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More => Old Versions => JRiver Media Center 20 for Windows => Topic started by: lendall on May 07, 2015, 03:15:23 pm

Title: Tagging: Where doth tags reside? Why do some copy and not others?
Post by: lendall on May 07, 2015, 03:15:23 pm
Here's what I do:
I have a large PC in my home office on which I keep everything I download or otherwise create or acquire (music, images, videos, etc.).
MC is installed on this home office computer and I use it to do audio analysis and tagging or all music files.
Periodically I use a Microsoft utility called SyncToy to update an external drive with the new and changed media and other files.
I have MC installed on a smaller computer which is part of my sound system.  I use the external drive with that computer, and import new files from the external drive into the libraries in that smaller sound system computer.
With me so far?
I have found that this system works very well, except:  When I copy the files onto the external drive most of the tags (e.g., Composer, Genre, Artist) copy fine:  The tagging is copied along with everything else onto the external drive, and show up when I import the files from the external drive onto the sound system PC, as does any cover art I attached to the files via MC on the office computer.  Except that certain tags I use do not copy.  These include Producer and County.  I am baffled as to why (for example) the Composer tag would copy and not the Producer or Country tag.  Am I doing something wrong?

BTW, this seems to occur regardless of the type of audio file involved.  Almost all of my audio files are either FLAC or OGG Vorbis.  Both my office computer and my sound system computer are running XP SP3.  (When this OS becomes totally obsolete I plan to switch to Linux . . . I cannot abide Microsoft's dumbed-down post-XP OS's.)

Comments or suggestions?   ?

Thanks. 

   
Title: Re: Tagging: Where doth tags reside? Why do some copy and not others?
Post by: marko on May 08, 2015, 01:42:15 am
Will one picture be enough...
(http://www.mpw.scot/pics/ia/20/Snap-042.jpg)

:D

What to do is check that, then OK your way out. Next, list all of your audio files and enter this in the search box:

-[producer]=[]

Now you will only have files where Producer is not empty. Select them all, right click, library tools, update tags from library. That will force all existing "Producers" into the file tags, and moving forward, the tag will always be saved in the file for future producer edits.

-marko.
Title: Re: Tagging: Where doth tags reside? Why do some copy and not others?
Post by: glynor on May 08, 2015, 12:31:26 pm
For more info:
http://wiki.jriver.com/index.php/Library
http://wiki.jriver.com/index.php/Library_Fields
Title: Re: Tagging: Where doth tags reside? Why do some copy and not others?
Post by: kstuart on May 08, 2015, 12:39:36 pm
As for "why", the answer is that "file properties" that are not common to other programs are not saved in the files themselves.  Only the ones common to other programs are saved in the files.

For example, "Artist" is a file property that is a "tag" used by all programs, so MC20 saves "Artist" into the file itself, so that if you use another program, it will display the "Artist".

But if there is a file property that only JRiver uses, then it is saved into the Library instead of the file itself (because no other program will display it).

marko has shown how to change this when possible, for any particular file property.

BTW, in MC20, there is some confusion, because in some places, it uses "tag" as a synonym for "file property", but in other places, it uses "tag" as something stored in the file, and "file property" as something stored in the Library.
Title: Re: Tagging: Where doth tags reside? Why do some copy and not others?
Post by: dtc on May 08, 2015, 02:53:02 pm
If you select a track and select Tag, in the tagging window you can click on the first line (e.g. FLAC - 3:15 19 MB) to see the tags that are stored in the file.
Title: Re: Tagging: Where doth tags reside? Why do some copy and not others?
Post by: lendall on May 12, 2015, 07:53:06 pm
Thanks for all the great and useful replies.  The explanations all make sense.
The only suggestion that I cannot seem to make work is the one involving the Tags Window.  When I look at a track in that window I see only the "basic" tags, but not any of the "special" ones I use, such as Custom, Grouping, Producer and Country.  Any thoughts?  I wonder if there is a way to configure the Tags Window to show all of the tags for an audio file.
Title: Re: Tagging: Where doth tags reside? Why do some copy and not others?
Post by: ferday on May 12, 2015, 09:54:28 pm
Click on the little icon at the top left of the tag window.  There you can choose which tags you want to see
Title: Re: Tagging: Where doth tags reside? Why do some copy and not others?
Post by: glynor on May 12, 2015, 10:30:15 pm
Click on the little icon at the top left of the tag window.  There you can choose which tags you want to see

The Action Windows article on the wiki covers this:
http://wiki.jriver.com/index.php/Action_Window

There isn't a Tag Action Window article, because... Well, there might be a reason to wait on that. We'll see. But, the menu button is covered.