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[ferrarabrainpan]

I have a main library which I renamed "PCM" and I have moved all the DSD files out of the folders that are included in that library to different folders that are not included in the main library. I want to have a second library called "DSD" for the .dsf files I have in my local library. I don't understand the step in the Add Library window with Local Library selected that says "Enter a path to an existing library, or enter a path with no files in it to create a new library. I know I did it wrong the first two or three times I tried because I ended up with a cache folder and a slew of library system files in the folder that has my actual dsf files in it.

Now I can see at the top that my main library called "PCM" is a local library located at
C:Users\Ferrara\AppData\Roaming\J River\Media Center 28\Library\
So I created a new folder in with the path
C:Users\Ferrara\AppData\Roaming\J River\Media Center 28\DSD\
and then I selected the folders to watch and auto import. It imported the files and now all the artists are visible in the library view with album cover thumbnails.

I cannot find the library field called Album Artist Sort. It is not visible in the menu for customizing the library view, it is not there in the tag section under the Advanced header when I go to tag and album or artist. It is there among the library fields in my main PCM library.

I need to find that field and tag the artists so that in the library view for DSD the artists are sorted alphabetically by last name. I did this in the main library by tagging the Album Artist Sort field for Carly Simon with "Simon, Carly" and then selecting Album Artist Sort (A-Z) in the customize library view window as the top sort criteria, but the Album Artist Sort field is nowhere to be found in this new DSD library.

Now I am starting to vaguely remember when I did this for my main library in MC24 three years ago I had to create an "expression", is that it? I looked at the wiki pages for Library Manage and Expression Language and I'm completely lost. Please help me to add the library field for Album Artist Sort so I can tag artists appropriately and have them displayed in the correct order in the library view.

[ferrarabrainpan]

I found the answer to my question by searching in the old forum for MC24 for my original post and the answer I was seeking is in reply #6 at
https://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php/topic,121517.msg840269.html#msg840269

[HPBEME]

Glad you figured it out.  But you do not need to use an expression - you could try what I do. 

Like you, I prefer to have artists sort last name/first.  But instead of creating a new library field, I use the Album Artist field for this purpose. I leave the Artist Field alone as it auto-populates, and that is probably the most important and common tag/field that every program (seemingly) expects to see the name as first/last. Album Artist OTOH I think is a MC specific tag (though I could be wrong about that), so using that field for whatever you want is less of an issue - well, I have not found it to be an issue anyway.

Also make sure you check the box to Save in files tags - that way, if you ever encounter a similar scenario in the future, your tag will be embedded in the file and you will not have to re-populate it. 

And finally, if you look at the field (in the manage library fields dialog), you will see the "true" field name Album Artist is not editable, but you can change the "Display" name to whatever you like.  I "rename" the Album Artist field to Artist Sort. So it is not a new field, but it has a name that makes more sense for my use case. 

[EnglishTiger]

Album Artist is a Global Field/Tag and not restricted to MC - some Plugins actually use that Tag/Field to get info/metadata from various web-sites.

[ferrarabrainpan]

Glad you figured it out.  But you do not need to use an expression - you could try what I do. 

Like you, I prefer to have artists sort last name/first.  But instead of creating a new library field, I use the Album Artist field for this purpose. I leave the Artist Field alone as it auto-populates, and that is probably the most important and common tag/field that every program (seemingly) expects to see the name as first/last. Album Artist OTOH I think is a MC specific tag (though I could be wrong about that), so using that field for whatever you want is less of an issue - well, I have not found it to be an issue anyway.

Also make sure you check the box to Save in files tags - that way, if you ever encounter a similar scenario in the future, your tag will be embedded in the file and you will not have to re-populate it. 

And finally, if you look at the field (in the manage library fields dialog), you will see the "true" field name Album Artist is not editable, but you can change the "Display" name to whatever you like.  I "rename" the Album Artist field to Artist Sort. So it is not a new field, but it has a name that makes more sense for my use case.

I do not follow what you are saying here, sorry. But it's moot since I got it sorted out...

Tools > Options > Library & Folders > manage library fields > Add new field

and then I customize the sorting scheme for any library view by putting Album Artist Sort at the top. Once I have tagged any given album artist with the desired name, e.g. Zappa, Frank or Mothers of Invention, The, then when I add new albums or files by that artists I have to make sure to tag that field and it auto-completes it when I start typing. Simple and effective.

Album Artist is a vitally essential field I use to keep my music organized. A classical release by a given composer gets the composer's name as the album artist and the performer's name as the artist, unless the album contains works by various composers in which case the performing artist is entered as the album artist. And it's good for when I want to file all albums by the Stooges by one designated album artist even though the artist might be listed on the album as Iggy and the Stooges. My old iTunes library was a mess when everything was filed under folders named after the artist. I still have the same issue when importing music into my Astell&Kern player which sorts music by the Artist, not album artist, so I have to manually copy the album artist name into the artist field otherwise when scrolling through my music on the player all music by Messiaen or Bach is attributed to the performing ensemble instead of the composer.

[HPBEME]

Basically all I was saying is you don't have to create a new library field...  you can use an existing field, and you can change how that field is "displayed" (i.e. named) in MC.

In my case, I use Album Artist for sorting artists by last name, but how you are using that field makes sense. That said, there is already a built-in tag for Composers, so I would have thought that imported classical music would auto-populate that tag for composer, but I guess not. Using Album Artist for Composer would never have occurred to me personally, as I have exactly zero classical music in my collection - I hate classical almost as much as I hate rap .

In any event, that is the beauty of MC, a myriad of ways to accomplish what you want/need in a way that works best for you.  Regardless of how you handle it, you should check the box Save in files tags for anything you manually populate to avoid ever having to do that again.  I should also note however, you could have just restored ALL your Library meta-data directly via your MC24 auto-backup (which would have included your previously created Album Artist Sort field), assuming you did not delete the MC24 backup folder.

[ferrarabrainpan]

Basically all I was saying is you don't have to create a new library field...  you can use an existing field, and you can change how that field is "displayed" (i.e. named) in MC.

In my case, I use Album Artist for sorting artists by last name, but how you are using that field makes sense. That said, there is already a built-in tag for Composers, so I would have thought that imported classical music would auto-populate that tag for composer, but I guess not. Using Album Artist for Composer would never have occurred to me personally, as I have exactly zero classical music in my collection - I hate classical almost as much as I hate rap .

In any event, that is the beauty of MC, a myriad of ways to accomplish what you want/need in a way that works best for you.  Regardless of how you handle it, you should check the box Save in files tags (see pic below) for anything you manually populate to avoid ever having to do that again.  I should also note however, you could have just restored ALL your Library meta-data directly via your MC24 auto-backup (which would have included your previously created Album Artist Sort field), assuming you did not delete the MC24 backup folder.

Yes, composer is auto-populated but I just like to use that tag as the album artist for the purpose of filing a given album, so I make sure to copy the composer name into the album artist field otherwise I end up with a lot of folders for every different orchestra, ensemble or soloist instead of grouping all albums of music by Beethoven into one folder instead of all over the place.

"you could have just restored ALL your Library meta-data directly via your MC24 auto-backup (which would have included your previously created Album Artist Sort field), assuming you did not delete the MC24 backup folder." Yes, in fact it did that for my main library but when I went to create a new library in MC28 I could not find that library field in the new library. I had forgotten that I originally had to create it.

[HPBEME]

That makes sense.  Tagging classical is apparently more of a challenge than non-classical... another good reason to not have it my collection  !  Other than the different tag/fields we use, I think we do the last name sorting exactly the same (using auto-complete to facilitate manual entry) and for the same reason - a more logical folder structure.   

[EnglishTiger]

Tagging of Classical Music can be automated provided all the Existing Metadata/Tags/Fields are in the correct format:- https://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php/topic,128884.0.html

Oh and having a TrackInfo Plugin that can handle Classical Music Helps

[HPBEME]

Tagging of Classical Music can be automated provided all the Existing Metadata/Tags/Fields are in the correct format:- https://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php/topic,128884.0.html

Oh and having a TrackInfo Plugin that can handle Classical Music Helps

Now THAT... is an awesomely informative thread.  If I were into classical music, it would be my tagging bible.

[ferrarabrainpan]

Tagging of Classical Music can be automated provided all the Existing Metadata/Tags/Fields are in the correct format:- https://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php/topic,128884.0.html

Oh and having a TrackInfo Plugin that can handle Classical Music Helps

This is great info for serious classical listeners with a large digital library. I have settled with various compromises in my classical music tagging and do not use all the available fields like movement, chorus, conductor, soloist, period, etc. I do tag all my files with the correct label, release year and catalog number so if I really want the details I can find the release on Discogs and read the credits there.

[JimH]

I added a link to the page on our wiki topic on Classical.

https://wiki.jriver.com/index.php/Tagging_Classical_Music