This is mainly written as a reference page for my own use in future reinstalls, but feel free to use anything here in your own install.

Warning: I use foobar2000 0.9.4; some things here might not work in 0.8.3. Try, but don’t blame me if they break.

You might need to remove whitespace from the masstagger formatting scripts to get them to paste properly; YMMV. I usually write them in a text editor, strip newlines and then paste them into foobar.

Here’s a screenshot of my config. I’ve tried to maximise space whilst retaining all the functionality I need:

Masstagger

Default format string

$left(
    $if($strcmp($left(%album artist%,4),The ),
        $right(%album artist%,$sub($len(%album artist%),4))', 'The,
        %album artist%
    )
    ,1
)
/
$if($strcmp($left(%album artist%,4),The ),
    $right(%album artist%,$sub($len(%album artist%),4))', 'The,
    %album artist%
)
/
%date% - %album%[' ('%type%')'][' (Disc '%discnumber%')']
/
$num(%tracknumber%,2)[ - %track artist%] - %title%[' (feat. '%featuring%')']

I use this to rename and sort all my non-classical MP3s. Features of note:

• Sends the The to the end of artists’ names that start with The—The Beatles becomes Beatles, The, for example.
• Supports multiple versions of the same album via the TYPE tag.
• Supports albums with multiple discs.
• Supports albums with multiple artists—it sorts into directories based on the album’s artist, and displays individual tracks’ artists in the filename if they are different to the album artist.
• Zero-fills tracknumbers—1 becomes 01, for example—so everything stays sorted in your file browser.

Example output

Normal disc:

M\Magnet\2003 - On Your Side\05 - The Day We Left Town.mp3

Normal disc whose artist starts with The:

B\Beatles, The\1966 - Revolver\14 - Tomorrow Never Knows.mp3

Multiple artist disc, track with different artist to album artist:

D\Danny Elfman\2003 - Big Fish\01 - Pearl Jam - Man Of The Hour.mp3

Multiple disc album:

M\Manic Street Preachers\2003 - Lipstick Traces (Disc 1)\02 - 4 Ever Delayed.mp3

Track featuring another artist:

A\Air\1998 - Moon Safari\07 - You Make It Easy (feat. Beth Hirsch).mp3

Of course, all these features “stack”; you can have an album with multiple artists, multiple discs, an album artist whose name starts with The and which contains tracks not by the album artist, and it will create the proper directory structure. Phew.

Classical format string

(This one is far less intelligent than the regular one, but it doesn’t need to be as it has less to deal with—there are no disc numbers, featured artists, etc. when dealing with classical music.)

$left(%composer%,1)
\
%composer%
\
%album%[ '('%origdate%')'][' ('%date% - %performer%[', '%conductor%]')']
\
$num(%tracknumber%,2) - %title%

Example output

S\Sibelius, Jean\Symphony No. 07 in C major, Op. 105 (1924) (1995 - Boston Symphony Orchestra, Sir Colin Davis)\01 - Adagio.mp3

columns_ui

My columns_ui setup is the wonderful Navigator with a few of my own modifications. Among the things I’ve added are the display of featured artists, dual display of ORIGDATE and DATE fields where applicable, display of album TYPEs—useful for storing whether an album is a CDS, EP, Re-Issue etc.—and a few other things.

You can download my fcs file here.

Album List Panel

Display string

$if(
    $strcmp($left(%album artist%,4),The ),
    $right(%album artist%,$sub($len(%album artist%),4))', 'The,
    %album artist%
)
|
$if(
    %composer%,
    ,
    %date%' - '
)
%album%[' ('%type%')'][' ('%performer%')']
|
[[$num(%disc%,2)' -']$num(%tracknumber%,2)' - '][%track artist% - ]%title%

Example output

Here’s a screenshot of how this is displayed. Note how classical albums are sorted by album name—meaning that, within the playlist, symphonies will be grouped with symphonies, piano concertos with piano concertos etc— and performers/conductors are displayed. For regular artists, songs are sorted by date then by album, and within that by disc number (if present), tracknumber, track artist (if present) and then track title.

Buttons

I use the wonderful famfamfam’s Silk icons in place of the default buttons; they’re prettier, and there are more of them to choose from.