Personally, I find that it is better to do mass deletions & reorganisations in File explorer with WMP closed.
And, if the reorganisation involves moving an audio file, what I actually do is copy it to its new location then delete the original copy.
I hate to show my ignorance, but how exactly is that done
Each ripped track is a file in your computer that can be seen in File explorer.
All I meant was that if I am in File explorer "moving" audio files between folders [such as moving them from a folder containing tracks by many artists into a folder that I've named after a specific artists] I don't really "move" the files - I copy them, I paste them in the new folder, I delete the original file.
I've seen WMP getting confused by moves before so I copy the file and paste it into its new folder instead and then I delete the original copy. WMP does not get confused by that.Example 1 - I had some Motown Chartbuster albums containing tracks by all that label's artists. They were all together in folders that had been named Motown Chartbusters Vol 1, Motown Chartbusters Vol 2, ... and I "moved" [copy, paste, delete] each track into a folder I had named after the appropriate artist for that track. So I "moved" I can't help myself from a folder named Motown Chartbusters Vol whatever into a folder named The four tops.
Example 2 - And this is where WMP can really get confused. I "moved" a track from my huge collection of radio documentaries from a Radio folder to a RadioArchive folder that is not part of the WMP Library. If I had not done it by Copy-Paste-Delete but moved it instead, when I reopened WMP it would have searched for the moved track and kept it in its Library. I have far too many Radio recordings to be able to manage them all easily within WMP. By "moving" [Copy-Paste-Delete] them into my archive folders I can play them again at some time in the future without having them clutter up my WMP Library today.
I also manually edit playlists in Notepad to match any such mass changes
I only need to edit WMP Playlists because I move things around [such as moving things into my RadioArchive].
You rarely have to edit WMP Playlists. I just find it convenient.
You can see where WMP keeps its Playlists by right-clicking on one in WMP's left-hand pane [its Navigation pane] and selecting Open file location. WMP Playlists are .wpl files.
You can then see how Playlists are structured by looking at one in Notepad. Just drop the .wpl Playlist file of interest into a Notepad window.
e.g.
Code:
<?wpl version="1.0"?>
<smil>
<head>
<meta name="Generator" content="Microsoft Windows Media Player -- 12.0.19041.3636"/>
<meta name="ItemCount" content="42"/>
<title>Music Roy Orbison</title>
</head>
<body>
<seq>
<media src="..\..\..\Audio\Music\Roy Orbison\The essential Roy Orbison\Crying.mp3"/>
<media src="..\..\..\Audio\Music\Roy Orbison\The essential Roy Orbison\Dream Baby.mp3"/>
<media src="..\..\..\Audio\Music\Roy Orbison\The essential Roy Orbison\In Dreams (1987 version).mp3"/>
<media src="..\..\..\Audio\Music\Roy Orbison\The essential Roy Orbison\Its Over.mp3"/>
<media src="..\..\..\Audio\Music\Roy Orbison\The essential Roy Orbison\Blue Bayou.mp3"/>
<media src="..\..\..\Audio\Music\Roy Orbison\The essential Roy Orbison\Love Hurts.mp3"/>
<media src="..\..\..\Audio\Music\Roy Orbison\The essential Roy Orbison\Only The Lonely.mp3"/>
<media src="..\..\..\Audio\Music\Roy Orbison\The essential Roy Orbison\Running Scared.mp3"/>
<media src="..\..\..\Audio\Music\Roy Orbison\The essential Roy Orbison\You Got It.mp3"/>
<media src="..\..\..\Audio\Music\Roy Orbison\The essential Roy Orbison\Oh, Pretty Woman.mp3"/>
</seq>
</body>
</smil>
I repeat, you will hardly ever have to edit them manually.
If you look at the structure, the central section lists the tracks in that Playlist.
That ..\..\..\Audio\Music\ bit is a relative path leading to my Music folder.
I often replace the ..\..\..\Audio\Music\ bit with an absolute path such as F:\Audio\Music\ because that allows me to store the Playlist anywhere I want [which I cannot do with the relative path in there].
Code:
<media src="F:\Audio\Music\Roy Orbison\The essential Roy Orbison\Oh, Pretty Woman.mp3"/>
If I do edit a track's title or its path, I do that in Notepad whilst WMP is closed.
I repeat, you will hardly ever have to edit them manually.
All the best,
Denis