Anyone else feels that is it totally unbelievable that 2.5 years into the consoles lifecycle we still cannot create our own folders / structures for music/pictures and videos? I bought the PS3 as a media center but it turns out that its totally not that as it is even missing the most fundamental features.

Anyone else feels my pain?

What do you mean? I have my videos sorted into custom folders. And all my downloaded PSN titles. You can do it for music too, but I prefer to just sort it automatically by Artist.

Go under Music, hit the triangle look for the "Create new folder" option.

Let me know what you find ;)

you can edit the information in files and that will automatically create folders for you.

I know what you mean, however, the ps3 is not a pc or mac.

If you want to create "folders" for your music, just create a new playlist. Easy!

So i have about 80gig of mp3s on my PS3, if i want to play (example) Abba first and ZZ Top next i spend nearly 1 minute scrolling up and down. I want to be able to create at least folders for a,b,c,d etc for faster access.

Even worse for pictures - i have to sort by date? So my last vacation was from end July to beginning of August. To display them i have to run through 2 folders?

you can edit the information in files and that will automatically create folders for you.

I know what you mean, however, the ps3 is not a pc or mac.

If you want to create "folders" for your music, just create a new playlist. Easy!

+1

And to repeat my question : Why no folders?

Is it a security issue?

p.s. someone please explain how i can edit files to create custom folders inside folders. Because as far as i can tell, there are no hierachical folder structurs correct?

So i have about 80gig of mp3s on my PS3, if i want to play (example) Abba first and ZZ Top next i spend nearly 1 minute scrolling up and down. I want to be able to create at least folders for a,b,c,d etc for faster access.


I believe that is one of the sorting options, actually. As for photos, you can easily make custom folders.

Folders inside folders, you unfortunately can't do; and I'll agree that it is stupid and sucks.

Yes, you can make custom playlist folders and, yes, you can sort things alphabetically. The problem is that you're severely limited in how you can combine sorting options.

What that means is that it takes forever to get from one end of your list to the other (if, like me, you have over 100gigs of music files). I've gotten in the habit of counting so that I know roughly where I am alphabetically. A count of "10" usually gets me to about the "Gs" and a count of "20" usually gets me to the "Ms" and so on.

For some bizarre reason you can sort videos by alphabetical folders, but you can't sort music that way. :confused: For me, this is my most wanted XMB improvement. Using TVersity helps a bit, but even that is limited in its ability to combine sorting options.

Exactly my problem - i thought buying PS3 would satisfy all my Mediacenter needs as it really is a good Blu-Ray and a real great DVD player (let alone a good gaming console, so i know its value).

But the inability to create folder structures the way i like/need makes me want to buy a nas server to stream files to the ps3 via DNLA which seems totally stupid.

Well if I'm not mistaken the latest PSP firmware added custom folders, perhaps we will have that feature added to the PS3 in the near future.

Exactly my problem - i thought buying PS3 would satisfy all my Mediacenter needs as it really is a good Blu-Ray and a real great DVD player (let alone a good gaming console, so i know its value).

But the inability to create folder structures the way i like/need makes me want to buy a nas server to stream files to the ps3 via DNLA which seems totally stupid.

Agree 100%. I upgraded the hard drives in my PS3s and ripped hundreds of CDs to them but accessing them is so inconvenient I wish I wouldn't have bothered. I've wanted folders since I got my first PS3 in the summer of 2007. I think I've about given up on ever getting them.

Memory Stick improvements – You’ll be able to create and access sub-folders on your Memory Stick PRO Duo for music, videos and photos. Separately, the available space required to download a file from PlayStation Store to your Memory Stick has been reduced significantly.

Thats from the lastest PSP update - so there is hope, maybe...

It's a catch-22 issue to sorting a VERY large library of media. On one hand, it would be nice if you could organize using the classic folder strategy. On the other hand, it's just one more thing that the average user couldn't care less for to manage (especially when it comes to VERY large libraries). The ps3 attempts to go more the route for the latter, where the sorting and organization is inherent to whatever metadata that is embedded with the file (for music, you have artist, album, music type, as forms of categorization). Of course, if your media is being transported from some other source (your pc) and lacks any embedded metadata tags, that's a big problem. If you are re-encoding a lot of stuff on simplistic shareware and making your own compilations (that do not match anything in the CD database), this is a likely scenario. Basically, it's up to you to put your own tags in place, as needed.

If your media is coming from "legitimate sources" (e.g., imported from commerical cd or shopped through iTunes or imported directly from cd to ps3 or shopped on ps3 store, for example), then your tags will already be in place as part of the process.

It's a difficult road to please both types of crowds, of course. Sony is simply betting on the premise that native sorting/organization of tagged media will be more effective for most people than media that requires manual sorting/organization (via folders) from an interested/concerned party (somebody who cares about putting such effort into their collection).

Also be advised, that you can organize your imported pictures/video in something more informative than the default date. You just have to edit the album name of the group of stuff you just imported (take a look at what the triangle button does) to something other than the date-name that is applied as part of the importing process.

As for the loooooong list of media that may accumulate, I do agree that it can get unwieldy, and have not found anything in the navigation system that handles this elegantly. That needs some work, I admit. At the very least, they should put it in an update to allow controls that will "page up/down" in the list, go to Top/Bottom of list, and/or even go to specific folders by entering search letters (cellphone style). The key to this is not necessarily that there are no traditional folders, really (because you can still get unwieldy lists even with folders). The key is some refinement in the navigation controls to address quick/convenient acquisition of an item within an inherently big collection of items.

At the very least, they should put it in an update to allow controls that will "page up/down" in the list, go to Top/Bottom of list, and/or even go to specific folders by entering search letters (cellphone style). The key to this is not necessarily that there are no traditional folders, really (because you can still get unwieldy lists even with folders). The key is some refinement in the navigation controls to address quick/convenient acquisition of an item within an inherently big collection of items.I'm less into the "custom folders" idea, and more into the idea that the media sorting needs better category trees/combinations.

If we could combine alphabetical groupings (A, B, C, etc.) which then branch into another choice of category like "artist" which then branches into another category like "album" and then branches into individual songs, I'd be ecstatic. It's an incredibly simple (and dare I say obvious) solution that should have been in place long ago.

I still dont see why they wouldnt allow us to just create our own folders as we see fit. Don't mind if they implement new and better sorting algorithms, too.

But why on earth can i not store the info the way i like it? Folders, super easy solution.

My 2 cents. For what it's worth, with music stored on an external hard drive, you can have as many folders and subfolders as you want.

Personally, i'm ok with the music sorting options, especially when factoring in the ability to add playlists. Sorting by Artist, Album, Title (1st letter of song), Genre and playlists are about all i need - especially when you can sub sort within each of those categories (but not within playlists) by Album, Artist, Genre and Title. And i like the idea of being able to have a 10MB song in 15 different folders via playlists, and only take up 10MB of HD space.

What i'd prefer to be implemented would be, as was mentioned by a few, is a search function so you wouldn't need to scroll through 1500 songs to get to where you wanna go when setting up a playlist.

Streaming externally solves at least one of the core problems but sets you back straight with the next one : you cannot add songs to a playlist which are not stored internally ;)

Thats why i bought a 320 gig drive, grabbed tons of cds on rainy sundays onto my ps3 and now i cannot sort them correctly lol.

But the inability to create folder structures the way i like/need makes me want to buy a nas server to stream files to the ps3 via DNLA which seems totally stupid.
Actually this seems to be the best solution IMHO. You dont have to deal with the PS3's inability to manage/create folders. You can organize your media however you want with in the three main media folders (Music Video Pics)It also offers the ability to stream your media to more than just the one PS3 (I have two in my home) In addition to freeing up HD space on the PS3 you dont have to worry about losing or reloading all your media back on the PS3 in the event the PS3 dies. With No media on the PS3 it makes for faster system backups. AND you can store the PS3 backups on the NAS.
I recently purchased this http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822186160&cm_sp=MyNewegg-_-RctViewDC-_-Pst01Descrip
I no longer have to worry about having media on the PS3 (2) or which PC (2) or laptop. Its all in one place, all available from anything connected to my Home network. AND it's in a file/folder format that I want it to be in. Movies in a movie folder Music videos in a folder called...Music Videos. Who'd a thunk it. Streaming full DVD ripped VOB's 5-7Gig files with DD 5.1 works flawless now. No swapping DVD's It is the perfect solution for me. For 70bucks over the cost of a 1Tb USB drive. This Home network NAS is the perfect thing for me.

Streaming full DVD ripped VOB's 5-7Gig files with DD 5.1 works flawless now. No swapping DVD's It is the perfect solution for me.

Without derailing this thread - can you post how that works in a few simple steps? I was under the impression that the PS3 will only play single VOB files, so if i just copy the content of a DVD to a hdd, i don't get to see a menu and i have to manually select each VOB file i want to watch.

Without derailing this thread - can you post how that works in a few simple steps? I was under the impression that the PS3 will only play single VOB files, so if i just copy the content of a DVD to a hdd, i don't get to see a menu and i have to manually select each VOB file i want to watch.

You still dont get the DVD Menu. But if and when you rip the DVD just rip the main movie and select the file option on DVD Decrypter. It will rip the whole movie into 1 Big VOB file. Again on DVD Decrypter its under the File. then settings options. DVD Fab does it as well. and it's under Edit, then Prefs and Uncheck the Split VOB option. This will give you one single VOB instead of four or five VOB's of the main movie. Once it's done just rename the VOB to what ever the name of the movie is. (LEAVE THE .vob extention in) And the PS3 will play the whole file/movie. Hope this is what you were asking for. On

So i have about 80gig of mp3s on my PS3, if i want to play (example) Abba first and ZZ Top next i spend nearly 1 minute scrolling up and down. I want to be able to create at least folders for a,b,c,d etc for faster access.

Even worse for pictures - i have to sort by date? So my last vacation was from end July to beginning of August. To display them i have to run through 2 folders?

You listen to ABBA? :rolleyes:

Exactly my problem - i thought buying PS3 would satisfy all my Mediacenter needs as it really is a good Blu-Ray and a real great DVD player (let alone a good gaming console, so i know its value).

But the inability to create folder structures the way i like/need makes me want to buy a nas server to stream files to the ps3 via DNLA which seems totally stupid.

Well, for video, game download/demos/betas/promos (and possibly pictures) it works pretty well. MP3's I can see your issues.

Why not download a (free) media center and just stream music from a PC DNLA where you're afforded much better sorting options? It would be ideal for MP3's, as there's tons of different ways to read the ID tag data and sort, and the PS3 most likely will never support them all.

The small files size would mean no lag or loss of quality that you might get with large video bitrates.

Cons would be keeping the PC on and storing the files on there. Also would have to pre-make any playlists, but personally that's not a biggy to me.

Pro's, freeing up PS3 drive space.

You still dont get the DVD Menu. But if and when you rip the DVD just rip the main movie and select the file option on DVD Decrypter. It will rip the whole movie into 1 Big VOB file. Again on DVD Decrypter its under the File. then settings options. DVD Fab does it as well. and it's under Edit, then Prefs and Uncheck the Split VOB option. This will give you one single VOB instead of four or five VOB's of the main movie. Once it's done just rename the VOB to what ever the name of the movie is. (LEAVE THE .vob extention in) And the PS3 will play the whole file/movie. Hope this is what you were asking for. On

Thx - and to prevent more derailing, i created its own thread for this HERE (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=16363021#post16363021)