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[RussellS]

Hi, I'm hoping someone can help with this.

I am setting up a USB memory stick as a handheld device to transfer my music library to for playing in the car. However, due to the daft way that the car reads and displays the information I need to alter the filename from how it is in my main library. Unfortunately I only seem to be able to change the file path but not the filename itself.

So in 'Options --> Handheld' under 'Files, Paths, & More' there is the 'Audio Path' option which sets the folder naming convention. Is there any way to also set the filename to be used when sending library items to the device or syncing it with the main music library.

The filenaming convention I would like is '[Track #] - [Name] - [Artist]'

I hope that all makes sense. Thanks for any help offered.


Russell

[RussellS]

Perhaps a little more information on what I'm trying to acheive would help.

The music on my MC system is a mixture of flac, ogg & mp3 files and are stored in the following format:
Regular albums are stored as: \Artist\Album\Track# - name.ext
Compilation albums are stored as: \(Multiple Artists)\Track# - Artist - Name.ext

The regular albums display fine in the car but it is the compilation albums that cause the problem because the way the car system displays the information is a combination of filename and tag information as shown in the picture below.

So, for the track on the USB stick '\(Multiple Artists)\Jazz Moods\01 - Nat King Cole - Let There Be Love.mp3' the car displays this:



So I am just getting the artist name twice and no track name. Therefore I need to rename the files to '\(Multiple Artists)\Track# - Name - Artist.ext' so the above would be named '\(Multiple Artists)\Jazz Moods\01 - Let There Be Love - Nat King Cole.mp3'

I have the car USB stick set up as a 'Handheld' device and have the options set to convert the files to mp3 and the 'Audio Path' set to '[Album Artist (auto)]\[Album]\' but I cannot find any way to tell it to rename the files to '[Track#] - [Name] - [Artist].mp3'. Is this possible or not.

What I am doing as an interim measure at the moment is setting up a local folder on the hard disc as a Handheld device with the relevant settings as per the car USB stick device. Then syncing that device with the MC music library. I then auto import that folder back into MC as a seperate library view so that I can then use the 'Library Tools - Rename, Move & Copy Files' function to rename the relevant files and then sync with the car USB stick. However that is a lengthly and not very elegant way of doing it.



If anyone can offer any advice I would be grateful.

[BryanC]

All I can offer you is a +1. This is something I've wanted for a long time.

[TCube]

Hello
Interesting because the way MC handles ID tags is  correct (ID V2 or V3 or mixed).
So basically your car stereo can't handle playlist ID tags . I would advice some tagging tools but I think you handle the twist pretty well.
What type of playlist format the car stereo handles : MU3, MPL  ? Other
Ok the annoyance is there : copying diff. rep. / re-tagging / re-importing under MC 20 etc.
Rgds
TC

[BryanC]

If anyone can offer any advice I would be grateful.

One workaround would be to rename just your compilation albums on your computer (since the sync uses the existing filenames). You can set up an if() function to just rename compilation albums. I can help with this if you want.

[RussellS]

Thanks guys for your responses.

All I can offer you is a +1. This is something I've wanted for a long time.

Well at least I now know that it is not currently possible and that I'm not alone.

Interesting because the way MC handles ID tags is  correct (ID V2 or V3 or mixed).
So basically your car stereo can't handle playlist ID tags . I would advice some tagging tools but I think you handle the twist pretty well.
What type of playlist format the car stereo handles : MU3, MPL  ? Other

The car stereo doesn't appear to support playlists at at all as far as I can figure out. However it does handle ID tags ok and I can list the tracks by Artist, Album or just read the folder tructure. I use the folder list purely because I can go to an artist folder and then select the album I want inside that folder. If I select to list by Artist I just get a list of all the songs by that artist and no album view and if I select to list by album then it just lists the album name but not the artist.

Being of the older generation (50 ish) I tend to listen to complete albums rather than random individual songs. The problem is not really selecting what to play in the car it but the way the track and artist information is displayed once it is playing.

One workaround would be to rename just your compilation albums on your computer (since the sync uses the existing filenames). You can set up an if() function to just rename compilation albums. I can help with this if you want.

Thanks, that is something that would definitely be useful. I was trying to figure out how I could just rename the compilation albums without effecting the regular albums in a semi automated way.

If you could offer some help with that I would be very grateful.

[BryanC]

Highlight all of the tracks in your library, right-click->library tools->rename, move, and copy files. Choose rename. Under filename, paste:

Code: [Select]

If(IsEqual(Mid([Album Type]), M),[Track #] - [Name] - [Artist],[Track #] - [Artist] - [Name])
Make sure everything looks OK in the preview pane (it's only renaming your multiple artist albums) and then go for it.

[RussellS]

Highlight all of the tracks in your library, right-click->library tools->rename, move, and copy files. Choose rename. Under filename, paste:

Code: [Select]

If(IsEqual(Mid([Album Type]), M),[Track #] - [Name] - [Artist],[Track #] - [Artist] - [Name])
Make sure everything looks OK in the preview pane (it's only renaming your multiple artist albums) and then go for it.

Thanks very much for that, it works a treat.

The trouble is I don't quite understand why it works and I like to understand things. What part of the line is filtering out just the multiple artist albums to be renamed.

[BryanC]

Mid([Album Type]) is polling the first character in the [Album Type] field, which in the case of Multiple Artist albums (complete or incomplete) is always 'M'. If that expression is true, it uses the first naming scheme, else it chooses the second.

It's hacky but it's short and works. You can always write something more robust but I like short expressions.

[RussellS]

Mid([Album Type]) is polling the first character in the [Album Type] field, which in the case of Multiple Artist albums (complete or incomplete) is always 'M'. If that expression is true, it uses the first naming scheme, else it chooses the second.

It's hacky but it's short and works. You can always write something more robust but I like short expressions.

Thanks for explaining that, it all makes sense now.

Who cares if it's a bity hacky as long as it works. I'm all for that.


Thanks again for your help with this.

[john_kane]

The car stereo doesn't appear to support playlists at at all as far as I can figure out.

Yes, very common problem on car stereos.  There are separate feature requests and threads to convert a playlist into a 'folder' to solve this problem, but no love.  I'd love to see this option.  There are some script alternatives, but it should be an option in the device setup, IMHO.

I also am having problems with compiliations when syncing to a device. My device preferences are to store paths with \[artist]\[album].  Compilations in my library are under \Compilations\Album\filename. When I sync a compilation to my device, its gets stored under \artist\album.  So it fragments a compilation across all the individual artists.    I can't find a setting/config option to change that. 

[BryanC]

Yes, very common problem on car stereos.  There are separate feature requests and threads to convert a playlist into a 'folder' to solve this problem, but no love.  I'd love to see this option.  There are some script alternatives, but it should be an option in the device setup, IMHO.

I also am having problems with compiliations when syncing to a device. My device preferences are to store paths with \[artist]\[album].  Compilations in my library are under \Compilations\Album\filename. When I sync a compilation to my device, its gets stored under \artist\album.  So it fragments a compilation across all the individual artists.    I can't find a setting/config option to change that. 

Instead of [artist], you should be using [Album Artist (auto)].

[justsomeguy]

I really wish this would be addressed and has been brought up several times. I gave up hoping for it years ago. I've never seen a car stereo that works based on a playlist. It is all folder structure based.

[john_kane]

I am with you. I have chimed in on this specific ask, and some others to help with device syncing issues.   There is certainly a hierarchy for feature request weighting.

[john_kane]

BryanC,

I missed this on first read:

Instead of [artist], you should be using [Album Artist (auto)].

Thank you!  I will give that a shot, I don't remember seeing this option/recommendation anywhere. The fragmented compilations were driving me crazy.