Column Browser doesn't use new sort behavior in 3.1.6275

[tanstaafl]

I downloaded the latest 3.1 build, primarily because I like the changes to automatically use the "Sort" version of tags when present:

The behaviour of the various Sort tags (Sort-Artist, Sort-AlbumArtist, etc) has been changed so when sorting by Artist, MusicBee will now automatically use any Sort-Artist tag value for the sort operation. Note that if an album is not consistently tagged with the same Sort-AlbumArtist then it will be split

I have a main panel layout that has the column browser above the Album Covers view, sorted by Album Artist/Album, with no grouping. This arranges things as expected with the new behavior. However, the column browser, set to show Album Artist + Album doesn't use the new Sort-tag grouping. I still have to set the column browser to use Sort Album Artist in place of Album Artist, as I did with 3.0.

[tanstaafl]

It appears that the Music Explorer has the same issue.

[psychoadept]

That's more of a wishlist request than a bug report.  I agree, it would be great if they did.  But they've never sorted quite the same way as the main panel, anyway.

[tanstaafl]

I could see the Music Explorer being a wishlist request, as that's a separate view. But the column browser is designed to be used with the main view, so it seems to me that the new tag behavior should really apply there as well. I mean - a tag is a tag. For the tag to behave differently in different UI components doesn't seem right.

[Steven]

yes i agree it should be implemented but hasnt been because its not straightforward.
I have been looking at this but not promising to implement it

[Steven]

this is done for the next v3.1 update, including the column browser, thumbnail browser and the library explorer.
I will look at the music explorer as well.
The update will be made available after some more testing

[tanstaafl]

Awesome.

[Steven]

http://musicbee.niblseed.com/V3_1/MusicBee31_Patched.zip

unzip and replace the existing musicbee application files.

One edge case is if some of the tracks for an artist have a sort artist set and other tracks for the same artist dont have an override then the artist will appear twice, and depending on which instance of the artist you select, only the files that have the sort artist set or not set as appropriate will be displayed in the main panel

[tanstaafl]

With this version, if I have "Sort Album Artist" in the column browser it comes up with 419 entries. When I have "Album Artist" in the column browser it comes up with 425 entries. I'm currently walking through each looking for messed-up tags. I'm guessing this is the edge case that you mentioned. If I find something that isn't a tagging error on my part, I'll post an update, but for the moment I'm assuming I messed some stuff up when I added sort tags.

[tanstaafl]

I cleaned up a bunch of messed-up sort tags and things seem pretty close, but I found one oddity between the way the column browser sorts Album Artists and the way the Album view with sort set to "Album Artist / Album" sorts.

For example, I have albums by "Joan Jett" (sort tag "Jett, Joan") and "Joan Jett and the Blackhearts" (sort tag "Jett, Joan and the Blackhearts"). In the main view "Joan Jett" shows up before "Joan Jett and the Blackhearts" while in the column browser "Joan Jett" shows up after "Joan Jett and the Blackhearts". I would expect the column browser to show "Joan Jett" before "Joan Jett and the Blackhearts"

A more complex (and perhaps unsolvable) case is this: For both "Miami Sound Machine" and "Gloria Estefan and Miami Sound Machine" I have the sort tag set to "Miami Sound Machine". In the main view, the albums mix together, sorted by album, and displaying the proper album artist with each. In the column browser, it shows "Gloria Estefan and Miami Sound Machine" after "Miami Sound Machine". I'd expect it to sort as "Gloria Estefan and Miami Sound Machine" before "Miami Sound Machine" (but I can see where this scenario is fundamentally ambiguous).

I have multiple examples of short/long album artist names reversed in the column browser. E.g., "Alan Parsons" (sort tag "Parsons, Alan") after "The Alan Parsons Project" (sort tag "Parsons, Alan Project, The") instead of before.

N.B: I also noticed that the Alan Parsons Project album "I Robot" is sorted as if the title is "1 Robot" (i.e., it appears before "Ammonia Avenue").

N.B. 2: No comments about my age based on my taste in music!  

[tanstaafl]

N.B: I also noticed that the Alan Parsons Project album "I Robot" is sorted as if the title is "1 Robot" (i.e., it appears before "Ammonia Avenue").

Whoops. That one was some bad tagging on my part. Sorry.

[Steven]

see: https://getmusicbee.com/forum/index.php?topic=21624.0