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[frisettes]

The Help file indicates that MJ has the capability of using custom fields in the Media Library view. But the Help only specifies how to rename the custom fields... but not how to associate them with a logical operation.  I'd like to use a custom field to sort my library by filename, which is not included in the standard sorting fields. How would I go about that?

[KingSparta]

there is 3 custom fields in MJ8 custom1, 2, 3

but MC9 allows users to create there own.

[frisettes]

I understand  that MJ8 has 3 fields. But My question is, how do I use them? All the help I can find tells me how to rename them, but that's completely useless unless I can associate those fields with something concrete, such as, for instance, the filename of an entry in the playlist. How do I do that?

[rocketsauce]

how do I use them?

You can use them to enter any information you want. For example, I renamed one of the custom fields to Original By and then filled in the name of the original performer for all the tracks I had that were cover versions. Then I made a smartlist that shows only tracks that had data entered into the Original By field.

All the help I can find tells me how to rename them, but that's completely useless unless I can associate those fields with something concrete, such as, for instance, the filename of an entry in the playlist.

Not sure what you mean by "associate those fields with something concrete". They're just simply fields that you can enter info into that might not fit into any of the other existing tag fields. Then you can use them to build View Schemes or Smartlists based on the info you've entered.

Rob

[KingSparta]

for instance, the filename of an entry in the playlist. How do I do that?

sorry i don't remember if you can do that.

but try

[CUSTOM1]

OR

[CUSTOM 1]

in the file name mask

if that does not work try the name you changed it to like [NewName]

[frisettes]

You can use them to enter any information you want. For example, I renamed one of the custom fields to Original By and then filled in the name of the original performer for all the tracks I had that were cover versions. Then I made a smartlist that shows only tracks that had data entered into the Original By field.


Not sure what you mean by "associate those fields with something concrete". They're just simply fields that you can enter info into that might not fit into any of the other existing tag fields. Then you can use them to build View Schemes or Smartlists based on the info you've entered.

Rob

What I meant by "something concrete' , albeit in an unclear fashion on my part, was how do I associate a custom field with an existing property of the mp3, such as the filename, file attributes, date saved (instead of date created, already included with MJ8), etc.

[rocketsauce]

how do I associate a custom field with an existing property of the mp3

I don't think you can do that in the way that your question implies.

In MC9, there is an option to mass copy info from one field to another. It's been awhile since I used MJ8, so I don't know if it has that option. If that option is not there, then you have to manually enter the desired info into the custom field.

Rob

[frisettes]

In MC9, there is an option to mass copy info from one field to another.

Rob

So, assume I were to purchase MC9 (I'll have to check my options, but we'll see); how does the ability to copy info from one field to another help me? The only thing I can think of is mass copying the "location" field to a custom field, then manually re-editing the field entries to delete the file pathes. Needless to say, that would be time consuming, unless you have something different in mind.

[rocketsauce]

...how does the ability to copy info from one field to another help me?

I don't know. You were asking how to use custom fields. I was just suggesting that as one possible way to get information into them without having to add it manually for each file or group of files.

Basically, in MJ8, the three custom fields are just simple data fields. You enter information into them the same way that you do with any of the other fields like artist, album, etc. AFAIK, there is no way to "associate" them with any file properties such as the filename. As I said before, they are there for you to use for information that may not fit into any of the default fields. For example, I renamed one of the custom fields to Source. Then as I added new files to the library I specified whether the file came from a cd I own, a cd I borrowed, download, from a cd-r, etc. Once you enter info into a custom field, you can then add it as a sorting column in your track view and/or use it to build view schemes, playlists or smartlists.

In MC9, in addition to the three default custom fields, you can also create your own custom fields and specify what type of info they hold, such as string, integer, semicolon delimited, etc.

Rob