Author Topic: Zune user switching to MB with questions  (Read 3789 times)

frankz

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If all of your albums are in their own folders and you really don't care about tagging them properly, why not set MB to ignore the tags and use the folders to define an album?

Edit->Edit Preferences->Sorting/Grouping->files for each album are organized in their own folder

But, really, they should be tagged properly.  You're seeing why in switching music players.  It makes everything much easier in the long run.

"Open Library" is where the actual library (database, settings, artist images, etc) is located, not your music files.

chatham

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i have figured out a quick way to combine all of the individual songs into the compilation albums.  in windows explorer go to the folder where you have the album.  open the album and highlight all of the songs.  right click and click on properties then click on the details tab.  go to album artist and type in the artist name. (in my case because it is a compilation of many artists I give it the album name)  this way if I have a piano chill album with multiple artists it will put them in on album.

you might have a few tracks that need additional adjustments through the properties menu in windows not MB edit menu
Last Edit: July 24, 2018, 03:10:10 PM by chatham

frankz

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I'm glad you have figured that way out.
Make sure everything you want to see as an album is tagged EXACTLY the same in Album and Album Artist (See "Tagging" above).  For multi-disc albums, if you want to denote a disc 1 and disc 2, make sure disc 1 has "1" in the disc number field and disc 2 has a "2" in the disc number field.

captain_paranoia

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in windows explorer go to the folder where you have the album.  open the album and highlight all of the songs.  right click and click on properties then click on the details tab.  go to album artist and type in the artist name. (in my case because it is a compilation of many artists I give it the album name)  this way if I have a piano chill album with multiple artists it will put them in on album.

Compilations can be given an <Album Artist> tag of 'Various Artists', or 'Various'. That's what most ripping tools will do. The individual tracks can then be given the artist name in the <Artist> tag.

If you followed frankz's advice in the post above yours:

"Edit->Edit Preferences->Sorting/Grouping->files for each album are organized in their own folder"

you could use MB to do the same thing as you are doing in WFE. Only easier and better; you can use the auto-tagging tools (rt-click/Auto-tag by Album, Tools/Tagging Tools), the tag editor (rt-click/Edit), etc.

You can always change to view back to being based on tags, at any time.

chatham

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the only problem I have with using MB to edit as you suggest is that I have to go and find the tracks one by one in MB, not always an easy thing to do.  in windows explorer I can go right to the artist/album highlight all of the tracks and do the edit there.

but I have noticed that sometimes multiple disks of the same album still separate.  I have found that it is do to something like one has a different date or the punctuation is off a little or letter missing.  when that happens it is easier to correct this with the MB edit function.

drag and drop feature in MB would be great.

psychoadept

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Quote
the only problem I have with using MB to edit as you suggest is that I have to go and find the tracks one by one in MB, not always an easy thing to do.  in windows explorer I can go right to the artist/album highlight all of the tracks and do the edit there.

Have you tried using the computer node in MusicBee? Or displaying albums in the Thumbnail Browser and using drag & drop? (Remember that this has to be enabled in Preferences.)  Or if your albums are organized by folder, have you tried the "files for each album are in their own folder" setting in Sorting/Grouping?
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Nic30810

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I had the same issue with MB splitting up some of my various artist albums into individual tracks and I had also tagged a large number of my albums through musicbrainz.
Music brains doesn’t alway include the “various artist” part in their tagging, or if they do then musicbee sees that tag differently.
To resolve the worst offenders I made a playlist for each specific album by dropping all the individual artist into it, then retagging the lot of songs through musicbee.

chatham

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Have you tried using the computer node in MusicBee? Or displaying albums in the Thumbnail Browser and using drag & drop? (Remember that this has to be enabled in Preferences.)  Or if your albums are organized by folder, have you tried the "files for each album are in their own folder" setting in Sorting/Grouping?


thanks for this.  I have tried the computer mode but found working with WE was easier, I guess I am used to it. 

didn't know about the edit for albums are in their own folder, that sure would have made things easier.  I still am missing how to find and use the drag n drop feature.  I usually use MB in the music explorer mode with thumbnails on the left.  when I try a drag and drop it doesn't work and I get a screen error and this wont go away until I close MB and restart.  I was going to attach a photo of it but I guess you cant on this forum without url.  it is a red circle with a line through it and a text bow with the number of tracks in the artist I was trying to move.

psychoadept

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Well, that explains a lot.  Most of our instructions assume you're viewing your music using the regular library. Music Explorer isn't designed for that (although you should make a bug report about that error you're getting). See, this would have been cleared up very quickly with a screenshot (and yes, you post images by url, using imgur or other services).

To use drag & drop the way you're asking for, you will need to be in your library with the column browser or thumbnail browser active (see the arrange panels settings next to the search box). I believe it's activated from tags (2).

I strongly recommend you take some time to explore different library views, using the menu at the top right of the main panel (from Music Library, not Music Explorer). Likewise, check out all the options in the arrange panels menu.
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