getmusicbee.com
Support => Questions => Topic started by: astro46 on May 11, 2021, 05:32:00 AM
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I am new to musicbee. working more or less ok until now.
album A added but one track stays at bottom of list, not in its correct track order. Yes the tracks have number shown in tags, and the the track details don't look any different to me then the albums displaying correctly.
so, I deleted the album A in musicbee since I couldn't find a way to correct the problem, including not finding a setting to force order by track #. in fact, I don't see Any references to track # in musicbee.
I then added numbers to the track names in backup folder, (lets call this album B) to force musicbee to do what i figure it should do on its own, order by track number. I copied this album folder with changed names to the normal music folder and used 'insert' to add the album B to musicbee. Except musicbee somehow won't add the new album B but still installs album A with old track names. I don't where it is finding this album A.
I have deleted the Album from musicbee library 4 times. recopied the changed name album B 4 times, closed and reopened musicbee, rebooted computer. nothing helps.
any suggestions on what is going on here?
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including not finding a setting to force order by track #. in fact, I don't see Any references to track # in musicbee.
(https://i.imgur.com/MsHpKgt.png)
See highlight. You can also choose Define Custom Sorting and have it done any way you wish.
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I just found how to add 'track #' to 'displayed fields'. so now album A has tracks in correct order.
question remains as to why this particular album had the problem to begin with, and
why musicbee won't add the folder of album B with updated track names, but continues to add the folder of album A with old track names, and where is it hiding this folder?
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I did try setting tracks in defining custom sorting, and turned on custom sorting for the album (highlite all tracks>edit>sorting>enable custom sorting. This didn't have any effect.
I am surprised that I didn't see the option to sort by track in the header menu, as I think that I looked there.
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When you include Album in the sorting, MB automatically includes disc and track number.
So that suggests to me the disc number is not consistent in the album files eg. you might have some set to '1' and others blank
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When you include Album in the sorting, MB automatically includes disc and track number.
So that suggests to me the disc number is not consistent in the album files eg. you might have some set to '1' and others blank
what does 'disc number' refer to. I know that all the tracks have numbers. they are asigned automatically when created in audacity, I looked at them in musicbee, and after adding 'track #'' as a column, all are in order. though I still don't know why that particular album had a problem. none of the previously added albums had this issue.
or, why musicbee won't add album B, which is same as album A but with updated track names ? (explanation above)
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what does 'disc number' refer to. I know that all the tracks have numbers. they are asigned automatically when created in audacity, I looked at them in musicbee, and after adding 'track #'' as a column, all are in order. though I still don't know why that particular album had a problem. none of the previously added albums had this issue.
It refers to this in your file tags
(https://i.imgur.com/eZ1VVpL.png)
or, why musicbee won't add album B, which is same as album A but with updated track names ? (explanation above)
You really need to post whatever steps you're taking to add it, or screenshots or something, because no one could possibly answer this based on the information you're giving. There's no logical reason why MB would not add an album to your library so you're doing something incorrectly.
Why not just update the track names in MB on this so-called "Album A"?
Maybe this will help?
https://musicbee.fandom.com/wiki/Importing
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no discs involved. this is one folder with tracks, from a cassette tape that I digitized.
I use 'insert', get the dialog to scan for new music> the new album A is added to the library. with one track not in proper place in order. and, yes, it has a track #, 5, though it is showing up in track place 20. every other track is in proper order.
not finding settings for ordering by track number, I went to the backup of the folder, added a track number to the track names. this was simpler and more efficient then doing it in mb. the hope was this would force proper ordering, using just the names and not track numbers, which apparently wasn't working.
I then right clicked on mb album A, clicked delete (I would have preferred 'remove from library' but don't see this option in mb) which not only removed album A from the library but also deleted it from its place on hard drive.
I then copied album B, with the newly edited track titles to the hard drive, and used insert in mb to add album b to the library. however, that is not what mb does. it somehow re-adds album A into library. where it is getting album A , i don't know since it was deleted.
I tried the delete, copy, several times, with opening and closing mb and rebooting computer thrown in, just for fun. I am still seeing the album A version, not the album B with edited track names.
i hope this helps to understand the current problem.
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What format are the files?
Do you use any other application to tag/name the files before you add them to MusicBee?
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What format are the files?
Do you use any other application to tag/name the files before you add them to MusicBee?
files are m4a. many of the files I have imported into mb are m4a
I tag files in audacity as it is exporting. whatever doesn't make it over to mb, I enter in mb. though there has been little in way of tags that hasn't made it over.
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I received an answer to the 'sort by' question.
getting info about why I can't add a folder with updated track names seems more difficult,
No response about why deleting and adding gets the same old files back.
Continuing to try to figure this out on my own, I find no useful help searching,
In mb, using files>add files to library' allows me to navigate to the folder with updated track names, I highlight them and then its a dead end. No clue what it has down with them. No ask about where to paste.
the info here (https://musicbee.fandom.com/wiki/File_Organization#Copy_Files) about copying gives no useful info.
I have to conclude that this is a malfunction in mb, something that can't be accomplished.
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more fooling around with mb, i have discovered that it is showing the correct track file names. but unlike every other album/folder, the track names are different than the file names.
why?
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As Frankz already said, unless you provide screenshots of what you are seeing/ doing it's impossible to know what causes your issues.
But I'll throw out a few suggestions.
1) For the track that appears in the wrong order, have you checked whether it has a disc number tag (shift+enter to open the tag editor) as suggested? How and why the tag got there is irrelevant since MB isn't the one adding it unless you specifically used it to do so.
2) Have you confirmed that the supposedly deleted album is the one that keeps reappearing? Select a relevant track, Shift + Enter to open the tag editor, go to the "Properties" tab and check the location field to see where the file is located.
more fooling around with mb, i have discovered that it is showing the correct track file names. but unlike every other album/folder, the track names are different than the file names.
why?
Cause that's how they are? Unless you did something within musicbee to change the names it's simply displaying what is there
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1) no disk number. just track number, and nothing following the "of'. eg track 5 or ____ (blank).
no surprise there. Since i have manually told mb to order by track number, this issue is gone. however no understanding why manual ordering has been necessary only for this folder.
2) I wasn't clear enough in the last post. Previously, I thought that mb was not adding the updted album B, because I continued to see the old track names listed, whereas the file names had changed. now that I have explicitly told mb to display the file names, in addition to the track names I can see the correct file names., along with the "track names" . This is the only album where mb is showing track names that are different from file names; the difference being file names have side and track number at beginning (eg A3, A4, B 3, B4)..
I have done nothing in mb to enter track names. this is the first time I have had this problem.
The question now is why mb would be stripping the beginning of file names to create track name OR, does mb keep a separate database associating file names (track #?), with a track name? Such that it still has info from the previous library entry when the track names didn't include side and track number info, and is now continuing to use that info, even though the file names have changed?
If there is such a database, is there a way to update it? or tell mb to always use file name as track name?
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MusicBee is not a file/folder player.
It's designed to maintain and play a library that is adequately tagged. (=metadata)
Using file- or folder names isn't a great idea to begin with, trying to mix (parts of) filenames with metadata is even worse.
The best advice would be to learn how to tag your music properly.
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The best advice would be to learn how to tag your music properly.
Or use a different player that relies on folders and not tags.
Remember, MB is a music -manager- first and a player second. In order to accomplish the first, a decent tagging regime is necessary.
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astro46 what happens if you select the tracks in MB > Right-click > Send To > File Rescan
If that doesn't help, you could also try using:
Tools > Advanced > Compress Library
This gets rid of redundant/deleted entries from the library, which applies to your case.
Regarding the sorting issue though, that is certainly very strange. If the above don't fix it you could try sending the files to Steven (in a private message) so he can investigate. But first post a screenshot of your main panel and what sorting you are using so we can better understand your setup.
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astro46 what happens if you select the tracks in MB > Right-click > Send To > File Rescan
If that doesn't help, you could also try using:
Tools > Advanced > Compress Library
This gets rid of redundant/deleted entries from the library, which applies to your case.
Regarding the sorting issue though, that is certainly very strange. If the above don't fix it you could try sending the files to Steven (in a private message) so he can investigate. But first post a screenshot of your main panel and what sorting you are using so we can better understand your setup.
ma_t14, thanks, thanks for the suggestions. unfortunately neither rescan or compact changed the display.
Here is pic of main panel that you asked for: Note that the file names are different from the track names. This different than every other album.
(https://i.postimg.cc/HkgGkh4K/MB-main-window.png)
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astro46 what happens if you select the tracks in MB > Right-click > Send To > File Rescan
If that doesn't help, you could also try using:
Tools > Advanced > Compress Library
This gets rid of redundant/deleted entries from the library, which applies to your case.
Regarding the sorting issue though, that is certainly very strange. If the above don't fix it you could try sending the files to Steven (in a private message) so he can investigate. But first post a screenshot of your main panel and what sorting you are using so we can better understand your setup.
ma_t14, thanks, thanks for the suggestions. unfortunately neither rescan or compact changed the display.
Here is pic of main panel that you asked for: Note that the file names are different from the track names. This different than every other album.
From what you said previously, I understood that you made changes to the tags (track names) that weren't then reflected inside MusicBee. Which is why I suggested rescanning the existing tracks and compressing the library. Now I'm not sure if that was the case.
You keep mentioning the filenames being different than the track names as being a problem. What makes you think that this is a MusicBee issue though and not how the files where created by Audacity or changed by other means? I'm a bit confused on this part. MB won't do make any changes to tags/filenames unless you explicitely instruct it to.
In any case, if you wish, you can easily mass rename the filenames based on the existing tags from within MusicBee.
Select the tracks > Right-click > Folder (Move) > Move Files to Organized Folder
Leave the "to folder" checkbox unchecked if you don't want to change the location of the files.
Using the "naming tamplate" field you can adjust the filenames to be changed to what the rest of your albums look like. Which would just be (based on what you previously said):
<Title>
You can see a preview of any changes in real-time, before you confirm your changes.
(https://i.imgur.com/gwz01bb.png)
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ma_t14, this is not about mb changing any of the tags.
This started from the tracks not being in track# order. Not having found an option (I since was directed to where this option is located) to direct track # order (again, I didn't have this issue previously, with other albums, they automatically displayed according to track #), I went into the subfolder (not in mb) for that album, in a backup, and renamed each file, prefacing each name with side and track number. I hoped that this would force mb to properly order, plus make it easier to reference tracks when using the cover info.
I then deleted the folder from mb, hence from the computer storage (there is another thread about this issue, which you have seen), copied the folder from backup to storage and rescanned with mb. At first I thought that mb was simply re-adding the folder from some secret storage, because the track names still didn't reflect the name that I changed them to. Later I saw that I could separately list the track file names, which displayed correctly. But the track names are still different from the file names, missing the side and track # info. I don't see why mb is stripping the side and track # (eg A1, B2, or S1 2, S1 3) from the file names when it displays the track names. They should be the same. Unless mb has a cross-reference somewhere from previous scan, so is continually associating track names from that folder name with track numbers, regardless of file names. This is just a guess.
I know that I can bulk change detail info by highlighting all tracks then going into detail and entering data. But these changes were different for each track.
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You're making things way too complicated.
I went into the subfolder (not in mb) for that album, in a backup, and renamed each file, prefacing each name with side and track number.
Why would you expect MusicBee to always properly parse your untagged or badly tagged tracks according to your personalized, random filename structure?
Tag your tracks - stop messing with file names and folders - and they will display exactly how you wish.
Or move to a player that simply and solely displays all files by whomever's distinct folder and filename structure.
Or play your files in Windows Media Player from their folders.
All the time you've spent manually renaming individual files could have been spent just tagging them properly in the first place.
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Why would you expect MusicBee to always properly parse your untagged or badly tagged tracks according to your personalized, random filename structure?
Are you suggesting that mb shouldn't be expected to display the file names as the track names?
Tag your tracks - stop messing with file names and folders - and they will display exactly how you wish.
Don't put the tracks from individual albums in subfolders for each album, but put all tracks, from all albums, together in one folder? No subfolders, no separating of tracks by album?
Or move to a player that simply and solely displays all files by whomever's distinct folder and filename structure.
Suggestions?
All the time you've spent manually renaming individual files could have been spent just tagging them properly in the first place.
How should I have tagged them differently to get them to display in track order, or to have the file name display as track name? The tags had track numbers.
Why would you expect MusicBee to always properly parse your untagged or badly tagged tracks according to your personalized, random filename structure?
how is mine a random filename structure?
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The best advice would be to learn how to tag your music properly.
Or use a different player that relies on folders and not tags.
Remember, MB is a music -manager- first and a player second. In order to accomplish the first, a decent tagging regime is necessary.
If you don't want to follow the advice that more than one user has given you, in this and your other threads, forget about MB and go find a music player. Not a music manager. Suggestions? https://letmegooglethat.com/?q=folder%20music%20player for windows
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Are you suggesting that mb shouldn't be expected to display the file names as the track names?
The "track name" you are referring to is stored inside the "title" tag of the file and has nothing to do with the filename. So yes, that's expected behaviour in MusicBee and every other music player that is displaying the title tag as a column in the main view.
For the title tag to be the same as the filename would require an intentional modification, they are separate entities.
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Are you suggesting that mb shouldn't be expected to display the file names as the track names?
The "track name" you are referring to is stored inside the "title" tag of the file and has nothing to do with the filename. So yes, that's expected behaviour in MusicBee and every other music player that is displaying the title tag as a column in the main view.
For the title tag to be the same as the filename would require an intentional modification, they are separate entities.
so, where is the software getting a track name, if not from the track file name?
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https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/ID3
This is what the whole library concept is based on
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Since I started digitizing cassettes, cd's a few months ago, (and this is my only use of computer for playing music) i was stunned to learn how primitive the environment is. foremost was the difference in standards between formats (mp3, m4a, flac, etc), versions of formats, and the naming of fields in different music programs. And how info entered in one software often doesn't make it into another software.
I get the general idea of the link that you provided; that music programs may depend on whatever data they find that corresponds with their data field naming scheme. I use mp3 occasionally. Mostly m4a. Sometimes flac.
It was clear at the beginning that metadata was going to be an unreliable vehicle for storing music information, and a source of problems. This has proven correct. And that if I was depending on metadata to hold music info, at some point in the future I will be disappointed, should I switch software, or metadata version support changes.
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It was clear at the beginning that metadata was going to be an unreliable vehicle for storing music information, and a source of problems. This has proven correct. And that if I was depending on metadata to hold music info, at some point in the future I will be disappointed, should I switch software, or metadata version support changes.
You should use Spotify.
Or come up with The One Definitive Categorization Method to Rule Them All yourself for us all to use instead.
Seriously.
Your attitude relative to your ignorance of the subject matter in discussion is petulant and what makes people prefer to be as equally sardonic when responding to you.
I mean, really - you're still listening to cassette tapes, while bitching about how no one has developed - for free! - music software that neatly aligns with your antiquated cataloguing preferences.
My first piece of advice is for you to grow up.
Then download an idiot proof file tagger (http://www.softpointer.com/tr.htm) and learn how to use it.
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Since I started digitizing cassettes, cd's a few months ago, (and this is my only use of computer for playing music) i was stunned to learn how primitive the environment is. foremost was the difference in standards between formats (mp3, m4a, flac, etc), versions of formats, and the naming of fields in different music programs. And how info entered in one software often doesn't make it into another software.
I get the general idea of the link that you provided; that music programs may depend on whatever data they find that corresponds with their data field naming scheme. I use mp3 occasionally. Mostly m4a. Sometimes flac.
It was clear at the beginning that metadata was going to be an unreliable vehicle for storing music information, and a source of problems. This has proven correct. And that if I was depending on metadata to hold music info, at some point in the future I will be disappointed, should I switch software, or metadata version support changes.
I know OP isn't up for discussing his/her misconceptions about digital music files, but for the benefit of anyone who may stumble across this thread from a Google search they run looking for information about digital music files I feel compelled to note that what's above is almost entirely the opposite of correct.
Metadata tags are STANDARDIZED across platforms and programs. The way they are stored within the internal structure of the file may differ from file format to file format, but this is entirely transparent to the end user. There is a group of standards for each format and that standard is widely known, publicly available, and near universally adopted where this information is used.
In other words, if you have a Title or Artist or Album or Track Number or Genre (etc) tag in a file - any common format music file - any music player on any platform will know what to do with that information. Any tag editor on any platform will know how to add, edit and store that information. Databases (Musicbrainz, Discogs) are filled with this information using these same standardized names for the information, and because of this you can automatically match this information to your own files in any number of ways using any number of software programs (including MusicBee).
Contrast this with using folder / file naming structure to identify files, where the developer of each program on each platform has to jerry-rig a way to try to decipher and interpret the countless number of ways individual users may name their files (if these programs even support scanning file names to find out what's actually inside the file at all).
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Then download an idiot proof file tagger (http://www.softpointer.com/tr.htm) and learn how to use it.
+1 on Tag&Rename
Speaking as another idiot using and appreciating it a lot as the first step to get new files and folders into shape before importing them to MusicBee.
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Just because there are STANDARDS for metadata in different formats doesn't insure that the standards are followed completely in every software. Municipalities have laws about almost everything, but rarely enforce all the laws or apply them equally to everyone. There are standards for bluetooth. That didn't ensure that my Plantronics bluetooth headset works completely with my iphone. As the Plantronics engineer explained "Apple doesn't follow all the standards. They have their own way of doing things".
In a discussion with the developer of a different music management software, I learned that metadata is a bit of an issue, between formats and between software. Everyone doesn't handle it the same way.
No need to reply to me. I will not be back at this thread. Perhaps not back to this forum at all. The level of vitriol, hostility, insult, and lack of clarifying explanations to people asking for help is stunning.
My sincere apologies to the tagging gods for having offended them.
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I wasn't talking to you. The way I addressed my post should have made that clear.
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The level of vitriol, hostility, insult, and lack of clarifying explanations to people asking for help is stunning.
You are even more confused than I already thought you were if you think you speak for 'people'.
You (person) ignored seven experienced MusicBee users making an effort to help you to get to understand why you keep running into problems.
(you started no less then three different threads in a short while about your issues)
All these members tried to explain to you that a digital music manager such as MusicBee (and iTunes, Winamp, MediaMonkey, etc. etc.) functions mainly, and heavily depend on using tags/metadata. It's nothing new, and has been the case for almost 25 years now.
'people' here usually appreciate the very fast replies and helpful support they get from other forum members.
My sincere apologies to the tagging gods for having offended them.
The image of a neanderthal looking at other people that know how to make a fire, thinking they must be gods comes to mind.
We are not gods. We just know a little trick that you don't, and you are not willing to learn it.
I will not be back at this thread. Perhaps not back to this forum at all.
Is that a threat or a promise?
(guess what I hope it is?)