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[jeffspl311]

Problems with User Fields in the Library...

I've defined a User Field "Provider" on my laptop running MC. I have also specified that the field be Stored in Tags when possible. I fill in this field with where I got the track.

I expected that when I filled in the data and copied the track to my desktop machine WHICH DID NOT have the "Provider" field defined, that it would become automatically defined by virtue of importing a file that had it defined and stored inside it. However it didn't work that way. The "Provider" field did not show up on the track that had it and that I imported.

So then I thought I would try to define the "Provider" field on the Desktop machine and THEN import the files from the Laptop. Still no joy. The values for the "Provider" had been cleared out. This kind of data loss is REALLY bad for me.

Cheers,
Jeff

[IanG]

Problems with User Fields in the Library...

I've defined a User Field "Provider" on my laptop running MC. I have also specified that the field be Stored in Tags when possible. I fill in this field with where I got the track.

So far as I know, "Provider" isn't a valid tag, so it's got no chance of being stored.

I think there's a way forward though - add the user field "Publisher" (which is the nearest tag I can think of) with the store in tags attribute set and copy Provider to it.  Then update the tags from the library. 

Ian G.

[IanG]

?

If you create a Tag Field (even a 'custom' field) and set it to "Store In Tags" why would it not be stored?

Isn't that the beauty of MC's ability to define/create custom tag fields?

There's no problem storing information in the library - that's under MC's control, and it does a great job. If information is being stored in the tags, it has to be written to the files themselves, and there are standards defining what can be written where, what it's called etc.  Since "Provider" doesn't feature in the standard, there's no place in the file to put that information.

Ian G.

[Matt]

There's no problem storing information in the library - that's under MC's control, and it does a great job. If information is being stored in the tags, it has to be written to the files themselves, and there are standards defining what can be written where, what it's called etc.  Since "Provider" doesn't feature in the standard, there's no place in the file to put that information.

Ian G.

Just a heads up that MC can store any custom fields in APE, WMA, MP3, OGG, and JPG tags.

[Matt]

It's by design that importing files doesn't create a library field.  It'd make for messy libraries, and there are too many field parameters to fully store in the tag.

However, if you have fields defined on both machines, the file formats I listed above will hold any info and it'll show on either machine.  (note that you need to enable "Save in tag" for the custom field)

[Alex B]

jeffspl311,

Action Window > File Type Info shows what tags MC can read from a selected file. Can you see your custom tags there? Are you sure the library fields are identical on both PCs? Check for spelling errors. What is the file format?

[IanG]

Just a heads up that MC can store any custom fields in APE, WMA, MP3, OGG, and JPG tags.

Egg on face time again, but Wow!  When did that change? Does writing arbitrary tags have any impact on the file's compatibility with other apps?

Ian G.

[Matt]

Egg on face time again, but Wow!  When did that change? Does writing arbitrary tags have any impact on the file's compatibility with other apps?

Ian G.

MC only write tags when it can do it in a safe and compatible way.

Most tagging formats support either:
1) Flexible field naming (APE tags (APE, MPC, etc.), WMA, etc.)
2) Packaging of custom data into other fields (MP3 uses extende comments, etc.)

JPEG tagging is our own XML system, but it fully complies with the JPEG APPID header system.

Thanks Ian.

[jeffspl311]

Hi All,
Thanks for all the posts, very illuminating. I'm glad that it's designed to work mostly as I expected, with the exception of not giving me the option to create custom tags when MC recognizes one in file it's about to import.

I think that this should still be considered a bug report for v11, because of the apparent data loss that occurs when I have pre-defined the identical tag "Provider" in v11 and imported a file that has the tag with data in it and the data is discarded! Just to be complete, I imported the same file into v10 which also has the "Provider" tag pre-defined and the data was retained.

Alex B,
Yep, the tag (with DATA!, so it's not REAL data loss, only apparent data loss... just as bad of course, but at least with hope of future recovery) is shown in the File Type Info, spelling identical, and they are CBR MP3's. Thanks for pointing out the use of File Type Info though, I had never used that before. Man, everytime I turn around I find something new that's cool about this product!

Cheers,
Jeff

[Alex B]

I tried this with a new empty library and had no problems. I added one of my custom fields and imported an old file containing that tag. MC populated the empty field with the correct value.

This may be a silly question, but did you remember to make your custom field visible in View > Customize Current View > Columns To Show?

[jeffspl311]

Not a silly question. I wasn't using it as a column though. I was just checking via the Tag Info pane (yes, with "Show all Fields")

One difference with your testing scenario and mine is that I started with a non-empty Library, then tried to import a track with a custom tag, then fully deleted the track, then created the custom tag in the Library, then tried to re-import the track.

Cheers,
Jeff

[hit_ny]

One thing isn't clear in this discussion.

If a track with a custom field is imported into a library where that field is not defined, will MC delete the custom tag on import ?

If so its a bug, but i cant see why it would do this as it would not even know the tag existed.

[Alex B]

MC does not change the file tags on import. However, MC rewrites all of its own custom tags if any of the file tags including the standard tags are changed using MC. Custom fields that are not defined in the current library are not preserved. I tried this with mp3, mpc, ape, ogg and wma.