One of the reasons I love Windows XP is that it seems to have better file management for audio files. However, there are a few options I'd like to see implemented to make MPC file managing even easier. Are there any ways to do any of the following?

* Is there a utility available or a quick way to change folder settings en masse without necessarily changing them ALL. I store my MP3s/MPCs by genre/album. i.e. d:mp3indieRadiohead - Amnesiac. I'm looking for a way to configure the folders that contain actual MP3s (ie. album folders) to be a view list with bitrate, time, etc showing. Unfortunately the WINXP default for this is different; do I have to change them all manually? Remember, I want to avoid the "change all" function because directories with album folders should be viewed as thumbnails (with album covers showing). Any ideas?

* ...which leads me to my next question. Is there any way to tweak XP so that that stupid folder clipart image isn't automatically behind all the thumbnail images? I'd like it to be JUST like album cover JPG, not the JPG superimposed over some lame file folder image. Ideas?

* I love MPC, and I'd like to be able to convert totally to it (it'll take a while -- 1700 total albums) but unfortunately XP doesn't recognize it as a proper music file, and thusly doesn't give me the "Play All" option in the lefthand side like it does for regular MP3s. This is one of my favorite features in XP, as it eliminates the need to make album playlists. Is there any way to get it working for MP+ files (ext .MPC) as well? Additionally, is there a way to get XP to recognize MPCs so that bitrate, song length, etc can be displayed in list columns?

Thanks for the help...

AK

I think you're asking rather alot of an Operating System to do the specific tasks you want. I have attempted to tweak XP in much the same way with little success.

I have resorted to using Winamp with Album List plugin, EAR plugin, and Helium as the mp3/mpc file manager. I'm not trying to 'plug' Helium here, but it does allow me to sort, rename files, rename tags, edit ID3v1 and 2 tags, remove ID3v1 or 2 tags selectively, add thumbnail album cover jpegs to files, check bitrate, commernts, encoder, etc for both mp3 and mpc files. It will also let me submit mp3 or mpc file data to CDDB as a group of files which make up an album, and have them automatically corrected and standardised by the database.

(As an aside, these questions were originally posed to the people at XPTweak.com, hence the focus on the OS.)

Brilliant tip re: Helium, though. Not familiar with it, but something tells me I will be soon. Thanks..

AK