Author Topic: Album length only shows 0:00  (Read 3207 times)

music-listener

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Hello,

I am quite new to Music Bee after I switched from Winamp.

I am impressed by the ability to customize, but I have a problem so far:

I want to see the total play time of an album in Music Bee that currently plays.

I manage to get the "total length" shown in the settings, but for most albums it only shows 0:00 (see screenshot attached).

For a few albums it shows the correct total play time, so the function itself is sometimes doing what it is supposed to do.

Does anybody have an idea what I am doing wrong or how to fix this?

Many thanks in advance,
Rob


hiccup

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Welcome to the forum music-listener.

What have you done exactly to get this 'Gesamtdauer' showing?

phred

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Does the album's total playing time show in the lower right of the status bar?
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Zak

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That panel at the bottom doesn't show information for the entire album - only the selected or playing track.
So I'm not sure how that field would ever show the correct album duration.
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music-listener

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@hiccup:

here is a screenshot of where I selected the appropriate field:
http://imgur.com/a/a42bmd3



@zak: but yes, for a few albums it shows the correct playing time, as you can see here:
http://imgur.com/a/zMGSvH3



qphred: yes, in the "main player windows" the total time is shown correctly on the bottom right corner, but I would like to use the "compact view mode" and manage to get it shown there somehow.
Last Edit: January 22, 2020, 07:47:56 AM by music-listener

hiccup

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@hiccup:
here is a screenshot of where I selected the appropriate field:

Ok, so it is just MusicBee's default tag for album duration. I wasn't sure perhaps you were using some virtual tag for this.

Just to be certain, you are aware that this is will be a static value? It won't be looking what is in your playing or upcoming list, and it won't progress?
MB calculates it by simply adding up the duration for all tracks that define the album of which the track belongs to.

If you set your main panel view to track details and display the 'album duration' column, you probably see the same 0:00 values for the problematic tracks?
What if you perform a rescan on such an album?
You could see if tag inspector shows something odd, or perhaps some cuesheet is messing things up.

Or maybe these files are corrupted somehow? Is it only mp3 files that show this problem?
You could run them through tools such as mp3diags or mp3val to check them for issues.
And then have MB rescan the files.

music-listener

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@hiccup:

Yes, I am aware that the value of the album duration will not change.

And yes, for the affected albums, the "album duration" column shows 0:00 as well.
I don't know how to perform the rescan you mentioned.

I don't use the library yet, all I do is go with the Windows Explorer to a folder (usually 1 folder = 1 album) right-click on "play in music bee" and start listening.
All works fine expect the "album duration".

I tried something might might haver come closer to a solution:
I added my main music folder to the MusicBee library and now the album length shows as expected.

When I play another album that in not in the main folder and not in the libary, I get the 0:00.
So I assume maybe the files have to be "indexed" somehow first before the value can show?
If so, how can I set MusicBee that each folder that I play, gets automatically added to the library?

Zak

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I don't use the library yet, all I do is go with the Windows Explorer to a folder (usually 1 folder = 1 album) right-click on "play in music bee" and start listening.
All works fine expect the "album duration".

I tried something might might haver come closer to a solution:
I added my main music folder to the MusicBee library and now the album length shows as expected.

When I play another album that in not in the main folder and not in the libary, I get the 0:00.
So I assume maybe the files have to be "indexed" somehow first before the value can show?

I think you've answered your own question here.
Going to posit a theory that if you just load files directly from Explorer, MusicBee doesn't see them as belonging to the same album, or indeed any album at all, hence the 0:00 duration.

It's likely that that information is only available for tracks in your library, because then MusicBee can work out internally which tracks are from the same album and add up the track lengths to get the overall album duration.

Tracks added directly from Explorer could be scanned on loading to check their tags and work out which tracks are from the same album, but that would need to become a wishlist request if you felt strongly about it.

If so, how can I set MusicBee that each folder that I play, gets automatically added to the library?

Tracks can't be added to the library that way - you have to import them all ahead of time.
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music-listener

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Tracks added directly from Explorer could be scanned on loading to check their tags and work out which tracks are from the same album, but that would need to become a wishlist request if you felt strongly about it.

Well, that's a bummer.
All other file players I have used in the past (Winamp, VLC) were able to show the total playing time.

So maybe instead of using album length, is there a way of showing the "total play time of current playlist" (since it is the same for me anyway) in the compact view somehow?

hiccup

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Well, that's a bummer.

Well, MusicBee is a music player/manager. Not a folder player ;-)

Why wouldn't you want those files and folders in MB's library?
You can e.g. set it up so that folders are continuously monitored for changes, and added to the inbox.
Then if you play something from one of these folders you will see your album duration.

music-listener

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Why wouldn't you want those files and folders in MB's library?
You can e.g. set it up so that folders are continuously monitored for changes, and added to the inbox.
Then if you play something from one of these folders you will see your album duration.

I don't have a problem with my folders being in the MB library :-)
I just did not know yet that this is a requirement to see the album duration.

Now that I know, I set up MB to continously monitor my main music folder for changes and yes, it seems to work now, so thanks for all the help.

Zak

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You keep referring to "album" duration but it sounds like all you want is to see the total playing time for all of the queued tracks in the Compact view - which in your case would be the same if you only play an album/folder at a time. That wouldn't rely on any library information, so an easier request to implement would be the option for Compact view to include the same small status bar that the main window uses. I'm a bit surprised it isn't an option already.
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music-listener

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@zak; yes, you are totally right.

Since I am new to MusicBee, I wasn't sure if there might be an hidden option somewhere that I have missed.

I will try to suggest the option of including the status bar in the compact view.