That's correct. The new implementation is by design, and preferable to some people. (myself included)
Try a path rule like this instead:
IsEmpty([Artist],,[Artist]\)[Album]
I admit I haven't delved much into expression. Can they be used during the ripping process?
I'm not sure we're talking about the same thing, or maybe we're talking about more than one thing... The original poster's concern was about missing fields; mine is about MC trumping [artist] with [album artist] in the *directory rule* field for ripping, if [album artist] was supplied.
Basically, [artist] meant 2 things for ripping (in MC10), depending on whether it was used in a Directory Rule or Filename Rule. In the Directory Rule, MC10 would use [album artist] in place of [artist] if [album artist] was specified, while in the Filename Rule [artist] meant [artist] period.
Why was this more convenient? It meant that I could basically leave my Directory Rule alone: [artist] - [album] and my Filename Rule was [Track #] - [Name] for single artist CDs or [Track #] - [artist]-[name] for multiple-artist CDs. My view scheme for ripping exposes fields for both [artist] and [album artist].
Here are some examples as to how this *used* to work:
To rip U2's "How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb" [artist]="U2" and [album artist]=nothing. The folder structure is
U2 - How To Dismantle an Atomic Bomb
01 - Vertigo.mp3
02 - Miracle Drug.mp3
...
The artist ID3 tag is "U2" and all is well. (for all practical purposes the [album artist] field is disregarded post rip.)
Next example: To rip Chaka Khan's Classikahn [artist]="Chaka Khan" and [album artist]="Khan, Chaka". Without changing my Directory Rule or Filename Rule, after ripping my folder structure is
Khan, Chaka - Classikahn
01 - Hey Big Spender.mp3
02 - Hazel's Lips.mp3
...
while the artist ID3 tag is still "Chaka Khan".
Last example: To rip Verve Remixed 3 (a multiple-artist CD) I supply the track artist's name in the [artist] field (this will vary from track to track) and set [album artist] to "Various Artists". I change the Filename Rule to [track #] - [artist]-[name] but leave Directory Rule alone (it still says [artist] - [album], notice how [artist] appears 2x but the value substitued depends on context). After ripping, my folder structure looks like this:
Various Artists - Verve Remixed 3
01 - Nina Simone-Little Girl Blue (Postal Service Remix).mp3
02 - Billie Holliday-Speak Low (Bent Remix).mp3
...
What this really meant was that I had to minimal fiddling with my file naming rules AND had a streamlined approach to tagging: fill in [album artist] if different from [artist] for directory collating purposes.
In the new approach I set my Directory Rule to [album artist] - [album] and I have to supply [album artist] *always*.
To some people this probably makes more sense, and I never mentioned it because I've honestly spent more time explaining it than it is really worth. In the end, MC10 did something clever and smart (by moving [album artist] into [artist] in the Directory Rule) that MC11 doesn't. I doubt that this confounded anyone (I think any MC user would have quickly figured out what was going on) and it was a convenient feature. If it can be resurrected that would be great, otherwise, I've adapted to the new scheme.