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[wig]

Is there any way to manually mark an album as as mix album? The Mix Album field isn't manually editable; is there a way to make it so, or some other way to bring about the same result?

[Doof]

Do all the tracks in the album have the same Artist? If so, is it really a mix album? And if so, why do all the files have the same Artist? Just curious as to how something like this comes about. I'm usually trying to convince MC that what it thinks is a Mix album is actually a Single Artist album.

[wig]

Do all the tracks in the album have the same Artist?

Nope. The album I'll use for this example is Hand-picked: 25 Years of Bluegrass.

The album was correctly identified during the rip process, and each artist was individually entered. However, the tracks were all marked as 0 in the Mix Album field, and whenever I try to change the Album Artist (auto) field (to something like Multiple Artist), the Artist field is also updated as well.

I'm new to this part of MC, so bear with me if I'm going about this the wrong way.

[Doof]

Do the files all exist in the same folder?

[wig]

Do the files all exist in the same folder?

No. They are all in individual artists folders. I tried selecting all of the tracks and doing a Rename Files From Properties with the [Artist]\[Album] directory path and "Use 'Assorted' for [Artist] on multiple artist albums, but it tells me there will be no change.

[Alex B]

whenever I try to change the Album Artist (auto) field (to something like Multiple Artist), the Artist field is also updated as well.

You are not supposed to edit the "Album Artist (auto)" field. MC does that automatically as the name implies. Change the plain "Album Artist" field value instead (its purpose is to override the auto value when preferred).

When renaming files you can use "Album Artist (auto)" instead of "Artist" in the directory rule, for example: [Album Artist (auto)]\[Album] (don't tick the "Assorted" option in this case)

EDIT

You may want to use a similar rule in your ripping location options:

[wig]

Thanks, Alex. This has solved my problem functionally. I'm still confused why, in this instance, MC didn't recognize the album as a Mix Album, and why the 'Assorted for multiple artists' checkbox doesn't make a change. But I'm willing to leave that a mystery, considering my new found god-like powers of Artist editing 

You are not supposed to edit the "Album Artist (auto)" field. MC does that automatically as the name implies. Change the plain "Album Artist" field value instead (its purpose is to override the auto value when preferred).

When renaming files you can use "Album Artist (auto)" instead of "Artist" in the directory rule, for example: [Album Artist (auto)]\[Album] (don't tick the "Assorted" option in this case)

EDIT

You may want to use a similar rule in your ripping location options:

[Alex B]

A quote from my old reply:

... MC fills the "Album Artist (auto)" field automatically. You can override the automatic selection by filling the "Album Artist" field when needed. You should use only the "Artist" and "Album Artist (auto)" fields as view items because the "Album Artist" field is normally empty unless you have used it for making a custom album artist.

This is from the program help file:

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.

In this post I explained how I use the "Album Artist" field for overriding the automatic "Album Artist (auto)" value:

In any case you can always write whatever you like in the Album Artist field. Album Artist (auto) will use the same value.

I don't like the automatically filled (Multiple Artists) value in the "Album Artist (auto)" field. After the first 100 or so multiple artist albums I decided to write something meaningful in the Album Artist field instead. For example, I use the album series or DJ's name. Or the main artist of the album like in this example from last December:

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\..." path. With this filing system I can search for track artists as well. For example, I can use the standard Artist field for finding all Eartha Kitt tracks even she is not an Album Artist in my library.

EDIT

Personally, I don't use the "Assorted" option at all. I may initially file various artists albums under the default auto value = (Multiple Artists), but usually, sooner or later, I create custom Album Artists when appropriete.