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[normd]

i cannot get a custom tag to work.  I have edited my entire music library in iTunes and entered data into the Artist Sort (artistsort) field so that my albums sort in the correct order.  For example if the Artist is Cat Stevens, the Artist Sort filed has Stevens, Cat.  This sorting scheme works great in iTunes. I want to implement the same thing in JTMC. 

I added artistsort as a tag in MC and did an Update Library from tags.  See attached.  However, the tags do not update in MC.  I have checked the music file with Musicbrainz and the artistsort tag has the correct data (attached) in the file, but not in MC.

What am I doing wrong?

[ferday]

right now, your immediate solution is to use swap([artist]) in your custom field.  this will reverse the lastname firstname and kind of recreate the artistsort.  recently the swap() command has been made to work on multi-artist lists (and there is also an unswap() command that reverses it)

see glynor's post from last year

1. Make a list-type [Artist (Sort)] field, which you fill in by "Swapping" the names for each value where it makes sense, and leaving band names untouched.

2. Add the regular [Artist] field as a category, but sort it by [Artist (Sort)].

This would, essentially, recreate the ARTISTSORT field used by iTunes.  I've seen that request come up a few times. You could do it, back before [Artist] was a list-type field.  But now you can't, because sorting on list type fields is all broken

[blgentry]

I saw your post in another thread about creating new fields, so I know you know how to do that.  You need to make sure that the new field matches the existing tag in the file exactly, including uppercase and lowercase letters.  To do this, you want to do a tag dump of one of the files that has this tag, in MC:

1.  Highlight the file.
2.  Open the tagging window:  Edit > Tag
3.  Go to the top of the tagging window.  The very first line has the file type, track length, and size.  You wouldn't know it, but that line is a clickable link.  Click it.
4.  Now you'll see a tag dump down below of the raw tags in that file.  Locate the artistsort tag and verify it's spelling, capital letters, etc.  

Make sure the new field you created is an exact match.

Hopefully that will help you get this working.   Post more info if you still have trouble.

Good luck!

Brian.

[ferday]

Based on a lot of recent threads about it, I don't think that artist sort can be made to read in MC.  I'd be curious if it works, I'd rather be wrong about this one

[normd]

OK, I got it. That was a tremendous help.  Thank you!  I found:

MP4 Audio File (m4a)
44.1 kHz, 835 kbps, 2 ch

Artist Sort Order: Springsteen, Bruce
Name: The E Street Shuffle
Compilation: 0
Grouping: My Albums
Track #: 1/7
Artist: Bruce Springsteen
Genre: Rock
Tool Name: VinylStudio
Album Artist: Bruce Springsteen
Gapless Playback: 0
Album Artist Sort Order: Springsteen, Bruce
Album: The Wild, The Innocent & The E Street Shuffle

 And apparantly MC is smarter than I am.   I added a tag "Artist Sort Order" and Updated the library from tags.  It works now.  How do I find the raw tag?

What is the function of the Search Keywords on the Manage Library Fields window.  How do I  / should I use that?

[blgentry]

I added a tag "Artist Sort Order" and Updated the library from tags.  It works now. 

Great to hear you got it working. 

How do I find the raw tag?

I think the tags you pasted above are the "raw tags" from the file.  You did get those from the Tag Dump window right?  MC can only import tags that have a corresponding entry in MC's fields.  If it finds a tag in a file that matches a field name in it's internal database, it fills it in.  So you're seeing exactly what is in the file tags, as imported by MC.

What is the function of the Search Keywords on the Manage Library Fields window.  How do I  / should I use that?

The search system in MC is rather sophisticated.  By default, when you type words in the search box, MC searches across a bunch of different fields including artist, album, song name, comments, etc.  But you can limit your search to a specific field with a search term like this:

[Artist]=Pink

That will match any artist with pink in their name somewhere.  Notice the square brackets which tell MC that this is a field name.  It can be sort of awkward to type these if you're not a fast typist.  So, MC has the concept of "search keywords", which are shortcuts for doing specific searches like this.  For an artist search, you can just type:

artist=pink

or

ar=pink

Those are both "search keywords" defined in the Manage Library Field interface.  You can make your own if you want; which is what that field is for.

Brian.

[Arindelle]

Based on a lot of recent threads about it, I don't think that artist sort can be made to read in MC.  I'd be curious if it works, I'd rather be wrong about this one

Yes this can be read and imported if the mapping is done right. Clever uses of the swap unswap functions gives you more latitude for displaying. And these functions now support the semi-colon separator so it will split on multiple artists etc.  Still needs work for theater mode, but in standard mode you can have a view based on Last Name, First Name, but display First Name Last name using sort fields and an unswap expression for display. In a Theater View, this messes up with multiple artists per track though.