View source for Amarok/QuickStartGuide/TheMusicCollection/en

<languages />
=== The Music Collection ===

==== The Media Sources pane ====

The '''Media Sources''' pane is the place where you browse and display your complete collection of music. This includes the tracks on your local hard disk, as well as those on any external devices or media connected to your computer, such as audio CD, USB devices, media players, network disks or Internet sources.
<span id="Setting up a collection"></span>
==== Setting up a collection ====

Do you have music tracks in ''mp3'', ''Ogg'' or ''FLAC'' format on your computer?  Begin by telling '''Amarok''' where to find those files, so it can create your collection. In the top-level menu: <menuchoice>Settings -> Configure Amarok -> Local Collection</menuchoice>.

[[File:Amarok_2.8_ConfigurationDialogLocalCollection.png|300px|thumb|center|Configure Collection Dialog, as of version 2.8]]

A tree-view of your home directory is shown above.  Click the check box where your music is stored; usually <menuchoice>home -> Music</menuchoice>.  Then choose <menuchoice>Fully Rescan Entire Collection</menuchoice>.  This will take some time, so do not be alarmed if '''Amarok''' seems slow for a while. Once the scan is complete, it is best to quit '''Amarok''' using the top-level <menuchoice>Amarok</menuchoice> menu, or <keycap>Ctrl + Q</keycap>, and then restart it. Your newly-added music should show up under the '''Local Collection''' section.
<br /><br />
More about configuring your collection [[Special:myLanguage/Amarok/Manual/ConfiguringAmarok#Collection|here]].

{{Tip|The set of multimedia formats recognized by '''Amarok''' is not restricted to those mentioned above; is controlled by the [[Special:Mylanguage/Phonon|Phonon]] back end.}}
<span id="Adding Media Devices to the Collection"></span>
==== Adding Media Devices to the Collection ====

Underneath the search bar near the top of the '''Media Sources''' pane you see the different devices and/or content categories within the '''Content Browser'''. If you insert an Audio CD in the CD drive it will appear in the '''Media Sources''' pane, along with media players, thumb drives, and other USB devices. After an external device has been mounted, it will show automatically within the '''Media Sources''' pane.

Below is a screenshot showing three connected sources with music: Audio CD, mp3 player, and the '''Local Collection'''.

[[Image:Mediasources.png|250px|thumb|center]]
<span id="Ripping a CD into the collection"></span>
==== Ripping a CD into the collection ====

If you don't have any music files on your computer, it's easy to ''rip'' them (copy the tracks from your CDs to your collection). Just pop in a CD, and right-click on the banner of the CD device in the '''Content Browser''' to play, or copy to your collection, which will rip and ''tag'' your tracks (see image below). If you copy music from an audio CD to your '''Local Collection''', the ''message bar'' at the bottom of the '''Amarok''' window will indicate that it is busy copying. The ripping may take several minutes. Once the rip is complete, the message in the message bar disappears and the music appears in the content browser of your '''Local Collection'''. If the ripped music does not appear in your '''Media Sources''' pane it's best to quit '''Amarok''' from the <menuchoice>Amarok</menuchoice> top-level menu, or <keycap>Ctrl + Q</keycap>, and then restart it. Now you should see it in your collection. The screenshot below shows how you move tracks from your audio CD, iPod or other device to your collection, using the context (right-click) menu.


[[Image:Amarokripcd.png|250px|thumb|center]]


In the above context menu, you can also see the choice to <menuchoice>Edit Track Details</menuchoice>. Use this option if you have a track that needs a tag edited. This becomes important when you rip music to .WAV format, losing some of the tags. If quite a bit of your collection needs tagging, consider dedicated tagging software, such as
* [http://musicbrainz.org/doc/PicardTagger Picard]
* [http://easytag.sourceforge.net EasyTag]
* [http://kid3.sourceforge.net Kid3]

Correct tagging is important to help '''Amarok''' show your tracks in the appropriate albums and proper sort order. Learn more about [[Special:mylanguage/Amarok/QuickStartGuide/Glossary#Tags|ripping and tagging]].
<span id="Accessing other media sources"></span>
==== Accessing other media sources ====

You might have wondered why the '''Media Sources''' pane is not called the 'Collections' pane. '''Amarok''' gives you access to much more music than just your collection -- Internet shops, audio books, podcasts, music files stored outside your collection, and previously stored playlists. The '''Amarok''' ''breadcrumb navigation'' is the key to all of this. The starting icon for the breadcrumb navigation is the home folder icon at the extreme top left of the '''Media Sources''' pane. This icon expands and contracts as you browse through the '''Media Sources''' pane, allowing you to easily navigate your collection by clicking your desired folder in the breadcrumb bar.

[[Image:Amarokbreadcrumb.png|250px|thumb|center]]


If you click the '''Amarok''' home folder you see the '''Media Sources''' pane on the left below, containing icons to available resources. If you click <menuchoice>Files</menuchoice> (left image below, second item from the bottom), you will see something similar to the image on the right, below. Notice how the breadcrumb bar expands and how the content of the selected folder is shown in the '''Media Sources''' pane (right image below). Clicking the '''>''' symbols among the breadcrumbs allows you to view the folders available at that level of the folder structure. The '''Amarok''' file browser gives you access to your entire file system, even outside your '''Local Collection'''.

{| class="tablecenter" border=1
!    Media Sources pane
!    Files icon clicked
|-
| [[Image:Amarokmediasources-home.png|250px|thumb]] || [[Image:Amarokmediasources-files.png|250px|thumb]]
|}


The functions of the icons in the '''Amarok''' Home folder (left above) are:

{| border=1
!Icon 
!Name
!Action
|-
| [[Image:Action-collection-amarok48.png|48px]] || <menuchoice>Local Music</menuchoice> || Your '''Amarok''' collection
|-
| [[Image:Applications-internet.png|48px]] || <menuchoice>Internet</menuchoice> || Internet shops such as ''Magnatune'', ''Jamendo'' and ''Last.fm''. First configure your internet resources in: <menuchoice>Settings -> Configure Amarok -> Internet Services</menuchoice>
|-
| [[Image:View-media-playlist.png]] || <menuchoice>Playlists</menuchoice> || Saved playlists -- see also [[Special:mylanguage/Amarok/QuickStartGuide/Playlists|Playlists]]. Also playlists on media devices
|-
| [[Image:Folder-amarok.png]] || <menuchoice>Files</menuchoice> || Your file system
|-
| [[Image:Hi48-action-podcast-amarok.png]] || <menuchoice>Podcasts</menuchoice> || Access to Podcasts via RSS feed
|}

Clicking <menuchoice>Local Music</menuchoice> in the root of '''Media Sources''' (image above) or in the breadcrumb bar returns you to your collection, showing you a list of all the available resources, artists, albums and tracks that you have previously defined as part of your collection. The breadcrumb bar indicates that you are viewing '''Local Music'''.
<span id="Streams and Podcasts"></span>
==== Streams and Podcasts ====

There are two ways to listen to streams. 
* If you have a favorite station, get the stream URL and add it: <menuchoice>Playlist -> Add Stream</menuchoice>. If you then save your playlist, later you can find it again in '''Playlists''', as a ''Saved Playlist''.
* Browse through the scripts available in our '''Script Manager''', <menuchoice>Tools -> Script Manager</menuchoice> up to Amarok 2.4.0, after 2.4.1 <menuchoice>Settings -> Configure Amarok -> Scripts</menuchoice>. There are some excellent collections available, which will show up in the '''Internet''' section of your '''Media''' pane.

Podcasts have their own section in the '''Media''' pane, above. If you have an RSS or Atom feed URL, click the {{Plus}} and add it there. If you have an OPML file to import, that choice is available also. Use the context (right-click) menus to <menuchoice>Add to playlist</menuchoice>, <menuchoice>Configure</menuchoice>, <menuchoice>Remove Subscription</menuchoice>, <menuchoice>Update Channel</menuchoice>, or mark an episode as <menuchoice>New</menuchoice>. If you are interested in browsing through a large collection of podcasts, check out the '''Podcast Directory''' available through the '''Script Manager''', referred to above.
<br /><br />
More about configuring '''Amaroks''' '''Internet Services''' [[Special:myLanguage/Amarok/Manual/ConfiguringAmarok#Internet_Services|here]].
<span id="Using the Content Browser"></span>
==== Using the Content Browser ====

The hard disk of your computer, audio CDs, external devices and the Internet are the basic resources for your collection. After your collection has been set up, it is likely that your collection will hold a large number of albums and tracks, much more than can be shown on a single window.

How to change the display of your collection, below:
<span id="Hiding or expanding information"></span>
===== Hiding or expanding information =====

The area of the '''Media Sources''' pane below the search bar is called the '''Content Browser'''. Three media sources are indicated in the image of a '''Content Browser''' below: CD, Local Collection and a Media Player:

[[Image:CD_Collection_Sansa.png|250px|thumb|center]]


Clicking the banner for a device (the blue bar for the Sansa above) shows or hides the content of that device. The direction of the arrow on the right indicates whether the contents for that device is hidden or shown. The content on a particular device can, in turn, be hidden or shown using the same principle, clicking on the appropriate artist or album. An arrow pointing down on the left of an artist or an album indicates that the contents has been expanded. An arrow pointing right indicates that more content for that category is available but currently hidden. In the image above, the information for ''Mike Oldfield - The Songs of Distant Earth'' CD has been expanded, showing the individual tracks. On the other hand, the albums and tracks in the '''Local Collection''' are hidden. By clicking these arrows you also can expand or hide information.
<span id="Changing the order of tracks and albums"></span>
===== Changing the order of tracks and albums =====

The order in which tracks are sorted in the '''Content Browser''' can be customised by using the {{Icon|preferences-other}} button at the top of the '''Media Sources''' pane:

[[File:Amarok_2.8_CollectionSortingMenu.png|400px|center|thumb|The Collection sort options for version 2.8]]


The sort order is indicated on the top left of the '''Media Sources''' pane, just below the '''Search''' text box. The default order is '''Artist / Year - Album'''. The display order of the '''Content Browser''' can be temporarily switched between the user-defined sort order (described above) and a ''Merged view'' in which artists are listed alphabetically, no matter on which media the music is stored. To toggle the ''Merged view'', click the {{Icon|view-list-tree}} icon at the top right-hand of the '''Media Sources''' pane:

To search your collection, type your search term into the '''Search bar''' at the top of the '''Local Music''' section. Not only can you search by artist, album or track name, but any part. You might create a nice playlist by searching for '''''winter''''', for instance, or merely find a track when you only remember one word of the title. You can also search by rating, playcount, even filetype. See [[Special:myLanguage/Amarok/Manual/Organization/Collection/SearchInCollection|Search in Collection]] for more details.
<span id="Deleting items from the collection"></span>
===== Deleting items from the collection =====

You can delete any item from your collection by right-clicking on it and choosing the bottom item <menuchoice>Move Tracks to Trash</menuchoice>. A confirmation dialog will appear, preventing the accidental deletion of any tracks. More than one item can be selected with <keycap>Ctrl + click</keycap>.




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[[Category:Amarok2.8]]
[[Category:Multimedia]]
[[Category:Tutorials]]