Nick Dorak's IT Consulting Services

With Windows Media Center and all of the nice add-ins that I have installed, they don’t do much with just an ordinary file.  To get the pizzaz needed I user a couple different programs for keeping the MetaData up to date.  MetaData is details regarding the media (actors in a movie or artist in a song) either built-in to the file or saved as an XML file in the same folder location.  Be prepared to spend a few hours, like I did, on a collection of media that hasn’t been kept up even when using these time-saving tools.  Here are the different programs I have used after trying the many that are available on-line…

MetaBrowser
I use this application for gathering Movie MetaData.  It worked very well with my bulk collection and I start it up every time I get a new movie.  I use version 1 even though version 2 is out because version 1 is free and I can’t justify the cost for the rare occasions I use it.
http://themetabrowser.com/

Media Center Master
I use this application for television series.  It can scan a folder, move the file to the correct location, rename the file however you like it then download all of the data automatically.  I use the older version 1.25 as it was free and for the same reason with MetaBrowser, I can’t justify the high cost for the infrequent use.
http://www.mediacentermaster.com/

MusicBrainz Picard
I use this one for music files.  It was a little more challenging as I had more music than other media.  This handled my large collection with no problems and it even listened to the song to try to determine the artist/name of the track.
http://musicbrainz.org/