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[Dunkinidaho]

With mc19 when ripping a compilation  (mix) disc the process would split the tracks into several separate albums containing arbitrary numbers of tracks instead of a single cd. Has this frustration been eliminated yet. Want to buy mc22 but not if this is still an issue.

[JimH]

Check the tag called "Album Artist".

[blgentry]

Dunkin!  (I'm almost as happy to see you as Paul Atreides)

I think MC will let you alter tags before you rip them.  As Jim said, setting the Album Artist tag to a single value for compilation albums will allow MC to group that album together all as one.  For compilations with lots of unrelated artists, many people use:

Various Artists
(Multiple Artists)

That second one is used commonly because it makes them sort at the beginning of an alphabetical listing because of the parenthesis.  For other albums where there are simply a few guest artists, or something like that, Album Artist usually gets set to the main artist's name.

Here's a wiki entry that explains this in some detail:

http://wiki.jriver.com/index.php/Album_Artist_and_Album_Artist_(Auto)

Even if MC doesn't let you enter this field before ripping a CD, you can absolutely change it after the fact by using MC's Tagging Window.  Just select the files and Edit > Tag .  Then set the Album Artist tag and you're all set.

Brian (who knows the Weirding Way of MC). 

[dtc]

My guess is that pretty much everyone was caught by this when they first used MC. New users just do not know about [Album Artist].

Years ago when I used iTunes for a short time, when you ripped an album their was a check box for Compilation Albums. If you checked it the program made sure the album was treated as a single album.  It would be nice if MC did the same thing. It could prompt for an Album Artist value or just put (Multiple Artists) in the tag. That would not help with auto import, but it would be a great help for people doing individual rips.

As to auto import, it would certainly be possible to analyze the tracks in a given folder with the same album name  and if they have different Album Artist values to put in (Muliple Artists). There could even be an option in Auto Import as to how to handle compilation albums - insert (Multiple Artists) or ignore, with (Multiple Artists) as the default.

This is an ongoing problem for new users. It seems like with a little attention it could become much less of an issue, especially for new users.