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[GreggP]

I'd like to have a tag that records the date a track was recorded, instead of the date the track was released. Most of these dates from the music databases show the date the track was released. Many compilations or 'Best of's released lately are of tracks recorded decades ago and when I created an autosmartlist of music from the Year 2000, a lot of this "older" music was included.

Anyhow, how do you create a custom date field?

To start with, I'd like to copy all of the track data from YEAR to this new custom "Originally Recorded Date" field. Then I'll have to do some research and for tracks that need this, find the original recording dates and edit this new field.

Are there any special calculations needed to convert from the YEAR field to the new field and still display in a friendly format (like 2001)?

Thanks for your help.

[rocketsauce]

Go to Tools/Options/Tree & View/Library Fields and add a new field. If you're not sure about the parameters, select the already existing Date field and click edit to see how it is set up.

Rob

[pipsqueak]

To start with, I'd like to copy all of the track data from YEAR to this new custom "Originally Recorded Date" field.

i'd like to know how to do this - anyone know how to do a batch copy?

[lee269]

Take a look at Tools / Library Tools / 'Move\Copy Fields'

(in v10 - not sure about 9.1)

[GreggP]

Go to Tools/Options/Tree & View/Library Fields and add a new field. If you're not sure about the parameters, select the already existing Date field and click edit to see how it is set up.

Rob

I tried that... there's not much to go on with the existing DATE field. It shows:

General:
     Display = Date
     Category = General
Search:
     Keywords = date=;d=
Data:
     User data (grayed out):
          Data Type = null (grayed out)
          Edit Type = Standard (grayed out)
          Values = null (grayed out)
     Calculated data (grayed out):
          Template = null

When you copy the data from this DATE field to the new field using the same settings, the year 2000 becomes 36526.  I'm trying to figure out what calculations were used to get these numbers. Like I said, the existing fields don't provide any useful information.

[lee269]

Cant help too much, but the value 36526= no days since 1/1/1900=1/1/2000. This is the way Excel and other Microsoft apps (at least) store dates. The fractional part after the decimal point would indicate the time.

Funnily enough I thought that MC recorded dates as seconds from 1/1/1970, but maybe that changed. I dont want to cloud the issue with my imperfect knowledge.

[GreggP]

Cant help too much, but the value 36526= no days since 1/1/1900=1/1/2000. This is the way Excel and other Microsoft apps (at least) store dates. The fractional part after the decimal point would indicate the time.

I think I'm getting closer. I think MC sets 1900 to 2, 1901 = 367, etc. So every number represents a year. The year 2000 is 100 years after 1900... 100 x 365 = 36500. Since MC adds 2, that would give us 36502. Now I'm not sure where the extra 24 comes from. Are there 24 extra days (leap year days) in every 100 years?

[rocketsauce]

When you copy the data from this DATE field to the new field using the same settings, the year 2000 becomes 36526.  I'm trying to figure out what calculations were used to get these numbers. Like I said, the existing fields don't provide any useful information.

You don't need to figure out any calculations if the new custom field is set up correctly. If you put in 2003, it will show up as 2003. The plain Date field maybe isn't the one to use as a guide. Try the Date (year) field. In fact, it looks as if Date and Date (year) are linked somehow, because if you change something in one, it automatically changes in the other.

Anyway, in my library I'm using the Date (year) field to show the track date. I created a custom field called Date (album) by copying the info from one of the existing date fields and it works fine::

Name: Date (album)
Display: Date (album)
Category: General

Keywords: datealbum=
Default search field is checked

Data Type: integer
Edit Type: standard
Values: blank
Store in file tags is checked

Rob

[pipsqueak]

oooh science...i like it...

a leap year occurs approximately every 4 years, therefore you would expect 25 per century, but the 100th year is usually not a leap year, meaning you get 24 extra days per century (except for once every 400 years)...

lets just hope MC remembers that in the century around the year 2400, there will actually be 25 leap days.

Pip

see below for more info...

"Which years are leap years?
In the Gregorian calendar, which is the calendar used by most modern countries, the following rules decides which years are leap years:
Every year divisible by 4 is a leap year.
But every year divisible by 100 is NOT a leap year
Unless the year is also divisible by 400, then it is still a leap year.
This means that year 1800, 1900, 2100, 2200, 2300 and 2500 are NOT leap years, while year 2000 and 2400 are leap years.
This actually means year 2000 is kind of special, as it is the first time the third rule is used in many parts of the world.

In the old Julian Calendar, there was only one rule: Every year divisible by 4 is a leap year. This calendar was used before the Gregorian calendar was adopted. "

http://www.timeanddate.com/date/leapyear.html