commit 762cc9529fd2e98a699b6b6efbc45391957b42d3
parent 1a6a0e90fb14b191088b96541cb5513145cf9703
Author: Peter <peter@minskio.co.uk>
Date: Fri, 23 Oct 2026 10:07:03 +0100
I thought I'd posted this page years ago
Fixes a broken link though!
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diff --git a/content/posts/notes-on-sorting-music.md b/content/posts/notes-on-sorting-music.md
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+
+---
+title: "Notes on sorting music"
+date: 2026-10-23T09:55:00
+tags: ["Linux", "Notes", "Software"]
+---
+
+# Background
+
+As a bit of background, I used to have an enormous music library (some 650GB of mixed quality MP3 files) stored on a local server that I could akwardly stream from (if the stars aligned).
+
+Now this kind of setup is great, however there are a good few downsides to this approach, namely...
+
+* Audio quality is fixed at whatever you originally sourced the files at
+* Organisation and metadata is an ongoing nightmare
+* [Bitrot](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Data_degradation) is definitely a thing
+* Tastes change, but the library is mostly static
+* Keeping up with new releases is a full time job
+* Pruning files is yet another job in itself
+* Most of it just isn't listened to regularly
+* There's no good middle ground between singles and albums
+* Music is kind of awkward to _obtain_ versus TV shows and movies
+
+So, with this what I decided to do was to work my way through each and every artist in my library, adding what I liked to a Spotify playlist that I'd [export out](/music/) every few months as a form of backup just in case anything happened with my account or Spotify at large.
+
+# Exporting
+
+Exporting your liked lists isn't the simplest of things.
+
+There are a number of tools out there but the one I keep coming back to is [exportify](https://watsonbox.github.io/exportify/). Once you're logged in you're presented with your playlists and then you simply download the 'Liked' list and you're given a handy-dandy `liked.csv` that we're able to actually work on.
+
+# Processing
+
+As with most data and lists I work on, I've streamlined (ish) this process into [an unweildy script](https://github.com/breadcat/nix-configs/blob/main/scripts/blog-music.nix). Inside this you'll find how it converts CSV input into a reasonably coherent, sorted markdown table.
+
+# Future expansion
+
+Currently my library file holds no details regarding track metadata outside of Artist, Title and a link, it's just a list (hey, we like those!). At some point however I'd like to be able to append genres and styles to the list such as the following.
+
+<details><summary>Genres</summary>
+<ul>
+<pre>
+Blues\Electric
+Blues\Rock
+Blues\Traditional
+Classical\Minimal
+Classical\Traditional
+Electronic\Aggrotech
+Electronic\Ambient
+Electronic\Downtempo
+Electronic\Drum & Bass
+Electronic\Electronica
+Electronic\Glitch
+Electronic\House
+Electronic\IDM
+Electronic\Industrial
+Electronic\Minimal
+Electronic\Neurofunk
+Electronic\Psybient
+Electronic\Synthpop
+Electronic\Trance
+Electronic\Trip-hop
+Hip-Hop\Alternative
+Hip-Hop\Electronic
+Hip-Hop\Rap
+Metal\Blackgaze
+Metal\Drone
+Metal\Glam
+Metal\Groove
+Metal\Heavy
+Metal\Melodic Death
+Metal\Nu
+Metal\Post
+Metal\Rap
+Metal\Sludge
+Metal\Symphonic
+Metal\Thrash
+Pop\Dance
+Pop\Electro
+Pop\Rock
+Pop\Synth
+Rock\Acid
+Rock\Alt
+Rock\Brit
+Rock\Emo
+Rock\Folk
+Rock\Garage
+Rock\Goth
+Rock\Grunge
+Rock\Hard
+Rock\Indie
+Rock\Industrial
+Rock\Kraut
+Rock\Math
+Rock\Post
+Rock\Post-Punk
+Rock\Post-Rock
+Rock\Progressive
+Rock\Psychedelic
+Rock\Punk
+Rock\Shoegaze
+Rock\Ska
+Rock\Space
+Rock\Stoner
+Rock\Surf
+Soundtrack\Anime
+Soundtrack\Game
+Soundtrack\Movie
+Soundtrack\Remix
+Soundtrack\Score
+Soundtrack\Television
+</pre>
+</details>
