how to enter barcodes? in a tag? comments? something else?

[beebones]

Hi, how to enter the cd barcodes is my problem.  I'm new to all this and I realise I cannot scan them in like in other cataloguing programs (pity! then you would have all the correct details). I want to manually add the barcode from the physical disc I am about to store away so I can link this to the ripped album on my NAS and therefore know which is which and whether I have ripped it yet or not got the disc (some are downloads only).  I thought the custom tags was for that sort of thing but cant see how to make one, only to choose things off a list - some of which I dont think I really understand ISRC? Initial key? WWW commercial info? (is there a glossary somewhere?) is any of those the barcode? It wont let me put it in the comments field or anywhere because its for individual tracks and I just want to add it to the album along with the cover art (often not the right one if the barcode isnt the same). or am i being an old thicko

[psychoadept]

You can add a new custom tag by following the "define new tags" button and entering the tag name (i.e. Barcode) in the first blank line in the top part of the dialogue.  When you save, it will show up in the list of possible custom tags.

You will still need to add it to each track in the album, but you can do that for all tracks at once.

[beebones]

Simples!  thankyou - it seems to work quite well. Still a shame there isnt a field and method to 'zap' the barcode in from a reader but hey ho

[psychoadept]

Have you tried any of these?

http://listoffreeware.com/list-of-best-free-barcode-scanner-software-for-windows/

A real barcode scanner would be able to insert the code directly in a text field (I worked at a library for many years, and would occasionally scan a barcode into google by accident), but one of these might be a close second.

[Beesmyer]

If I understand your need correctly then in addition to entering the barcode you are also wanting to automatically populate musicbee with details about your album. The current best practice, possibly the only complete solution, is to tag your music files from online databases like MB will do. Simply use one of the tagging features to locate your album in an online database and let it tag your files and download the artwork for you. I use Musicbrainz Picard for initial scanning and tagging. After that I use MB for everything else. You can get lots more information for tagging this way than any cataloging software. I'm on my phone right now so I can't really post instructions and links very easily. But MusicBee has everything you would need for your purposes. If you're just use to cataloging/collector software then tagging will be a little different for you to learn but it's easy and will do better for you.

[beebones]

Hi both, I do actually have an opticon barcode scanner so it would be nice just to use that (as you can in programs like music collector but they dont 'run' your music).  Why I wanted the barcode option as well as just autotagging by album or track or whatever is that I can hardly ever persuade musicbee to find the correct album and artwork - I'm a bit long in the tooth and British and half the time the only options are for non-uk releases or they are a newer pressing/sale from a different brand and the cover is not the one I bought in the 70's! special issues and compilation ones are another.  If you feed the barcode in to googe or amazon or whatever, you mostly get the EXACT match, woohoo! I guess part of the problem is that musicbee doesnt look at enough databases for old/uk/just weird cds/vinyl!