For developers with decades-old music collections, metadata chaos is a familiar nightmare: duplicate albums, missing artwork, and inconsistent artist names plague libraries built from ripped CDs and digital purchases. One engineer’s quest to reclaim order—while keeping data within the EU and leveraging open-source tools—reveals a potent workflow that transforms messy folders into a synchronized, lyric-enhanced music ecosystem.

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The Broken Foundation: Legacy Music Collections

"Rips from 20 years ago came with questionable metadata and quality," the author notes, highlighting issues like [Bonus][*][Alternative] tags and missing album art. This isn’t just aesthetic—it fragments libraries across devices and cripples searchability. The solution? A three-stage overhaul:
1. Metadata Correction: Using MusicBrainz’s Picard to scan files, match albums to databases, and standardize tags.
2. Lyrics Enhancement: Employing LRCGet to fetch .lrc files—timed lyric tracks that sync with playback.
3. Cross-Device Sync: Leveraging Nextcloud for encrypted, EU-hosted storage and file synchronization.

The Toolchain Breakdown

Picard: Metadata Surgery

Picard’s fingerprinting algorithm identifies tracks by acoustic signatures, not just filenames. Developers can:
- Batch-process albums
- Merge duplicates
- Embed high-res artwork

"After hours of clicking, the most glaring issues were fixed. New albums now get processed immediately—saving future headaches."

LRCGet: Lyrics Revolution

The discovery of the .lrc format was "mindblowing." LRCGet crawls crowdsourced lyric databases, attaching timestamped text to tracks. This exposed new metadata gaps: suffixes like [Re-issue] broke matches, forcing a second Picard pass.

Nextcloud + Gramophone: Sync Sovereignty

Nextcloud’s desktop client syncs files/playlists (*.m3u), but mobile playback required a player respecting flat files—not proprietary databases. Gramophone (Android) emerged as the winner:
- Directly reads/writes .m3u playlists
- Displays .lrc lyrics in real-time
- Lightweight and open-source

Why Developers Should Care

  • Data Control: Hosting with Hetzner ensures GDPR compliance—no US cloud giants.
  • Toolchain Flexibility: Open-source stack avoids vendor lock-in.
  • Automation Potential: Scriptable workflows (e.g., auto-tag new downloads).

The restored collection—now with lyrics, pristine metadata, and seamless sync—turns passive listening into an engaged experience. As the author concludes: "I don’t know how I tolerated ‘Unknown Artist’ before—but I’ll never go back." For developers sitting on untapped music archives, this isn’t just organization—it’s digital archaeology.

Source: rewiring.bearblog.dev