INTERACT FORUM
More => Old Versions => Media Center 12 (Development Ended) => Topic started by: Pab on July 22, 2008, 12:42:49 am
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Hello! I'm new here. I got a question and I couldn't find the answer for it in any of the topics.
When you tag a file using "/" in some softwares like MediaMonkey and Windows Media Player, the "/" it's interpreted as a separator.
So if you edit the Artist field using that character like this: "Artist 1/Artist 2".... that tag will be treated as two different artist in some library views. It's useful for keep track of the songs if you have a lot of multiple-artists songs.
In the tag field you use the "/" character, but in the tracklists it usually shows up as "; " instead of the "/", like this: "Artist 1; Artist 2; Artist 3".
I can't explain any better, sorry for that, but I hope someone know what I'm talking about.
So what I want to know is if that "function" exist in Media Center? My MJ shows the "/" just like /s :'(... but maybe it can be activated in some settings?
If not... there are any plans to implant it in future releases?
Thank you!
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Of course MC supports the feature, but handles it a bit more strictly. MC uses ";" for separating multivalue fields, but I don't think that works on the [Artist] column. The reason is that artist varies a lot, with "someone feat. other one" and "someone vs. other one" and etc. There are a whole lot of ways artist call themselves. And I agree to that this should hold the artist name as the artists has decided it.
I would recommend a custom implementation, maybe similar to the one described here:
http://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php?topic=44021.0
Basically, have a own custom field with all represented artists. Set it as a list type, so that it treat ";" as the separator for the different types.
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If the separator does not work for the Artist column where it does work?
I don't want to create customs fields, that would be impracticable for me.
If MC can't recognize a field with two artists separated by "/" as two different values, at least I wish MC could change the way it shows in the list the fields (artist, album artist, composer, etc) tagged with "/". Just for a better presentation.
Change from "Artist A/Artist B/Artist C" to "Artist A; Artist B; Artist C"... The way the other programs shows (at least MM and WMP does that way).
Thanks for the answer.
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To truly manage multiple artists, I use a custom field Artists, set to store multiple values, delimited by semi-colons. Then I put it in views where MC expands each Artists field value into a separate virtual instance of the record -- very powerful.
Notice, I'm using two fields -- the standard single-value Artist field, and a custom multi-value Artists field. Each has a different purpose and often, different data.
In the standard Artist field I store the exact performed-by name from the original recording. So, across a particular artist's career, this name might vary quite a bit, but that's OK. I only "see" the Artist field when playing music in MC or on an iPod, where seeing the performer as on the original recording is exactly appropriate.
To standardize artists names, identify multiple artists on a single recording, and and manage and easily find recordings, I use a separate custom Artists field. In my custom Artists field I store the artist name in a standardized format, Lastname, Firstname, "and" as "&", and a group name always written the same way. I omit leading "The" and similar rather than leave it to MC. I convert a number in a group's name to a word, etc. So for each performer, group or individual, I have one standard way to write the name in my Artists field. This assures that all recordings with that same standard name will be grouped together.
If there are multiple artists to identify for a recording, I store them all in the Artists field all as a list. I then have this column in my various views, giving me lots of ways to access and work with the recordings. If this column is the first in a view, it creates virtual entries, one for each value in the field. (Actually, my Artist view has field Artists as the first two columns, the first column set to Grouping size 1, so I get a two-level view like this:
Artist
A
B
Beatles
Beach Boys
Bryson, Peabo
Burrell, Kenny
C
D
etc
Simple example: A recording of Rich Girl has Artist field "Hall and Oates". But I'd like to find the recording by the group name, and by the individual artists. So in the Artists field I enter "Hall & Oates;Hall, Daryl;Oates, John". In a view with Artists as the first column, I'd see this one record in three places, by Hall & Oates, by Hall, Daryl, and by Oates, John. This is a simple example of one-track-to-many artists.
The technique is also helpful with many-to-many, such as tracking recordings by The Boston Pops under various conductors such as Arthur Fiedler and John Williams, and those conductors with various orchestras including The Boston Pops, London Sympony, and others. Having a multi-value Artists field is a terrific way to organize jazz recordings where the same major artists appeared on each others recordings, and in groups with other names, and in their own groups with a variety of variations (Trio, Quartet, Quintet, Group, Band, whatever).
I use the Keywords field in the same way to categorize every song for later use in all kinds of combinations in smartlist expressions.
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If the separator does not work for the Artist column where it does work?
I don't want to create customs fields, that would be impracticable for me.
If MC can't recognize a field with two artists separated by "/" as two different values, at least I wish MC could change the way it shows in the list the fields (artist, album artist, composer, etc) tagged with "/". Just for a better presentation.
Change from "Artist A/Artist B/Artist C" to "Artist A; Artist B; Artist C"... The way the other programs shows (at least MM and WMP does that way).
Thanks for the answer.
goodmorning and welcume to the forum,
there is a way to get the artists separated with a / separated in a list.
when you are looking at panes rightclick on a pane header and add a pane. choose as type: expression
give it a name and type
replace([artist],//,;)&datatype=[list]in the expression field.
what it does is: for the view the / is replaced with a ; (not in the tags, just in what you see) and the values should be presented as a list.
hope it is a bit clear.
:)
gab
edit:
and to get this:Change from "Artist A/Artist B/Artist C" to "Artist A; Artist B; Artist C"...
use replace([artist],//,; )
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I'll try that, MusicHawk.
And gab, I didn't know about those Expressions, that's awesome!
Thank you guys ;)
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Is there info on the expression logic in the Wiki? These can be used in the search & replace function correct?
DC
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Using / as a separator for MP3 ID3v2.3 tags is actually in the standard. See http://www.id3.org/id3v2.3.0 (http://www.id3.org/id3v2.3.0) and the 4.2.1 section: TPE2 (Artist), TCOM (Composer). This is what Microsoft used and implemented years ago.
gappie, that hack solution for Media Center to support this is pretty cool. Thanks.
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no problem :)
Is there info on the expression logic in the Wiki? These can be used in the search & replace function correct?
DC
there is a page in the wiki with all the expressions.
http://wiki.jrmediacenter.com/index.php/Media_Center_expression_language
and there is a page with an explanation how to use them. at the end are some links to examples:
http://wiki.jrmediacenter.com/index.php/Database_Expressions
:)
gab
oh, and typing
expression marko
in the search of the forum will give enough examples of what is possible. 8)