Thanks to Phydeaux for posting ideas. I like the system and it has given me some things to try.
I'm hesitant to rely so heavily on custom MC fields because you can only see this tag information when you play files through MC. MC is my favorite player. It’s a great product and I use it exclusively at home. However, I also play music in my car, on portable devices, and at other locations where MC is not available. None of the players in those locations can read MC’s custom fields, rendering them useless.
The ID3V2 spec has fields to capture all of the information for classical music (see
http://www.id3.org/id3v2.3.0.txt). It doesn’t quite capture all the detail Phydeaux uses. But, for most people, it would be better to use the agreed industry standard spec rather than creating custom fields:
TCON: Genre
TALB: Album
TIT1: Group Description
TIT2: Title
TIT3: Sub Title
TPE1: (Lead) Artist
TPE2: Orchestra
TPE3: Conductor
TPE4: Interpreted, remixed, or otherwise modified by
TPUB: Publisher
TCOM: Composer
TKEY: Initial key
TORY: Original Release Year
TYER: Year of Recording
There are free tagging programs on the market which create these tags.
The problem is that most software vendors, including JRiver, are behind in implementing this part of the spec. The IPod forced them to add TCOM, but, sadly, they are ignoring the other fields. I’m tagging my files according to the spec. Eventually, someone will implement it. And when they do, I’ll go with them.
I believe that the only reason vendors are not getting more requests for these fields is that most people do not know that they exist. Few actually sit down and read the spec. It will be a popular addition, however.
In the meantime, MC reads the basic fields (TCON, TALB, TIT2, TPE1, TCOM, TYER), (Although there is still a bug in their import routine which has been posted many times.) I’m limping along with that until a solution which is more satisfactory for my wants appears.
That said, I will always be an ardent JRiver supporter. Beyond the quality of the product, I like the atmosphere they have created on this forum.