Processing music collection for car use
This may be of use to someone, the procedure I used to get my music collection onto SD card for the car, with all tracks playing in the correct order and with album art displayed .
CD ripping to FLAC and converting FLAC to MP3.
Tool: dbPowerAmp
https://www.dbpoweramp.com/ not free
Settings:
MP3 VBR -V 1.5
ID tag processing: Album art 300x300 max, 50KB max, force embedded to JPG.
ReplayGain: Track and Album gain
Volume normalise: max amp x8, max vol 0dB.
Dynamic range compression: Threshold -3dB, ratio 2:1, Attack 3ms, Release 5ms.
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Process MP3 ID tags
Ensure ID tags are set for: Artist, Album, Title, Track. Also Genre and Year if desired.
Tools: MediaMonkey, MP3tag for Auto-tagging, tag editing.
http://www.mediamonkey.com/ free
http://www.mp3tag.de/ free
Force album art size to 300 pixels
Tool: Sanse MP3 art sizer
http://hcware.t15.org/mp3art/ free
Settings:
300 pixels, quality 85% (upscales if necessary).
Non square art will work in the player as long as one dimension is 300 pixels.
Process MP3 files for track ordering in portable/ car players.
Tool: MP3 track fix, I wrote this one.
http://www.esatclear.ie/~rdrohan/software/MP3trackFix.zip free
Unzip it, right click and select Run with Powershell.
If a notice appears about Execution policy, enter Y for yes.
This is a Powershell script which will:
1. Make the filename equal to 3 digit track ID tag + title tag. This allows tracks to play in the correct sequence where the player uses alphabetical order, common in automotive and AV amps.
2. Sets the file timestamp according to the track ID tag. This allows the tracks to play in the correct sequence where the player uses timestamp order, found in some portable players.
