MrSinatra;368393 Wrote: 
> i love how you sidestep my questions to you btw.

Good effing Lord.  I know I am going to regret taking the bait.

With regard to your questions:

You are correct that TPE2!=ALBUMARTIST in the spec, but it's so common
it's a de facto standard.  This is why SqueezeCenter supports this
common misappropriation with a simple checkbox.  Prior to bug#8001
SqueezeCenter was badly behaved, and now it's well-behaved.  It's a
kind of software improvement called a bugfix, and one can only hope
that this sort of thing happens to WinAmp someday with regards to its
compilation behavior!

You are also correct that TCMP is not in the ID3 spec, but the best way
to add a tag not in the spec is to use unused namespace rather than
misappropriate existing namespace.  Apple did this with iTunes and it
was so successful there's a blurb about it on the ID3 website:
http://www.id3.org/iTunes_Compilation_Flag.  To the contrary, making
TPE2 a dual-purpose tag depending on the text is an Anglocentric
solution that steps all over valid namespace (there's actually more
than one band called "Various Artists", as well as one called "Free
Kitten" etc.  Small unsigned bands often use their names as gimmicks to
get people to stop and look at their flyers).  In this particular
respect, iTunes is as well-behaved as an application can be considering
the sorry state of the ID3 spec.  WinAmp to their credit tried to
address the same shortcoming in the ID3 spec, but the manner in which
they did so was simply dreadful to the degree that it hurts users more
than it helps (by forcing them to mistag their collections).

Properly tagging is harder with MP3 because the tagging specs are, I'll
be the first to admit, a trainwreck.  So you need to use a few de facto
tags outside the literal spec but it's doable.  Here's how:

Hypothetical two-track non-compilation album with differing TPE1
fields:

Track 1:
TPE1=Artist 1
TPE2=Artist 1

Track 2:
TPE1=Artist 1 with Artist 2
TPE2=Artist 1

Hypothetical two-track compilation album with the same TPE1 field
throughout:

Track 1:
TPE1=Artist 1
TCMP=1

Track 2:
TPE1=Artist 1
TCMP=1

This will work in any software that can read a properly-tagged MP3
collection (proper=following the spec where it can, and using sensible
de facto standards where it can't).  If you find it doesn't work in
WinAmp, this speaks volumes about the quality of WinAmp.

If you have a support case open with WinAmp and would like me to
explain this to them, I can do that.  Just give me the case number of
the bug you have open with them.


-- 
CatBus
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