Music Setup

I use Beets and Soulseek to obtain and manage my music. I use Beets to organize and tag my .mp3 files. Beets is a python package that runs in the command line (which means it is a bit annoying to install with pip and whatnot). Soulseek is a graphical application that allows users to download files (mostly music) from other users' filesystems through peer-to-peer file sharing.[^1] Both are available for major operating systems. In addition, I do use the Apple Music app to play music, which has the important benefit of allowing me to sync my music to my iPhone using the built-in sync-ing tools.[^2][^3]

[^1]: I do not use Soulseek to download any copyrighted works. I am a law-abiding citizen. [^2]: To prevent macOS from backing up your entire iPhone, set the backup folder to read-only! (See here for the code) [^3]: Quick tip: if you use a VPN like I do, make sure that local network sharing is not disabled, like it is by default in Mullvad VPN.

To install both on macOS:

brew install --cask soulseek

pip install beets

My workflow then consists of me searching up music on Soulseek, downloading it, and importing it through the Beets program beet. I've configured Soulseek's downloaded music to go into ~/Soulseek Downloads without fuss using the options:

• "Don't put downloads in Downloading and Complete folders"
• "Don't create username folders".

To edit my Beets configuration, I use beet config -e. My Beets config is as follows:

plugins: fetchart play random
import:
  move: yes
play:
  command: open -a Music
fetchart:
  cautious: true
  sources: itunes *
directory: ~/beets/music
library: ~/beets/musiclibrary.db

After the music is there, I cd to my ~/Soulseek Downloads folder and use beet import to import my music. My configuration uses move: yes which means Beets will remove the files from the downloads folder, keeping it clean (Beets stores its own files, along with database to search it). The importing process will query the MusicBrainz database to match songs and albums, and it does a very good job at doing so.

After importing my music, I run beet play, which will attempt to play all my music. If there is a large-enough number of songs, it will warn but I play anyway. This is because I want the Apple Music to "notice" my music files so they can be synced. Importantly, I uncheck the following option in Apple Music preferences, to prevent duplication of my music files:

• "Copy files to music Media folder when adding to library"

After this is done, I can perform syncs normally. For me personally, I like more granularity so in my music sync settings I have "Sync: Selected artists, albums, genres, and playlists" and then I manually add playlists and albums. And that's all![^4]

[^4]: I suppose things would get a bit more complicated if I stopped using both macOS and iOS.