Music has the ability to make any task or chore a little better. It can brighten your mood, energize you, speak to your emotional side, and even help to relax you and alleviate stress. It’s really no wonder that people turn to music throughout their day, as it often provides that much needed escape or emotional connection. With all this in mind, it has led many people to build rather robust digital music collections. Digital music collections make it possible for people to download not just albums but specific songs and really build a customized catalog.
If you’ve been building up your own digital music catalog for some time now and it’s getting a little out of control or disorganized, we’ve got some tips you can use. These will help ensure you get the very most out of your music collection and that albums, songs, and artists don’t get forgotten about.
Keep All Music in One Central Location
The first tip focuses on convenience. You don’t want to have to switch between devices, apps, platforms, or software just to access your favorite music. Everything needs to be in one central location so you aren’t jumping through hoops to access it. For some people, one of the challenges to making sure all their music is in one spot is that they may need to deal with file conversion.
This file conversion issues seems to be a problem that Mac users in particular have. The issue of converting an M4A to an MP3 iTunes file can exist. Figuring out how to convert these files doesn’t have to be confusing, and once you figure it out, then you’ll be able to create that central library of content. One really simple solution is to make use of the free trial of Setapp and use the Permute media converter to easily do the conversion. Setapp features over 190 Mac apps in all different categories, including the Elmedia Player which can also tackle the conversion for you. For more information, check this blog on how to convert M4A to MP3.
Using these options will be much more straightforward over trying to do the audio conversion yourself. If you’re a relatively new Mac user, or you just don’t find yourself to be computer-savvy, it’s all the more reason to use tools like these.
Get Rid of Content You No Longer Want
Now that you’ve got everything in one central location, it’s time to do a major clean-up. This means getting rid of any music you no longer want or are interested in. You may be surprised at just how many tunes you’ve got stored, and that a portion of that music no longer fits with your musical styling and interests.
Sub-Folders Can Help to Streamline Content
Just as you would organize word files on your computer using folders and sub-folders, you can do the same with your music. This is a huge step towards a more organized and cohesive collection that makes sense and is user-friendly.
As for how to sort the music in your folders, typically people will sort the content by genre, artist/band, and album. Your music management program will likely do this for you, but you may choose to create your own rankings or sorting techniques instead.
Playlists Will Prove to Be the Best Tip
This brings us to your playlists, which are arguably one of the best and most effective ways to organize your music. Because a playlist is created by you, it gives you a chance to truly customize your digital music library and make it work for you.
You may want to build these playlists around an activity such as workout music, relaxation music, home entertaining music, and so forth, or it could be more specific and focus on favorite music from a particular genre, artist, or time period. Depending on the music management platform you are using, sometimes they create their own lists too of recently listened to music, favorites, and so forth. The idea is that you can really play around with your playlists, customizing them as you see fit. Music can always be added or deleted off these lists at any time.
Now It’s Time to Add More to Your Library
Once you have taken all the necessary steps to get your digital music library under control and organized, it’s time to start adding more music to it. Moving forward, you want to be sure to stick to your organizational tips so that it doesn’t get out of hand again.
It can also be helpful to do a music purge every few months just to ensure the content you have is the music you want to listen to. A good rule to stick to when deleting music is to view when it was last played and if it’s more than two years ago, chances are you wouldn’t miss it. Sure, this may seem a bit cutthroat, but this helps to keep your music library organized and relevant to your personal taste.
If you’re the type that hears a song or hears one mentioned that you want to remember to download at a later date, you can also start a note, file, or list on your smartphone where you can essentially keep track of songs to download. When you get a chance to download more music, you can then refer to your list and not worry about forgetting anything.
Consider Sharing Your Playlist
The final tip is to consider sharing your playlists with others, and then checking out what other people are listening to. This can be a great way to expand your musical preferences and find new favorites that you can download for your own library.
An Organized Digital Library Makes for Good Listening
The fact is that once you’re able to organize your digital music collection, it will be much easier to use and you’ll get a more customized experience. It can also help to reacquaint you with music you forgot you had, so you can fall in love with the tunes all over again. Spending a little time organizing your collection will be well worth the effort.
