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[ohohyodasoda]

I have a large number of soundtrack and compilation albums and MJ is not storing them on my hard drive with a file path that suits me.  I want all tracks filed under the artist name and then the album name and then artist-trackname.

With compilation albums MJ puts everything under "Various Artist"   What must I do to force MJ to store all tracks with a primary directory path = artist name, when I rip a compilation album with many different artists on it?

An Explanation of what MJ does to determine what path to create and how to force a path that I want would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks for any help you can provide
Bob Galanter

[rocketsauce]

You can change the directory path and file naming in Tools/Options/File Naming & Location.

Rob

[ohohyodasoda]

Yes Rocket,

That much I understand,  BUT in the case of an album which has more than one ARTIST,MJ will file this type of album not under the artists names, but rather under the artist "Various Artists" I don't like that.  

I need to know how to get around the fact that MJ will ARBITRARLY pick "Various Atist" when more than one artist is on an album.

A replu fromanyone who has a  workaround for this would be apprediated.  There must be some way of fooling MJ into using the actual artist name to create the correct Windows Path on my disc drive, for compilation albums with multiple artists.

thanks in advance for the help.
bob Galanter

[KingSparta]

maybe thats how the user entered the artist name for that cd.

If so then it will not give you the artist name for that cd and only how the user entered it.

[rocketsauce]

I need to know how to get around the fact that MJ will ARBITRARLY pick "Various Atist" when more than one artist is on an album.

What version of MJ are you using? I have never experienced the behaviour you're describing in any version of MJ/MC that I've used. I've always been able to specify any directory path and filename that I want. If the artist name appears in the artist field of the tag, it should work the way you want, as long as you have your naming scheme set up correctly. Do you have 'various artists' listed in the album artist field? Maybe that is messing it up somehow. Also, are you trying to manipulate files that are already on your hardrive or are you talking about ripping a cd?

Re-reading your first post, I'm a little confused. You wrote:

I want all tracks filed under the artist name and then the album name and then artist-trackname.

I guess I'm not quite clear on what you mean here. Maybe give an example of how you want your directory/filenames to look. For example: D:\Music\Whitney Houston\Whitney Houston - I Will Always Love You

Rob

[ohohyodasoda]

Ok Rocket, Lets try this again.

I am using Mj 8.0.393.

I will use examples as you have suggested.

I will use a compilation album entitled "Billboard top Rock 'N' Roll hits 1957"  This is a CD I ripped into MP3's.

This album has 10 tracks, each by a different artist.  The track listings were downloaded from YADB.  I have brought up the album in the right window of MJ.  I have selected all entries and then go to Properties.  The Album Artist field of the Media File Properties window is always blank. (I am not sure what the Album Artist field is for, perhaps you could explain this to me)  Name field and Artist field are filled with <varies> as you would expect in a compilation album like this.

Ok so here is the root of the problem,  After Ripping MJ stores this album under "Various Artist"  The path would look like this....

M\shared\Various artist\Billboard Top Rock "n" Roll Hits-1957\Buddy Holly - Peggy Sue

I don't want the track listed under "Various Artist"  I want it listed like this

M\shared\Buddy Holly\Billboard Top rock "n" Roll Hits 1957\Buddy Holly - Peggy Sue

Which is the way MJ files tracks for albums that have only ONE artist. (ie: not a compilation album)

So what do you have to do to get MJ to file the tracks of a compilation album under the artist name rather than "Various Artists"

Thanks for helping me on this.  Your efforts are sincerely appreciated.

Bob Galanter

[JimH]

Hi Bob,
I'm sure rocketsauce knows a lot more than I do about this, but I just wanted to make sure you don't mean this:

M\shared

but instead mean this:

M:\shared

Also, it always gives me the heebie jeebies to see something with special characters ("n") in the name.

Jim

[ohohyodasoda]

Hi Jim,

actually  I neglected to type the colon.  Should be M:\shared

and the "n"  was actualy  'n'

But other albums I have ripped without special characters have been cataloged in the same manner.  I don't believe the apostrophys have anything to do with the way the file paths were created.

[ohohyodasoda]

Ok, I figured it out.

I did some experimenting to see what was going on.  It turns out that on a compilation album (with many different artists), MJ places an entry in the Album Artist field of the tag.  The entry is "Various Artists"

This causes Mj to create a Windows Path that looks like this

M:\Various Artists\Album Name\Artist name - Song title

If the entry "Various Artists" is removed from the tag, Then MJ will file the entry like this

M:\Artist Name\Album Name\Artist name - Song title

Soooooooooo from now on when I rip a compilation album, after the track listings are received from the YADB I just have to go in and remove the "Various Artists" entry from the Artist Album field, prior to the actual ripping, and Mj will file my tracks under the Artist name just like I want.   Once the tracks are ripped it is to late to make the changes, as the tracks are already stored on disc incorrectly.    Sooooooooo

1.  Get Info from YADB
2.  REmove the "Various Artists" entry from the tags
3.  Then rip the tracks


I hope this will be of some use to others.

Thanks to all who tried to help me,
Bob Galanter

[rocketsauce]

Glad you got it worked out.  

Rob