Author Topic: Sort artist list by Album Artist Sort  (Read 3194 times)

apastuszak

  • Newbie
  • *
  • Posts: 7
Helo All.  New user here.

I'd like to be able to sort the artists list by Sort Album Artist, but DISPLAY Album Artist, kind of the way iTunes does it.  Is there any way to do this in Music Bee?

psychoadept

  • Global Moderator
  • Sr. Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 10691
Hi, welcome to the forum!

I had that exact question when I started using MusicBee, which is why I wrote this: https://musicbee.fandom.com/wiki/Using_Sort_Order

MusicBee actually had much more sophisticated handling of sort tags now, though. Play around with the settings in the Sorting tab of the tag editor and you may find that's enough to do what you need.
MusicBee Wiki
Use & improve MusicBee's documentation!

Latest beta patch (3.5)
(Unzip and overwrite existing program files)

apastuszak

  • Newbie
  • *
  • Posts: 7
Ok, I read the article.  I still can't get the left column to display Album Artist but sort by Album Artists Sort.

How do I do that?

psychoadept

  • Global Moderator
  • Sr. Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 10691
Are you using the right click menu to select your Sort By order?
MusicBee Wiki
Use & improve MusicBee's documentation!

Latest beta patch (3.5)
(Unzip and overwrite existing program files)

apastuszak

  • Newbie
  • *
  • Posts: 7
Are you using the right click menu to select your Sort By order?

I right click and my Sort By options are only Name and Count.

If I choose Sort Album Artist, then it sorts by the Album Artist Sort Tag, but it also displays that tag.  I want it to sort by Album Artists Sort, but display Album Artist.

As an example, Bryan Adams should appear under A, but should show as Bryan Adams, and not Adams, Bryan

psychoadept

  • Global Moderator
  • Sr. Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 10691
I think we're going to need some screenshots of what you're seeing. The Sort By menu should have lots more options than just name and count.
MusicBee Wiki
Use & improve MusicBee's documentation!

Latest beta patch (3.5)
(Unzip and overwrite existing program files)


psychoadept

  • Global Moderator
  • Sr. Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 10691
Aha! You're seeing the sort by options for the thumbnail browser, not the main panel.  If you click where it says Album & Tracks, you should find a much longer Sort By list which will affect the main panel.

If you're actually trying to order the Thumbnail browser, you can use the Sorting tab of the tag editor to set custom sort values for the things you want to reorder.  You have to tick "enable custom sorting" the first time you go to that tab.
MusicBee Wiki
Use & improve MusicBee's documentation!

Latest beta patch (3.5)
(Unzip and overwrite existing program files)

apastuszak

  • Newbie
  • *
  • Posts: 7
Ok I went to Edit->Edit Preferences->Sorting/Grouping and I chose enable custom sort values for individual artists, composers and albums and it just magically sorted the way I wanted it to.  Sort By still only shows Name and Count.

boroda

  • Sr. Member
  • ****
  • Posts: 4595
that's how mb works: if you have defined custom sorting then mb will sort any tag according to its sort tag value (if sort tag exists in mb for this tag, i.e. for artist, album, album artist tags, etc.) *always*. you don't need to explicitly say mb to sort tag by its sort tag companion.

Steven

  • Administrator
  • Sr. Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 34312
Ok I went to Edit->Edit Preferences->Sorting/Grouping and I chose enable custom sort values for individual artists, composers and albums and it just magically sorted the way I wanted it to.  Sort By still only shows Name and Count.
Thats right - the thumbnail browser only sorts by name or by album/ track count. If you display Sort Album Artist, then of course sorting by Name will in effect sort by Sort Album Artist

apastuszak

  • Newbie
  • *
  • Posts: 7
Ok I went to Edit->Edit Preferences->Sorting/Grouping and I chose enable custom sort values for individual artists, composers and albums and it just magically sorted the way I wanted it to.  Sort By still only shows Name and Count.
Thats right - the thumbnail browser only sorts by name or by album/ track count. If you display Sort Album Artist, then of course sorting by Name will in effect sort by Sort Album Artist

To resurrect this topic from the dead...

This is not what I am seeing.  On the thumbnail browser (the column on the left) on one machine, it is sorted by Sort Album Artist, but Album Artist is displayed.  So, for example, Bryan Adams shows up under A (since the Sort Album Artist tag is Adams, Bryan), but it displays on the list as Album Artist, so I am seeing "Bryan Adams" under A, which is exactly what I want.  On the left column, I have Album Artist selected, but it's sorting by Sort Album Artist.

The issue I have now is that I just installed MusicBee on another computer and duplicated the settings that I have, and I cannot duplicate what the other computer is showing.  The thumbnail view will not display the Album Artist and sort by Sort Album Artist.

apastuszak

  • Newbie
  • *
  • Posts: 7
Ok, I figured it out.

Under Sorting/Grouping, under 1 I have "Sort Album Artist (desc)/Original Year (desc)
Uncheck "Ignore Words"
Check "enable custom sort for individual artists, composers and albums"

Save and now Thumbnail view sorts by Sort Album Artist, but displays the Album Artist.


psychoadept

  • Global Moderator
  • Sr. Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 10691
Glad you figured it out. The Ignore Words setting shouldn't have any impact on this, and unchecking it may have other undesired effects.
MusicBee Wiki
Use & improve MusicBee's documentation!

Latest beta patch (3.5)
(Unzip and overwrite existing program files)