancient Well\African River\*.flac
Z:\Wynton Marsalis\Standard Time, Volume 1\*.flac

MusicBrainz Picard is a great tool that helps you clean up your collection. Not only does it fix the folder structure, it also fills in the metadata where possible.

[Flavius]

Dear Steven,


first of all thank you for your support. I'm sorry for responding so late, but I was in business trip for a few days.

Presently I don't take in consideration to use indexing software - main reason behind being the fact that I'm not a computer genius, and is very hard for me to set it up.

So, for that reason, I consider that the simplest solution is to introduce a command line in the system file, as I say it from the beginning.

To answer to the above, please find the following:
1 - "Why don't you just set the Dune navigator to list view instead of grid view? That way you can scroll through all of your folders using the up/down buttons." The answer is quite simple: I have a server at home with 100 TB of HDD. The server is set up with RAID solution, having a back up structure - so, I'm using actually 50TB directly. On this server, beside the music, I have also movies, video music, documentaries, and other stuffs. In order to know what content have each folder, I give them a generic names, like: CD - Jazz (this way knowing that is audio jazz music), Movies (having only BluRay movies), so on, so fort.
Having the above in mind, the navigator is set to list, but in this case with out a system file, I can see the icon/picture with the cover of the CD.

I use the same system file with my movies, where I have the icons with the blu ray cover and below the icon I have the name of the movie. It looks perfect. I would like to achieve the same thing for the CDs. But instead of having the name below, I would like to have it on the side (on the right side of the icon/CD case). I know that Fred-L knows the command, but he is not available for the moment – I think.

In the end: if you can help me with the correct command line to be inserted in the system file to move the name of the folder from the bottom of the icon to the right side of the icon, I will get exactly what I need.

Thank you for the recommendation regarding the tool to use for the metada information.

Beste regards,
Flavius

[Flavius]

Dear All,


in the mean time I discovered a new apllication for android, called DMC. It is easy to set up, and work with it. Highly recommendad.

Best regards,
Flavius