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Normalizing Media Library File System

Tags: Mac

Hi Guys,
I need some help in figuring out a solution to a design issue. I have recently started designing a media database. Right now the database contains only music related data. As part of the design I “normalized” my file system. The path to any single file has the same structure. The structure follows this logic Genre\Artist\Album Type\Album\Disc No\Media Files For That Disc.

Now I would like to create a similar “normalized” file system for my audio books so that I can add the data to my database but I am struggling with this because of some inconsistencies that I can’t figure out how to deal with. Some books are just singles, novels consisting of one or more discs some are Trilogies each book consisting of one or more discs but all the books needing to be grouped together because they are part of a set. Then there are Duologies and the series. Right now I have the file system set up like this Genre\Author\Book or Set Name\Book Name or Disk No\Disk No/Files For That Disc. You can kinda see where things get messy and I can’t see a way to normalize it. Anybody got any suggestions?

This may seem pointless but the path is relevant as it is stored in the database. For the music side I have three primary tables, Album Disc and Track. The Album table stores the path up to the root directory for a given album. The Disc table tacks on the Disc No portion of the path and the Track table contains the file name. When these three paths are combined I have the full path and file name to any given song in my collection. I have “Normalized” the file path. I would like to do the same for my audio books.

Thanks In Advance

Topic

Not always possible.

In reply to Normalizing Media Library File System

I think you provided why. In the music realm I always see the album, disc, track but for audiobooks, there is always some variation such as just one big file. For audiobooks this is a non-issue since most players can resume and some can bookmark so you can skip to a chapter. Audiobooks don’t neatly fit into your scheme.

Looking For Consistancy

In reply to Not always possible.

Thank you for the reply. I know it is not necessary. I am trying to promote consistency across the file system. I have some ideas but none of them solve the whole problem. None of my audio books are single files. They are all chaptered. I don’t like single file audio books.

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