>If this is correct, and I assume it is as you have said it, then why
>are you insisting that using band tag as album artist for the lead band
>of an album is the wrong way?
>
I am not really saying it is the wrong way, just not the right way for
SlimServer/SqueezeCenter, which has never supported it that way (intentionally
it appears).
I asked a few questions when I first joined this community to get album artist
working. I entered the required tags, as required for SlimServer to function
as I wanted, and I'd had very little problems since. I've responded to many
calls for help in tagging to get SC to work correctly.
I have subsequently hacked some of my mp3 albums to copy the album artist in
the band tag, just to satisfy iTunes when I need to use that for syncing to an
iPod.
I guess I'm just a bit frustrated that this keeps coming up. People point
blank insist that their tags are right, even when told the reason, etc. They
insistn that the really do have album artist set, and that SqueezeCenter is not
working because their tags are perfect.
>Most programs have accepted this as the
>standard for representing the lead band.
No, most programs have misused the TPE2 tag for storing band. Other conformant
apps suffer as a result.
I believe most people with classical music collections use Band for storing the
orchestra, because there isn't a specific orchestra tag. That's a mis-use of
the tag to some degree, but it isn't a mis-use of functionality. Album artist
is for grouping, whereas a contributor role is just someone that performs on a
song.
>Most programs use it and I surmised that it was the best way to go to be
>compatible.
SqueezeCenter in it's current form is not compatible.
I think it's fine to set band to work as album artist for other applications.
I also think it's absolutely correct for SC to be updated to support (as an
option) this alternative way of working. If an option is added in SC to
support it, it would also seem reasonable to then turn off Band as a
contributor role in SqueezeCenter (don't report album artist and band, because
the album artist would then not be a band).
>I would like to know why you think yours is the standard for
>mp3 implementing if there is no standard.
There is a standard. TPE2 means Band.
>If I'm going to change mine
>I'd like to make sure it's needed and if SB is planning on an option
>for people like me before I add another tag to everything.
I would assume that some good developer folks will find some nice option to get
BAND working as ALBUMARTIST. It may take a while, so if you want your library
fixed soon, you're best off adding a specific ALBUMARTIST tag. It won't affect
how other apps interpret your music collection from your tags. If later you
decide to use an SC option to use BAND as ALBUMARTIST, you shouldn't need to do
any retagging either.
>PS: So you consider Mediamonkey and dbpoweramp as rubbish applications?
>
iTunes is definitely rubbish. Unfortunately I still use it, but as little as
possible. Not sure I've ever used MediaMonkey, but I've read other forum posts,
and it does seem to make assumptions about how tagging should be done.
dbPowerAmp is not bad I think. I only use the converter tool, which is quite
good.
Mp3tag does everything I need from a tagger and more, so I stopped looking for
other apps. I also use FooBar for playing music, which is a good app too.
To add a Txxx ALBUMARTIST tag in Mp3tag:
select some songs, go to Extended Tags dialog, enter field ALBUMARTIST
and enter the artist as the value.
You can also configure that to come up as a column in the grid, and as a field
in the Tag Panel.
You can create an action to copy the BAND tag value into ALBUMARTIST. Then
select all music and run the action to do your whole collection in one go.
So I'm sorry if I've been a bit vocal. I'll back off now and see what happens.
I've tried to explain why people's tags don't work, and what to do to get it
working really well in SqueezeCenter now, with minimal fuss.
Phil
_______________________________________________
discuss mailing list
[email protected]
http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/discuss
