Using tags from a single track to organize an album folder?

[remnant24]

Let's say I want MB to rename album folders to the following format:

<Album Artist> - <Original Year> - <Album>

Problem is, not all the tracks in a given album have the same <Original Year> value, so using that as a file naming template splits said album into several folders, which I don't want.

The idea is then to use only the first track's <Original Year> value and ignore the other tracks'. Is this possible?

[redwing]

No, it's not possible. Then first track and the rest will be separated for each album. You might want to look for a pattern in your collection. If that happens only with a specific album artist, like various artists, then you can configure it not to use original year tag for such compilation albums.

[remnant24]

I have no compilations in my collection—the offending albums are reissues with "bonus tracks" that were originally released on a different year. Not using <Original Year> to name folders is not an option, so I'll have to look into RegEx for a solution . If that comes up short, I guess I'll just tag the bonus tracks with the same <Original Year> value as the rest.

[boroda]

...so I'll have to look into RegEx for a solution .

RegExes wont help you as they can operate only on tags of single given track.

[psychoadept]

if it's that important to you, you could use a custom tag like "sort year".   Then your template could use $IsNull(<Sort Year>,<Original Year>,<Sort Year>)

[Zak]

Can't you just use Year for the year the bonus tracks were released and tag the same files with Original Year to match the original album release?

Then the naming template keeps the files together, but you can still see which tracks were released at a later time.

[remnant24]

RegExes wont help you as they can operate only on tags of single given track.

Oh well... guess I'll stick to not tagging the bonus tracks differently.

if it's that important to you, you could use a custom tag like "sort year".   Then your template could use $IsNull(<Sort Year>,<Original Year>,<Sort Year>)

I'm not clear on what this accomplishes, or even how to do it?

Can't you just use Year for the year the bonus tracks were released and tag the same files with Original Year to match the original album release?

Then the naming template keeps the files together, but you can still see which tracks were released at a later time.

I hadn't mentioned this at first in order to keep things simple, but I actually use the following template at the moment:

<Album Artist> (<Original Year>) <Album> $If(<Original Year>=<Year>,,[<Year>])\<Artist> - <Title>

Where <Year> also appears if it's different from <Original Year>. So your suggestion wouldn't work for me.

[psychoadept]

You can learn more about creating custom tags here: http://musicbee.wikia.com/wiki/Tags_Preferences

And here: http://musicbee.wikia.com/wiki/Custom_Tags#Define_New_Tags

The formula given will use Sort Year if entered, or default to Original Year.  Basically, anywhere in your formula that you're using Original Year, just substitute the longer version.