Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[winterminute]

I have a large number of files (1000s) that were imported and show no album artist.  If I open that file up in WMP and look at "Advanced Tag Editor" I can see the album artist.  I've deleted my WMP library database and recreated it so I know the metadata exists in the file not just in the WMP.

Any ideas how I can fix this?

[Alex B]

For some reason Microsoft has decided to use the ID3v2 TPE2 aka "Band" tag for Album Artist with mp3 files. Media Center shows the info correctly in the Band field. You can use MC's "Move/Copy Fields" tool for mass copying the Band field to the Album Artist field and have the info in both places if needed.

With WMA files this step is not needed. The WM/AlbumArtist tag populates the Album Artist library field automatically.

[trott]

It would seem that MC uses (for mp3 files at least) a custom tag called 'comment media jukebox: album artist' tag instead of the band tag.
I put a tag with a value of 'various' into several files, the tag is called 'ALBUM ARTIST'. (this is done using mp3tag)
MC does not read this tag, when I add a value to the 'album artist' tag in MC, it is visible in mp3tag as the above mentioned 'comment media jukebox: album artist' tag...

Which is unfortunate as I have always tagged all my files with 'album artist'...

[Alex B]

The TPE2 "Band" tag is supposed to be used for the band or the orchestra name. MS just happens to use it for the Album Artist.

Similarly the TXXX (Album Artist) that Mp3tag uses is not part of the ID3v2 standard. TXXX tags can contain any user defined text frames according to the ID3v2 documentation.

Luckily, Mp3tag can read and write MC's proprietary comments correctly. You can make a new "Action" for mass copying the TXXX (Album Artist) tags to Comment Media Jukebox: Album Artist. (This works properly with Mp3tag v. 2.36 or newer. Also, you need to configure Mp3tag to use the ID3v2.3 ISO 8859-1 tag format.)

[sonicbox]

iTunes 7 implements Album Artist (FINALLY!).  Guess what tag it uses in MP3?  ID3 TPE2.  (For M4A/AAC, it's the aART atom which was always in the specification, but not exposed until now.)

For Microsoft Windows Vista, they added far more tagging support to the basic shell.  Album Artist is exposed there, too, now.  Yes, once again... ID3 TPE2 for MP3.

I think it's time Media Center really gets a "use TPE2 as Album Artist" feature.  Since there is no "official" Album Artist tag in ID3, TPE2 seems to be the best choice.  I know copying the field is an option, but it would be much easier for interoperability.

[Alex B]

Personally, I have used the Band field for the name of the orchestra or the band if it is different from the Artist field value. These are mostly classical orchestras. They are not track or album artists.

If any changes are going to happen they should be backwards compatible with MC's previous behavior.

I put a tag with a value of 'various' into several files, the tag is called 'ALBUM ARTIST'. (this is done using mp3tag)
MC does not read this tag, when I add a value to the 'album artist' tag in MC, it is visible in mp3tag as the above mentioned 'comment media jukebox: album artist' tag...

In general, a "various" Album Artist value is unnecessary inside MC. MC does not need an Album Artist field value for sorting multiple artists albums correctly because it has a clever automatic system for them. The Album Artist field is supposed to be used only when the user wants to override the automatic system with a specific field value.

This is from MC's Help:

Multiple Artist Albums

Media Center comes with a number of tools to help automatically identify compilation albums that include various artists.


Album Artist (auto)

This is a built-in automatic field.  It auto-completes as follows:

- If something is manually typed in the Album Artist field, that content is included in the Album Artist (auto) field as well.
- If the Album Artist field is empty, then the Album Artist (auto) field gets completed as follows:
     - Single-artist name in the case of a single-artist album.
     - (Multiple Artists) in the case of a multiple-artist album*.

* In order for (Multiple Artists) to appear automatically, the album must be in its own exclusive directory (i.e., if there are files from more than one album in a directory, the program will not label it as Multiple Artist).

Here is the logic. A track is a mix if all the files with the same [Album] value in the same directory:

- have more than one [Artist] value among them
- have no other [Album] values used by any other file in the same directory
- are Audio and have a non-empty [Album] value


Automatic Assorted

When you rename files (right click > Library Tools > Rename Files from Properties), the window that appears provides the option to "Use Assorted for [Artist] on multi-artist albums". This is just under the Directories Rule. When selected, the files will be saved in a directory called Assorted if you have included the [Artist] rule in the directory rule.

Example:

Artist: Stackabones, Album: Best of Truck Driving Songs

Directory Rule:
Base path: M:\Music\
Rule: [Artist]\[Album]
"Use Assorted [Artist] on multi-artist albums" is checked.

Result:
M:\Music\Assorted\Best of Truck Driving Songs\Filename rule


Complete Albums

Media Center can automatically display complete and incomplete albums. An album is considered complete if all the files with the same [Album] value in the same directory:

- are sequentially numbered tracks starting at 1
- have at least 2 files or 10 minutes of audio
- are Audio and have a non-empty [Album] value.

View Schemes for Multiple Artist Albums
Create the following scheme to view Multiple Artist Albums:

1. Right click on Audio in the tree.

2. Select Add View Scheme.

3. Click "Add", Standard View Item, and add the following:
- Album Type (shows multiple vs. single artist albums, and whether they are complete or incomplete). Note: you may have to scroll up the list to get Album Type. Press Ok.
- Repeat, and add Album

4. Or display fields for each of the items displayed in #3:  Album Type, Album Artist (auto), Complete Album, Album.

You can now quickly view your Multiple Artist albums, and better yet, you can view all of your complete and/or incomplete albums. Complete albums are indicated by a "1", and "0" displays incomplete albums.

Here is an example from my library:

Here is an real-life example how I use the Album Artist field.

I just bought this record: "Louis Armstrong & Friends - What A Wonderful Christmas." I filed it like this:



I wanted this album to show up besides the other Louis Armstrong albums instead of "multiple artists" or "Louis Armstrong & Friends". Also, I saved the disk files in the "Louis Armstrong\What A Wonderful Christmas" path, not in the "Louis Armstrong & Friends\...". With this filing system I can search for track artists as well. For example, I can search for Eartha Kitt's songs even she is not an Album Artist in my library.

.