JezA;630595 Wrote: > To me artist is an adequately clear concept; it is squeezecenter that > mixes it up with composer, bands etc. - but then only if you tell it > to, or leave the tag incorrectly populated. I buy FLAC and MP3 downloads of classical music and the tags are universally appallingly bad and inconsistent.
Try searching for a classical piece on Napster and you will get into a hopeless tangle. Download the file and look at the tags and you will see why! The biggest problem is often there is no composer in the "Composer" field at all or the only mention of the composer is in the track title. With orchestral works the "Artist" field can contain one (or a combination) of: 1. Conductor 2. Orchestra 3. Composer 4. Soloist(s) Because they don't use the other tags properly they then try to squeeze all the composer and artist information into the track title. I complained to Napster and they simply said the tagging was provided by the record company and copyright meant they were not allowed to change it. In a way it does not matter which field contains which information as long as it is -*consistent*-. I think it is unfair to blame SqueezeBox for this. After all there are plugins to extend search capabilities. I find my iPod presents the biggest problem. I can choose by "Genre", but the next stage is laid out by "Artist". If I left the tags as delivered I would then be presented with either the Orchestra, conductor or soloist (or a combination of them) with usually no mention of the composer. This makes it a nightmare if I am looking for the Beethoven's 5th Symphony! The only hope is once you have downloaded a file to re-tag it yourself in a consistent manner. Personally, with classical music, I find I have to put the composer's surname in the Artist, Album Artist and Composer tags! The rest of the information has to go into the general comments field. If I have two versions of the same work then I put information that allows me to differentiate them into the "Album" field. For instance my two versions of Beethoven's 7th Symphony are labelled "Symphony 7 (Karajan)" and "Symphony 7 (Haitink)". For Elgar's violin concerto I title them "violin Concerto (Menhuin)" and "Violin Concerto (Kennedy)". If the iPod allowed me to select by a second level after Genre then it would make my life easier. At the moment the iPod presents me with: Genre Artist Composer After Genre I can then only choose by Artist, whereas ideally it should allow me to choose to select by either Artist or Composer. That way I could have different entries in the Artist and Composer fields. Likewise if I decided to select by Composer it should then allow me to choose either Genre or Artist, or if I decided to select by Artist I should then be allowed to select by Genre or Composer. The other alternative is to have different tags for iTunes and Squeezebox, but that would lead to even greater confusion! -- TheLastMan Matt http://www.last.fm/user/MJL-UK *SqueezeBoxes:* SB Duet (Controller + two receivers) *Server:* Synology DS107+ NAS (with firmware 2.3-1157) running Squeezebox Server 7.5.3 on Synology Package Manager *Network:* Netgear DG834GT ADSL modem/router, 2 x Buffalo WHR-HP-G54 as access points *Livingroom:* Receiver into Naim 42/110 amp, B&W CM2 speakers *Kitchen:* Receiver into Denon DM37 mini-system, B&W 686 speakers *Study:* Linn LP12, Naim 72/Hi-cap/Headline. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ TheLastMan's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=16021 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=87332 _______________________________________________ ripping mailing list [email protected] http://lists.slimdevices.com/mailman/listinfo/ripping
