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Author Topic: Multi-disc albums  (Read 4544 times)

mesue

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Multi-disc albums
« on: October 08, 2005, 10:00:10 pm »

How do you guys handle your multi-disc albums? In the past I have always used the same albums name for all discs, and I have a directory structure like this:

home folder\[artist]\[album]\[disc #][track #] [name].mp3

If I do this with the track # starting from 01 for each disk, though, it does not get marked as a complete album in MC when it should be. Is there any solution to this?

What I have been doing is resetting the track #'s in MC but leaving the 3-digit track # in the file name, but to me this is making the track numbers incorrect in MC.
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Sue

Galley

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Re: Multi-disc albums
« Reply #1 on: October 09, 2005, 02:22:59 am »

I use iTunes to import my CDs.  As you may know, iTunes uses the following naming scheme for multi-disc albums:
1-01 Track Name.m4a
1-02 Track Name.m4a
1-03 Track Name.m4a
2-01 Track Name.m4a
2-02 Track Name.m4a
2-03 Track Name.m4a

I added the incomplete albums playlist and got the same results.  MC11 simply does not support .m4a files very well.   :( 
The only workaround I have found is to select all the tracks, sort by filename, and then use the "fill track numbers from list order" command.
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marko

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Re: Multi-disc albums
« Reply #2 on: October 09, 2005, 08:16:44 am »

MC11 has a [disc #] field.

After populating this, it can be used in any filenaming mask.

to prevent breaking MC's [complete album] logic you have two choices:

If you keep all the tracks in a single directory, then you must number all the tracks sequentially.
If you would rather keep the track numbers on a per-disc basis, and maintain the complete album logic, then you need to place each disc in its own folder.

Using mesue's example above, the mask would become:
home folder\[artist]\[album]\[disc #]\[track #] [name].mp3

When using the rename from properties tool, the following expression will cover both single and multi-disc albums, simply paste it into the directory rule field. If your home folder\ is not My Music, remember to edit the string accordingly.

if(isempty([disc #],1),My Music\[artist]\[Album],My Music\[artist]\[Album]\Disc [disc #])

-marko.

Alex B

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marko

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Re: Multi-disc albums
« Reply #4 on: October 09, 2005, 08:30:27 am »

Galley, were you aware that you could use the fill properties from filename tool to quickly populate the [disc #] field in MC?

from your example filenames above, your mask would be

[disc #]-[track #] [name]

if you would rather it skipped the [name] part of the filename, it would be like so..

[disc #]-[track #] []

Once you've done that, you could then use the rename from properties tool to complete the organisation of your files.

-marko.

mesue

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Re: Multi-disc albums
« Reply #5 on: October 09, 2005, 09:49:44 am »

For a few reasons, I don't like to put each disc in its own folder. Mainly for compatibility with my MP3-CD boombox where it treats each folder as an album and has a limit on path length.

I think I shall continue the way I have been where the original CD track # is archived in the file name and the tracks are renumbered in MC11.

Ideally, MC should look at the disc # field when determining a complete album, so the renumbering would not be neccessary.

Here's my filename mask (I think this should work, but I haven't tested it yet):
If(IsEmpty[Disc #]), , [Disc #])[Track #] [Name]
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Sue

marko

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Re: Multi-disc albums
« Reply #6 on: October 09, 2005, 10:01:58 am »

Here's my filename mask (I think this should work, but I haven't tested it yet):
If(IsEmpty[Disc #]), , [Disc #])[Track #] [Name]

If(IsEmpty([Disc #],1),[track #] [name],[Disc #][Track #] [Name])

is what you're after.

mesue

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Re: Multi-disc albums
« Reply #7 on: October 09, 2005, 10:08:54 am »

Thank you!
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Sue

marko

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Re: Multi-disc albums
« Reply #8 on: October 09, 2005, 10:48:05 am »

you're welcome.

the format reads like so:

if(isempty([disc #],1), ~ if the disc number field is empty,
[track #] [name], ~ use this,
[disc#][track #] [name]) ~ otherwise use this instead.

This is the link to the official MC11 database expressions page...

http://www.jrmediacenter.com/DevZone/DBExpressions.htm

It's useful, but I find it more help when coupled with some 'real world' examples.

Mastiff

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Re: Multi-disc albums
« Reply #9 on: October 09, 2005, 03:50:23 pm »

I do it quick and dirty: I put everything in view and renumber according to list order when I do tagging. So original track numbers aren't preserved, and I really have no use for them either. A double album is made because of the limits the CD medium has in length, not because the artist or company really wants two different albums. At least I don't know of any cases where that's likely.
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Galley

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Re: Multi-disc albums
« Reply #10 on: October 10, 2005, 10:27:51 pm »

Thanks for info dudes.
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