Quick start

Things to know ...

Windows and dialogs

Create a new playlist

Directories to scan

Playlist management

List window

Built-in audio player

Browse window

Browse options

Album details edition

Search

Filter options

Covers database

Cover picture replacement

Remote commander

Configuration

Export

Template editor

Main menu

File

New list (Ctrl+N)

Load list (Ctrl+0)

Save list (Ctrl+S)

Save list as ...

Close list

Export list

Mp3 CD autoscan

Exit

Edit

Search (Ctrl+H)

Search next ... (F3)

Options (Ctrl+T)

List

Update batch process (Shift+Ctrl+U)

Scan current list (Ctrl+F5)

Fast scan (F5)

Cache all covers

List/Browse view (Ctrl+B)

View folders in list (Shift+Ctrl+B)

Browse mode options

Show/Hide right panel

Add new directories to scan

Delete or move a directory to scan

Filters (Ctrl+F)

Export covers to local CoversDB

Export covers to a CoversDB file

Import covers from local CoversDB (Shift+Ctrl+I)

Most often played albums (Ctrl+F2)

Last played albums (Ctrl+F3)

Artist - Year - Genre

Year ascending

Album

Update with FreeDB (Ctrl+U)

Edit details (Ctrl+D)

Write information in playlist file

Scan album information

Paste image (Shift+Ctrl+V)

Load image

Delete image

Import cover from local CoversDB (Ctrl+I)

Remove album from list

Selection

Create a selection

Edit current selection (Ctrl+E)

Rename selection

Remove selection

Add/Remove selected album (Ctrl+A)

Add all albums to selection (Shift+Ctrl+A)

Playlist

Play album (Ctrl+P)

Play album (external)

Add album to playlist (Shift+Ctrl+P)

Add all albums to playlist

Play track

Play track (external)

Add track to playlist

Load playlist

Save playlist

Clear playlist (Ctrl+Y)

Remove track

Move track up

Move track down

Jump to currently playing album (Ctrl+J)

View remote commander (Ctrl+W)

Tools

Playlist builder (Ctrl+L)

Local CoversDB management (Ctrl+R)

View menu bar (Ctrl+M)

Toolbars management

1. Launch menu [File / New list (Ctrl+N)]
2. Add new directories to scan dialog : add one or several directories where you use to store your albums (can be the full drive, but the scan will be longer) and click on Ok.
3. Playlist management : Manually visit each directory and create playlists, one per album, if it's not already done. Then click on Ok when it's completed. The application will perform a scan and list all found albums (playlists) in the List window.
4. List window
   • For each album where information are missing, edit its details with [Album / Edit details (Ctrl+D)].
   • Add covers, for example by drag'n'dropping images on the cover art area, or pasting from the clipboard (Paste image (Shift+Ctrl+V)).
   • Now save your list [File / Save list as ...]
5. Browse window : Access the browse window with [List / List/Browse view (Ctrl+B)], and double-click on the album you want to listen !

• Easy Album Manager considers that a .jpg file having the same name as a playlist (.m3u, .pls or .b4s) and located in the same directory as the playlist is its cover art picture. For example, "Marillion - Anoraknophobia (2001).jpg" is the cover art picture of "Marillion - Anoraknophobia (2001).m3u"

• You can burn mp3 CD/DVDs with one or more .cea file(s) in the root directory. In this case the list will be loaded automatically (one .cea file only) or you will be asked to choose one, and the medium won't need to be scanned (can be long). To do such a thing, with your explorer create a new directory, copy the albums into it, then in Easy Album Managercreate a new list and add this directory in the directories to scan, then scan the directory, add cover arts etc ... and save the file in the root of the directory you created, as a .cea file. You can now burn this directory.

File

New list (Ctrl+N)

Creates a new list. The application searches recursively for all playlist files (m3u, lst, b4s) in the Directories to scan : they will be the first thing you'll be asked for.
Then you will enter the Playlist management dialog, in order to build your album playlists, if it's not already the case. When you're happy with the playlist files, the application will perform the full scan, and will extract the artist, album, genre and year information from the audio files tags.

Load list (Ctrl+0)

In order to avoid scanning directories each time you launch the application (it can take a while !), you can save and load list files.
A list file is a .eam file that contains all the scanned information. If you modify an album information (artist, album name, year, genre) you should always tag the audio files of the album (view Album details edition), in order to keep those data saved at the lowest level.
The .eam file also stores other information, like the cached cover arts in order to make the display faster.

Save list (Ctrl+S)

Saves the current changes. You will be asked for a file name if the current list has never been saved.

Save list as ...

To save your current list with a different file name, or to save a list for the first time after a new scan.

You can choose to save a list as a .cea file. The only difference between a .cea and a .eam file is that all file paths (playlists, audio files, images) in a .cea file are stored relatively to .cea file path. This feature will be used if you want to burn a mp3 CD/DVD putting a Easy Album Manager .cea file in the medium root. You can put several .cea files in the root directory. If there is only one, it will be loaded automatically. If there are several ones, you will be asked to choose one.

Close list

Saves (eventually) and closes the current list.

Export list

If you want to export your current list in a text, html, csv ... file please have a look at Export.

Mp3 CD autoscan

If a Mp3 CD/DVD is currently in one of your CD-ROM/DVD-ROM drives, it will automatically be scanned and its list will be created. This operation can be fully automatic, have a look at Configuration.

You can also put a .cea file in the root of your medium, if it is found, the medium won't be scaned and you will save time. Have a look at Things to know.

Exit

Exits Easy Album Manager.

Edit

Search (Ctrl+H)

To search for a string or words in the artist, album title and song titles. View Search.

Search next ... (F3)

When a search is active, goes to the next match.

Configuration (Ctrl+T)

To edit the configuration of Easy Album Manager, have a look at Configuration.

List

Update batch process (Shift+Ctrl+U)

With this option you will be able to launch a batch process on all albums having a red status. Please specify in the dialog box which operations you want to be performed.

Scan current list (Ctrl+U)

A first scan is performed when you create a new list, but after you can perform another one, for example if you changed a lot of things on your file system and want to keep your list synchronized.
This update mode will read again all audio tags and modify the artist, album, genre and year information in the list.
This scan takes time, so prefer the Fast scan option if you simply removed and added albums (and it should be the case most of the time).

Fast scan (Shift+Ctrl+U)

Launch this to keep your list synchronized with your file system, in the case you added new albums or removed ones. This scan won't read again the audio files tag.

Cache all covers

If you activated the cover art caching system (Configuration), cover art previews are saved in the .eam file. This option will put all cover arts in the cache. This way, the browse mode display will be very fast.

List/Browse view (Ctrl+B)

Switch between List and Browse modes.

View folders in list (Shift+Ctrl+B)

This special view will display your albums in a hierarchical folders view. By default, if a folder only has one playlist, this folder won't be displayed. You can change this in Configuration.

Browse mode options

In order to tune your browse mode display, have a look at Browse options.

Show/Hide right panel

If you want to have more space for the albums in list or browse mode.

Add new directories to scan

When building a list, Easy Album Manager scans these directories and searches for album playlists. Have a look at Directories to scan.

Delete or move a directory to scan

To remove a directory from the list of scanned directories, or to indicate to Easy Album Manager that a location has moved. Have a look at Directories to scan.

Filters (Ctrl+F)

In order to display only albums matching strings on the artist, album title, genre or year, see Filter options.

Export covers to local CoversDB

The local CoversDB can store cover arts (for a given artist, album). With this option you will export all the cover arts of your current list to the local CoversDB. It can be considered as a database you can enrich with other people cover arts (have a look at Covers database).

Export covers to a CoversDB file

In this case, you will export your current list cover arts to a file you'll be asked the name for. This way you can send your cover arts to another Easy Album Manager user.

Import covers from local CoversDB (Shift+Ctrl+I)

If you have saved your cover arts to your local CoversDB, or if you have added other users cover arts to your local CoversDB, you may want to update your current list with covers arts from your local CoversDB. You can get cover arts only for albums that don't have any picture yet.

Most often played albums (Ctrl+F2)

Display only albums that have been played at least once, sorted by most often played first.

Last played albums (Ctrl+F3)

Display only albums that have been played at least once, sorted by most recently played first.

Artist - Year - Genre

Sort order of the current list (other options, Year - Artist - Genre ...).

Year ascending

Choose the make the year sort ascending or descending.

Album

Update with FreeDB (Ctrl+U)

The application will automatically search for a matching album in FreeDB. You can setup which actions you want to be perform in Configuration. By default, the audio files will be tagged, the audio files will be renamed and the playlist file will be renamed too. If the process has been successful, the new album status will be orange.

Edit details (Ctrl+D)

To edit the selected album details, consult Album details edition.

Write information in playlist file

In the case your playlist files don't refer to audio files that can be tagged, artist, album, genre and year information can't be saved at a low level.
Playlists files written by Easy Album Manager in m3u file format only contains these information so use this option to replace the old playlist file with a new detailed one.

Scan album information

Update the list with the information read from the selected album audio files.
It's like launching a Full scan on a single album. Modified information not formerly saved in the audio files tags will be lost.

Paste image (Shift+Ctrl+V)

To change the selected album cover art picture. You can also drag'n'drop an image file on the cover art panel.
You can do it even if a cover art image is already displayed, the new one will overwrite the former one.
Cover arts image files are always saved as a JPEG file in the album directory, with the same name as the list file but with the .jpg extension.

Load image

Load the selected album cover art from a file.

Delete image

Remove the selected album cover art. Be careful : the file itself will be removed !

Import cover from local CoversDB (Ctrl+I)

Try to find a cover art for the selected album in the local CoversDB, and get it if it's found.

Remove album from list

Remove the selected album from the list. The next time a scan (full or fast) is performed, it will appear again.

Selection

Create a selection

A selection is a subset of your current list. You can create selections for example if several users use Easy Album Manager : this way each one can easily display his favorite albums. Unlike Filters, you build selections by selecting albums one by one.

Edit current selection (Ctrl+E)

In Edit mode, you can add albums to the current selection, for example by clicking in the check box located either in the first column (list mode) or in the left lower corner of the album panel (browse mode). You can also use the menu Add/Remove selected album (Ctrl+A) or its shortcut.

Rename selection

Renames the current selection.

Remove selection

Removes the current selection.

Add/Remove selected album (Ctrl+A)

To add or remove the selected album from the current selection.

Add all albums to selection (Shift+Ctrl+A)

To add all the albums to the selection. It's very useful for example if you have applied a filter, and want to add all the displayed albums to the current selection.

Playlist

Play album (Ctrl+P)

Clears the playlist and plays the selected album in the built-in audio player.

Play album (external)

Plays the selected album in an external audio player.

Add album to playlist (Shift+Ctrl+P)

Adds selected album tracks at the end of the built-in audio player playlist.

Add all albums to playlist

Adds all the albums at the end of the built-in audio player playlist. It may take a lot of time, because tracks length and bitrate may need to be computed !

Play track

Clears the playlist and play the 'TRACKS OF THE SELECTED ALBUM' selected track in the built-in audio player.

Play track (external)

Plays the 'TRACKS OF THE SELECTED ALBUM' selected track in an external audio player.

Add track to playlist

Adds the 'TRACKS OF THE SELECTED ALBUM' selected track at the end of the built-in audio player playlist.

Load playlist

Loads a playlist in the built-in audio player.

Save playlist

Saves the built-in audio player playlist to a file.

Clear playlist (Ctrl+Y)

Clears the built-in audio player playlist.

Remove track

Removes the built-in audio player selected track.

Move track up

Moves the built-in audio player selected track up.

Move track down

Moves the built-in audio player selected track down.

Jump to currently playing album (Ctrl+J)

If an album is currently playing, it will locate this album in the list (even if you're in browse mode).

View remote commander (Ctrl+W)

To show/hide the Remote commander.

Tools

Playlist builder (Ctrl+L)

If you want to create your album playlists, to move files, directories etc ... use the Playlist management.

Local CoversDB management (Ctrl+R)

View the content of your local CoversDB, import cover arts from other users CoversDB files ... Have a look at Covers database.

View menu bar (Ctrl+M)

In order to show/hide the main menu bar. Remember the shortcut (Ctrl+M) !

Toolbars management

If you want to setup your toolbar, choosing what to display and what to hide.