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Author Topic: add a second artist to many files at once  (Read 1733 times)

Llannis

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add a second artist to many files at once
« on: April 30, 2015, 11:38:50 pm »

Hello,

I choose 100 files with different artists. I need to add a semicolon and add another artist in there. Is this possible?

thanks
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marko

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Re: add a second artist to many files at once
« Reply #1 on: May 01, 2015, 12:49:42 am »

Yes, using the "listbuild" function...

Select all of your 100 files.
Open the tag window in the lower left corner of the program if it is not already open.
Locate the "Artist" field in the tag list. It will show "[Varies]". Click it to open it for editing.
Enter the following string, including the very important leading equals sign: =listbuild(1,;,[artist],??)
Replace the two question marks with your extra artist, and press enter to save.
tada. Job done.

If you are not happy with the results, you can press ctrl+z to immediately undo the changes.
Perhaps try try with two files selected first, and if you're happy, you can do the other 98 in exactly the same way.

If your interest is piqued, you can read more about "listbuild", and many other powerful tools available, here.
These are collectively known as Media Center Expressions.

-marko

Llannis

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Re: add a second artist to many files at once
« Reply #2 on: May 01, 2015, 06:19:28 am »

Thank you very much Marko,

I also created a Library Field choosing
Data Type: List (semicolon delimited)
Relational : Not relational (store one value for each file)
Edit Type: List
Acceptable Values: "I added some options here"

At first it accepted two values per song, but now I can't do it again.

I tried choosing some songs in a playlist or in a playlist group, and checking two of the options, but in both cases it accepts the latest value only and doesn't keep the previous one.

Can someone help me at this as well?



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Llannis

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Re: add a second artist to many files at once
« Reply #3 on: May 01, 2015, 10:26:08 am »

Hello everyone again :)

Firstly, Marko I can't make this =listbuild(1,;,[artist],??) to work for me. It keeps giving as result only the ?? value.

At the other option I have tried (see previous post), I created a new Genre1 function. In order to test it I added as options "Classical, Pop, Rock". If it works I will do the same thing for artists.

At the drop-down menu, I try to select one, two, or three values for different songs. Some times it adds the second value but most of the times it doesn't. I have never managed to add all three values to a song. Although when I go to Genre1 and check the desired values i.e. Pop, Rock, it keeps only the first option.

I have tried many different combinations like choosing different Data Type or Edit Type at the Library field but I can't get it to work properly.

Any ideas?

Thank you!
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ferday

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Re: add a second artist to many files at once
« Reply #4 on: May 01, 2015, 10:47:17 am »

Replace the ?? With your new artist

=listbuild(1,;,[artist],new artist 1,new artist 2)

If the artist field is already empty, it will only return the ?? Value....if you have any empty artist and are bui,ding a new list (you can use more than 2 values, just keep going separated by a comma)

=listbuild(1,;,artist 1,artist 2)

For your custom field where you want to do a bunch of genres, try making a checkbox list (edit type) and selecting multiple from the checkboxes rather than using the drop down
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blgentry

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Re: add a second artist to many files at once
« Reply #5 on: May 01, 2015, 12:07:50 pm »

Here's another way that's pretty easy:

1.  Highlight a couple of files that you want to change.
2.  Open the Tagging pane.
3.  In the Artist field type:
   =[Artist] ; NewArtistNameGoesHere

I just tried it on a few files and it worked fine.

Good luck.

Brian.
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glynor

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Re: add a second artist to many files at once
« Reply #6 on: May 01, 2015, 01:58:45 pm »

I'd really like it if we were able to Control-Click the checkboxes in the Panes.

I've mentioned it before, but I do this accidentally all the time assuming it will work and when it doesn't it makes me sad.
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Llannis

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Re: add a second artist to many files at once
« Reply #7 on: May 02, 2015, 01:03:28 am »

Thanks very much everyone for taking the time to read and answer  :D

I think I found where the problem was at the Library Field I created. At "Acceptable Values:" I was adding artists with a space in between (artist1; artist2; artist3; ....). It seems that it works fine without the space, that is (artist1;artist2;artist3;....).

I will try this solution at listbuild and see if it works there as well.
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Llannis

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Re: add a second artist to many files at once
« Reply #8 on: May 02, 2015, 01:14:07 am »

Now that I can add multiple (and pre-specified) artists at the same field.

Is there a way to automatize it?

For example when adding a song at a Playlist Group and/or Playlist and/or Smartlist to have a field "Smart_Genre" automatically added to the song?

or maybe by executing a command like "Analyze Audio..." every now and then  :)

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