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[Skeet]

I'm using MC 10.0.173
I used to be able to sync my Ipod with Album Artist instead of Artist, to keep compilation albums together. Has this feature moved, or gone, or am I just being stupid and lost it.
Any help much appreciated.

[Skeet]

Anyone?
Has this feature been lost or moved? Or have I not made myself clear?

[bspachman]

Sorry. AFAIK, the feature was removed sometime in the 10.x development process. You can probably find more details in the "Portable" sub-forum.

SteveG has said they'll revisit implementing this feature in the future, but it has been a while.

Best,
brad

[Skeet]

Do you know if it's available in MC 11?

[Nolonemo]

Do you know if it's available in MC 11?

Not yet, anyway.  I've been thinking of reinstalling v. 9 to use just for syncing just so I could use that feature.

[SteveG]

Sorry, this feature is not in 10 or 11. Perhaps in the future. It definitely is on the possible feature list.

Steve

[Skeet]

Thanks for the Info Steve.
You don't happen to know which was the last build that included this feature? Was it in the early V.10 builds? I'm tempted to track back to that version, as it's quite important to me to be able to do this.

[mysixstring]

I am also one who would like to see this feature return. Just for the record.

[SteveG]

Skeet,

I am not sure which build.

Steve

[packyb]

Hey Steve -

Not to beat a dead horse, but wondering if you could clarify your answer a bit? I've inquired about the return of this feature several times, and am always reluctant bcs. I don't want to come across as a nag. Just wondering if we should back off about its return bcs. its not coming any time soon, or is it something that we might expect in the relatively near future?

[JimH]

Probably not in the next couple of months.  We've got a project we're working on that has created some interesting restrictions on what we can do.  Once we're done, we may be able to find a way.

It's OK to ask occasionally  -- you're not a nag.  Thanks for caring.

[SteveG]

I second that emotion.

Reasserting the desire for a feature is very helpful in our prioritization of what to add.  Especially when it is done in a way that understands that lack of adding a feature may be for bigger reasons than seeming indifference.

Thanks for the post.

Steve

[datdude]

I would like to see this as well.

[Nolonemo]

Steve & Jim, since we've been given permission to nag....

When your programming whizzes start looking at it, think about allowing us to map any MC fields to the Zen/iPod standard fields, that would be really cool (for example, I could create a custom field of the format "ARTIST - ALBUM" and map that to the Zen's Album field to overcome the fact that the Zen's tree jumps staight from Genre to Album.

[SteveG]

Nolonemo,

Thanks for the suggestion.

Steve

[bvm]

think about allowing us to map any MC fields to the Zen/iPod standard fields, that would be really cool (for example, I could create a custom field of the format "ARTIST - ALBUM" and map that to the Zen's Album field to overcome the fact that the Zen's tree jumps staight from Genre to Album.

I second the suggestion -- I've wanted this kind of feature for a long time.  In my case, it's because the iPod displays only 3 fields when playing a track, and only one of them scrolls.  That has implications for ways I might abbreviate field data to be more useful.  I'd prefer to do that by creating custom fields for iPod transfer, rather than messing up the standard fields.

[Nolonemo]

I second the suggestion -- I've wanted this kind of feature for a long time.  In my case, it's because the iPod displays only 3 fields when playing a track, and only one of them scrolls.  That has implications for ways I might abbreviate field data to be more useful.  I'd prefer to do that by creating custom fields for iPod transfer, rather than messing up the standard fields.

BVM, I've been doing a workaround to deal with this.

I have created cusom fields in MC, "ARTISTS" AND "ALBUMS".  I copy the information in the ARTIST and ALBUM tag to the custom fields.  Then I edit the ARTIST and ALBUM fields to give the abbreviated display that works best on my Zen (for example, on albums with multiple artists, I change the contents of the ARTIST tag to "Various," and shorten album names in the ALBUM tag where appropriate). 

Thus, I've saved the original information, while the modified-for-Zen tags will automatically sync to the Zen.

In MC, I set my library view to display ALBUM ARTIST (or if I wanted to see all individual artists, to display ARTISTS) and ALBUMS, so I see the original and unmodified tag information when I'm in MC.

You can use this method to assign whatever information you want to whatever field you want on the iPod while still being able to view the original tagging scheme in MC.  Of course, you have to remember what custom fields you saved the original tag info to - which is why I made it easy for myself by just adding an "S" to the original field name when creating the custom fields that I display in MC.

But I'd rather have the total flexibility that I suggested earlier so I keep the original info in the traditional fields.

[SteveG]

Nolonemo,

Thanks for posting this work around.

Steve

[bvm]

Thanks, Nolonemo, that's pretty much what I figured I would have to do at some point.  But it's not pretty.  It means that only MC is capable of showing me artist/album/etc correctly -- all the many other possible players or utilities that know about mp3 tags would be stuck with the dumbed-down tags.

Of course, why would I ever use anything other than MC 

[Nolonemo]

Thanks, Nolonemo, that's pretty much what I figured I would have to do at some point.  But it's not pretty.  It means that only MC is capable of showing me artist/album/etc correctly -- all the many other possible players or utilities that know about mp3 tags would be stuck with the dumbed-down tags.

Of course, why would I ever use anything other than MC 

Right you are, that's why I'd like to see a field mapping option implemented.  OTOH, for me the main issue in the 2 players I put files on right now is that I want to be able to identify the album or whatever without scrolling, so for now the workaround is doing OK. 

Since I only use MC on my PC, the MC-specific formatting is fine, EXCEPT, that the tags look wierd in g-Force and 3d- visualization display mode.  That's the main reason I want field mapping....

[Skeet]

Just bumping this issue up to see if there's been any progress on this in the last 6 months?

[SteveG]

The status of this has not been changed, but can be in MC 12.


Steve

[Skeet]

Just a little reminder to those working on MC12. I'm still very keen on this being sorted. Is it likely to be a feature of the beta version when it's out?

[JimH]

Same question as this?
http://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php?board=8;topic=31484.0#msg216411

[Skeet]

Yes, sort of.

It was a feature several versions ago, whereby you could choose to map the MC "album artist" (instead of the current "artist" field to the "artist" field in itunes when you synced. That way compilations, DJ mixes etc could be stored on the Ipod under the compiler or various artists or DJ etc.

[risingdamp]

Just to add to the list of workarounds I copy the Album Artist (Auto) field to Composer before synching the iPod.  This means I can use the Artist list for tracks by any artist and the Composer list if I want multi-artist albums to be listed separately.