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[Listener]

I've read the documentation I could find on MC's use of tags and the Flac decoder & Encoder documentation.  It isn't clear to me what Flac tags can be used in MC 11.

The Conductor tag appeared to be recognized by not the ensemble tag.  I saw a single Performer tag value but it isn't clear to me whether multiple values for the Performer tag are read or written by MC 11.

And what about non-standard tags?

Any info on what MC 11 does would be appreciated.

Bill

[scthom]

MC by it's (current) nature is not exactly compatible with the proposed flac tags.  Note that the proposed flac tags are not standard by any stretch of the imagination.  The flac plugins I wrote are designed to use whatever tags MC and the user want to write there.  If you have a conductor field in the library and elect to write it to the file, then it will be stored.  I did modify MC's standard as follows:

MC                                    Tag
Name                                 TITLE
Track #                              TRACKNUMBER
Year                                   DATE*
Date                                   DATE*

*I only store one date, but when MC asks for year I pull that part out.  I write them to the same tag, too.

However, I elected to only allow one tag name of each type (well, I will only find the first one, there could be more than one if you use an external tagger to do it).  This means if you have multiple performers, you should put them all in one field for it to work with MC correctly.

My personal opinion, and this works well with the plugins, is that you should only use the artist field for the main album artist, and that goes in the tag.  I use a separate field called Artists which allows me to input any number of artists (semi-colon delimited) and MC will use all of them.  Unfortunately, you can't do that with the regular Artist field.  And that info stays in the library, but not in the tags.

Does that answer your question?

[Listener]

> My personal opinion, and this works well with the plugins, is that
> you should only use the artist field for the main album artist, and
> that goes in the tag. 

My collection is 60+ % classical music so right now I'm using the Composer tag for the composer and the artist tag for the performer.  So far, the Composer tag seems to work well in the browser pane, in a column for the file liwst and I also sort on the Composer field.  Are there any gotchas that will get me?

> I use a separate field called Artists which allows me to input any
> number of artists (semi-colon delimited)
> and MC will use all of them.  Unfortunately, you can't do that
> with the regular Artist field. 

Well, I didn't know that multiple values would be recognized so this helps.

>  And that info stays in the library, but not in the tags.

Is there a way of updating the library database that preserves database-only fields?

Thanks for the good info.

Bill

[Alex B]

Is there a way of updating the library database that preserves database-only fields?

What exactly do you mean? Could you give a specific example? There may be a way to do what you want.

[Listener]

>> Is there a way of updating the library database that preserves
>> database-only fields?

> What exactly do you mean? Could you give a specific example?
> There may be a way to do what you want.

Sometimes I edit the tags in a file with a standalone tagging program.  Sometimes I rip a CD with software other than MC 11.  Sometimes I get an MP3 file and copy it into a music folder.  Sometimes I delete I file or two I don't want to keep.  I want to understand how to ensure that MC 1 has an up to date view of the music files on my computer.  And if I add database only fields, I don't want to lose that information when MC 11 detects changes in the tags in a music file.

I've tried a number of players and taggers and keeping the library database up to date seems to be a poorly documented trouble spot with most players and taggers.

----
In the Tools/Options dialog under General/Importing & Tagging, there are two checkboxes:

   Automatically import files into Media Library  and

   Update Tags when File Info changes

Do I need to check both of these to ensure that all changes to tags in existing files and new music files are scanned and the library updated? Or files are deleted?

Under the File/Library menu there are two menu items bout changing the library's contents:

    Import Media   and

    Clear Library

If I have checked the "Automatically import files into Media Library"  and

   "Update Tags..." checkboxes, do I need to clear my library and reimpiort files?  Can I reply on the Automatic mechanism or should I use the "Import Media" command explicitly?

Bill

 

 

[scthom]

Bill,

There's some really good conversations in the main Media Center forum about this already, here's one (try searching for libarary, tags, update, that sort of thing):

http://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php?topic=32448.0

What you want to know is not really flac specific.

Thanks for using flac!

[Listener]

> There's some really good conversations in the main Media Center forum
> about this already, here's one (try searching for libarary, tags, update,
> that sort of thing):

I read the thread you cited.  It is a bit discouraging.  Keeping the audio library database up to date seems to be a pretty basic need so player s/w should provide simple, explicit mechanisms and good documentation.

> What you want to know is not really flac specific.

I wandered, Sorry.

> Thanks for using flac!

Thanks for bringing it to Media Center.

Choosing a file format is a crossing the Rubicon decision for me.  I understand that there are tools for bulk conversion from one lossless to another but with 600 GB or more in music files, it will be a pain.  And there are associated decisions about use of tags. file naming and directory structure that might need to be changed.

For me, the practical choices are FLAC and Apple Lossless.  The iTunes store might be my download music store in the future so maybe I will need to use the iTunes player to some extent. 

The iTunes player is frustrating close to being barely good enough but just not good enough.  Media Center is soooo much better!

Thanks for the good information.

Bill

[scthom]

I think MC does a pretty good job, but it can't know what is going on outside it's own window, so to speak.  I only use MC for organization and playing on the local machine, and I use SlimServer to feed to my Squeezebox.  So things work for me pretty good.

I suggest you bring up your concerns in the main forum, if you haven't already.  There may be some tricks I don't know, or JRiver may try to implement your suggestion.  You never know.

[Listener]

> I think MC does a pretty good job, but it can't know what is going on outside
> it's own window, so to speak.  I only use MC for organization and playing on
> the local machine, and I use SlimServer to feed to my Squeezebox. 
> So things work for me pretty good.

I've been getting my ducks in a row before I plunge in on buying a terabyte of disk space and a dedicated PC and then ripping my ~ 1500 CD collection. About 60+ % of my CD collection is classical music which is not well served by most rippers, taggers, databases and players.

I'm pretty sure that MC 11 will be the player I use.  It is by a wide margin the best player I found for handling the tags I need and in presenting a modern UI with extensive customization.  I tried out the web interface and found it to be quite functional too.  The way it uses the list columns in the panes for a view scheme is very powerful.  I can tailor a sequence of selections by tag or field to suit my needs. Much better than the Slimserver web interface.

On the Slim Devices forum, I contributed to a series of enhancement requests (#2696-2701) to add new tags and some customization in how they are used.  How knows when it will be implemented.  In contrast, a few days of research has given me a web interface solution for MC 11 that is immediately available and very customizable.

> I think MC does a pretty good job, but it can't know what is going on outside
> it's own window, so to speak. 

I think the problem of keeping the library and the actual files in sync is one an good player must address.  This is subject where a clear, how-to discussion would really help. 

> I only use MC for organization and playing on the local machine, and I use
> SlimServer to feed to my Squeezebox.  So things work for me pretty good.

Interesting.  I spent a long time trying to see if the SS/SB system would work for me.

> I suggest you bring up your concerns in the main forum, if you haven't already.
>   There may be some tricks I don't know, or JRiver may try to implement your
>  suggestion.  You never know.

I'll say the same thing on the main board.

Thanks again for taking the time to answer my posts.

Bill