Topics

1

Questions / How to "SAVE Multiple Files" at the same time with the Tag Editor in MusicBee?

« on: May 25, 2022, 08:49:33 AM »

So, I'm proceeding to convert all my files over to ID3 2.4 from 2.3 and hoping to **** every player me (or my sons whom I'm passing my music collection on to) use don't have issues with the 2.4 standard.
While I can add the NULL separator between multivalues in Mp3tag without a problem, Mp3tag has no way to add the special double "Year" tags as MusicBee does (per this pic).



Per Steven this is being done on purpose for this reason:

TYER is intentionally written in addition to TDRC, even though TYER is not a v2.4 tag. The reason i have commented in the code is for backwards compatibility which i recall was an issue for some people.

In other words, there being two years is because there are two different "types" of Year tags, and this is needed for some people for the year to be displayed.

Anyway, MusicBee is the only tag editor that I know of that adds these so I'm needing to save multiple files at a time in MusicBee so these tags are created.
However, it seems MusicBee can't save "more than one" file at a time?  I can of course save "more than one file" at a time in other tag editors, but again they can't create these null separated/different standard year tags, they will only create "one", whichever one they use (which I also can't seem to know).

This would be useful in general when people switch from 2.3 to 2.4, so all files can be converted over to the new standard.  So, this isn't just as issue with these particular tags.  People in general would need to save many files at once to convert their files.

So, how can I save more than one file at a time so all my files are converted over to the ID3 2.4 standard, and per my issue these double year tags are created...?

Thanks

2

Bug Reports / YEAR Tag is "duplicated" on Save... also a change of function suggestion.

« on: November 18, 2021, 11:51:52 PM »

1. When MusicBee creates "multi-tags" it's also duplicating the YEAR tag, even though there is ONLY a single value in the tag, so it shouldn't be creating an "additional" year tag.  It should see the YEAR Tag already exists and doesn't create another one.

I have the ID3v1 box also checked in Settings, so I have both 2.4 and v1 tags in my files.  It might be possible that MusicBee is creating the additional year tag from the v1 info, though I haven't tested it, by unchecking the v1 box to see what happens.



2. Also, there might need to be a change in functionality for the display of multi-Artists...

Players sometimes don't like Multi-Artists in the ARTIST Tag, especially using the NULL separator, aka multi-tags of the same tag, this is especially a problem if the ID3v2.3 standard is used, and players require it.  (this and many other issues is why multi-tags should NOT be used for those using ID3 2.3, because players that require 2.3 don't support it, and this can cause the players to have problems not knowing what to do or choose with all these "extra" duplicate named tags.)

So, MusicBee next to each song shows the artists for that song, but it ONLY lists them there if you have more than one artist in the ARTIST Tag.  If you have multi-artists listed in the ARTIST(S) Tag, they don't show there.  So, for example, if you have just the main Artist in the Artist Tag, and then you list the extras in the ARTISTS tag, MusicBee doesn't show ANY artists next to the song, unlike when you have multi-artists in the ARTIST tag, like the below pic shows.

So, a change in function might be for MusicBee to also check the ARTISTS Tag to see if there are other artists, so they can be listed.  If they are "duplicates" of what's already in the ARTIST tag, then nothing needs to happen.  But, if they are different names then it might be good they are listed next to the song like the below pic, which as I mentioned is showing the Artists I have in the ARTIST Tag.

3

Questions / Can anyone help me with “Best Practice” for Tag Separators….?

« on: October 25, 2021, 11:53:02 PM »

So, as some know I'm trying to put together my music collection, so I've been reporting issues, suggestions, etc.
Part of this process is having my Tags etc. all correct, and in that process, I’m leaning thinking I should use backward Double-Slashes \\ as the separator for ALL Tags, but would all players etc. like that?

So, any value that has multiple entries I just use the double-slash.
So, Genres would be separated by double-slashes, as well as ALL other Tags, Artist, ISRC #'s, etc.
Or should I do something different, like use double-slashes for some and a forward single-slash / or semi-colon (, commas, etc. for others?

This has confused the crap out of me since ALL seem to be being used.

4

Bug Reports / [Bug 3.4.9742] Artist images are ALL downloaded instead of using Embedded image.

« on: October 16, 2021, 01:35:13 AM »

So far from what I can tell, there appear to be two bugs...  (also haven't tested the official release if this bug occurs)

1. Even though you have Artist Images tagged in the embedded music file, they are not being read/shown in Artist display view in the main panel.

2. When the online database finds no Artist image it simply uses the Album Cover for the file, rather than the Artist image that's in it.

The correct function should be Artist image is looked for in the music files, and it displays those.  If they find no artist image, then it looks online and downloads whatever is in the online database.  If no Artist image is found in neither the file nor online, then it uses the Cover image as the last resort.

BTW, I'm using ID3 2.3 to tag my files, and I've tried deleting/creating new libraries, deleting all files and all image thumbs in Music and in AppData, checked the images in Mp3tag, all have the correct Image tag designation, etc.

UPDATE: There actually may be "some" exceptions...?  ABBA was originally using the Album cover, but at some point it started using the embedded Artist image, yet for some reason none others that I can see so far obviously are?  Did it actually get automatically "uploaded" to one of the sites because THEY didn't have it and that's why it's all of a sudden using my embedded image, it's actually coming from them now?  This was also one of the things I found weird.  Initially, I didn't have Artist images in my files and I saw the program downloading them all, but there were SOOOO many artist images they didn't have, like for ABBA.  I found it weird for very common groups whatever sites you're using to download artwork for didn't have artist images.  I mean you know, how do they NOT already have an ABBA image?

Anyway, just one of the issues above, you see in the pic how Album Covers are being used, and yet each of these has an Artist image in them.  All the other images are downloaded from the internet, also not using the embedded Artist file.

5

Questions / [RESOLVED] How to "Auto Embed" Artist pics auto-downloaded by MB...?

« on: October 12, 2021, 08:58:50 PM »

UPDATE... See the Solution below...     https://getmusicbee.com/forum/index.php?topic=35646.msg194924#msg194924

So, haven't cared about Artist pics yet, but now I want my MP3s to be complete with both Front Cover and Artist pics, so was wondering how I get the Artist pics also embedded by MB?

Also, when I get them embedded MB won't go and "still" download and display them right?
I saw some talk about this in 2018 on the forum that someone's Artist pics were being overwritten by MB, for "display" anyway.  Has this been fixed?
One reason I ask is because "some" of the images I'll want to change, so I don't want MB displaying another image.

Further, I would like to request that MB needs a "function change" in that NOTHING should be "automatic" unless we've manually set the setting to do so in Settings.  Why?  Because I had a serious problem with MediaMonkey in which even though they have a section in which you can set what tags are updated or not, and I set those settings, MM STILL downloaded and literally REPLACED all my tags.  And they said it's "designed" to do this....

I was just trying to update Lyrics, and they said that on "save" ALL tags will be updated according to their database....  This was absolutely terrible, and I was trying to prevent just that in Settings, and had I not had a backup of my music files that hadn't been "fully" touched, I would have been in deep ****, manually fixing every single mp3, some 3,500, which I had already spent over a 100+ hours doing so manually using MusicBrainz Picard and Mp3tag...

Anyway, the reason I mention this is when I went into Artist Display in the Main Panel, and previous Theatre mode or whatever, I noticed Artist images were being "auto-downloaded".  Now, it's good it's not "imbedding" them at least into the files, but something else should be done for auto-stuff, which will save some resources too.  For example, if we want to use the Artist display, there could be a "note" at the top which indicates we need to activate auto-download for Artist Images in Settings.

Anyway, bottom line is I'm looking to embed Artist images into the song files.  I noticed MB downloaded them all when I went to that view.  Can I do that with MB, or is there another recommended method to do this by "auto"?  Auto's fine for me in this particular instance for those particular empty "tags".
Thanks

P.S. Forgot to mention that I know about the Settings for Artwork retrieval and saving/embedding.
My big question is if I enable that, "what" Artwork is the program actually downloading and updating?
I don't want my Cover Art touched, or other Image tags, I just want to add the missing "Artist" Artwork?

6

MusicBee Wishlist / Feature Request... Make "Instrumental" music interpreted as NOT needing Lyrics.

« on: October 08, 2021, 11:21:55 PM »

I know there's a checkbox when saving lyrics within MusicBee itself in which you can say a particular file has no lyrics, and then it's ignored.
But, I'm looking for a more "song file" centric solution...  The above isn't necessarily "permanent" the moment you remove your database what you set is gone.

One way I was thinking this could be done is if a music file has a tag in it that says "Instrumental", could there be some sort of "reading" function put within MusicBee which reads that information and "ignores" the file in relation to missing lyrics?  For example, maybe a solution is to have it part of the "Show Files with missing Lyrics" function, since it already looks for missing lyrics, it can also check to see if that particular file is "Instrumental" or not?

Is there an existing tag which exists which says Instrumental that's supposed to be in files?
Would we have to be sure to add one?  (I'm a newb messing with audio files)
What are our potential solutions...?

Anyway, I have a lot of instrumental music, and being likely a bit OCD, I just don't want to be bothered with them.  I want them out of sight out of mind when I'm addressing files that actually need lyrics.

Thoughts?  Thanks

7

MusicBee Wishlist / Function Request... When Auto-Tag Searching, create a "Status Column".

« on: October 08, 2021, 07:30:57 AM »

Currently, when you search to auto-update tags, the file just "disappears" from the "Files with missing Tags/Lyrics" list window when it finds and updates the tag.
This is NOT a good way to do this...

What you should do instead is have a new "column", a "Status Column" when the list window is created as I show in the picture.
So, when the search is done, the column just "updates" the Status of the file in question, instead of the file being auto-removed from the list.
Why is this important?

1. Allows us to "see" what was actually updated, because when doing multiple files we have no clue what was updated when the file just "disappears" from the list..
2. Allows us to "review" the files tags that were updated or otherwise to make any corrections that might be needed, updated etc.

So, please make a function change in how this process works...  Much appreciated.  Thank you.

8

MusicBee Wishlist / Change Formating Request... for "Bottom function Bar" and other UI things.

« on: October 08, 2021, 06:48:00 AM »

1. Please switch sides of the Play Button group with the other group of function buttons, per the picture below.
Most people are Right-handed, so the play group would be better on the right side.

2. Please add the STOP Button by default...  While we can add it with most skins, the button often isn't the right size, too small etc.
A stop button is important because it's better to "edit" a file when it's NOT open/in use by another program, especially if you're using another program to edit/delete the file.
"Pause" doesn't fully "release" the file, and this can cause potential problems.

3. You've made the Song "scroll-bar/slider" far too close to the bottom, and you've removed the "slider", the little "notch" we need to grab to move the slider manually...  Basically, you've made the slider really hard to use to both click on and to slide.  I get trying to make the bottom bar more "streamlined/thinner", but you've gone too far in these what look like new skins I'm guessing (new to MB).
I've tried every single skin, and the ONLY way I've been able to make the slider even functional for me, and to have a decent skin is to put the bar at the TOP and Enlarge it, etc.  But even then it's just not formatted like it should be for a proper slider.  The skins in which the bottom bar is still "big" are missing the STOP Button option in the right-click menu.

Although I'm entirely for making the bar using less space, for example, I can see how the old skin can be made less "tall" thus using less space, but as I mentioned, you've made it "too small" that you've caused a loss of functionality in the slider, and it's really hard to actually click on and use.

4. As the other picture shows, please make the "Song Playing Icon" for ALL skins "Red" (save the ones in which the colors wouldn't match such as a PINK highlighting with one skin).  The red will look good in ALL skins otherwise and be easier to see which song is playing etc., white or black skins it doesn't matter, it WILL look good.  I couldn't use skins I wanted because this nice red icon wasn't being used.

5. Also, please make it so the song that's playing is "highlighted" automatically in the Playlist when we start the song, like the section in the Left Bar is highlighted.  We of course can highlight another playlist item when we manually click on it still to know it's the file we are currently seeing/working on.  But, this minor visual change would be nice.

Thank you for this wonderful program...  Tried MediaMonkey and I thought it was actually better, and there are a couple of things I will address, but your program just works like it should, is so configurable to exactly how I want.  So thank you for the work on this...  MediaMonkey literally destroyed half the tags in my files with their "auto-tagging" even though I thought I had disabled every such setting, and had I not had a backup that was only partially changed, I would have been far worse off.  Literally, 100's of hours of time lost.

9

Bug Reports / 3.4.7942 BUG... "Track Information" is not removed when removing all files.

« on: October 07, 2021, 10:05:33 AM »

When you remove all tracks and the playlist (select all, delete, and clear list), the bottom right section of Track Information remains.
Further, upon restart, that information shows up again, but also in the Playlist, even though I "cleared the playlist before restart.

See the below pic...

Also, I did this several times with the "stable" release 78**...  However, I didn't notice this happening, though I wasn't overly paying attention, so maybe it did, but I think I would have noticed it?  So, might want to verify whether it's a new bug or not with beta.

Thanks