2 Tag/Edit Screens side-by-side

[KyleHx]

Many times I have 2 versions of a song, and just want to integrate the tag info.
For example, I'll have a low-res version of a song that has extra info (like lyrics) that the higher quality file doesn't have.
Is there any way to display the tag info for 2 separate files in a side-by-side arrangement, for quick comparisons & edits?

[Pingaware]

The only way I know of is to open another instance of MB in Sandboxie.

[psychoadept]

It's possible to copy tags from one file to another.  Check your hotkeys in preferences.  It's also possible to replace one file with another while keeping the tags (right click, send to, folder (replace)).

If there's actually tag info you need to keep in both files, those probably won't help, though.

[Zak]

This would be easier with a command line program that lists all the tag values as text, rather than looking between two screens showing various tabs and fields like the MusicBee editor.

The MediaInfo CLI version will do the job:

https://mediaarea.net/en/MediaInfo/Download/Windows

[KyleHx]

Sandboxie looks really interesting.
Unfortunately, it also looks like a really big project;
plus I'm on some really outdated hardware.

The built-in copy of tags looks dangerous;
if I don't manually go through everything (as with MediaInfo),
it's going to overwrite tons of stuff I wouldn't want it to.
Without a way to compare beforehand, and without a selective/filter option,
I don't think this is practical.

The MediaInfo approach is straight-forward, but looks like it'll need lots of comparisons of text files to find & flag differences.
I don't see anything in there to give automation, though it will at least process files in batches (incl. sub-directories?).

It's nice to see the attention & options - but I think this would be a good one for follow-ups.

[Pingaware]

To the best of my knowledge, Sandboxie is pretty resource light. The most resource heavy thing may be having two MB instances open. But also remembering that you're only doing the editing in the non-Sandboxed instance, and literally the only thing you need to do with Sandboxie is open MB in it and then just treat it completely normally, I strongly recommend trying it.

[hiccup]

If the idea is having two instances of MusicBee running, I believe you could run an installed version, and a portable version simultaneously?
Proceed with care though, I seem to remember this worked fine for me a few years ago, but later on I had some problems trying this again.

[Steven]

you can run separate instances of the portable version installed in separate directories as hiccup describes.
However if you are editing tags/ rating tracks in both instances, the database will only update using the last instance of musicbee and is not recommended because its not officially supported and may corrupt the database

[redwing]

I would add columns, as many as possible, to the main panel to spot differences at a glance with both sidebars collapsed. For lyrics, you could add "lyrics?" field.

If you need to do lots of edits with those tags from both files, then check out this feature: http://getmusicbee.com/forum/index.php?topic=13728.0
You could, for instance, copy tag values to an Excel sheet, and then paste back after editing is done.

[KyleHx]

By George, I think he's got it!
I won't say who, but that's only because I don't know.
Follow-up questions, for when I can test this stuff:

Re: Running multiple instances.
Is there any difference between running 1 normal installation with 1 portable,
versus running 2 different portable installations?
Is the only worry, when running 2 instances, the issue of which is writing to the database?
(ie, if I'm sure that only 1 of them is doing the writing, does that obviate the issues?)

It seems to me that the above will impact Sandboxie as well, since it's unlikely that it'll copy the entire MB database to the virtual space.
Maybe making a temp copy of the library for the Sandboxie version to access would address that?

Re: Boroda74's Additional Tagging Tools plugin
This looks like it'll do what MediaInfo was trying to do, but more easily -- especially if using an Excel output & having sheets to compare side-by-side.  I have a feeling this is the approach to take, but I've got to get down to the nitty-gritty, when I can ignore working for a living.
Seriously, the main question seems to me to be:
What happens if there's already data in the fields to be pasted into?
Can I set the Tools to append to what's already there?

Thanks again for all the info.

[redwing]

What happens if there's already data in the fields to be pasted into?
Can I set the Tools to append to what's already there?

Of course it will overwrite existing values when pasted. If you want to append tags, you could merge cells with Excel. But seriously, when are you gonna find another time to sort out those appended data? I would just clear up everything once and for all.