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[audio-odyssey]

I use dBpoweramp to rip my cd's.  For multiple CD sets I store the disc # in a tag.  I believe it is stored in a tag called "Disc".  When I import my FLAC files in MC14 the disc field is not populated.  I tried adding a new field called "Disc" and rebuilt my library and this does not populate either.

How can I get this working?

[221bBS]

Try "discnumber". You can use Move/Copy Fields to sync it afterwards

[audio-odyssey]

OK, DISCNUMBER works but what is the move/copy function mentioned for?

[221bBS]

select the tracks, right click, Library Tools, Move/Copy Fields. Set the source discnumber, the destination to disc # and the action to copy. Press ok

[audio-odyssey]

What do I need to do the move/copy for?  I would need to redo this each time I import new tracks as well, right?  I added a new DISCNUMBER field to my database, doesn't this accomplish the same thing?

Is there a reason I would need to have this data in the "DISC #" field and not in the new field "DISCNUMBER" that I added?

[Alex B]

The Disc # field is useful only with albums that have more than on disc.

It is used automatically in addition to the Track # field when MC groups and sorts album files. It is useful when you want to display multi-disc albums grouped as one album and don't want to renumber the tracks.

It is unnecessary when the album has only one disc. You can tag "1" but it does not change anything when the album has no other disc numbers.

[audio-odyssey]

Alex B,

Now you are on to why I was interested in this in the first place.  I have my multi disc albums FLAC tagged with a disk #.  When I browse these in Media Center, they are not currently handled properly.

So I see now that the correct tag is DISCNUMBER based on the tags that dBPoweramp uses in my FLAC rips.  I now have the DISCNUMBER field in my database.  If I do the move/copy process, I assume this is a "one time" activity that I would then need to keep doing every time I import new music?

How can I make this permanent in my setup so I don't have to keep dealing with move/copy each time I import?

[221bBS]

I assume this is a "one time" activity that I would then need to keep doing every time I import new music?

Yes, any time you import a multi-disc CD you would have to do the move/copy command.

[Alex B]

Unfortunately there is no FLAC standard for a disc number field. Each developer has been free to choose what they use, if anything.

Here are the recommended (but not mandatory) Vorbis comments by xiph.org:

A quote from: http://xiph.org/vorbis/doc/v-comment.html

Field names

Below is a proposed, minimal list of standard field names with a description of intended use. No single or group of field names is mandatory; a comment header may contain one, all or none of the names in this list.
TITLE
Track/Work name
VERSION
The version field may be used to differentiate multiple versions of the same track title in a single collection. (e.g. remix info)
ALBUM
The collection name to which this track belongs
TRACKNUMBER
The track number of this piece if part of a specific larger collection or album
ARTIST
The artist generally considered responsible for the work. In popular music this is usually the performing band or singer. For classical music it would be the composer. For an audio book it would be the author of the original text.
PERFORMER
The artist(s) who performed the work. In classical music this would be the conductor, orchestra, soloists. In an audio book it would be the actor who did the reading. In popular music this is typically the same as the ARTIST and is omitted.
COPYRIGHT
Copyright attribution, e.g., '2001 Nobody's Band' or '1999 Jack Moffitt'
LICENSE
License information, eg, 'All Rights Reserved', 'Any Use Permitted', a URL to a license such as a Creative Commons license ("www.creativecommons.org/blahblah/license.html") or the EFF Open Audio License ('distributed under the terms of the Open Audio License. see http://www.eff.org/IP/Open_licenses/eff_oal.html for details'), etc.
ORGANIZATION
Name of the organization producing the track (i.e. the 'record label')
DESCRIPTION
A short text description of the contents
GENRE
A short text indication of music genre
DATE
Date the track was recorded
LOCATION
Location where track was recorded
CONTACT
Contact information for the creators or distributors of the track. This could be a URL, an email address, the physical address of the producing label.
ISRC
ISRC number for the track; see the ISRC intro page for more information on ISRC numbers.

Personally I don't see a big problem with occasionally tagging a few disc number tags. The majority of my albums are single-disc albums. I don't know about dBpa, but usually "disc number" is not one of the fields that are included in online CD databases. Traditionally CD databases handle each disc separately and the disc number field must be tagged by hand anyway.

A few years ago, before the disc number field was implemented in MC, I simply renumbered the tracks in order to avoid splitting the multi-disc albums. I.e. I didn't want to include a disc number in the album tag.

However, perhaps the JRiver developers could add a "discnumber" file tag next time when FLAC tagging is addressed. It would be fine if MC would always read and write both disc tags simultaneously. (An MP3/ID3v2 "Album Artist" tagging issue was resolved in this way.)


EDIT

Yes, any time you import a multi-disc CD you would have to do the move/copy command.

It might actually be faster and easier to simply tag the numbers when needed. Of course if you have imported lots of multi-disc albums you may want to select them all and use the "copy" tool.

[audio-odyssey]

FYI - dBpoweramp's Internet lookups (I forget them all at the moment) do seem to pickup multi-disc sets quite well.  So I usually don't have to modify the tags when ripping multi disc sets.

Since I now have the data I need in my new "DISCNUMBER" field, couldn't I update my "views" to include the same filtering/sorting that id done by default based on "DISC #"?

Sorry for all the questions but I am new to Media Center (I guess that is obvious).  Coming from Meedio, which I liked a lot and got setup just like I wanted it, but I have some audio playback skip issues that I cannot resolve.  I also wanted to be able to playback high-res audio as my hardware (LYNX AES-16 to MSB Platinum DAC) supports it.

[vagskal]

I have the same issue and I do hope that the (almost) standard Vorbis comment DISCNUMBER will be integrated soon in MC to the DISC # database field.

Until then I use this expression to get a column that combines both the standard DISC # field (for MP3) and a custom field DISCNUMBER, collected from flac files: If(IsEmpty([Disc #]), [Discnumber], [Disc #]

As I use MC mostly for searching, browsing and tag editing I must be careful which field I enter a disc number value in.

I have the same issue with the standard Album Artist field which is not populated by the ALBUMARTIST Vorbis comment in my flac files, only by the TPE2 tag in MP3 files; to show a single column with all album artists I use this expression: If(IsEmpty([Albumartist]), If(IsEqual([Compilation], 1), /(Multiple Artists/), [Album Artist (auto)]), [Albumartist]). I have not bothered to combine the Publisher field (TPUB from MP3) with the Organization Vorbis comment, which shows the same behaviour. And then there is the issue of MC not being able to read/write the standard TORY tag from MP3 files (only the ORIGYEAR Vorbis comment from flac files)... But now I am getting a bit too far off topic. I hope you can have use for the expression to alleviate your issue in the meantime. 

[audio-odyssey]

Where is it that you are using the expressions you mention below?  I am not familiar enough to know where these would "go" to make my album pviewing behave more like I am looking for.

[vagskal]

In a pane view, right click on a column heading and choose Add Expression Column... Give the column an appropriate name (Disc) and paste the expression I cited - If(IsEmpty([Disc #]), [Discnumber], [Disc #] - in the expression box.

I understood that MC already had automatically put data in the standard Disc # field (from imported MP3 files, for example) and that you had created a custom field named DISCNUMBER and imported the data from your flac files ripped by dBpoweramp into that field (because it is not possible to manually import that data into the standard Disc # field). The expression will give you one single column with data from both the Disc # field and the Discnumber field (instead of one column for Disc # and another for Discnumber) that you can use for sorting. That column will work also when you import new music into MC, i.e. you will not have to copy and paste each time you import new music. At least this is how it works for me.

[audio-odyssey]

I will be using Theater View 100% (this is why I switched to MC from Meedio - I need this type of interface).  I assume your instructions are only for standard view?

What do I need to do to get Theater View to behave the same way?

[221bBS]

I haven't tested this but I see no reason why it will not work...

Options > Library & Folders > Manage Library Fields... > Add New Field
Name it what you want, I will call the new field "Disc".
Click the Calculated Data button.
In the expression field type...

If(IsEmpty([Disc #]), [Discnumber], [Disc #]

Press OK to close the Manage Library Fields... windows.

In the Options window go down to Theater View

On the bottom left of the window, under items to show, you should see a list of all the stuff that will show in Theater View. The top item is audio followed by Artist. Click Artist. On the bottom right click the "Set rules for file display..." button. In the new window, below the "Modify Results" should be a drop down list, pick Sort by. If the drop down list is already used, click the "Add New Modifier" and pick Sort by in the new list.

Click Add > A-Z > Disc
or what ever you name you used to make the expression field.

Click Add > A-Z > Track #

Click OK.

Click down the next level of the Audio tree... Albums and repeat...