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[prufrock]

Having a bit of bother here. In fact, I am beginning to feel like that guy in that famous email a few years ago. You know, the one that rang a computer help line because his monitor was black. The tech guy asked him to check the back socket, but he said he couldn't see it properly as the power was off. The tech guy told him to take the equipment back to the store because he was too stupid to own a computer.
Mr C tried to help me the other night but I must be a hard case.
My problem is this: I have just copied about 390 CDs I ripped with JR from my desktop computer to an external HD. Copied it over using the JR Rename copy etc. Copied over o.k. Hooked the HD up to the laptop (also has JR) and it all imported o.k. However when I go Audio.>>Albums>>All albums on the laptop, lots of the albums are fragmented. That is, there will be an album title with one or two songs under it. Then that same album will appear elsewhere with a couple more of the songs under it. Its mostly albums with multiple artists, but not exclusively. This is not the case on the desktop computer I copied it from. There nothing is fragmented and everything is as it should be. ?

[MrC]

Sorry for not coming to closure on this.  The problem is not difficult, and I think we're missing each other re: communications.  There were some questions left unanswered, so I assumed acknowledgement by silence.

Here's what I think is going on.  Your files are imported into MC on the desktop system.  MC's database is correct, showing you albums, etc.  But the file tags themselves do not contain the same (good) meta-data.  So you copy the physical files over to another drive, and then use a new MC library and import.  MC gets its preliminary information by reading the tags in the files.  If these are incorrect, the new MC's library will reflect that.

So, what you need to do is focus on one single album that exhibits the problem.  Just one.  For that album, which groups correctly on the Desktop system, select all its tracks and right-click Library Tools > Update tags (from library).  Now, recopy just that single album using Rename, Move & Copy (or you can just manually copy the actual tracks in Windows Explorer).  Bring the external drive to the laptop, use your MC there, and go select those same tracks, and select Library Tools > Update library (from tags).   Hit F5 to refresh the view.  Let's see if this solves the problem.

Don't worry, there are plenty of folks who can help.

Finally, if we don't make headway with this, remote help may be an option.

[prufrock]

Cheers for that. Am at work atm. Will go through those steps tomorrow morning.

[prufrock]

O.K. Followed those steps.

 " on the Desktop system, select all its tracks and right-click Library Tools > Update tags (from library)." All those said file updated. No failures.

"Bring the external drive to the laptop, use your MC there, and go select those same tracks, and select Library Tools > Update library (from tags).   Hit F5 to refresh the view"

All those said Library updated for 1 file(One failure).

That album is still fragmented.

[MrC]

Can you show a screenshot of this issue?

[prufrock]

Screenshots attached

[Richee]

I have seen this before and I believe the problem is the album artist field.
I usually just clear that field and it will then group the album based on the album field.
I know it works for same artist album.
It should work for multi artist albums if you selected "Use Assorted for multi artist
in the Rename, Move window.

[prufrock]

Got rid of the artist related fields and just left album. Still the same, i.e fragmented.

[zippy]

Hello,

I'm not in front of my Media Center PC at the moment, so I have to do this from memory. I had a very similar issue myself, it's to do with the (Multiple Artists).
If you highlight one of the tracks and open the tag (make sure you show all tag fields) the tag "Album Artist" (which is different to the "Artist" field) should read (Multiple Artists).
The "Artist" field should have the actual artist i.e Elton John
I think you will find if you compare several tags from different tracks the "Album Artist" field will show the actual artist, instead of Multiple Artists.
The quickest method to change these are highlight the complete album, open tags and remove any entry in the "Album Artist" field, which is the second field in the list, the third field which is automatic and cannot be changed should now change to Multiple Artists.
If that's not clear I can explain better once in front of my PC, but that will not be until this evening.

[prufrock]

Thanks for your help everyone. Much appreciated. The items that are listed in my tag section are: Album, Artist, Date, Genre, Name, playlists,Track in that descending order. When I run the cursor over them they are all able to be edited. I don't have an Album Artist Tag. Should wait for Mr C before I alter anything I think.

[221bBS]

Looks like MC is calculating your [album artist (auto)] wrong. I've never bothered with this field (none of my expressions ever use it). From what I can tell, your album is grouped by [album] by [album artist (auto)] but since the [album artist (auto)] is being populated wrong the only way to fix it is to fill in the [album artist] field correctly. This will override what is in the [album artist (auto)] field.

Just go through your albums and put "(Multiple Artist)" in the [album artist] field. I prefer "Various Artists" but MC uses multiple. This will fix the grouping problem.

Now, if you want to figure out why MC is fragmenting your albums. Most common problems seem to be that the albums files are in different folders or the [album artist] field is incorrect. I think when you moved your files to the hard drive it fragmented your albums by putting them in different folders. Check one of the fragmented files by right-clicking > Locate > On (external disk). See if your entire album is in that folder. I'm betting they are not.

[prufrock]

221bbs
That seems to doing the trick. Many thanks. Not sure why MC is breaking them up on import. Did this: "Check one of the fragmented files by right-clicking > Locate > On (external disk). See if your entire album is in that folder."
Its a new HD with only 2 Seagate folders on it. Checked inside those 2 folders but there is nothing in them other than the Seagate stuff. All the songs are in a huge list under those two folders, i.e not in any folder as such.

[221bBS]

221bbs
That seems to doing the trick. Many thanks. Not sure why MC is breaking them up on import. Did this: "Check one of the fragmented files by right-clicking > Locate > On (external disk). See if your entire album is in that folder."
Its a new HD with only 2 Seagate folders on it. Checked inside those 2 folders but there is nothing in them other than the Seagate stuff. All the songs are in a huge list under those two folders, i.e not in any folder as such.

Most people organize their music like

[music folder path]\[album artist (auto)]\[album]\[song file]

Basically most people put an album in one folders and MC does the same. If the files is in just one huge list, MC doesn't understand why there are so many album names and album artist in a single place. Not sure how the list looks but looks like the list is pointed to a single folder.

If you want MC to be able to calculate [album artist (auto)] correctly you'll need import future albums to different folders.

[MrC]

Over in the other thread, I had asked:

It is also not clear to me where you ended up copying all the files.  Did they all end up in one directory?  Or are they arranged in some folder scheme such as Album Artist (auto)\Album?

This was the relevant question that was unanswered.  As 221bbs indicates, Album Artist (auto) requires a mix/various artists album to be in its own folder.  See:

  http://wiki.jriver.com/index.php/Album_Artist_and_Album_Artist_%28Auto%29

[prufrock]

Cheers for the tips. If you have the time, I would be grateful if you could expand on it a bit for me.

"Most people organize their music like

[music folder path]\[album artist (auto)]\[album]\[song file]

Basically most people put an album in one folders and MC does the same. If the files is in just one huge list, MC doesn't understand why there are so many album names and album artist in a single place. Not sure how the list looks but looks like the list is pointed to a single folder.
If you want MC to be able to calculate [album artist (auto)] correctly you'll need import future albums to different folders."

Not exactly sure what you mean here, but I am presuming you are referring to inserting these rules via:  tools>> options >>file location> audio>>Folder rule >>custom. If you hit custom it opens up a Directory Rule box. Should I then put  [album artist (auto)]\[album]\[song file]   in that box? Do I also need to customise the Filename Rule tab underneath as well?   TIA

MrC  I was typing as you wrote. Will read your link.

[MrC]

In the Copy dialog, there are Folder and File name rules.  See attached screenshot to show how to fill in "templates" to utilize the tag values for your renames or copies.

The File Locations area specifies locations for newly created files (such as Rips, Scheduled Recordings, etc.).  You should fill out these paths/rules in Options so that your new files will be created where you want them.

[prufrock]

Ta for the links and info. Will get in and do a bit of reading