We must all be missing each others' meanings here, so, let me try again.
I have EAC-ripped and compressed .ape files in folders:
[ALBUM ARTIST]\[ALBUM]
EAC automatically names each file as follows:
[TRACK #] - [NAME] - [ARTIST] - [YEAR]
I'm trying to set-up MC9's options so that each time I import .ape files I've ripped in EAC, MC9 tags the files properly. In MC9 Tools->Options->Files & Naming(?), I can't get the folder path bar to accept [ALBUM ARTIST]\[ALBUM] - it seems to only see the ALBUM part. As a result, none of the imported files list the Album Artist. The pulldown menu for folder naming conventions doesn't show [ALBUM ARTIST] as an option anymore, either (it did in MJ8).
Finally, [YEAR] in the filename seems to have the same problem. MC9 doesn't recognize it as an additional field, but keeps it attached to the [ARTIST] field. So, after importing, I get "Beastie Boys - 1989" in the [ARTIST] field, and nothing in the [YEAR] field.
I think I'm just going to rip in MC9. It'd be great if EAC were somehow integrated into MC9 so you could choose to rip with EAC, just like you can choose from a number of different third party compression utilities. But, until that time comes....
Thanks again for your ideas.