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[chrisjj]

My upper pane of the Artists view show only one artist "-" (the Album Artist of all tracks), and none of the track Artists of which the lower pane shows many:



Any idea how to get the upper pane to show all artists? Thanks.

[marko]

Could you right click on "Artists" in the tree and choose "Customise View", and then post a screenshot of the customise view dialogue?

The answer to your question lays in there somewhere, I'm sure.

-marko.

[chrisjj]

Thanks:

[Alex B]

You could add the "Album Artist" and "Album Artist (auto)" columns to your list view on the bottom split.

If you don't agree with what is displayed in the "Album Artist (auto)" column you can change the value in the "Album Artist" column. Remove the "Album Artist" value if you want to apply the automatic value. An album with various artists will then automatically get the value (Multiple Artists).

You can also add the "Artist" category to the "Show Categories In This Order" list. For instance:

Album Artist (auto)
Artist
Album

... or change it to

Artist
Album

... but then your "multiple artists" albums will not be grouped under a single "artist" thumbnail.

[chrisjj]

> You could add the "Album Artist" and "Album Artist (auto)" columns to your list view on the bottom split.

Thanks, but first I'd like to establish whether the top pane can be fixed.

Is there anyone else here with the same issue? Or does everone else see all artists (inc. track only Artists) in the top pane?

[Alex B]

This is for the top pane:

You can also add the "Artist" category to the "Show Categories In This Order" list. For instance:

Album Artist (auto)
Artist
Album

... or change it to

Artist
Album

... but then your "multiple artists" albums will not be grouped under a single "artist" thumbnail.

EDIT

Naturally you can also have boths views and use the view that suites the situation better.

I.e., a view with:

Album Artist (auto)
Album

and a separate view with:

Artist
Album

[Alex B]

Here is one of my replies that try to explain Artist vs. Album Artist vs. Album Artist (auto) :

http://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php?topic=51357.msg350528#msg350528

[chrisjj]

> This is for the top pane:

Aha... so this is an issue everyone else had?  I.e. is the installation default behaviour?

[Alex B]

everyone else

Who else?  


Actually, the default configuration should be able to handle the situation. Probably you have the "-" value tagged in the "Album Artist" field.

By default  Album Artist (auto) = Artist  for non-album files

I attached a screenshot of my very old "X-files" folder -- 1100 artists in 2247 unsorted "non-album" files in a single folder. They show up correctly in thumbnail views (i.e. each artist has its own thumbnail) because the Album Artist column is empty. Normally I exclude this folder from views because I have not organized and tagged the files properly.


(Log in to the forum if you can't see the attacment.)

[chrisjj]

> Who else?  



But seriously: anyone else with Artists additional to Album Artists.

> Actually, the default configuration should be able to handle the situation.

Good to know. Then I'd like to find out why it doesn't here.

> Probably you have the "-" value tagged in the "Album Artist" field.

Sure, as my original report says "My upper pane of the Artists view show only one artist "-" (the Album Artist of all tracks)"

> By default  Album Artist (auto) = Artist  for non-album files

I can't see why MC would class my files as "non-album", since all have an Album attribute. And an Album Artist property too, for what it's worth.

[Alex B]

I think the default assumptions in MC are:

- The Album Artist field is empty unless someone has deliberately tagged something there. If the files are ripped the value doesn't come automatically from the CD database and if the value is pretagged in files from other sources (like from a web store) then it is done for purpose, i.e. it is intended for displaying a single artist for the album.

- Most users don't want to see the individual tracks of their "various artists" albums splitted under separate artists.

That is why the default view is based on "Album Artist (auto)" instead of "Artist".

In order to avoid complicated questions the developers decided to make the display to simply show the text "Artist" even though the used field is actually "Album Artist (auto)". This was changed a long time ago. Back then I criticized the change because I felt that in some cases it might add confusion instead of reducing it. I guess there is no single correct way to satisfy all users.

Good to know. Then I'd like to find out why it doesn't here.

I already explained that. "-" causes it.

Sure, as my original report says "My upper pane of the Artists view show only one artist "-" (the Album Artist of all tracks)"

So you have tagged "-" there. If that is not what you want to see in a particular view you can replace "Album Artist (auto)" with "Album" in "Show Categories In this Order". Problem fixed.

I can't see why MC would class my files as "non-album", since all have an Album attribute. And an Album Artist property too, for what it's worth.

I meant unorganized single files (i.e. various files that are not organized as complete albums). Some of my poorly tagged old "X-files" have album tags and they may contain track numbers (which are useless in this case).

[chrisjj]

> - Most users don't want to see the individual tracks of their "various artists" albums splitted under separate artists.

OK... but how then "the default configuration should be able to handle the situation" ??

> In order to avoid complicated questions the developers decided to make the display to
> simply show the text "Artist" even though the used field is actually "Album Artist (auto)".

Didn't work, did it?

> Back then I criticized the change because I felt that in some cases it might add confusion
> instead of reducing it. I guess there is no single correct way to satisfy all users.

Good for you. IME, if in doubt, choose the truth! Shame MC didn't.

> I already explained that. "-" causes it. So you have tagged "-" there. If that is not what you want to see in a particular view

It is what I want to see. Just that I want also to see the other Artists.

Thanks for your fix. I'll make that config change when I'm a bit more comfortable with the program.

> I meant unorganized single files (i.e. various files that are not organized as complete albums).

I don't like to imagine how MC thinks it can tell what is a complete album, but thankfully this would appear not to bear on my issue.

Thanks again!

[Alex B]

> - Most users don't want to see the individual tracks of their "various artists" albums splitted under separate artists.

OK... but how then "the default configuration should be able to handle the situation" ??

It fills automatically the value "(Multiple Artists)" in the "Album Artist (auto)" field. Did you check the link I posted earlier:

Here is one of my replies that try to explain Artist vs. Album Artist vs. Album Artist (auto) :

http://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php?topic=51357.msg350528#msg350528

> In order to avoid complicated questions the developers decided to make the display to
> simply show the text "Artist" even though the used field is actually "Album Artist (auto)".

Didn't work, did it?

I guess not.

> Back then I criticized the change because I felt that in some cases it might add confusion
> instead of reducing it. I guess there is no single correct way to satisfy all users.

Good for you. IME, if in doubt, choose the truth! Shame MC didn't.

> I already explained that. "-" causes it. So you have tagged "-" there. If that is not what you want to see in a particular view

It is what I want to see. Just that I want also to see the other Artists.

Thanks for your fix. I'll make that config change when I'm a bit more comfortable with the program.

It is just a view thing. It doesn't touch your files or anything like that. You already posted the screenshot of the configuration options. Just use the "Add" and "Remove" buttons and experiment with it. You'll get more comfortable.

> I meant unorganized single files (i.e. various files that are not organized as complete albums).

I don't like to imagine how MC thinks it can tell what is a complete album, but thankfully this would appear not to bear on my issue.

I actually meant albums that are not physically complete on the hard drive. I suppose we can agree that a complete album includes all tracks that originally belong to the album. The usual way is to store these in an individual file folder. If you have just one or two of the album tracks in a folder or various single tracks from various albums in a single folder then the files don't form a complete album or complete albums.

MC has its own programmed logic for "complete albums". This old thread may help to understand it: http://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php?topic=33255

[chrisjj]

> It fills automatically the value "(Multiple Artists)" in the "Album Artist (auto)" field. Did you check the link I posted earlier:

I checked it. Still I couldn't see how it means "the default configuration should be able to handle the situation".

> You already posted the screenshot of the configuration options. Just use the
> "Add" and "Remove" buttons and experiment with it.

Well sure I can reconfigure, but I was asking about the default configuration... and trying to understand how it "handles this situtation" without giving this same problem to everyone.

I now see it must do. As you've explained, what is labelled "Artists" is actually "Album Artists" and so will potentially omit track artists for everyone. OK, issue settled. Thanks!

> I actually meant albums that are not physically complete on the hard drive.

I understood you. And my point is that MC can never tell. E.g. the last disc or track may be missing.

> MC has its own programmed logic for "complete albums". This old thread may help to understand
> it: http://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php?topic=33255

Thanks. All my tracks are in the same folder, so I'll not expect MC to recognise the separate albums... and I hope the fact I never need to browse by album means this will not cause any problem.