Author Topic: Merge albums in a playlist ordered by size?  (Read 5351 times)

Fivda

  • Jr. Member
  • **
  • Posts: 82
Hey, i've been trying for weeks to get this working but i've kinda given up. Okay so my issue is that I have a lot of music saved in my library, and i like to export playlists of my own choice to my phone so i can listen to music outside of my desktop. Unfortunately i've "only" got a 200gb sd card for my phone, hence why i have to choose what to export manually to my phone so that i make sure i don't run out of space on there. What I've been doing is making a playlist exclusive to my phone, with the things i find most important. To help make some better choice in my exports, i figured the best way to clean space was to order my playlist's content by filesize, that way, I know which album to pick out of my playlist to save space more easily and make some better overall decisions with my exports.



Unfortunately, sorting by Size (desc) only slightly helps, since it seems like it analyzes every files on their own, instead of albums. (hence why the top of the list is a 20 minutes long track... But the truth is that there's probably a lot of other albums which take a lot of space which i don't feel like i "need").
I don't necessarily wish to get rid of specific tracks, but the full albums instead. Which is why i was wondering if it was possible to ask the application to sort by descending size, but still merge all tracks into single albums like it usually does when i sort by albums?

Thanks.

Bee-liever

  • Member
  • Sr. Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 3830
  • MB Version: 3.6.8830 P
You would need to create a virtual tag for that Album file size.
Use the <sum> function in the Auto Library Reports (ALR) section of Boroda's Additional Tagging Tools plugin
MusicBee and my library - Making bee-utiful music together

Fivda

  • Jr. Member
  • **
  • Posts: 82
You would need to create a virtual tag for that Album file size.
Use the <sum> function in the Auto Library Reports (ALR) section of Boroda's Additional Tagging Tools plugin

Installed the thing, but i don't really understand what I'm supposed to do with the library report units now?

Bee-liever

  • Member
  • Sr. Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 3830
  • MB Version: 3.6.8830 P
Installed the thing, but i don't really understand what I'm supposed to do with the library report units now?

Go into Auto Library Reports (ALR) and select new preset.
Highlight <Empty preset>
'Functions for new fields:' should display <Grouping>. If it doesn't, change it so it does.
From LH column select <Album unique Id> then Album
Change 'Functions for new fields:' to Sum
Again from LH column select Size (not in the alphabetical list, it's about 3rd last)
Select 'Preview' and see if report compiles.

Now change 'Save field' to 'Sum(Size)' and 'Assign virtual tag function id:' to 'AlbumSize'
Select 'Update preset' then 'Close'

Open Preferences> Tags(1)> Define New Tags...
In the bottom Virtual tags section create a tag 'Album Size MB' with the formula:
Code
$Div($ALR(<URL>,AlbumSize),1000000)
'Apply' and 'Save'

You can now use/display the Album Size MB tag in MusicBee.
MusicBee and my library - Making bee-utiful music together

Fivda

  • Jr. Member
  • **
  • Posts: 82
Installed the thing, but i don't really understand what I'm supposed to do with the library report units now?

Go into Auto Library Reports (ALR) and select new preset.
Highlight <Empty preset>
'Functions for new fields:' should display <Grouping>. If it doesn't, change it so it does.
From LH column select <Album unique Id> then Album
Change 'Functions for new fields:' to Sum
Again from LH column select Size (not in the alphabetical list, it's about 3rd last)
Select 'Preview' and see if report compiles.

Now change 'Save field' to 'Sum(Size)' and 'Assign virtual tag function id:' to 'AlbumSize'
Select 'Update preset' then 'Close'

Open Preferences> Tags(1)> Define New Tags...
In the bottom Virtual tags section create a tag 'Album Size MB' with the formula:
Code
$Div($ALR(<URL>,AlbumSize),1000000)
'Apply' and 'Save'

You can now use/display the Album Size MB tag in MusicBee.

Sorry, but i'm kinda confused as to how access all of those. When i go to configure the plugin, this is all I get.

Bee-liever

  • Member
  • Sr. Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 3830
  • MB Version: 3.6.8830 P
Sorry, but i'm kinda confused as to how access all of those. When i go to configure the plugin, this is all I get.
No problems Fivda.  The plugin is a bit like MB itself, so many options!

Once installed the plugin gets incorporated into MusicBee's menus.

You'll find the ALR page at:
Tools> Additional Tagging Tools> Auto Library Reports...
MusicBee and my library - Making bee-utiful music together

Fivda

  • Jr. Member
  • **
  • Posts: 82
Sorry, but i'm kinda confused as to how access all of those. When i go to configure the plugin, this is all I get.
No problems Fivda.  The plugin is a bit like MB itself, so many options!

Once installed the plugin gets incorporated into MusicBee's menus.

You'll find the ALR page at:
Tools> Additional Tagging Tools> Auto Library Reports...

so then i'm supposed to sort by album, and group by this virtual tag in the playlist? If i do so, i get the "$Div Failed" error...

Bee-liever

  • Member
  • Sr. Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 3830
  • MB Version: 3.6.8830 P
so then i'm supposed to sort by album, and group by this virtual tag in the playlist? If i do so, i get the "$Div Failed" error...

No.  Sort by Album and virtual tag
MusicBee and my library - Making bee-utiful music together

Fivda

  • Jr. Member
  • **
  • Posts: 82
so then i'm supposed to sort by album, and group by this virtual tag in the playlist? If i do so, i get the "$Div Failed" error...

No.  Sort by Album and virtual tag


In such a way? I get the same error.

Bee-liever

  • Member
  • Sr. Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 3830
  • MB Version: 3.6.8830 P
If i do so, i get the "$Div Failed" error...
I'd say the 'AlbumSize' bit didn't save when you did this bit:
Now change 'Save field' to 'Sum(Size)' and 'Assign virtual tag function id:' to 'AlbumSize'
Select 'Update preset' then 'Close'
Check the ALR preset.

And I think I have found a bug/limitation in MB or the plugin  :(
MusicBee and my library - Making bee-utiful music together

Fivda

  • Jr. Member
  • **
  • Posts: 82
If i do so, i get the "$Div Failed" error...
I'd say the 'AlbumSize' bit didn't save when you did this bit:
Now change 'Save field' to 'Sum(Size)' and 'Assign virtual tag function id:' to 'AlbumSize'
Select 'Update preset' then 'Close'
Check the ALR preset.

And I think I have found a bug/limitation in MB or the plugin  :(

Hmm, i did everything back from square one but now instead of an error it simply sorts them by albums and that's it, it doesn't seem like anything changes.

Bee-liever

  • Member
  • Sr. Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 3830
  • MB Version: 3.6.8830 P
Have discovered you can't use $ALR derived virtual tags for sorting/grouping, so you will need to create a Custom tag for the album size info.

Revised instructions below:

Go to Preferences> Tags(1)> custom tags
Define a custom tag with the display name 'Album bytes' and select 'Save to MusicBee database only'

Go into Auto Library Reports (ALR) and select new preset.
Highlight <Empty preset>
'Functions for new fields:' should display <Grouping>. If it doesn't, change it so it does.
From LH column select <Album unique Id> then Album
Change 'Functions for new fields:' to Sum
Again from LH column select Size (not in the alphabetical list, it's about 3rd last)
Select 'Preview' and see if report compiles.

Now change 'Save field' to 'Sum(Size)' and 'to tag:' to 'Album bytes'
Select 'Update preset' then 'Close'

You can now use/display the 'Album bytes' tag in MusicBee.
MusicBee and my library - Making bee-utiful music together

Fivda

  • Jr. Member
  • **
  • Posts: 82
Now change 'Save field' to 'Sum(Size)' and 'to tag:' to 'Album bytes'
Select 'Update preset' then 'Close'

You can now use/display the 'Album bytes' tag in MusicBee.


Okay, i did sorting Album (Desc)/ Album bytes (Desc) and there's no errors anymore- however it doesn't seem like it's sorting anything by size, more like backwards alphabetical.

Bee-liever

  • Member
  • Sr. Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 3830
  • MB Version: 3.6.8830 P
Okay, i did sorting Album (Desc)/ Album bytes (Desc) and there's no errors anymore- however it doesn't seem like it's sorting anything by size, more like backwards alphabetical.

Might need to change that sorting to Album bytes (Desc) / Album (Asc)
MusicBee and my library - Making bee-utiful music together

Fivda

  • Jr. Member
  • **
  • Posts: 82
Okay, i did sorting Album (Desc)/ Album bytes (Desc) and there's no errors anymore- however it doesn't seem like it's sorting anything by size, more like backwards alphabetical.

Might need to change that sorting to Album bytes (Desc) / Album (Asc)

Same result, but not reversed...