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[fredphoesh]

Hi guys,
I have managed to add 27k tracks to my database, but now its time to sort things out a bit, not all my ID3 tags are the way MC likes them...

So I RH click on the offending album/artist thumbnail, and choose to find the file externally. I then open that folder in Tag & Rename (imo the best tag editor out there) and correct the problems. I then go back to MC and right click on the thumbnail again and choose to update database from Tags. I then press F5 to refresh and see the corrected result.

Is this the best way? Is there a watch folder mode where MC will eventually find the changes and automatically update the database from changed ID3 tags in the background?

What if I make corrections to my tags OUTSIDE of MC (internal editing seems very poor) and do changes to about 20 or more albums/tracks/artists. What if I do not remember exactly all of the changes I made, is the only way to do that by selecting the whole database and updating all of them from Tags? I am busy doing that right now, and MC seems to be Not Responding, though the hard drives are grunting away... so probably in deep think...

guys?

tx
Mark.

[JimH]

MC can change the tags.  Did you try it?  Select a file or files and click on tag.  If the tag you want to change doesn't show, use the options icon (small square) to add it to the view.

[Alex B]

- You can set MC's Auto-Import to monitor any folders. MC will reread the file tags if the files' "Date Modified" time stamps have changed.

- MC has great tagging features. Action Window > Tag is only one of them. Personally I mostly tag directly in the list views. Here's an example: http://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php?topic=51540.msg357304#msg357304. MC has also some nice additional tools like Move/Copy Fields, Clean File Properties, Fill Track Numbers From List Order, Find and Replace, and "Rename, Move, & Copy Files".

[fredphoesh]

Thanks Jim and Alex,

I will try the internal tagging once my MC has started responding again!
... and also the auto-import feature. I had that off because I kept on getting crashes using it, possibly due to some odd mobile phone WAV files being in the MP3 folder.

Cheers,
Mark.

[fredphoesh]

MC can change the tags.  Did you try it?  Select a file or files and click on tag.  If the tag you want to change doesn't show, use the options icon (small square) to add it to the view.

Hi Jim
Yep, this works well if you have all the tracks of an album together, but often you have a lone file which is tagged incorrectly and it is difficult to find the other files contained in that folder to check their tags too... so I find it quite easy to find the file in the folder external to MC and use the (spectacularly more powerful for tagging!) Tag&Rename 3.5.6 to do the tagging.

I think I should be an agent for Tag&Rename. I bought it a few years ago and have tried dozens of others over the years, and nothing comes even close. I would recommend it to any serious MP3 file collector to tidy up their collection.

Tx
Mark.

[Alex B]

it is difficult to find the other files contained in that folder to check their tags too

Right-click > Locate > On Disk (inside Media Center)   or
Right-click > Locate > Advanced > Filename (path)

You can set MC to list up to eight recently used commands at the top of the right-click menu (Options > Tree & View > Advanced > Right-click recent command count...).

However, it's absolutely fine to use T&R if you prefer it. You are already familiar with its interface and seems like it can do what you want.

[dcwebman]

I think I should be an agent for Tag&Rename. I bought it a few years ago and have tried dozens of others over the years, and nothing comes even close. I would recommend it to any serious MP3 file collector to tidy up their collection.

Since MC is the best organizer/tagger I have ever used, I and perhaps JRiver would love to hear tagging features that MS is missing.

[fredphoesh]

Since MC is the best organizer/tagger I have ever used, I and perhaps JRiver would love to hear tagging features that MS is missing.

It is chalk and cheese.
MC, in my opinion, is best for its Theater view.
As a music library tool, Catrax is a lot deeper.
As a tag editor Tag&Rename is a lot deeper.
If I want to quickly play an MP3 file from a folder, its much faster to load VLC than MC.

Products that do everything are hardly ever (never?) as good as specialised ones that do a specific task. I can only assume you have never tried Tag&Rename. If you had, I am sure you would not feel you needed to defend MC.

I have bought MC recently, solely because of its Theater view for accessing my music from 10 feet away...  so for me its undeniably an excellent bit of software, but Tag&Rename is FAR easier, quicker, more powerful for tag editing. Try it.

Cheers,
Mark.

[fredphoesh]

Right-click > Locate > On Disk (inside Media Center)   or
Right-click > Locate > Advanced > Filename (path)

You can set MC to list up to eight recently used commands at the top of the right-click menu (Options > Tree & View > Advanced > Right-click recent command count...).

However, it's absolutely fine to use T&R if you prefer it. You are already familiar with its interface and seems like it can do what you want.

Hi Alex,
Thanks, but what I meant was that its difficult within MC to find other files related to the one that is badly tagged. Its fastest, as you say, to Rclick and go to the folder in the hard drive to see what else that file is meant to be with. But from there I RH click on the folder, choose "open in tag&rename" and from there it takes seconds to correct tags or to get tags from the net or from the filename or from the foldername etc.

Nice tip on the RH mouse click remembered commands, Ive set mine to 8 and will check it out, TX

Mark.

[dcwebman]

Products that do everything are hardly ever (never?) as good as specialised ones that do a specific task. I can only assume you have never tried Tag&Rename. If you had, I am sure you would not feel you needed to defend MC.

I'm not defending MC. I haven't used Tag&Rename and from looking at their web page briefly, it seems to do pretty much the same thing. Instead of having to install another program (and possibly buy another one) was just hoping for a little list of what I'm missing out on. And who knows, perhaps JRiver may want to add whatever missing features there are to MC. They occasionally ask from time to time on what's missing and can be improved.

[fredphoesh]

I'm not defending MC. I haven't used Tag&Rename and from looking at their web page briefly, it seems to do pretty much the same thing. Instead of having to install another program (and possibly buy another one) was just hoping for a little list of what I'm missing out on. And who knows, perhaps JRiver may want to add whatever missing features there are to MC. They occasionally ask from time to time on what's missing and can be improved.

no probs mate...
but i must say that by the same token, one could just as easily claim that iTunes or Windows Media Player do "pretty much the same thing" as J River MC! (which we would probably both agree would be a large understatement!)  ;-)

Catcha later!
Mark.

[rick.ca]

I haven't used Tag&Rename and from looking at their web page briefly, it seems to do pretty much the same thing.

I took a longer look, and it seems to do pretty much exactly the same thing. Maybe Mark hasn't yet found the equivalent functions or methods in MC, or simply prefers an interface he's used to. Otherwise, the only thing I can think of that might make a significant difference is the access to better quality meta data databases. I'm not sure what the "best" alternative is, but I'd be surprised if it were freedb. While I occasionally find a use for my old tagging application, I find tagging with MC much easier. Also, once taking a broader view of what "tagging" entails (e.g., adding "non-standard" fields, manipulating data with smartlists, etc.), MC wins hands-down.

[fredphoesh]

I took a longer look, and it seems to do pretty much exactly the same thing. Maybe Mark hasn't yet found the equivalent functions or methods in MC, or simply prefers an interface he's used to. Otherwise, the only thing I can think of that might make a significant difference is the access to better quality meta data databases. I'm not sure what the "best" alternative is, but I'd be surprised if it were freedb. While I occasionally find a use for my old tagging application, I find tagging with MC much easier. Also, once taking a broader view of what "tagging" entails (e.g., adding "non-standard" fields, manipulating data with smartlists, etc.), MC wins hands-down.

dcwebman, from what I understand, smartlists are playlists. I do not use playlists, I only play albums. I use Amazon with T&R, it takes me about 30 seconds to search-find-enter hundreds of tags automatically into one album.

Here below are some featues I have not found in MC after two months of playing with the software... if MC actually does have some of these features as fully implemented as T&R, I'd love to know where they are!! I use programmes like Photoshop, After Effects, Final Cut, so am no moron, but it seems to me these features are either missing or very well hidden from sight, and I'd love to know the keyboard commands/mouse clicks to find them.

1/ MC ability to find cover art is TERRIBLE compared to T&R. Yesterday I was searching for missing cover art and NONE of the rare ones were found in MC, where in T&R I can edit my cover art search request as well as find it from many different databases very quickly and easily (no options or menus to try and find, its all there in the interface)

2/ MC ability to find tags from web search is invisible to me or is poorly implemented. I have had the programme for about 2 months and I have not as yet seen a way to update all the tags of an entire album via a web search. With T&R is its dead easy, and EXTREMELY quick to tag an entire album. Click on a folder, press F10, then Enter, then choose which of the albums best suits yours (there will be 10 or more albums from each database) Press to Get Info, then you see all the tags, cover art, album notes etc which are matched to your album and you can drag and drop to re-order the tracks if for some reason the version you have does not have all the tracks in the same order or if you did not download all the tracks of that album.

3/ MC seems to have no ability to get ID3 tags FROM the mp3 file name (or it is buried in an obscure option/menu/script) Neither does it seem to be able to get tags from Folder names. This is all VERY clear and up front in T&R.

4/ MC seems to have no ability to Rename your mp3 files FROM your ID3 tags on a mass basis (again, I have not come across this hidden feature if its there, but in T&R there is a tab dedicated to a fantastically easy and powerful ability to do this globally, or to just the files/albums you choose.

5/ MC tag editor (at least what I have found to be the feature called "Tag") is poorly implemented. Click on a field and suddenly a line BELOW the field you click on is selected, making it unclear what you have clicked on and unpleasantly clunky to work with. When you do make changes, MC is also a slower at making the actual changes. It also does not update the visual display of albums correctly until you press the refresh button. (for example when you have part of an album with the artist name written incorrectly and when you correct it, you still have two artists until you press refresh.

6/ ability to copy/swap ANY tag fields to any number of files you select, for example to copy Artist to Album Artist or whatever.

7/ Reformat your tags so you add or remove spaces etc...

8/ rename track numbers as 01, 02 instead of 1, 2

9/ copy cover art from folder to tags or from tags to folder AND see visually which cover art you actually do have, and then an ability to drag and drop cover art to the blank art display to add it easily (MC does paste from clipboard, nice, but its VERY slow and clunky)

...and a lot of other renaming and formatting tools involving scripting etc, which I do not get involved in.

If ALL of these features really do exist in MC, I would strongly suggest having a serious rewrite of the "Tag" bit of the interface and having a Tag menu item to include these powerful features.

Tx 
Mark.

[JimH]

3/ MC seems to have no ability to get ID3 tags FROM the mp3 file name (or it is buried in an obscure option/menu/script) Neither does it seem to be able to get tags from Folder names. This is all VERY clear and up front in T&R.

4/ MC seems to have no ability to Rename your mp3 files FROM your ID3 tags on a mass basis (again, I have not come across this hidden feature if its there, but in T&R there is a tab dedicated to a fantastically easy and powerful ability to do this globally, or to just the files/albums you choose.

5/ MC tag editor (at least what I have found to be the feature called "Tag") is poorly implemented. Click on a field and suddenly a line BELOW the field you click on is selected, making it unclear what you have clicked on and unpleasantly clunky to work with. When you do make changes, MC is also a slower at making the actual changes. It also does not update the visual display of albums correctly until you press the refresh button. (for example when you have part of an album with the artist name written incorrectly and when you correct it, you still have two artists until you press refresh.

6/ ability to copy/swap ANY tag fields to any number of files you select, for example to copy Artist to Album Artist or whatever.

7/ Reformat your tags so you add or remove spaces etc...

Maybe you've missed the features under Tools/Library Tools.  You'll need to select a few files first.

[dynamic]

dcwebman, from what I understand, smartlists are playlists. I do not use playlists, I only play albums. I use Amazon with T&R, it takes me about 30 seconds to search-find-enter hundreds of tags automatically into one album.

Here below are some featues I have not found in MC after two months of playing with the software... if MC actually does have some of these features as fully implemented as T&R, I'd love to know where they are!! I use programmes like Photoshop, After Effects, Final Cut, so am no moron, but it seems to me these features are either missing or very well hidden from sight, and I'd love to know the keyboard commands/mouse clicks to find them.

1/ MC ability to find cover art is TERRIBLE compared to T&R. Yesterday I was searching for missing cover art and NONE of the rare ones were found in MC, where in T&R I can edit my cover art search request as well as find it from many different databases very quickly and easily (no options or menus to try and find, its all there in the interface)

2/ MC ability to find tags from web search is invisible to me or is poorly implemented. I have had the programme for about 2 months and I have not as yet seen a way to update all the tags of an entire album via a web search. With T&R is its dead easy, and EXTREMELY quick to tag an entire album. Click on a folder, press F10, then Enter, then choose which of the albums best suits yours (there will be 10 or more albums from each database) Press to Get Info, then you see all the tags, cover art, album notes etc which are matched to your album and you can drag and drop to re-order the tracks if for some reason the version you have does not have all the tracks in the same order or if you did not download all the tracks of that album.

3/ MC seems to have no ability to get ID3 tags FROM the mp3 file name (or it is buried in an obscure option/menu/script) Neither does it seem to be able to get tags from Folder names. This is all VERY clear and up front in T&R.

4/ MC seems to have no ability to Rename your mp3 files FROM your ID3 tags on a mass basis (again, I have not come across this hidden feature if its there, but in T&R there is a tab dedicated to a fantastically easy and powerful ability to do this globally, or to just the files/albums you choose.

5/ MC tag editor (at least what I have found to be the feature called "Tag") is poorly implemented. Click on a field and suddenly a line BELOW the field you click on is selected, making it unclear what you have clicked on and unpleasantly clunky to work with. When you do make changes, MC is also a slower at making the actual changes. It also does not update the visual display of albums correctly until you press the refresh button. (for example when you have part of an album with the artist name written incorrectly and when you correct it, you still have two artists until you press refresh.

6/ ability to copy/swap ANY tag fields to any number of files you select, for example to copy Artist to Album Artist or whatever.

7/ Reformat your tags so you add or remove spaces etc...

8/ rename track numbers as 01, 02 instead of 1, 2

9/ copy cover art from folder to tags or from tags to folder AND see visually which cover art you actually do have, and then an ability to drag and drop cover art to the blank art display to add it easily (MC does paste from clipboard, nice, but its VERY slow and clunky)

...and a lot of other renaming and formatting tools involving scripting etc, which I do not get involved in.

If ALL of these features really do exist in MC, I would strongly suggest having a serious rewrite of the "Tag" bit of the interface and having a Tag menu item to include these powerful features.

Tx 
Mark.

JimH is correct some of these features exisit in MC but I personally use T&R to tag all my music before importing it into MC.  T&R is far superior when it comes to this task. 
i've recently discovered that some of my album covers are being overriden, even though i have that feature turned off in MC.
I'm reduced to blocking the app via my firewall.