Organizing my 500 GB's of Music

My Cloud OS 3 Personal & Network Attached Storage My Cloud
1

Does Western Digital, My Cloud, have a organizer for your music collection.

Synology has Bliss for their customers. What is WD’s solution to help here.

I have 500 GB of CD’s, music, etc on my 3 TB My Cloud.

It is all over the drive . I need to organize it so I can more effectively stream music.

Comments?

2

@RLMWD

Have you set up Twonky? See example images below.

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3

Yes. The Twonky Media Server and depending on ones My Cloud model, Plex Media Server app that can be added through the My Cloud Dashboard App tab.

But really though its probably a good idea to properly organize the media rather than have it scattered all over the hard drive in multiple Shares or sub folders within the Shares. Typically people will have one Share for Music, one for Movies, etc. Then have subfolders within those Shares. When using media servers like Plex, proper naming and folder structures are key to having the media server properly recognize and scan/catalog the media.

4

I do not see where the Plex Media server app is in the MY Cloud web link.

5

I have My Cloud Firmware v04.05.00-342.

How do I use Flex with the version, this product?

6

Since you have a first gen single bay My Cloud the Plex Media Server 3rd party app is not officially supported on that device.

My Cloud 3rd Party Apps Matrix
https://support-en.wd.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/14709

If Twonky doesn’t do what you want, you can install software to a separate computer/mobile device that can accomplish the categorization of media files. This includes using programs and media client/servers like; Bubble UPnP (https://www.bubblesoftapps.com/bubbleupnpserver2/), Kodi (https://kodi.tv/), Plex (https://www.plex.tv/), iTunes (https://www.apple.com/itunes/), Media Monkey (https://www.mediamonkey.com/) and others.

7

Right. . . plex is not supported on that device. . . . .and I think even if you got it to run. . .you would find a WORLD of pain due to the performance of the unit.

So music organization is a thing. I have broad subfolders for Genre; with subdirectories for Artists, with album directories underneath. Maintaining that structure. . .any number of programs will work.

Honestly. . . .day-to-day. . . I use an iPod from 2009. All the music is loaded, and my home receivers support AirPlay directly. When I use music at my PC (rare); I tend to use either Windows Media Player, or Itunes. . as the mood strikes. I have a HD with the music files generally at hand; if not those apps will read music directly off the NAS when running the PC.

Of course. . .movies can’t be stored on an iPod (or any tablet for that matter). If I am at home. . . I like to say I use Plex from the NAS. . . . streamed to a Roku stick. . . … .I have it all setup.

But honestly, I generally watch from a PC. . .which reads the files directly off the NAS. . . . OR if I am travelling (usually the case); I have a 4TB portable drive filled with movies. . . and I run a HDMI cable from the receiver/TV to a PC. Works dandy. (I gave up trying to stream Plex across the internet for a few reasons. . .it does work. . .but not my cup of tea)

8

Good luck with organizing your music library, and happy listening! :musical_note::sparkles:

11

If you have all of your music in folders, first folder by Artist, second folder by Album and use decent server software, this makes it a lot easier.

12

I find I do spend time to keep music/video organized.
I do “Genre-Artist-Album” folder structure.

It becomes especially important if you use multiple devices and multiple media software. (I have apple phone; but prefer WMP for music from a PC)

The advantage is if I just want to toss “Big-Band” onto a low-memory device. . .I can do it quickly.
Side effects:

  • need to edit metadata upon import to get consistent Genres. Some artists tend to be “rock”, “pop” or “country” on different albums by default.
  • I often need to sort Classical by composer. Therefore; I need to scrub composer from all other stuff so-as not to get into a mess when I want to play “Bach”