Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[omri]

hi,
i would like to apply labels to my music files so that i can manipulate playlists and views based on these labels.
i am currently using the comment field, my problem with that is when i choose 100 files and want to apply new label to them, if some of these files already have labels in the comment field i will override it (instead of appending to it)

can i append instead of overwrite ?
or maybe someone use better method to apply labels ?

thanks,
omri.

[6233638]

I'm not sure what you plan on using as "labels" but perhaps the keyword field is more appropriate?

[Samson]

There are keywords, custom tags,notes,descriptions.....it depends what you are wanting to achieve. If you are familiar with 'string theory' this may also be of help http://wiki.jriver.com/index.php/Media_Center_expression_language#String_Manipulation ?

[omri]

keywords !
exactly what i need, didnt know it works that way.

thanks!

[csimon]

i would like to apply labels to my music files so that i can manipulate playlists and views based on these labels.
i am currently using the comment field, my problem with that is when i choose 100 files and want to apply new label to them, if some of these files already have labels in the comment field i will override it (instead of appending to it)

can i append instead of overwrite ?
or maybe someone use better method to apply labels ?

If, by "label", you mean adding some miscellaneous extra information to a file that has not been applied automatically, remember that you can add your own custom tags for whatever information you want and then use this in playlists and views to sort your music as you wish. You don't have to use the tags that are supplied pre-built, such as Comment.  For example, if you have a need to record whether a file came from CD or Vinyl or an MP3 download, then you can create a new field called, say, Source.

If however you can't identify *what* information you want to record in order to create a new field for it, and you just want to keep appending miscellaneous things to Comment, that will be more difficult to do.  But if you want to do that, you could create a temporary custom field and then select your items and put a new comment into the temporary field, then use an update to append that new field to the existing Comment field.  You might find extracting the information from Comments a bit awkward too.

[Samson]

put a new comment into the temporary field, then use an update to append that new field to the existing Comment field.  You might find extracting the information from Comments a bit awkward too.

Hi, could you elaborate on that a bit, I dont know what you mean do an update..to append one field to another field.
Thanks

[csimon]

I'm not at a MC PC at the moment but I'm sure there should be a way for you to copy the contents of one field to another, either overwriting it or appending it, possibly using the expression language to append. Try looking around the menus, Library Tools for example, to see what functions there are, also the link given in post #3 above where you can use an expression to populate a field.

[EDIT: Ah, that link was yours!]

[Samson]

lol, yes, but I am not competent with 'string theory' as yet...I know how to append or prepend letters,say  =string[artist] or =[artist]string, or removes letters, or perhaps replace one field with another, but was just curious about combining/merging fields and what opportunities that might bring.
Thanks

[csimon]

I', not fully conversant with the language but I'm sure you should be able to do soemthing like =[field1];[field2] to combine fields, or =[thisfield];[newfield] to append a field to the current field.

[Samson]

Yes, of course  (embarrassed) sometimes one just assumes these things are more difficult than they are.

So, although arguably not the best option, the answer to the OP's question is simply:

=[Comment] bla bla bla

which appends the additional comment (bla bla bla) to the existing comment in selected tracks without overwriting the original.