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[ethereal]

I have four types of cds that i wish to rip to the correct folder with the correct filename.
1. Singe CD
2. Multi CD
3. Various Artists Single CD
4. Various Artists Multi CD
This works for 1 and 2:

Directory Rule: [Album Artist (auto)]\If(IsEmpty([Disc #],1), [Album], [Album] \Disc [Disc #])\

Filename rule: [Album Artist (auto)] - If(IsEmpty([Disc #],1), [Album], [Album] (Disc [Disc #]/)) - [Track #] - [Name]

what i want to do is modify the existing rules so that 3 and 4 ALSO work.
what i was planning was - when i had a Various Artist Single CD/Multi CD - i would change the Album Artist tag to Various Artists. For a single cd leave disc# empty. for multi cd change disc# to 1,2, etc.

For a Various Artists single cd i want the following Directory Structure: Various Artists \ Album and Filename: Album - Track # - Track Artist - Track Title

For a Various Artists multi cd i want the following Directory Structure: Various Artists \ Album \ Disc# and Filename: Album (Disc#) - Track # - Track Artist - Track Title

i have been searching for about 36 hours and I couldn't find anything close to what i need. please be gentle with me i know nothing about rules or expressions. the only reason i have gotten this far is because i found a pattern online and posted here previously to make it work.

so to sum up Can I use one Directory Rule and one Filename Rule for all of my CD rips ? i don't mind spending some time now to get it right.

thank you

[ethereal]

i've solved my Directory Rule.

if(isequal([Album Artist], Various Artists), Various Artists\If(IsEmpty([Disc #],1), [Album], [Album] \Disc [Disc #])\, [Album Artist (auto)]\If(IsEmpty([Disc #],1), [Album], [Album] \Disc [Disc #])\)

1. Single CD rips to \ Album Artist \ Album \
2. Multi CD - i manually set the disc# to 1,2,etc. Rips to  \ Album Artist \ Album \ Disc# \
3. Various Artists Single CD - i manually set Album Artist to Various Artists. Rips to \ Various Artists \ Album \
4. Various Artists Multi CD - i manually set Album Artist to Various Artists and the disc# to 1,2,etc. Rips to \ Various Artists \ Album\Disc# \

When i have some time i'll work on the filename rule

[ethereal]

i've solved my filename rule.

if(isequal([Album Artist], Various Artists), If(IsEmpty([Disc #],1), [Album], [Album] (Disc [Disc #]/)) - [Track #] - [Artist] - [Name], [Album Artist (auto)] - If(IsEmpty([Disc #],1), [Album], [Album] (Disc [Disc #]/)) - [Track #] - [Name])

1. Single CD Filename: Album Artist - Album - Track # - Track Name
2. Multi CD - i manually set the disc# to 1,2,etc. Filename: Album Artist - Album (Disc #) - Track # - Track Name
3. Various Artists Single CD - i manually set Album Artist to Various Artists. Filename: Album - Track Number - Track Artist - Track Title
4. Various Artists Multi CD - i manually set Album Artist to Various Artists and the disc# to 1,2,etc. Filename: Album (Disc #) - Track Number - Track Artist - Track Title

[Spike1000]

The fact MC is built around a database means the directory structure of your rips is actually less important than the tagging of the files themselves. The views in MC are created from the tag metadata.

Over the years I've learned not to worry about the directory structure. My files just sit under Artist/Album and that's what you've done, but I don't worry about 'disc #'. The concept of 'disc #' is, IMHO, is as redundant as 'side' when we had vinyl. I don't see people storing CD tracks in 'album side' directories, I don't store my CDs in 'disc #' directories. 'side' and 'disc #' are only a property of the media the music is delivered on and that's going 'electronic' so I don't perpetuate the structure of the 'old' delivery media.

Just my 2p.

Spike

[CountryBumkin]

The fact MC is built around a database means the directory structure of your rips is actually less important than the tagging of the files themselves. The views in MC are created from the tag metadata.

Over the years I've learned not to worry about the directory structure. My files just sit under Artist/Album and that's what you've done, but I don't worry about 'disc #'. The concept of 'disc #' is, IMHO, is as redundant as 'side' when we had vinyl. I don't see people storing CD tracks in 'album side' directories, I don't store my CDs in 'disc #' directories. 'side' and 'disc #' are only a property of the media the music is delivered on and that's going 'electronic' so I don't perpetuate the structure of the 'old' delivery media.

Just my 2p.

Spike

+1

[Antognini]

Over the years I've learned not to worry about the directory structure. My files just sit under Artist/Album and that's what you've done, but I don't worry about 'disc #'.

But how does one achieve a result such as Artist/Album. I faced the problem that in an opera, say, usually there are several discs that have to be ripped. The result under Album (as I have it, which is its default view) is several items, one for each disk. And given the vagaries of the file tags (or whatever) that come with the discs or that are downloaded from the internet, the items aren't always in an unbroken series, and they won't always be in order (eg, Act 2 on disc 2 might be displayed before Act 1).

What I want under Albums for a multi-CD set is a single item, and when I double-click on an item (for me, it's ordinarily a cover-art icon), I want the files and their names in proper order. For example,


I get this result by manually adding the Disc # tag information and, when all discs are ripped, by selecting all the new entries in Album and changing their Album tag from [Various] to a single name, Aida in the present case.

Tedious. What rule would accomplish the result?

[Spike1000]

For me as long as the tags are correct everything will display correctly. ie If Album, Album Artist and Disk # are set correctly they will display correctly for me.
As I said I don't bother creating a disc # folder, for multi disc albums everything is in one folder, but I may have edited the tags eg a 2 CD set of 20 tracks on each CD will be numbered 01-40, tracks 01-20 will be tagged as disc 01 and tracks 21-40 will be tagged as disc 02 Much of that info is automatically put in when a CD is ripped. I usually just have to tweak the track numbers.

Looking at your opera tags they are all over the place! You've got 'Acts' and 'Tracks' as titles for starters. Now that doesn't have to be a problem as as long as you don't reset the track count for each disc eg run 01-70 over the entire set not 01-7, 01-13, 01-09, 01-11 etc etc then the track number can be used as the sort 'index' and the name doesn't matter as long as the Album and Artist are consistent.

I tag in MP3Tag as I've been using it for years and I can use it really quickly. So I rip in DBPoweramp, check the tags/renumber in MP3Tag if I need to (usually only for multi-disc albums) and then I copy to my MC music drive and run an import. Everything displays just fine no matter what directory the files are in as the tags are correct.

What you seem to be trying to do is fix everything from the filename or avoid 'tedious' tag editing. To get things to display correctly the tags *have* to be right otherwise it'll never work. If you're finding making the tags consistent in the tool you're using 'tedious' try another tool (I recommend MP3Tag) or another method in the tool you do use as, as you've seen, things don't display properly if the tags are inconsistent.

Spike

[Antognini]

Looking at your opera tags they are all over the place! You've got 'Acts' and 'Tracks' as titles for starters. Now that doesn't have to be a problem as as long as you don't reset the track count for each disc eg run 01-70 over the entire set not 01-7, 01-13, 01-09, 01-11 etc etc then the track number can be used as the sort 'index' and the name doesn't matter as long as the Album and Artist are consistent.

Some of the "all over the place" information came from the original files or from the internet. Here, for example, I loaded the first 2 discs of the Aida, and for each in the rip window, I first did Update from Online Database:

[Antognini]

Somehow the attachment with the first CD didn't get attached. Here it is:

[Spike1000]

You are dealing with 'crowd sourced' data from your online database and tagging a multi CD set with data from different users who have different naming conventions for each CD in the set.  That's why it's inconsistent' or 'all over the place' as I called it. That was clear from your first screen shot. You need to edit the tags on your files to be consistent for them to display properly or possibly use a more accurate online database (but you still will most likely have to edit some of the tags in the ways I suggested).

Spike

[Antognini]

But it's not "my" online database; it's whatever MC (MC 22.0.54) is choosing to use. How do I determine what that is? And how do find a better database? That is, suggestions?

Thanks.

[Spike1000]

Try another tool as mentioned in my earlier posts or edit the tags to make them consistent. . .

Spike

[Antognini]

... it's whatever MC (MC 22.0.54) is choosing to use.

Looks like the online database is YADB, https://wiki.jriver.com/index.php/YADB .

[ethereal]

to me the structure is important. and my post was looking for help with rules, not somebodies opinion on how their way is better. if you had helped me with the rules and said but maybe the is another way then maybe your post would have been helpful.
1. I wish to save the audio to a folder on my freenas server where i have hdd redundancy and checksums.
2. Many folders can be managed but clearly the more you have the more problems arise. i spend a little time with the 2 rules, now everything is in one folder which is easy to maintain for me, my wife and son.
3. I use a Logitech Squeezebox Touch to stream to my living room hi-fi and a single folder is a again easier.
4. I mainly use MC for ripping and tagging, not listening, so having everything spread across a network makes no sense to me.
5. If i have a single folder it is also much easier to back things up.
These are the five main reasons off the top of my head.

The fact MC is built around a database means the directory structure of your rips is actually less important than the tagging of the files themselves. The views in MC are created from the tag metadata.

Over the years I've learned not to worry about the directory structure. My files just sit under Artist/Album and that's what you've done, but I don't worry about 'disc #'. The concept of 'disc #' is, IMHO, is as redundant as 'side' when we had vinyl. I don't see people storing CD tracks in 'album side' directories, I don't store my CDs in 'disc #' directories. 'side' and 'disc #' are only a property of the media the music is delivered on and that's going 'electronic' so I don't perpetuate the structure of the 'old' delivery media.

Just my 2p.

Spike

[Antognini]

2. Multi CD - i manually set the disc# to 1,2,etc. Rips to  \ Album Artist \ Album \ Disc# \
3. Various Artists Single CD - i manually set Album Artist to Various Artists. Rips to \ Various Artists \ Album \
4. Various Artists Multi CD - i manually set Album Artist to Various Artists and the disc# to 1,2,etc. Rips to \ Various Artists \ Album\Disc# \

Exactly when, where and how do you manually set these values? For example, with Disc #, how and when do you set the value before ripping the disc? That is, as far as I can imagine, the value has to be set before ripping creates the directory/filename structure.

[ethereal]

i set this manually in the tag editor prior to ripping - this ensures the discs go where you want them.

in the ripping screen you can add columns to ensure the tags are how you want them. i added Disc# and Album Artist in my view.

in the left hand tab click on tag - now right click on the tag pane - now you can select also show and this allows you to easily edit the cd tags. i also showed disc# and Album Artist.

now when i need to edit the tags prior to ripping - i use CTRL-A to select all the tracks and then in the left hand side tag pane i can edit the tags.
to select all change tag on all tracks then click rip will take less than 2-3 seconds. i usually check the disc# and Album Artist column prior to ripping.

[Antognini]

I figured out something similar last night, and it's not necessary to add fields to the view of tracks in the Rip Disc menu. I choose all the tracks, right-click on Tag, and update any of the currently defined Tag values. Then I rip, and the Tag values end up as I want them.