Mark as having lyrics counting on external lyrics files. (Music industry war)

[Bee-liever]

However, it doesn't work with multiples files: I don't know if I understood the instructions in this case.

Sorry vivadavid, my mistake
it doesn't work for multiple files (I'm positive it did at one stage    )

2. What is it that MB does? Does it create a copy of all our LRC files? I don't know know what you mean by the database.

I don't know if MB makes an a copy of the lyrics or just makes a link to the file.  By database I refer to either the Library or the AppData Folder, wherever MB is storing that particular info.

In the Library folder their is "MusicBeeLibrary.lyrics" that does have copies of Lyrics, but their is also a "Lyrics" sub-folder within the "Internal Cache" folder of the AppData.

Maybe the external lyrics files need to be placed into one of these locations for "Lyrics?" to work correctly?

Steven, is that the correct procedure?

[lnminente]

@Steven: This how Minilyrics read the file i linked above, before and after MB rewriting it:


It might be well recoded, but Minilyrics isn't compatible with it.

[vivadavid]

Thanks, bee-liever and Inminente for your explanations.

So it seems there's no way to mark which tracks don't have an LRC file with the same name: is that the current scenario?

I know MB can find and download lyrics, but it seems it's not like the Download Tool. Apart from the fact that MB can only download TXT files (it'd be nice to see some improvements here, Steven), I'm not sure if I still prefer to download the lyrics personally, which is what I do with Minilyrics: I try the first one on the list, and if it's not accurate or it's full or misspellings, I keep trying other versions until I’m satisfied with the quality. This is the way I do, but there must be people who would like a feature to automatically detect tracks with no LRC files and download their lyrics.

What do you guys think?

One last thing: is there a universally recognized tag where I can indicate if a track is supposed to have lyrics? It’d be nice for some purposes. Sometimes, for example, I’m busy studying or working and I’d like to be able to just listen to tracks with nobody singing in them to avoid getting distracted.

Thanks for your contributions!

[psychoadept]

One last thing: is there a universally recognized tag where I can indicate if a track is supposed to have lyrics? It’d be nice for some purposes. Sometimes, for example, I’m busy studying or working and I’d like to be able to just listen to tracks with nobody singing in them to avoid getting distracted.

I don't know about universally accepted, but you can mark track in MusicBee as having no lyrics, either by right clicking in the lyrics panel or from Lyrics screen in the tag editor.

[lnminente]

Also you can just add instrumental in the comments or genre of the song.

Taking a look to Tag&Rename it uses a tag named Lyricist with the tag code TEXT to put the name of the person who wrote the lyrics. So you could use it too  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ID3

[vivadavid]

Thanks for both indications. I guess I could just make up a tag and use it. I knew there was something specific to MB, but I prefer something I could use everywhere just in case.

[Bee-liever]

Thanks, bee-liever and Inminente for your explanations.

So it seems there's no way to mark which tracks don't have an LRC file with the same name: is that the current scenario?

I know MB can find and download lyrics, but it seems it's not like the Download Tool. Apart from the fact that MB can only download TXT files (it'd be nice to see some improvements here, Steven), I'm not sure if I still prefer to download the lyrics personally, which is what I do with Minilyrics: I try the first one on the list, and if it's not accurate or it's full or misspellings, I keep trying other versions until I’m satisfied with the quality. This is the way I do, but there must be people who would like a feature to automatically detect tracks with no LRC files and download their lyrics.

What do you guys think?

One last thing: is there a universally recognized tag where I can indicate if a track is supposed to have lyrics? It’d be nice for some purposes. Sometimes, for example, I’m busy studying or working and I’d like to be able to just listen to tracks with nobody singing in them to avoid getting distracted.

Thanks for your contributions!

I think the first step would be having MB checking if .txt or .lrc files matching the track name are in the folder when using "File Rescan"
This would remove the need to currently link external lyrics on an individual track basis.
The "Lyrics?" tag will then work, showing if unsynchronised or synchronised lyrics exist (although I find that column uses a lot of space, so I use

Code

Lyric Status = $IsNull(<Lyrics?>,?,$If(<Lyrics?>="N [no lyrics]",Inst,$If(<Lyrics?>="Y [unsynched]",Stnd,Sync)))

as a virtual tag to make it a max of 4 characters)

Also you can just add instrumental in the comments or genre of the song.

Reading Genre tags is fairly universal these days so adding "Instrumental" to there would be my first suggestion (it's what I have done) although multiple genres is still a problem in some cases.  Other ideas would be to add "Instrumental" to the mood, occasion or keywords tags

[vivadavid]

Bee-liever, I'm a bit lost with your instructions, firstly, because I've never used virtual tags, but also because my files are rescanned and updated but Lyrics? only seems to work when the lyrics are embedded.

[Bee-liever]

@ vivadavid
I'm a bit confused why you're a bit lost

Bee-liever, I've tried it with a particular song and it works: the Highlight tool now indicates there's an LRC file linked to it.

when you tried it with a particular song and it works I assumed you tried this

MB will display the lyrics from the .txt or .lrc files if they are in the same folder and there is match between the file name and the track name BUT the link is not saved to the library database until you save the information

so we know it works with embedded OR external files once linked.

MB currently doesn't do that for multiple files via "Tag Editor" nor will it automatically link .txt or .lrc files, correctly named and in the same folder as the track, on Library or File Rescan.

lnminente has also discovered that some recoding of lyric files can occur.

The OP wishlist was about "Mark as having lyrics counting on external lyrics files" so I was suggesting that those two issues need to be resolved by Steven before we can start looking at "Instrumental" track problems.

The virtual tag was merely an extra if you wanted to reduce the column width for "Lyrics?" so it didn't display the full "Y [unsynched]" or "Y [synched]" but "Stnd" or "Sync", respectively, instead.

[vivadavid]

I got it now, Bee-liever, thanks! I'll just wait for Steven to do something about it if he finds it a good idea. I'd love to be able to know automatically which tracks don't have a LRC file with the same name.

Sorry that my confusion confused you