Topic: Compilations in IPOD (Read 6997 times)

BDR · « **on:** August 11, 2006, 10:12:42 am »

Is it possible to setup albums as compilations in MC so that they can be viewed as compilations after download to IPOD? I know MC has a very nice way to handle this via seperate fields for "Artist" and "Album Artist". Unfortunately, IPOD does not recognize the "Album Artist" field, so I am having to use itunes to download my compilations and MC for all other files.

SwellGuy · « **Reply #1 on:** August 11, 2006, 11:38:18 am »

This is something we've dabbled with before but it's a bit tricky just how to implement it. For instance, if you transfer a single Bob Dylan track from a compilation album is the artist "Multiple Artists" or is it "Bob Dylan". It would also call for one or more handheld settings and too many settings can flummox novice users.

Having said that, it's on Matt's personal wishlist as well so you could be seeing it in the near future.

BDR · « **Reply #2 on:** August 11, 2006, 02:51:07 pm »

Thanks for the response.

On a side note, will using itunes to load my compilation albums and then using MC to manage everything else cause any problems? I have both systems (itunes and MC) set to not syncronize and manually load tracks. I ask this because I am having all kinds of problems with my ipod loosing all of it's tracks after being connected to MC. I think this is mainly due to the new ipod update and have followed all of your suggestions (update MC to latest and reinitialize ipod in MC). Things seem to work for awhile and then crash, all songs gone on ipod. I will forward you my log files this evening when I get home as suggested in your post on this matter.

SwellGuy · « **Reply #3 on:** August 11, 2006, 06:55:34 pm »

We believe all the iPod database problems have been eliminated in the build we released earlier today (11.1.192).

This will allow you to use iTunes and MC with your iPod interchangably without any problems.

packyb · « **Reply #4 on:** September 02, 2006, 12:37:52 pm »

Wondering if there's any update on the compilation/Various Artists functionality for the iPod?

eba · « **Reply #5 on:** October 11, 2006, 04:44:42 am »

I've got around this by going the other way to MC and creating two new fields: Song Artist and Song Artist (Auto). Then just copying all compilation artists to Song Artist and setting Artist to (Multiple Artists) (or could be Compilations or whatever). In Media Center you can then use Song Artist rather than Artist, and on the portable Artist is as you want it to be.

It's not perfect as you'll have to copy the Artist across each time you rip a new compilation, but it works

.:eba:.

[Song Artist (Auto)] =if(IsEqual([Song Artist],),[Artist],[Song Artist])

ventilatedslacks · « **Reply #6 on:** October 19, 2006, 07:47:55 pm »

I'm a bit confused by what you described here, but very intrigued:

Quote from: eba on October 11, 2006, 04:44:42 am

I've got around this by going the other way to MC and creating two new fields: Song Artist and Song Artist (Auto). Then just copying all compilation artists to Song Artist and setting Artist to (Multiple Artists) (or could be Compilations or whatever). In Media Center you can then use Song Artist rather than Artist, and on the portable Artist is as you want it to be.

It's not perfect as you'll have to copy the Artist across each time you rip a new compilation, but it works

.:eba:.

[Song Artist (Auto)] =if(IsEqual([Song Artist],),[Artist],[Song Artist])

Could you explain in a bit more step by step detail how this works. I set up the two fields you recommended, copied the Artist field for my compilation artists to the Song Artist field, but now what?

eba · « **Reply #7 on:** October 22, 2006, 12:03:20 pm »

Ok, I'll go from the beginning for anyone else:

1. Create new field 'Song Artist'. Should be standard User Data.

2. Create new field 'Song Artist (Auto)'. Calculated Data: =if(IsEqual([Song Artist],),[Artist],[Song Artist])
This will work in the same way as [Album Artist (Auto)] does: if [Song Artist] is blank it will show [Artist], otherwise it will show [Song Artist].

3. Copy everything in [Artist] that is different to [Album Artist (Auto)] to [Song Artist] (select songs, then Right Click, Move/Copy fields, [Artist] -> [Song Artist]). (You could copy this for all songs regardless, although it’s nicer just to do it for compilations so that you can easily see which ones are different)

4. Copy everything in [Album Artist (Auto)] to [Artist]. Again, you can do this for either all songs, or just compilations, although in this case it's easier to do for all songs, particularly if you've used [Album Artist] for anything else (e.g. Album composers), just make sure that you've also copied these ones in the previous step.

5. Customize all audio view schemes to show [Song Artist (Auto)] rather than [Artist].

Now [Artist] will be used as the album artist, which is good for portables, while in Media Center you can still see individual song artists under [Song Artist (Auto)].

When ripping a new compilation, you'll have to again copy across from [Artist] -> [Song Artist] and set [Artist] to (Multiple Artists).

Hope this helps…

I have a Creative Zen, so I dunno exactly what iTunes/iPods are doing regarding compilations.

ventilatedslacks · « **Reply #8 on:** November 18, 2006, 10:45:34 am »

Supposedly this has been fixed in the latest version of the MC 12 beta (12.0.116): http://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php?topic=37143.0 -

Quote

5. NEW: Added support for compilations on iPods.

However, as I posted on the MC 12 beta board, I can't figure out how to get it to work. If someone else does, I'd love to know!

SwellGuy · « **Reply #9 on:** November 20, 2006, 11:59:26 am »

It should all be pretty automatic assuming the following is true...

MC has to understand the track to be part of a compilation (or a mixed album). An album is considered mixed by MC if the tracks are located in the same folder, have the same album name and have different artist names. To see if MC views a track as a member of a mixed album you can show the 'Mix Album' field (read-only) in your views.

The compilation artist used on the iPod is Album Artist (auto) in MC so if there isn't an Album Artist assigned it will use '(Multiple Artists)'.

On the iPod side make sure you have Compilations turned on in settings and you should find your compilations under Music > Compilations.

RobotX · « **Reply #10 on:** December 16, 2006, 05:40:21 pm »

I just used MC 12.0.130 to re-transfer all my music. Very disappointing, it still does not organize Artists as Album-Artist. I have a 3G ipod version, so there is no compilation option to turn on. But even so, I don't want to look under Compilations, I want to look under Artists, like I do in MC. I've been waiting 4 years to organize music on the ipod like this. I have a ton of world music compilations, here's an example album:

1. Attention - Rouge Rouge
2. Aya Benzer (Royal G's R&B Mix) - Mustafa Sandal
3. Ich Weiss Warum - 2Raumwohnung
4. Sous Le Soleil (Cuba Mix) - Major Boys
5. Nogo - Issa Bagayogo
6. Miss.Q.In - Zap Mama
7. Parisien Du Nord (Remix) - Cheb Mami/K-Mel
8. Ama-Gents (Club Mix) - Brenda Fassie
9. El Sopon De Yuya - Edesio
10. Saharony Ellil - Ragheb Alama

It's a real pain in the butt having to scroll through a thousand names of artists like 2Raumwohnung and Ragheb Alama and other names I can't pronounce who have only one song.

All my music is extremely well organized in individual folders ALBUM ARTIST/ALBUM/songs. All music is tagged with the correct name in the both album artist field and the band field (which WMP and itunes use as Album Artist). I'm trying my best here, throw me a bone!

Quote from: SwellGuy on November 20, 2006, 11:59:26 am

It should all be pretty automatic assuming the following is true...

MC has to understand the track to be part of a compilation (or a mixed album). An album is considered mixed by MC if the tracks are located in the same folder, have the same album name and have different artist names. To see if MC views a track as a member of a mixed album you can show the 'Mix Album' field (read-only) in your views.

The compilation artist used on the iPod is Album Artist (auto) in MC so if there isn't an Album Artist assigned it will use '(Multiple Artists)'.

On the iPod side make sure you have Compilations turned on in settings and you should find your compilations under Music > Compilations.

JaysonG · « **Reply #11 on:** September 08, 2007, 05:38:41 am »

Quote from: SwellGuy on November 20, 2006, 11:59:26 am

It should all be pretty automatic assuming the following is true...

MC has to understand the track to be part of a compilation (or a mixed album). An album is considered mixed by MC if the tracks are located in the same folder, have the same album name and have different artist names. To see if MC views a track as a member of a mixed album you can show the 'Mix Album' field (read-only) in your views.

The compilation artist used on the iPod is Album Artist (auto) in MC so if there isn't an Album Artist assigned it will use '(Multiple Artists)'.

On the iPod side make sure you have Compilations turned on in settings and you should find your compilations under Music > Compilations.

Brilliant this is what I wanted to find out. Thanks!

olarte · « **Reply #12 on:** September 09, 2007, 11:52:25 am »

Quote from: JaysonG on September 08, 2007, 05:38:41 am

Brilliant this is what I wanted to find out. Thanks!

One important point. Anything that was Sync'd to the ipod before compilations was turned on on the ipod will NOT show up in Compilations.

So you may want to remove these from the ipod turn on compilations then sync them again...

Eccles · « **Reply #13 on:** April 16, 2008, 08:13:40 am »

I've recently received an 80G iPod Classic, and I'm having trouble getting my compilation albums to show up under Compilations. I understand the problems with Cover Flow, etc, but I'd be happy for now if I could just get them to appear under Compilations.

I have checked that MC has them all marked as "Mix Album=1", but I can't find a Compilations setting anywhere in the Classic's menus. (They do appear under Compilations if I sync via iTunes.)

Can anyone tell me what I'm missing?

SwellGuy · « **Reply #14 on:** April 16, 2008, 09:26:33 am »

Compilations are working for us on the Classic using the latest version of MC and the latest firmware for the Classic. What version of MC are you running?

Eccles · « **Reply #15 on:** April 16, 2008, 09:52:13 am »

Quote from: SwellGuy on April 16, 2008, 09:26:33 am

Compilations are working for us on the Classic using the latest version of MC and the latest firmware for the Classic. What version of MC are you running?

MC 12.0.473; iPod 1.1.1PC. I reset the iPod (via MC) and resync'ed, but still nothing appears in Compilations.

[Edit] I see .476 was announced yesterday. I'll give it a try when I get home this evening, and report back here.

SwellGuy · « **Reply #16 on:** April 16, 2008, 04:30:01 pm »

MC won't consider them compilations if they are podcast files, otherwise they should be listed in compilations under the album artist (auto) name.

Eccles · « **Reply #17 on:** April 16, 2008, 11:24:48 pm »

Quote from: Eccles on April 16, 2008, 09:52:13 am

I see .476 was announced yesterday. I'll give it a try when I get home this evening, and report back here.

OK, it's working now. Here's this evening's sequence of events:

Fired up iTunes and did a Reload to get everything back to "factory fresh".
Shut down iTunes and fired up MC 12.0.476
Sync'd a small playlist containing two compilation albums and two single-artist albums. After ejecting, still nothing appeared in Compilations on the iPod Classic.
Reconnected and performed an "Initialize iPod" from MC.
Sync'd the same playlist, ejected, and - voila - the compilation albums now appear in Compilations and not in Artists. Yay!

Guess I'll just use MC's Initialize function if I need to reset the database from now on, unless things ever get really screwed to the point of requiring a Reload. Thanks!

Eccles · « **Reply #18 on:** April 17, 2008, 08:04:42 am »

Quote from: Eccles on April 16, 2008, 11:24:48 pm

OK, it's working now.

I take that back! Buoyed by the above success, I proceeded to resync my custom Smartlist to the iPod overnight, but upon disconnecting this morning, I find that none of the compilation albums that were synced via the Smartlist appear in Compilations, and my Cover Flow and Artists are once again clogged with multiple entries per compilation album - it appears that only compilations that I sync via "Send to - Drives & Devices - My iPod" or via a Playlist are being handled correctly.

My Smartlist is as follows:

Media type: Audio
Rating: 4&5 stars
Expand to full albums

Perhaps the automatic album expansion, rather than explicit track inclusion, is causing problems?

Eccles · « **Reply #19 on:** April 18, 2008, 12:48:37 am »

Well tonight I excluded my compilation albums from the Smartlist, deleted them from the iPod, manually added them to a new Playlist, then synced both the Smartlist and the Playlist. They now appear in Compilations, which would appear to confirm my suspicion that the problem only appears if the files are synced automatically via a Smartlist.

SwellGuy · « **Reply #20 on:** April 18, 2008, 09:22:57 am »

I can't think of any reason why that would be but I'll look into it...

Eccles · « **Reply #21 on:** April 18, 2008, 02:22:10 pm »

Another possibility, as I mentioned in an earlier post, is that it's because my Smartlist doesn't explicitly include all the tracks on an album, using the "Expand to full albums" option instead. However, thinking more about it, I'm pretty sure that at least one of my compilation albums has every track marked as 4 or 5 stars, so perhaps that's not a factor after all.

Let me know if there's anything I can try or capture that might help get to the bottom of this.

INTERACT FORUM

Author Topic: Compilations in IPOD (Read 6997 times)

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