Please Help me Locate Software for Music Storage With my Requirements

[matthew4mckeever]

Hey everyone!
First of all I'm going to apologise if I am not using the correct thread section for my question, wasn't really sure what it would fit under.

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Okay so, I am looking for software (preferably free) as an alternative to iTunes. I used to use iTunes a lot, however it's got these little annoyances and stupid issues (to me) which really get on my nerves, some of them just seem like slight things which could easily be sorted.
There will be slight ranting here, but nothing vulgar so don't worry

These issues include:

- Unable to locate artwork for some albums (even though it finds some perfectly). This is stupid because this is the case with some well-known albums as well, which ARE in the iTunes store, and yes I have checked to make sure information like the Album and Artist name are exactly the same.

- When ripping CD's the options are:
https://i.imgur.com/gSSyu4D.jpg
Where the hell is the separate option for 'automatically eject CD after ripping' ?

- You can change the output folder of the ripped music, however - you cannot customise the formatting of the folders they are outputted into. I want it to be in a folder, with the Album subfolders formatted in "Artist Name - Album Name".

- Whatever database it uses to get the CD information from is also stupid. It makes quite a few albums appear as 'Compilations' when really it does that because it puts the 'feat. Artist Name' in the song Artist name, not in the song title like 'Song Name (feat. Artist Name). So I have to change that manually.

- Another thing, it's terrible at getting Genres. Like it lists Trivium as 'Punk' when it is clearly not. It lists Drum & Bass as Electronic, which sure most of D&B is Electronic, but why can't it have the ACTUAL proper Genres...

- Lastly you buy music from their store, yet you can't have it in CD quality. The hell's up with that? At least an option for that would be nice, I mean you pay around the same price for the Albums as new actual physical CD copies anyway.

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I've tried other programs too like MediaMonkey, which I actually kinda liked, however for whatever reason my Media Keys became unresponsive with MediaMonkey after a song or few had been playing for a while, the stop key worked fine, and I would not be able to use any of my other Media Keys unless I pressed the stop Media Key.
If anyone knows a fix for this issue with MediaMonkey, let me know and I will


So as you can tell, I'm after a Media Player/CD Ripper, with something that avoids most/all of the issues with iTunes listed above, finds Album artwork and gets accurate metadata.
One thing I would like is to have options as to what file I rip my CDs into, I want them ripped into an uncompressed WAV file at 16bit 44.1khz.

Again, I would like this software to be free, however I suppose I could pay for it after testing a trial version, although I'll say I would not wish for it to go over say 30-40 pounds.

Thanks
Sorry for the slight ranting

 

[Alabalcho]

Why not just use two (or three) separate programs:
- one for ripping / organizing
- one for playing

I am old school, and for me Windows Media Player (from Windows 7) does the perfect job for both tasks.

 

[mjslakeridge]

I dumped Itunes myself a few years ago. I am using Windows Media Player on Windows 8.1 Professional. At one time before Itunes, I had the Creative application that came with a Soundblaster audio card, but support for that card was limited to Windows XP.

 

[matthew4mckeever]

Why not just use two (or three) separate programs:
- one for ripping / organizing
- one for playing

I am old school, and for me Windows Media Player (from Windows 7) does the perfect job for both tasks.

Yes, but is there a cd ripper that offers searching for metadata and gets album art?

 

[mjslakeridge]

Windows Media Player gets the album art. You can edit the metadata in "properties" with File Explorer to change the genre or year, or Album Artist or whatever else you want for all of the songs in the album at once.

 

[matthew4mckeever]

Windows Media Player gets the album art. You can edit the metadata in "properties" with File Explorer to change the genre or year, or Album Artist or whatever else you want for all of the songs in the album at once.

Actually, I think I would be fine using windows media player, although the metadata service it uses is blocked...
Not my internet because I also tried with a VPN.

Also when I select 'WAV Lossless' in the ripping options, is that uncompressed?

 

[mjslakeridge]

If you are ripping from CDs, isn't the metadata already contained on the CD? Rip a CD and then look at it's properties. If the file is 44.1, 16 bit, then it is the same as the CD. If you are creating WAV files from songs you have purchased online, most likely they are not WAV quality, but probably mp3 files. I usually rip my CDs to MP3 format at 192 bit rate, and find the quality quite good.

 

[Alabalcho]

Windows Media Player' WAV ripping is lossless - it rips into bit-copy of what is on the CD. I am not sure, but I think WAV file format does not carry metadata - everything should be in sidecar file (and therefore, not compatible). There is also WMP' custom lossless format, or you can use third-party utility to rip in FLAC.

As I said - you don't have to use single app throughout the process. There are many third-part apps which check with CDDB, and can change metadata / file names / directory structure.

Some CDs can carry metadata (so-called CD-Text format) (which led to @Mjslakeridge conclusion), but not all.

You are also aware that there's no central database for CD metadata.

 

[matthew4mckeever]

Windows Media Player' WAV ripping is lossless - it rips into bit-copy of what is on the CD. I am not sure, but I think WAV file format does not carry metadata - everything should be in sidecar file (and therefore, not compatible). There is also WMP' custom lossless format, or you can use third-party utility to rip in FLAC.

As I said - you don't have to use single app throughout the process. There are many third-part apps which check with CDDB, and can change metadata / file names / directory structure.

Some CDs can carry metadata (so-called CD-Text format) (which led to @Mjslakeridge conclusion), but not all.

You are also aware that there's no central database for CD metadata.

WAV does hold metadata, yeah I know about CD text and that there's no central database.
Just decided to screw it and use MediaMonkey, and stop caring about album art, which one of my top priotiries here.

 

[mjslakeridge]

After I rip a CD into mp3 format, I then open up the album in Windows Media Player. Right-click on the area where the album art should be and click on Find Album Info. A window pops up and connects to fai.music.metaservices.microsoft.com, along with the album cover and song listing. If everything is correct, you can click on finish and everything is saved. In some cases, multiple albums will pop up, such as a greatest hits album with bonus tracks, or re-release of an album with additional tracks. You have to select the one which matches your CD.