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[Oliverlim]

I usually use the artist view to select songs to play. However, in my music collection, I do have many of the same songs in different albums or say DSD format and CD (flac) or mp3 format etc.  The songs at this time shows up multiple times in the artist view. So if I play it via album or select the song, each individual song plays multiple times.  Stacks just lump them together and I am not sure which it selects to play when I select it. Is there a way where mc21 shows each in its individual album for me to select the actual album I want to play?

[glynor]

Stacks sounds like the solution you're looking for, at least for some of the use-cases. Read through the Wiki article:
http://wiki.jriver.com/index.php/Stacks

Stacks are a way to make MC treat a set of files as though it is one file. You can think of it as a way to "hide" alternate-versions of a file "behind" a master version.

* When you stack a set of files, one of them is selected as the Stack Top. This is, by default, the one you last clicked on when you made the selection you used originally to create the stack.

* A stack can be viewed collapsed (shrunk down so that only one "copy" is shown), or expanded (opened up so that you see each of the members of the stack). A stack behaves differently when you look at it collapsed or expanded.


* Individual stacks remember their own collapsed or expanded status.

* When a stack is expanded, the Stack Top is the one with the arrow (pointing down) in the stack icon. The other stack members have the empty gray boxes.

* You can manually set a different stack member file as the Stack Top by expanding the stack, selecting the file in question, and: Right-click > Stacks > Set as Stack Top.

* When the stack is collapsed then only the file on the Stack Top is played (pretty much ever). If you apply a tag to a collapsed stack, then the tagging changes apply equally to all files in the stack.

* When the stack is collapsed, the stack will sort and filter based on the field values of the Stack Top (as though the other stack members don't exist). In other words, the set will go in the sorting where it would have gone if it was only the stack top file by itself. And it will show in searches, views, and smartlists if the search permits the values in the Stack Top, but it will not show in searches restricted to the characteristics of one of the member files.

* If you expand the stack, then you can still individually play or manage the different versions. So a stack can have different metadata for different files, you just can't apply a tag to that particular field while the stack is collapsed.

* If you expand the stack, the files sort and filter as they would individually. This might mean they don't all sort together anymore, if the tags in the files don't all match (at least the ones used for sorting). Likewise, searches (including filters on smartlists or views) will treat each file in the stack individually.

[glynor]

So, Stacks will come in handy if you have multiple copies of the same exact audio, and you want to keep them and be able to individually manage and use them when called for, but you have a "preferred version" that when any of them will do, it'll use that one.

A lossless file and a smaller lossy copy is a good example. Or, yes, a DSD and a flac or mp3 version. But maybe you have the mono and stereo versions of Abbey Road and you prefer one over the other? That would be a good use-case too.

However, the stacking system is not designed for, and generally isn't suitable for, different versions of the same song (or file, etc). So if you have a studio and a live version of a song, this is probably not a good use for stacking. In these cases, you should typically tag these with different [Album] tags, or use some other field in MC to distinguish between versions. On the other hand, if you have a strong preference for one of them over the others, then it can still be appropriate. Maybe you have copies of various editions of Empire Strikes Back, but you set the Stack Top to the despecialized editions (because you're not an animal).

A good rule of thumb on deciding when stacking is appropriate is think about it like:
* Are these different versions of the exact same thing? If so, then stacking them is probably the way to go.
* If not, do I have a strong preference for one of them? If so, then consider stacking them.

[Oliverlim]

So, Stacks will come in handy if you have multiple copies of the same exact audio, and you want to keep them and be able to individually manage and use them when called for, but you have a "preferred version" that when any of them will do, it'll use that one.

A lossless file and a smaller lossy copy is a good example. Or, yes, a DSD and a flac or mp3 version. But maybe you have the mono and stereo versions of Abbey Road and you prefer one over the other? That would be a good use-case too.

However, the stacking system is not designed for, and generally isn't suitable for, different versions of the same song (or file, etc). So if you have a studio and a live version of a song, this is probably not a good use for stacking. In these cases, you should typically tag these with different [Album] tags, or use some other field in MC to distinguish between versions. On the other hand, if you have a strong preference for one of them over the others, then it can still be appropriate. Maybe you have copies of various editions of Empire Strikes Back, but you set the Stack Top to the despecialized editions (because you're not an animal).

A good rule of thumb on deciding when stacking is appropriate is think about it like:
* Are these different versions of the exact same thing? If so, then stacking them is probably the way to go.
* If not, do I have a strong preference for one of them? If so, then consider stacking them.

Thanks for detailed explanation. I am beginning to suspect it my files tag that is the issue. I have many albums which are in folders/names that show their differences. Like Pink Floyd.

1 album could be their immersion edition

another album is their original non remastered edition

yet another is the SACD version.  They are all named differently in different folders but the song titles/names are largely the same. I need to recheck the tags but I believe the album tags are correct and show the difference. However, JRiver seems to show them all together in the artist view. So each song shows up three times on the view screen even when I selected the correct album.  Its like it shows 3 albums but all songs from each album shows up even when any of the other album is selected.

[blgentry]

There are ways to separate out different versions of the same album.  I've tried several ways, including making a custom field I called [album_info], and then used that as part of my display rules.  This worked in standard view, but it didn't work worth a darn with remotes like Gizmo.

So I've reverted back to putting the extra album info in the [Album] field.  For example, I have "The Nightfly" by Donald Fagen in both a CD version and a DVD-A version.  For the CD version I call it "The Nightfly".  The DVD-A version is "The Nightfly DVD-A".  Simple!

I also use a custom Thumbnail Text expression to show additional information that's not in the Album name, like the year of a re-release.  Finally, I show bit depth and sample rate for anything that's above CD sample rate.  This helps me see the details on high res releases like the one above.

Good luck with your project!

Brian.

[ferday]

It works fine in JRemote (I don't use gizmo but the views are the same...), it's just all about the tags

I usually use a view by artist, then
If(isempty([album info]),[album]-[source]-[date (year)],[album]-[source]-RM [date (release)])

[source] is an auto tag that gives me CD, MP3, SACD, HD, Vinyl, and multichannel which is also a good separator of stuff as well

If you are consistent with your tagging you could make this as in depth as you want to separate albums.  You'll need at least one custom field though.  if you just search by straight album name MC will list it as three of each song like you have now

[blgentry]

The problem with Remote views (JRemote, Gizmo, etc) and this method is searching.  Search results contain results based on the [Album] tag.  This screws things up because it mixes albums together again.

I couldn't find an easy way around this, so I went back to [Album] containing something unique for each album as I outlined above.

Ferday, your technique is a good one in every respect except for searching via remote.  If you set up custom views for JRemote that include this extra info, then it works well for browsing for sure.  Just not for searching.

I was sorry to have to abandon your method after you spending so much time helping me to understand and implement it.  The good news is, I learned a lot in the process, so it was still a valuable experience.   So thank you. 

Brian.

[ferday]

Ha ha no worries

I don't usually search just browse when using a remote so it works good

[glynor]

Just for the record, because it isn't really addressed in this thread. The easiest way to accomplish this is just to give your albums different [Album] tags. If they're the same, the default view in Media Center will group them together (so you'll have a view with two track 1s, and two track 2s, etc). You can name the albums differently (putting the format in a suffix, for example), though, and then it won't group them together. That's what I typically do with different versions of the same album (unless I have a clear preference):



If you really want to track this information, but keeping it in the Album tag offends you in some deep, personal way, you could make a new custom field called [Album Version] and put your version details (whatever they might be) in that field. Then, you can either:

* Change your views and add this category
* Make a "smart" category that uses an expression like this: If(IsEmpty([Album Version]),[Album],[Album] - [Album Version])

Any of these methods could solve the search problem as well. I don't use the search to find Albums from my iOS device (typically browsing to the files through my view systems, and using search when I want a specific track or file), so it doesn't really bother me, but worth throwing out there.

Also, as mentioned, if you do use Stacks, the files don't all have to use matching metadata. You can change them independently, if you expand the stack. So you can add version information to the [Album] tag to the files "underneath" (so they are distinguishable in search) but still don't show up and "pollute" your View of the media unless you want them.