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[Sgucci99]

Very often the information contained in the freeDB databese are much more complete and accurate than the database where the MC is accessing.
Why don't modify the MC so that it is possible that everyone choose the preferred DB ?
The option actually present that allow MC to look to freedb only if the info is not found, doesn't fix this problem.
Specially with classic music I'm obliged to manually modify the tag on the tracks as they are not accurate, while with freedb they are.
Thanks in advance for the answer.

[JimH]

Welcome to the forum.  MC15 checks YADB first, then FreeDB.

[Sgucci99]

Thanks for your reply... indeed this is exactly the problem I'm facing.

The info on the YADB are LESS accurate than the freeDB, where the tracks are much better identified and tagged.
So once MC has found the info on YADB, I have a poor quality information on the tracks.
I d'like MC to search on the FreeDB first, or alternatively to have an option on the settings, which allows any user to select to which DB to access first.
My CD library, (that I'm going to rip) is of more than 5000 cd's, so, if you wants, I can give you several examples of how freeBD contains more accurate tags than the YADB 

[JimH]

This isn't going to be changed.  Sorry.

[canaro99]

While this is a big shortcoming for people with "other than mainstream music" (I have a large tango collection), I will use one of several other programs to get accurate info rather than take the time to enter cd info and then import into MC.

[Frobozz]

With classical music I don't find freeDB to be all that much better.  It is inconsistent in the way classical music is tagged.  Some people have some very strange ideas on how to tag classical music and unfortunately those strange ideas get uploaded to freeDB.

If I'm ripping a classical music CD I'm going to have to hand edit each field anyways to get things consistent with the way I've named and tagged my classical music.  It doesn't matter if I get the data from YADB, freeDB or most any other source.  I'm going to end up hand editing each field anyways, and in some cases retyping everything.

That type of inconsistency is going to be a problem for any CD track database that relies on user contributions unless they also enforce editorial control and strict style guides.  Neither YADB nor freeDB enforce editorial control or style guides. 

[Sgucci99]

With classical music I don't find freeDB to be all that much better.  It is inconsistent in the way classical music is tagged.  Some people have some very strange ideas on how to tag classical music and unfortunately those strange ideas get uploaded to freeDB.

If I'm ripping a classical music CD I'm going to have to hand edit each field anyways to get things consistent with the way I've named and tagged my classical music.  It doesn't matter if I get the data from YADB, freeDB or most any other source.  I'm going to end up hand editing each field anyways, and in some cases retyping everything.
That type of inconsistency is going to be a problem for any CD track database that relies on user contributions unless they also enforce editorial control and strict style guides.  Neither YADB nor freeDB enforce editorial control or style guides.  

Sorry but I strongly disagree with that...
The problem it is NOT to edit fields such as "artist " or "conductor" or "orchestra" which are almost the same for all the tracks and therefore are quite easy to modify as it is possible to copy in one shot across the tracks.

The real annoying problem is to re-edit ALL the tracks which is really time consuming.
The FreeDb is in most of the cases more accurate in the tracks definition.
Here just one example but I coud provide thousands:

YADB
Track
Allegro Moderato

FreeDB
Schubert Sonata for arpeggione & piano, D821 - I. Allegro moderato

Now , again I don't want to impose my  choise to others, I only propose a feature which allows everyone to choose the own preferred database.

[nwboater]

Sorry but I strongly disagree with that...
The problem it is NOT to edit fields such as "artist " or "conductor" or "orchestra" which are almost the same for all the tracks and therefore are quite easy to modify as it is possible to copy in one shot across the tracks.

The real annoying problem is to re-edit ALL the tracks which is really time consuming.
The FreeDb is in most of the cases more accurate in the tracks definition.
Here just one example but I coud provide thousands:

YADB
Track
Allegro Moderato

FreeDB
Schubert Sonata for arpeggione & piano, D821 - I. Allegro moderato

Now , again I don't want to impose my  choise to others, I only propose a feature which allows everyone to choose the own preferred database.

So for those of us that have a lot of classical CDs already ripped using MC is there some way of automagically getting them re-tagged using FreeDB? Our classical collection is rather messy and I really haven't felt like going through and manually retagging them.

Some here set up quite elaborate systems and do a lot of manual work for their classical collections. While that may give proper results I'll bet there are many like me that don't want to spend that amount of time. I'll settle for less than perfect but would sure like it better than MC/YADB does on it own.

Rod

[Vincent Kars]

I’m afraid the answer is no.
Tagging is one of the very few areas where MC is down.
Even WMP allows you to do a manual lookup afterwards and allows you to tailor your search and select the right CD.
Something badly missing in MC

FreeDB
I’m afraid it is most of all free.
As a consequence the results are not very consistent.
At least when I was ripping my CDs (2007) this was the case:
http://thewelltemperedcomputer.com/TG/database.html

Excellent freeware like MP3Tag uses FreeDB but also Amazon, Discogs and MusicBrainz.
You might give it a try

My personal preference is AMG (All Music Guide) as they do have a large collection of classical and are reasonably consistent.
Unfortunately it is paid and WMP is one of the few media players I know using it
- Allowing manual lookup
- Supports AMG

I’m surprised and a bit disappointed that MC, sound wise and functionally  wise superior to almost any other media player is so much down on tagging.

[JimH]

We currently check FreeDB when MC has no results.  We might be able to add FreeDB options to MC's.  It won't happen in MC15 though.

[nwboater]

Vincent - Thanks for your useful information, although I'm disappointed to hear that there is no automatic way to re-tag within MC. I'll look into MP3Tag. Do you know if I can have it retag the music files outside of MC?  If so I could do that and then would have to reimport all the music into MC with the new tags attached. Or does it have to be done within some player software?

Jim - I'm very glad to hear that you are considering adding FreeDB options to MC. Even if we have to wait for another version. Thanks.

[Frobozz]

Classical music is always going to be a challenge.  Even projects that are dedicated to compiling tag info, like MusicBrainz, have difficulty with classical music.  Sources built from user contributed info are always going to have a challenge with classical music just due to the unreliability and inconsistency of user generated content especially in classical.

MC does have its own YADB tag database.  It also is able to tag based on audio fingerprints.  Select and album, go to Tools >> Library Tools >> Lookup Track Info From Online Database.  If you're lucky it will find your album based on the audio fingerprint.  If you're even more lucky it will have adequate tag info.

You can also try using third party utilities to update tags.  If you update the tags outside of MC you can get MC to recognize the new tags by selecting the album then going Tools >> Library Tools >> Update Library (from tags).

You can experiment with the MusicBrainz tools.  Some of the MusicBrainz tools are able to try to tag based on identifying the music through audio fingerprinting.  Update the tags using MusicBrainz then do an "Update Library (from tags)" in MC to read in the new tags.  I've not done much with MusicBrainz tools other than fiddle with them out of curiosity.

I've used MP3Tag to update tags from Amazon info.  First find the album in Amazon.  Then find the ASIN number for the album (it will be in the product details section and also in the URL).  Select the album in MP3Tag.  Go to Tag Sources >> Amazon.com.  In the dialog for the album search input the ASIN number.  Follow through the rest of the prompts and dialogs.  It will get the info from Amazon.  It can save you some typing.  Then do "Update Library (from tags)" in MC to read in the new tags.

The only reasonably reliable and consistent source for classical is AMG (AllMusic Guide).  When I did my big re-ripping project a few years ago I used dBpoweramp (paid for) along with a yearly subscription to AMG to help me with my classical music tagging.  It saved me a lot of time.  I still have hand edited every single classical track and album at some point though.

It would be neat if MC offered a subscription to AMG for track data.  $5 or $10 per year or whatever is necessary.  I don't know what AMG's fees or requirements are.  It would be a useful option for those of us with classical and jazz collections.  FreeDB, YADB, or even MusicBrainz are never going to be able to do classical as well as AMG.

[Vincent Kars]

It would be neat if MC offered a subscription to AMG for track data

+1

[NRGman]

what about discogs?

[Frobozz]

Discogs doesn't have much classical.  It does get props though for having submission standards.  The classical it does have seems to have good track info and be named well.

I use Discogs for researching rock and jazz releases.  It just isn't so useful (yet) for classical.

Discogs has a lot of potential.  I can see it becoming a go-to source and becoming more useful than FreeDB for track info and more useful than Wikipedia for album release info.  I'm not sure if Discogs is set-up to be a data source when ripping a CD, or if they even want to be used in that manner?

[Vincent Kars]

Here is an attempt to cater for the classical music lover: http://www.musichi.eu/
The trial version couldn't convince me.
My guess is they will rely on their customers to populate their own database.

[nwboater]

Classical music is always going to be a challenge.  Even projects that are dedicated to compiling tag info, like MusicBrainz, have difficulty with classical music.  Sources built from user contributed info are always going to have a challenge with classical music just due to the unreliability and inconsistency of user generated content especially in classical.

MC does have its own YADB tag database.  It also is able to tag based on audio fingerprints.  Select and album, go to Tools >> Library Tools >> Lookup Track Info From Online Database.  If you're lucky it will find your album based on the audio fingerprint.  If you're even more lucky it will have adequate tag info.

You can also try using third party utilities to update tags.  If you update the tags outside of MC you can get MC to recognize the new tags by selecting the album then going Tools >> Library Tools >> Update Library (from tags).

You can experiment with the MusicBrainz tools.  Some of the MusicBrainz tools are able to try to tag based on identifying the music through audio fingerprinting.  Update the tags using MusicBrainz then do an "Update Library (from tags)" in MC to read in the new tags.  I've not done much with MusicBrainz tools other than fiddle with them out of curiosity.

I've used MP3Tag to update tags from Amazon info.  First find the album in Amazon.  Then find the ASIN number for the album (it will be in the product details section and also in the URL).  Select the album in MP3Tag.  Go to Tag Sources >> Amazon.com.  In the dialog for the album search input the ASIN number.  Follow through the rest of the prompts and dialogs.  It will get the info from Amazon.  It can save you some typing.  Then do "Update Library (from tags)" in MC to read in the new tags.

The only reasonably reliable and consistent source for classical is AMG (AllMusic Guide).  When I did my big re-ripping project a few years ago I used dBpoweramp (paid for) along with a yearly subscription to AMG to help me with my classical music tagging.  It saved me a lot of time.  I still have hand edited every single classical track and album at some point though.

It would be neat if MC offered a subscription to AMG for track data.  $5 or $10 per year or whatever is necessary.  I don't know what AMG's fees or requirements are.  It would be a useful option for those of us with classical and jazz collections.  FreeDB, YADB, or even MusicBrainz are never going to be able to do classical as well as AMG.

Frobozz - Thanks very much for the very helpful information. I'm going to look into AMG to see how I may implement their services.

I think this is another of those super helpful posts that could be in the WIKI or tagged - some way for others to easily find it in the future. I've saved a hard copy in my MC file and also one as a special MC file in MyDocuments. Maybe some of you remember all this stuff, but I unfortunately don't! Sorry for going OT.

Others - Thanks also for your useful info re tagging.

Rod