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Author Topic: Compilation discs and box sets  (Read 25773 times)

JanVigne

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Compilation discs and box sets
« on: November 09, 2012, 11:57:22 am »

I have to think this topic has been covered somewhere and my eyes have just crossed searching the forum for an answer.  I found this thread; "Force CD rip into 1 album rather than multiple singles" but I found no answer in that particular thread.  I therefore aplogize in advance if this is something I should be able to figure out on my own, but my head is beginning to hurt and I would just prefer to get an answer.

My problem deals with ripped CD's which are; A) multiple artist, compilation discs and, B) box sets of multiple artist, compilation discs.  The problem occurs most often when I am ripping what might be considered "historic" recording CD's which have been compiled from various sources.  In these instances some of the individual songs have never existed on a single "album" but rather just on individual 78's.

The problem itself is the disc/box set gets split up into multiples of the same CD with at times only a single song existing in any one file.  For example, "Martin Scorsese Presents The Blues" is a five CD set with approximately 100 songs from multiple arists some going back into the 1920-30's.  Some songs have been released on an album and some have not.  As this set shows up on my "Audio" main page I have 79 individual files representing the entire set - some with cover art and some not, some with cover art from the original album and some just blank.  How those "100" songs got moved into "79" files, I haven't figured out.  I see no direct relationship between files with only one song and files with more than one song/artist.   

I can live without cover art as long as I have a title so that's not my main problem.  I think I can figure out getting cover art to the folders - I think.  What I would like to do is congregate all files from each individual CD into one folder representing each CD.  In the end the result would be a five CD set would have five folders and any single mulitple artist compilation disc would have all artists placed in one folder with, say, 21 individual files. 

How do I accomplish this after the rip?  Do I use the "Drag and Drop" instructions;  http://wiki.jriver.com/index.php/Moving_Files? 

Is this better done before I perform the rip?  If so, how? 

Sorry to be stupid, if you have a forum thread which explains everything I would ever need and then some, point me in that direction and I'll see what I can figure out. 

Thanks. 
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Vincent Kars

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Re: Compilation discs and box sets
« Reply #1 on: November 09, 2012, 12:55:47 pm »

JRiver thinks tracks belong to the same album if Album and Album Artist (not to be mixed up with the Artist tag) are the same.

Select all the tracks
Type =[Album Artist] in the Artist column, this will copy the value from Album Artist to Artist
Type Various Artist in the Album Artist column

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JanVigne

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Re: Compilation discs and box sets
« Reply #2 on: November 09, 2012, 04:20:22 pm »

Thanks for the response but, sorry, you're conversing with an idiot.  

Is that the procedure for congregating the files I've already ripped from one box set into one folder?  Or, is that the procedure for before I perform the rip?  Or, both?  

Is it possible to rip the CD and have everything land in a spearate folder for each CD in a set?  Or, do I have to put everything together piece by piece after I've done the rip and JRiver has Humpty Dumptied it into 79 separate files?

The way I read your post, once the rip is done - and I have 79 files for one box set with 100 songs, I work in the "Files"view.  From there I select/highlite all the files from that box set and I insert, say, "Big Mama Thornton" as the artist in the first file for that set.  Then JRiver places "Big Mama Thornton" as the artist for all the selected files.  That certainly seems to be what has happened when I'm working in the "Files" section of the tree.  And that did cut down on the number of folders I'm seeing for that set when I'm in the "Albums" section.

But, ...

 ... doesn't that mean I have no individual artist information for each individual song/file?  Right now, "Big Mama Thornton" is listed as the "artist" for each file in that set.  If I have to give up individual artist information for each song, that's a workable trade but, especially for historic recordings, that makes the filing system far less desireable.  Particularly, if at some time I want to hear, say, all my disparate recordings made by "Lightnin' Hopkins" by working in the "Artist" section of the tree.  As I see it, "Lightnin'" has just become "Big Mama" for all the files in that one folder.      

And, I think I'm still going to have problems on many of these sets.  For example, if I have "Best of Blues" as a box set that has been split into two dozen folders in the "Album" view, when I switch to "Files" view I may have, let's say, 'Charlie Patton" as the artist who appears on two songs in "Best of Blues" show up (in "Files") clustered within the folders/files for a CD of only Charlie Patton songs (but showing as a distinct file from "Best of Blues").  Then, say, B.B. King will be on another song in the "Best of Blues" set but, when working in "Files", B.B. King's files from "Best of Blues" will be clustered inside the "Artist" view where all my CD's from B.B. King show up.  

If the (five disc) "Best of Blues" box set is spread all over the file listings, how do I select them all at once and reassign the artist name?  How does JRiver know I mean to put all these individual artist's together under the five (disc) folders for "Best of Blues"?

Am I just not understanding this?  Or, am I expecting JRiver to do something it can't?        
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Vincent Kars

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Re: Compilation discs and box sets
« Reply #3 on: November 09, 2012, 04:35:40 pm »

Before you rip check Options > File location
The rule is Artist/Album
In case of compilations, choose Album is you want the whole in one folder.

Do you have both the fields Album Artist and Artist in the view?
Maybe this link is of use: http://thewelltemperedcomputer.com/SW/Players/MC14/MC14_Compilations.htm
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JanVigne

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Re: Compilation discs and box sets
« Reply #4 on: November 09, 2012, 05:42:40 pm »

Stupidity is a terrible thing.


"Do you have both the fields Album Artist and Artist in the view?"



Not at all.  All I can see across the top of the file listings are; name, artist, album, rating, genre, etc over to date and filename.

Where do I find "Album Artist"?   
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Vincent Kars

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Re: Compilation discs and box sets
« Reply #5 on: November 09, 2012, 06:22:06 pm »

Quote
Stupidity is a terrible thing.
I know

Right Click on a coloumn and choose Album Artist

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JanVigne

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Re: Compilation discs and box sets
« Reply #6 on: November 10, 2012, 09:56:02 am »

I feel sooooo smart when I'm being led by the hand to the answer.


Thanks, that works and I have "Album Artist" as a column.

No time to work with this right now but I'll try it this afternoon.

If I understand you correctly, now I can place "XXXXXXX", "Abe Lincoln" or "Snagglepuss" or anything I want in the Album Artist column and JRiver will congregate all the selected files into that one folder.  So now I just need to decide what I want to use as the Album Artist for each of these compilation discs. 


Where's my thesarus?   
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Vincent Kars

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JanVigne

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Re: Compilation discs and box sets
« Reply #8 on: November 10, 2012, 11:01:08 am »

The FAQ is where I found the "Drag and Drop" from the "Moving Files" section.


What you've given me makes more sense - and works!


Anyway to add this to the FAQ page?  I can't be the only JRiver user who listens to compilation discs of historic recordings.  This thread will soon be buried in the near 60 pages of forum threads and a direct link would, IMO, be of assistance to all - or, at least, a relevant few. 
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JanVigne

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Re: Compilation discs and box sets
« Reply #9 on: November 10, 2012, 11:11:33 am »

Before we close, I still need an answer to the issue of numerous files from the compilation CD's existing in numerous and various locations in the "Album" or the "Files" view.  When, say, the B.B. King files from the "Best of the Blues" set have been clustered in with all of the files from a dozen B.B. King albums, how do I go about extracting those specific files and then putting together all of the individual files from the "Best of the Blues" into one set of files that I can highlight? 

Is this where I resort to the "Moving Files"/"Drag and Drop" FAQ?
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MrC

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Re: Compilation discs and box sets
« Reply #10 on: November 11, 2012, 12:07:09 am »

Keep two concepts in mind as distinct.

- Media files are located in folders in the Windows file system

- Media files as shown in Media Center views are grouped based upon metadata, such as Album, Artist, etc., as defined by the rules for the view.  (A minor exception to this is that MC requires an album's files to be in a single folder to consider the album "complete").

This means, it doesn't generally matter where you files are located, and the metadata is the important aspect for view grouping.

You can create views to group files into collections that suit your needs.  And you can use the metadata to help place files into consistent filesystem locations based upon folder rules and filename rules.

If you want your Multiple Artists (or as VK chooses, Various Artists), collections to be located in the filesystem under a single album, and your folder scheme is something like Artist\Album, then you'll need to use something like "Various Artists" as the Album Artist (for multiple artist collections), or use the MC default "(Multiple Artists)", which can be automatically set in the CD Ripping dialog pre-rip.  Alternatively, if you don't want to collect your media files under the Various/Multiple Artists catchall pseudo-artist, and would prefer to scatter then in individual track artist\Album folders, don't set Album Artist nor select the checkbox in the CD Ripping dialog.

Does this help?
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JanVigne

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Re: Compilation discs and box sets
« Reply #11 on: November 11, 2012, 11:04:37 am »

Uh, what language was that you used?


You see, when I begin to read "metadata", "filesystem locations based upon folder rules and filename rules", "Various/Multiple Artists catchall pseudo-artist", etc. I might as well be ordering off a Chinese food restaurant's menu when it is printed in Mandarin.  Yes, I understand what "metadata" is and how it defines a group of files into one folder.  I sort of get "Various/Multiple Artists catchall pseudo-artist" ... but probably not the way in which you intended it to be understood.  A "pseudo -artist"?  I've heard a lot of them but I'm not sure I know what they are to JRiver. 

But when I get to "filesystem locations based upon folder rules and filename rules", since I don't know those rules and they read like Mandarin to me, they look like they might be lo-mein or chow-mein or neither but with a tempura batter.  I unfortunately fall into that group who do not comprehend certain things about computerese that others more familar with using the language daily implicity understand.


"If you want your Multiple Artists (or as VK chooses, Various Artists), collections to be located in the filesystem under a single album, and your folder scheme is something like Artist\Album, then you'll need to use something like "Various Artists" as the Album Artist (for multiple artist collections) ... "

My understanding of that is you just told me the same thing as did VK.  Yes?  If so, then I get the idea of using "Album Artist" as JR's defining tag/code for grouping a set of files into one folder.  If not, then you've just lost me. 


" ... or use the MC default "(Multiple Artists)", which can be automatically set in the CD Ripping dialog pre-rip."

I'm not in the section of HR where I can rip a CD but this sounds confusing to me.  When I am ripping multiple CD's in succession some are multi-disc box sets and some are simply compilation CD's from multiple artists.  Others are merely an album from one artist such as B.B. King's "One Kind Favor" followed by Elvis' "Such a Night".  When ripping multiple CD's over the course of one night the dialog box doesn't pop up and ask for directions with each new CD.  It simply reads the disc - and sometimes asks for additional data when it can't identify the subcodes or the subcodes link to what might be multiple titles for the same CD - and automatically launches the next rip. 

Do I need to rip my various types of CD's as groups?  In other words, shoud I be ripping all multi-disc sets at one time under certain instructions to JR?  Then rip all single disc CD's with other instructions?


"Alternatively, if you don't want to collect your media files under the Various/Multiple Artists catchall pseudo-artist, and would prefer to scatter then in individual track artist\Album folders, don't set Album Artist nor select the checkbox in the CD Ripping dialog."


That would sem to be where I'm at right now.  Files scattered all over the place with a possible single file in each folder.  79 of them for a five CD box set!  Now I need to not do that anymore.  Or to repair what I've already done.



Let me ask this; when I'm working in the"Files" view, can I select the individual artist file(s) which have been nestled inside that artist's group of album files/folder, and apply the same "Album Artist" tag to each individual file for, say, each of the 79 files which would represent all the artists/songs/files related to the CD's which represent "MS Presents The Blues"?  Would that get JR to piece together all of the individual files with a common "Album Artist" tag into one folder?


Thanks for the help.     
 
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Vincent Kars

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Re: Compilation discs and box sets
« Reply #12 on: November 11, 2012, 02:00:57 pm »

As you probably have noticed, there is not such thing as an album in file based audio.
We have files, we are not tied to a physical constrain like 650 Mb on a CD nor do we have to flip a record to play the b-side.
That’s nice.

In file based audio an “album” is most of the time a definition like “Album” and “Album Artist” are the same. This is based on tags (fields in JRiver speak).
As it is based on tags, there is no relation between “album” and the location on the HD.
As you probably have noticed, if you give all the tracks of a compilation the same Album/Album Artist, they appear as 1 album in JRiver and are still scattered all over the file system.

Rules
JRiver is filled to the brim with options to apply rules.
If you click the Rip panel, you see a link to Options.
In Options there is File Location
You see a folder rule [Artist]\[Album]
This means that the values of the tags Artist and Album are used to create the folder name.
In case of compilations you might decide to change this to e.g. Compilations\[Album]
Whatever you want.

If you want all the files in 1 folder:
-   Select all the tracks
-   Right click for Library Tools > Rename, Move and copy file
Yes, you can formulate some rules there too.
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JanVigne

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Re: Compilation discs and box sets
« Reply #13 on: November 11, 2012, 04:09:31 pm »

"Let me ask this; when I'm working in the"Files" view, can I select the individual artist file(s) which have been nestled inside that artist's group of album files/folder, and apply the same "Album Artist" tag to each individual file for, say, each of the 79 files which would represent all the artists/songs/files related to the CD's which represent "MS Presents The Blues"?  Would that get JR to piece together all of the individual files with a common "Album Artist" tag into one folder?"



"If you want all the files in 1 folder:
-   Select all the tracks
-   Right click for Library Tools > Rename, Move and copy file
Yes, you can formulate some rules there too." 






Is that a "yes"?
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Vincent Kars

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Re: Compilation discs and box sets
« Reply #14 on: November 11, 2012, 04:27:10 pm »

If you want all the tracks to belong to 1 album in the interface
-   Select them all
-   Type “Various Artist” in Album Artist
You can use the multi-line editing option to do so or the tag panel: http://thewelltemperedcomputer.com/SW/Players/MC14/MC14_Edit.htm


If you want the files in 1 folder, use the Copy/Move tool

Please observe that tagging them will not change the file location.
Likewise, moving files will not change the tags.

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JanVigne

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Re: Compilation discs and box sets
« Reply #15 on: November 13, 2012, 11:46:16 am »

 :-\  



I'm sure it's just me, but somehow I don't think you are reading the same question I am posing.




"Let me ask this; when I'm working in the"Files" view, can I select the individual artist file(s) which have been nestled inside that artist's group of album files/folder, and apply the same "Album Artist" tag to each individual file for, say, each of the 79 files which would represent all the artists/songs/files related to the CD's which represent "MS Presents The Blues"?  Would that get JR to piece together all of the individual files with a common "Album Artist" tag into one folder?"



"If you want all the files in 1 folder:
-   Select all the tracks
-   Right click for Library Tools > Rename, Move and copy file
Yes, you can formulate some rules there too."





Is that a "yes"?




From your response, I am guessing - and it is just a pure, pulled this out of thin air guess - your answer is not a "yes".  


At this point I'm  not even certain which rules apply to ripping and which apply to gathering everything back into one piece after the rip has H-D'ed them.  Am I that dense that the answer is in front of me but I don't see it?  I know this makes perfect sense to you and you can probably do this in your sleep.  But, is there anyone who understands what has been said?  Can you explain it to me so I understand?

I'd really like to use JRiver but this is driving me nuts.          
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JanVigne

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Re: Compilation discs and box sets
« Reply #16 on: November 13, 2012, 12:03:50 pm »

"If you want all the files in 1 folder:
-   Select all the tracks
-   Right click for Library Tools > Rename, Move and copy file
Yes, you can formulate some rules there too."




"If you want all the tracks to belong to 1 album in the interface
-   Select them all
-   Type “Various Artist” in Album Artist
You can use the multi-line editing option to do so or the tag panel: http://thewelltemperedcomputer.com/SW/Players/MC14/MC14_Edit.htm


If you want the files in 1 folder, use the Copy/Move tool

Please observe that tagging them will not change the file location.
Likewise, moving files will not change the tags"





So, if I get this correctly and I'm working after the rip, I have to treat each of these "files" as distinct and individual when they have been pulled from the parent "Album"/folder and placed in 79 different locations in the "Albums" view pane.  Those artists who, in the "Files" view, have had their tracks/files moved from the parent album/folder (say, "Best of the Blues") and placed with the other folders under their "Artist" name (say, B.B. King) - in the "Files" view - should then be gathered together using the move/copy or Copy/Move (whichever it is) method? 

That will get them all located in one place in the "Files" view panel?  Then I can select all of those files and change the "Album Artist" designation/tag as you earlier described?  I thought that's what I had asked earlier.  I didn't? 





"Yes, you can formulate some rules there too."



I don't think I'm in any position to go formulating new rules when I don't have a clue what the existing rules are.

What does that sentence mean?  Or, am I better off not knowing?     
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JanVigne

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Re: Compilation discs and box sets
« Reply #17 on: November 13, 2012, 12:08:51 pm »

Two questions ...
First, am I better off deleting all of the compilation discs I've ripped to the library and starting over using new rules for ripping?  If this is easier, I'm all for that.  Just point out which rules you've mentioned which apply only to ripping. 

Second, does this file scattering have anything to do with the metadata being lost or somehow not properly read and translated by JRiver when I am ripping to WAV format?     
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JimH

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Re: Compilation discs and box sets
« Reply #18 on: November 13, 2012, 12:16:15 pm »

"If you want all the files in 1 folder:
-   Select all the tracks
-   Right click for Library Tools > Rename, Move and copy file
Yes, you can formulate some rules there too."




"If you want all the tracks to belong to 1 album in the interface
-   Select them all
-   Type “Various Artist” in Album Artist
You can use the multi-line editing option to do so or the tag panel: http://thewelltemperedcomputer.com/SW/Players/MC14/MC14_Edit.htm


If you want the files in 1 folder, use the Copy/Move tool

Please observe that tagging them will not change the file location.
Likewise, moving files will not change the tags"





So, if I get this correctly and I'm working after the rip, I have to treat each of these "files" as distinct and individual when they have been pulled from the parent "Album"/folder and placed in 79 different locations in the "Albums" view pane.  Those artists who, in the "Files" view, have had their tracks/files moved from the parent album/folder (say, "Best of the Blues") and placed with the other folders under their "Artist" name (say, B.B. King) - in the "Files" view - should then be gathered together using the move/copy or Copy/Move (whichever it is) method? 

That will get them all located in one place in the "Files" view panel?  Then I can select all of those files and change the "Album Artist" designation/tag as you earlier described?  I thought that's what I had asked earlier.  I didn't? 





"Yes, you can formulate some rules there too."



I don't think I'm in any position to go formulating new rules when I don't have a clue what the existing rules are.

What does that sentence mean?  Or, am I better off not knowing?     
Would you please use a single return after each line instead of two or three?  Thanks.
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MrC

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Re: Compilation discs and box sets
« Reply #19 on: November 13, 2012, 01:01:24 pm »

JanVigne - I implore you to reread reply 10, and ask brief, simple questions for the specific items you need clarified.  I think you're misunderstanding some basic concepts that are required for you to make progress.
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JanVigne

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Re: Compilation discs and box sets
« Reply #20 on: November 13, 2012, 03:29:11 pm »

"I think you're misunderstanding some basic concepts that are required for you to make progress."

I hesitate to point out that had I understood your post the first time, I wouldn't still be asking questions.  I appreciate your assistance but, yes, I am misunderstanding some basic concepts that are required to make progress.  The problem is, I don't even understand what I am misunderstanding.  This has become all very Rumsfeldian to me. 

"ask brief, simple questions for the specific items you need clarified"

See? I don't understand.  I thought that's what I have been doing.

Here is the simplest way I know how to ask my question ...

* I have a number of compilation CD's containing tracks from multiple artists.  Several of these compilations exist on multi-disc CD sets.
* When I rip these to JRiver, the result is a series of broken folders in the "Albums" view.  I have 79 folders for one five CD set (104 tracks) for example.
* In the "Files" view, various artists from the compilation discs are not grouped in succession according to the compilation discs' title.  These artists are now clustered with other files representing that artist's other albums/folders which are in the JRiver system.

How do I place all of these disparate files into one folder per compilation disc after the rip has occurred?

Please, treat me like a complete idiot you are leading by the hand.  Apparently repeating the "rules" to me has not helped.  It reads like mumbo-jumbo to me, I don't understand what has been said and I get a bad headache.

Thank you, I appreciate the help.     

 
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JimH

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Re: Compilation discs and box sets
« Reply #21 on: November 13, 2012, 03:34:07 pm »

Please, treat me like a complete idiot you are leading by the hand.  Apparently repeating the "rules" to me has not helped.  It reads like mumbo-jumbo to me, I don't understand what has been said and I get a bad headache.
This may seem funny to you, but I don't find it so. 

You can't expect anyone to have the patience to step you through everything with all the detail you might need. 

Ask a question, try to use the program and learn, then ask another.  But keep it simple.  And keep the extraneous remarks out of the conversation.  Few people will read through a lot of text to find the question.
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Vincent Kars

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Re: Compilation discs and box sets
« Reply #22 on: November 13, 2012, 04:44:41 pm »

You are really struggling.

Tagging is adding small pieces of information like Album, Artist, etc. to the audio file.
Tagging =editing.

What happens if you edit a Word document?
You might type whatever you want but the file stays in the same folder and keeps the same name.

What happens if you move a Word document to e.g. another hard disk?
It will of course end up on another HD but the content won’t change.

How to translate this to JRiver.
If you have
Album | Album Artist | Artist | Song
Blues  | John Lee Hooker | - | Don’t let me be misunderstood
Blues  | Muddy Waters | - | How many more times

The album will be split in the interface because the Album Artist is different.
Change the tags too
Album | Album Artist | Artist | Song
Blues  | Various Artist | John Lee Hooker | Don’t let me be misunderstood
Blues  | Various Artist | Muddy Waters     | How many more times

Now “Blues” will display as one album in the interface.

As this is done by altering the tags, this is editing. This won’t change the file location.

What are rules?



The folder rule say [Artist]\[Album]
At rip time this rule is used so you get something like
C:\Music\Work\John Lee Hooker \ Blues\Don’t let me be misunderstood
C:\Music\Work\Muddy Waters\Blues\How many more times

Obvious the values of the Artist and Album are used to generate the folder structure.
If you rip compilations you can change this rule to e.g. [Album]

You can re-rip but you might also use the Rename tool





Succes
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JanVigne

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Re: Compilation discs and box sets
« Reply #23 on: November 13, 2012, 08:12:00 pm »

"This may seem funny to you, but I don't find it so."

I never intended it to be "funny".  Reading what I have been provided gives me a headache.  I asked a friend to read this thread last night and he called me to say he got a headache. 

I get it that I am probably not the average customer for JRiver but this makes no sense to me.  I would appreciate posts which, rather than telling me to not use two returns, told me in simple, understandable language how to solve my problem.  I would appreciate not being talked to as if I were truly trying to be some smart ass who's wasting your time.  I promise you, once I get this issue resolved, this thread will end. 

I do appreciate that several people have tried to provide me rules, but those rules don't make sense to me.  If you care to get contentious, I'll go elsewhere.  All I'm trying to do is make JRiver work for my application and then I'll give you some cash.  If that's not what you're here to do, then tell me and I'll go to another player's site.         
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JimH

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Re: Compilation discs and box sets
« Reply #24 on: November 14, 2012, 07:48:27 am »

I do appreciate that several people have tried to provide me rules, but those rules don't make sense to me.  If you care to get contentious, I'll go elsewhere.  All I'm trying to do is make JRiver work for my application and then I'll give you some cash.  If that's not what you're here to do, then tell me and I'll go to another player's site.          
That would probably be a reasonable solution to the problem.

I'll leave this thread open until you have a chance to reply and then I'll lock it.
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JanVigne

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Re: Compilation discs and box sets
« Reply #25 on: November 14, 2012, 10:21:07 am »

OK, I seem to have been able to combine multiple artists spread across my "Files" view into one ("Album" view) folder representing each CD.  Here's how I accomplished that. 


First, working in "Album" view, I identified a compilation disc which had been spread across several folders.
Next ...
Working in "Files":
1) I scrolled down until, looking in the "Album" column, I found a specific file for one of the compilation discs which had been Humpty-Dumptied by JRiver.
2) Left click to highlite the selection while locating my cursor over the column "Album Artist".
3)Hit F2 as described here; http://thewelltemperedcomputer.com/SW/Players/MC14/MC14_Edit.htm, under "Editing" and "single field".
4) This opens the Album Artist column which allows a name to be inserted in that specifc file's data. 

(I used the names of my dogs for each CD/folder and not "Various Artist".  Honestly, I still have no idea whether inserting "Various Artist" in each folder would have linked them together or not.  To my thinking, inserting "Various Artist" at this point would have made one huge folder of several not similar folders.  I don't care at this point, "Buck", "Maggie" and "Tater" are now the Album Artist for the first three folders I've congregated and that works.)

5)Then I scrolled down to the next file for the same "Album" and repeated the process.

When I then opened the "Albums" view, the files existed in one folder.

As VK says, "Success".

In my mind this is exactly what I had asked many posts ago when I said, "Let me ask this; when I'm working in the"Files" view, can I select the individual artist file(s) which have been nestled inside that artist's group of album files/folder, and apply the same "Album Artist" tag to each individual file for, say, each of the 79 files which would represent all the artists/songs/files related to the CD's which represent "MS Presents The Blues"?  Would that get JR to piece together all of the individual files with a common "Album Artist" tag into one folder?"   


WHY NO ONE WOULD OR COULD SIMPLY SAY, "YES", OR, "YES, BUT ADD THE F2 STROKE", TO THAT QUESTION IS BEYOND ME.

Nothing more than a recognition that I had the basic idea of how this works would have been sufficient.  I then would have tried the method, maybe experimented a  bit without fear of loosing everything or making an even bigger mess of the files, and hit on the right combination of a minimal amount of key strokes to accomplish what I had been asking about.  Why instead we went through all of this other ... "stuff" when the answer was a simple, "yes", I don't understand. 


VK, I sincerely appreciate your assistance and your patience. However, while I am not trying to insult you in any way, you are not the best teacher I've ever had.  A small bit of encouragement that I was, at the very least, pointed in the right direction would have saved many headaches.  A basic instruction such as your, "Right click on the Artist field", would have saved a lot of grief.  I put the complete instructions in five steps above and even that could have been culled down to one or two sentences.  I appreciate the idea of having someone think through the problem, but, IMO, that is not what occurred here.  But, yes, thank you for you many attempts.  Without understanding how to open the Album Artist field I would have never accomplished this relatively simple task.   


Now, if anyone can assist, I have one more request for assistance. 

Now that all my files are located in one folder, they are located there in the alphabetical order with which they appeared in the "Files" view.  This is  not, of course, how they existed on the original CD.  Can someone please tell me how best to go about rearranging the files so they appear in the order in which they were originally copied from the CD?

Thank you for you assistance.   
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JanVigne

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Re: Compilation discs and box sets
« Reply #26 on: November 14, 2012, 10:21:55 am »

“That would probably be a reasonable solution to the problem.”

That, JimH, is what I would call a very unreasonable response from someone who has been completely unreasonable and nothing other than an obstructionist.  I am not in the least aware of what your problem is, but I am not it.  You have over fifty pages of threads on this one small section of the forum alone and tens of thousands of posts on the entire forum.  And you are concerned with how many return strokes I include in my posts?!  What? like I’m taking up too much space on this forum?  Your opinion is, if I don’t get this stuff now, I need to get off the forum and find another media player?!!!  What sort of attitude is that for an administrator of a service you are trying to sell to the public?  I’m saying I want your product and you’re saying get the hell out?  Who, if anyone, taught you customer service?

I am completely aware you have been provided a small bit of authority (Whoooooo - “authority”) and you can probably kick me off the forum and off JRiver for that matter.  Additionally, you could delete this thread from the forum.  That would be the childish thing to do just to satisfy your own ego.  Therefore, I will hope you just simply back away and stop threatening a potential customer for your product.  Leave the thread as it exists because it would seem, to me, to be a problem people are interested in solving - judging that is from the over 400 views of this thread accumulated to date.  And only two people - and one obstructionist - bothered to get involved.   Maybe they are all looking for the train wreck that might happen.  Or, maybe, they did not have an answer to the question of compilation discs and could not answer my very simple question.  I know my friend who read this thread and has been using JRiver for some time did not have an answer.  And he has the exact same problem with his filing system on JRiver and has lived with it for several months.  That suggests to me a problem with the program and, more than anything, a problem with the support forum.  Why be a problem when the answer was rather simple, a few key strokes, and someone will pay you for the service?  PAY YOU FOR THE SERVICE! 

You decide which it is.  IMO I have been nothing less than gracious - if frustrated - with those who have offered assistance,  I have thanked them repeatedly but said I did not understand what they were telling me.  If you think that is a problem, then you have a very strange way of thinking IMO.  If you think I am your problem, then you are going to do what your ego says needs to be done to salve your backside.  I am going to hope you both go away and include this topic in the FAQ section where it will be an easy find for anyone with the same issues of compilation discs.

I still have one question that I would like an answer to.  Why not just allow the thread to run its course and the whole process will, hopefully, be over soon?       
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JanVigne

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Re: Compilation discs and box sets
« Reply #27 on: November 14, 2012, 10:25:56 am »

How wonderful!  When I clicked on "report to moderator", I received this message, "You can't report your own post to the moderator, that doesn't make sense!"


Lordie, lordie, what else doesn't make sense around here?
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JanVigne

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I can think of nothing ...
« Reply #28 on: November 14, 2012, 11:07:42 am »

... less helpful that removing all of my posts from the "Compilation CD's" thread.  JimH has tagged all of my posts to be removed, including my opening post and the post where i explain how to solve the problem.  There is no real reason for this, the reason is a personal conflict between JimH and myself.  Why JimH started this conflict, I have no idea.  But he did, I was, IMO, simply asking for clarification of previous posts. 

Deleting these posts will make a complete mess of the thread.  How does that help anyone?  Deleting the posts will remove a very simple five step process of congregating 79 files into one folder.  That seems to me to be highly counter productive of JRiver.  Please leave the thread as it stands.         
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