Author Topic: Additional Web Sources for tags, covers and lyrics. Favorite websites sharing  (Read 35043 times)

VX

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Some standalone tag editors allow users to add extra or customized sources for the web services used by the Tag Editor to update tag info, or update the lyrics and cover arts form the web.

Here you can see how it works for MP3Tag: http://forums.mp3tag.de/index.php?showforum=23
All you need to do to update your web sources for Internet Services Providers is to download the file (extract it when is zipped) and move it to the C:\Program Files (x86)\Mp3tag\data\sources folder. Using some extra web services could result in better tag  retrieval as well as covers and lyrics search.
For example, here you can grab the script for five extra services designed for more successful lyrics search: http://forums.mp3tag.de/index.php?showtopic=2184
MB currently supports the following services for the lyrics: LYRDB, chartlyrics.com, leoslyrics.com, lyricsDB, lyricswiki.com (the last one is not enabled by default)> Furthermore, you can search the lyrics with Google and save it from the clipboard to the file (I like this feature of MB a lot  :) ).

When it comes to the artwork and tag update sources, MB currently supports: amazon (included local variants if enabled), lastfm, discogs, freecovers; freedb and musicbrainz.org for Audio-CD.
I like the way it's currently implemented in MB: you can choose which service to use first and which should be disabled.

It would be great if users could add some local stores to update tags, covers and lyrics in their music collection
 as often only the mainstream international albums are accessible from the currently used services.
Last Edit: January 22, 2011, 05:17:34 PM by VX

Steven

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i'll just mention you can also integrate with mini-lyrics via the Plugins preferences

the strategy i have with expanding lyrics and artwork support is for other developers develop a plugin - the MusicBee API allows for artwork and lyrics to be integrated. So if you know any developers using MB who might be interested please suggest it to them

VX

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Thank you for the explanation. Just a question: is it possible to add a custom url search to the list of existing ones ???
If links to the internet services used by MB were stored in a text file, there would be much easier when a user could simply copy and paste the link to the service he is most interested in than search for the developers who can do that for him  :)

All above mentioned scripts for mp3tag can be easily edited with Notepad. I know some interesting sites with lyrics and covers that haven't been used by any tag editor. Some of them use Google Custom Search so I believe it's not difficult to copy the url website of the page and make it to use <Title> or <Artist>&<Title> as a search keywords. It would be much easier, if there were a pattern where users could paste a custom url and enable, which keywords (tags) should be used with it.

For example, the website with lyrics for songs from many different countries:     http://www.diglyrics.com

user should copy and paste sth like that:

http://www.diglyrics.com/en/results?cx=008532626810847308924%3Ad4puop60qfy&cof=FORID%3A10&q=<Title>&hl=en&sa=Search&siteurl=www.diglyrics.com%2Fen

What do you think ???
Last Edit: January 22, 2011, 10:52:57 AM by VX

Steven

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there is no reason the person doing the plugin can't create a scripting processor, even one that can read mp3tag scripts for example.
The main point from my perspective is someone else does this as i dont have the capacity to do everything, and the plugin interface provides a way for someone to do it.

VX

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I'm not a programmer, but I do want to help a little with MB development and encourage more users to take advantage of this great piece of software.  :)

I believe that: "If you can dream it, you can do it", so I'm eager to share the solution with You:

If you want to add any Web based lyrics, covers or tag updating service provider to work with MB, all you need is to open the website with internal MB internet browser and bookmark it  :)
Simple, and very effective, isn't it ???

To edit tags or search for a lyrics or a cover just open a new tab with internal MB Internet browser and use any website you want.

Perhaps it would be helpful for some users to create a common list of recommended websites, that one could bookmark.
My first suggestion is above mentioned:
1.   http://www.diglyrics.com    - you can find there almost all the lyrics that MB failed to find. The website is translated into 5 languages, including English, Chinese, German, Polish and Danish, so most likely you'll find the lyrics for the song in the languages there. You can copy and paste the found lyrics easily and save it into the file.

2.  http://merlin.pl/muzyka/browse/section/4.html    - the best music store in Poland, detailed album and track info about every album that has appeared in the Polish market, search for a track details, artist info, high quality covers... and you can even listen to a free mp3 or wma samples here. Remember a Polish dreamer Fryderyk Chopin? Here you go some audio samples from the merlin.pl:
http://merlin.pl/Essential-Chopin_EMI-Music-Poland/browse/product/4,710394.html
[BTW, Steven it looks like after the last MB update there is a little problem with playing WMA files from the website. Could you open the link in your MB and check it out by yourself ??? MP3 samples are played OK :) )

If you like the idea of sharing your favorite websites with music, I'd continue the topic  :)
Last Edit: January 22, 2011, 06:42:05 PM by VX

VX

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Steven,
have you already checked it? It looks as if WMA files in the album samples are broken. There is an exclamation mark before wma files in the MB playlist.
MP3 samples from merlin.pl are played OK. MB can display the cover of played album as well  :)

The link above leads to the samples from the album of Chopin, but I believe you could find a lot of music, which you would be much more interested in this great store.

Just remember to refresh the page in the internal browser in order all the samples were added to the MB playlist properly. :)

VX

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Recommended websites to be bookmarked in the internal MB Internet browser.  :)
Naturally, you could take advantage of some of them to update your missing tags or album covers with the tag Editor.

I hope the recommendations will boost your listening pleasure with MB  :)

3. http://librivox.org/    -  "LibriVox provides free audiobooks from the public domain. There are several options for listening. The first step is to get the mp3 or ogg files into your own computer from the website".

4. http://www.archive.org/   - "Internet Archive: Digital Library of Free Books, Movies, Music & Wayback Machine";

5. http://www.jamendo.com/ - listen to and download free music, free of charge of course;

6. http://magnatune.com/ - this store doesn't have to be introduced, you can find there some really nice albums for listening;

7. http://us.7digital.com/   - "High Quality MP3 downloads";

8. http://www.allmusic.com/  - if you can't find the missing covers or tags, try this one. In fact, allmusic.com can work with MB to provide Artist Info, but this option is disabled by default;

9. http://www.cduniverse.com/default.asp  - yet another store ,that former Media Monkey users are familiar with;

10. http://somafm.com/   - this has quite a lot devoted fans on Facebook, try it out;

11. http://www.emusic.com/  - yet another store.

If you know an interesting, especially FREE, music web service provider that could improve experience with MB, please update the list. Thanks :)





Steven

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VX this is a good idea - why dont you set up a topic in the How To section and/or wiki ?

VX

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VX this is a good idea - why dont you set up a topic in the How To section and/or wiki ?

I thought about setting up a special How To.  :) Many users seem to have some problems with updating tags, covers and lyrics in their collection, although the build in tag Editor is one of the best tools in the category. Every small enhancement You have made in it brings the process of retrieval missing tags more effective and easier.  :)  My idea of updating missing tags, covers and lyrics is complementary to the Editor. I need some more time to test the last change you made in the Editor (i.e. in MB 1.2.4039) to compare its effectiveness with Tag Scanner. Maybe I won't need Tag Scanner any more? I'll write more on that later.

The idea of sharing favorite music websites is quite fresh, so I'll wait for a while for the users' input. Together we could make it better.  :)
Perhaps one or two of the suggested websites could be added to the MB by default in one of the future releases ??? That's why I requested especially for the FREE services.
I'd like to know more about what users think of the recommended websites and how the suggested way to update missing tags, covers and lyrics is useful for them ???

VX

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Small update for the list of recommended websites:

12. http://www.albumartexchange.com/   - this excellent site was previously supported out of the box by MB, but it won't be any more. Adding it to the bookmark to search, copy and paste a missing cover might be the solution.

Should you have any problem with adding the cover manually, take a look at Edit Preferences / Tags1 , make sure you have a check mark in embed picture in music file.

VX

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13. http://www.songkick.com/     -  track your favorite artists and be the first to know about CONCERTS. This website is used with the add-on for Songbird.

Sarge

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14.
WHO SANG THAT ?  Sometimes you know the song title but are not positive on the Artist.

http://www.classicbands.com/whosangthatb.html
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15. THE TOP 100 HITS OF ANY GIVEN YEAR
http://musicoutfitters.com/top-100-songs.htm

it's searchable from 1950 to 2010.
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16.  FOR HEAVY METAL FREAKS (database and discography) has some art covers also.
http://www.musicmight.com/

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Last Edit: January 31, 2011, 03:11:53 AM by Sarge

VX

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Serge, thank you very much for updating the list  :)

I found the link no. 14. to be very useful: managed to find there the artist for two songs, which were tagged "Unknown" for 2 years now  :D

17. http://www.lyricsplugin.com/     - According to the user Roietrip the service "has tons of lyrics for Hebrew songs".

Sarge

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Your welcome VX. I know it's a relief to get rid of a Unknown  :)

For Beatles Fans, here's a couple good lyrics sites.
neither sites has pop-ups.
 
18.BEATLES LYRICS A-Z w/some links to videos.

http://www.boskowan.com/www/jirka/beatles/lyrics.htm
 
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19.BEATLES LYRICS by ALBUM  w original album dates.

http://www.brianhartzog.com/beatles/beatles-alphabetical-list-of-all-lyrics.htm

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greenday1987

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http://www.radiofeeds.co.uk/wmp.asp
Certain radio stations have their URL hidden behind Flash players and such making it impossible to get the address needed to add the radio station to MB. RadioFeeds has a list of radio stations including their 'hidden link.'
RIP OiNK


I've recently joined last.fm - http://www.last.fm/user/drjswho
Feel free to add me if you wish :)

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