filename length

not sure where to post this ... but here goes ...

i recently ripped (using windows media player) most of my classical music collection to mp3s. i thought i'd bring them to work on discs or thumb drive. windows media player takes the title of each track and makes the filename from it. it some cases, the track name also includes the name of the work. an example:

"03 Das Lied von der Erde, symphony for alto (or baritone), tenor, & orchestra- No. 3, 'Von der Jugend' (Of Youth)- 'Mitten in dem kleine.mp3"

the problem i'm having is filename length.

transferring this file poses a problem because the burner software i have (and others i have downloaded) will truncate the right end of the name. transfer using a thumb drive does the same.

using the above example, the following would be a more desirable filename than a truncated one:

03 Das Lied von der Erde - No. 3, 'Von der Jugend' (Of Youth)- 'Mitten in dem kleine.mp3

i am looking for software that will take a folder and list those filenames, say, over 100 characters long or sort the files by filename length.

there are over 6000 mp3s in the folder in question. only a very small percentage of them are in this problem category so the actual filename shortening IS doable manually. i just need a way to identify which ones need shortening.

thanks in advance,

terry

As for sorting by filename length, that would not be doable in Windows 7 Search. There is a way to copy a list of filenames from a window, paste into an Excel spreadsheet, apply a formula that counts characters, and then you could have Excel sort based on the counts, but you wouldn't be able to delete/modify the files from within Excel.

I normally use Karen's Directory Printer to get all the names.
http://www.karenware.com/powertools/ptdirprn.asp

don't know if it matters ..... windows xp at work, vista at home.

No problem with those 2 OS's.

thanks, train. i'll give it a try and report back ;)

thanks, train. i'll give it a try and report back ;)

sorry not getting back sooner.

it worked ... but way more files came back with exta-long names than i had expected.

i ended up using an external drive (not thumb) to transfer them.

Those names do surprise us at times. Sure glad thinks worked out for you.