Can MusicBee simply follow directory structure

[fredo]

@The Incredible Boom Boom: You are correct, tagging those "various artists" albums as "iTunes compilations" enables correct sorting (in most cases). Here's what I found, for the benefit of other users who may read this thread:

1. If you want the compilation to appear under its album name BUT NOT under individual artists' names (possibly because it is a themed compilation, collection or soundtrack album where the album is the focus, rather than individual artists). Example: 500 hits from the 80's - you don't want your album/artist sorting clogged with 500 separate entries for 500 artists that have one track each:
     a. In Edit > Settings, tag the album as "iTunes compilation" (not sure why a checkbox AND a drop down list, but I checked both)
     b. Per @phred suggestion, in Edit > Tag, enter the album name in both the "Album" and "Album Artist" fields. This causes MB to display the album under its own heading.
     c. In Edit > Tags, leave the "Artist" field blank.

2. If you want the compilation to appear under each artist's name BUT NOT under its own name (possibly because it is a split album / EP with 2 or 3 artists where the artists matter more than the album proper):
     a. In Edit > Settings, tag the album as "iTunes compilation"
     b. In Edit > Tags > Artist, select the artists you want the album displayed under. Alternatively, enter the artists' names, separated by semicolon(s).
     c. In Edit > Tags, leave the "Album Artist" field blank.

In truth, this method seems to work in most cases but it is not 100% reliable. It takes a lot of closing and restarting MB to get changes to display. At different times, a drop-down list of artists may or may not appear in the Artist field. One collection refused to display at all for reasons unknown. Maybe not all of its 309 tracks are tagged the way MB expects.

On a higher level, I think MB is a great app and I wish I could continue using it. @frankz It does not seem unreasonable to offer a "by folder structure" sort option to those who choose to maintain a clean music library on disk. It may even be a breeze to implement from a development standpoint? Not everyone's idea of a "music library" is to dump 6000 disparate mp3s in a single folder and expect a music player to sort it out. A "By folder structure" sort option is available right out the box in the otherwise rather agricultural foobar2000, whose XP-era looks one might have to learn to look at as charmingly nostalgic. As they say in French, better is the enemy of good. Thank you to everyone who took the time to respond to this thread.

[psychoadept]

It takes a lot of closing and restarting MB to get changes to display.

I don't suppose you tried refreshing with F5?

Not everyone's idea of a "music library" is to dump 6000 disparate mp3s in a single folder and expect a music player to sort it out.

Yeah, most of us don't do that either. In fact, we advise people against it. I have one library that's 40,000 tracks organized by album artist and album, including handling for different kinds of compilations (particular series, soundtracks, tribute albums, samplers, etc). MusicBee does the organization for me using tags, I only ever mess with it to tweak the rules.

I appreciate your follow up. I would say your understanding is still incomplete. That's fair, MusicBee has multiple ways to accomplish almost anything. Figuring out how it can meet your needs has a learning curve, especially in these edge cases.

[fredo]

I don't suppose you tried refreshing with F5?

Correct, I did not realize F5 was functional in MB.

That's fair, MusicBee has multiple ways to accomplish almost anything. Figuring out how it can meet your needs has a learning curve, especially in these edge cases.

True again, but at the end of the day the goal is playing music, not becoming a music software expert. And although I agree with your general point, I disagree that following directory structure constitutes an edge case. I think it's a mainstream use case, and implementing it would give users the option to get precisely the results they want, simply by organizing their library accordingly.

[psychoadept]

I meant compilations as edge cases. I have nothing against folder support, but that's Steven's decision.

[The Incredible Boom Boom]

@The Incredible Boom Boom: You are correct, tagging those "various artists" albums as "iTunes compilations" enables correct sorting (in most cases).

Glad you were able to figure something out.

Maybe not all of its 309 tracks are tagged the way MB expects.

This is likely the case. Unfortunately, like most technical "standards," tagging itself is a mess, which means having to adjust or map your tags to the format of the software you're using. My tagging workflow starts from Picard -> MP3TAG means having to slightly adjust things that work for Picard and maybe some other software like iTunes or foobar, but not for MusicBee.

On a higher level, I think MB is a great app and I wish I could continue using it. @frankz It does not seem unreasonable to offer a "by folder structure" sort option to those who choose to maintain a clean music library on disk. It may even be a breeze to implement from a development standpoint? Not everyone's idea of a "music library" is to dump 6000 disparate mp3s in a single folder and expect a music player to sort it out. A "By folder structure" sort option is available right out the box in the otherwise rather agricultural foobar2000, whose XP-era looks one might have to learn to look at as charmingly nostalgic. As they say in French, better is the enemy of good. Thank you to everyone who took the time to respond to this thread.

What was wrong with @HaiFi's solution below? It seems to me this is what you wish to accomplish, absent the Music Explorer aspect.

Someone else can correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe the Music Explorer is supposed to serve a specific purpose and being used like a main library isn't it. What (I assume) you wish to do is easily accomplished in a Main Panel.

[fredo]

@The Incredible Boom Boom @HaiFi's solution ultimately does not seem to resolve the question of how to sort various-artists albums depending on whether one wants them listed by name or by artists.

[The Incredible Boom Boom]

@The Incredible Boom Boom @HaiFi's solution ultimately does not seem to resolve the question of how to sort various-artists albums depending on whether one wants them listed by name or by artists.

Well, yes, true, but... you can slightly alter his for your use case by using <Sort Artist> instead of <Album Artist>. I filled the tag with the album's publisher, but you could also put the name of the album.

[fredo]

I am not saying it is impossible to achieve what I want in MB. I am sure there is a way, however I spent a significant chunk of two days looking for it, unfortunately to no avail. At some point a person needs to take a step back and ask themselves, do I keep obsessing over this software until I coax it into fitting my needs, or do I just switch to another one that gives me what I want in <5 minutes?

If I were @Steven, I think I would look favorably upon implementing a dead-simple solution (sort by folder structure option) that has the considerable virtue of putting the onus on users to achieve whatever arcane sorting scheme it is they might want, just by tweaking their own file structure. While I certainly do appreciate the conversation, I would rather MusicBee had spent the time tracking bugs and assisting users.

[frankz]

I have been using Musicbee for two days now after a few years away, please let me educate you about exactly how it should work, how it should be developed, and how the developer's freely-donated time should be spent.

[hiccup]

I would rather MusicBee had spent the time tracking bugs and assisting users.

Wow.

, or do I just switch to another one that gives me what I want in <5 minutes?

This.
Please this.

[phred]

I am not saying it is impossible to achieve what I want in MB. I am sure there is a way, however I spent a significant chunk of two days looking for it, unfortunately to no avail. At some point a person needs to take a step back and ask themselves, do I keep obsessing over this software until I coax it into fitting my needs, or do I just switch to another one that gives me what I want in <5 minutes?

Despite the fact that MB is highly configurable, each user operates in their own way. There are often multiple ways to accomplish the same end result. And then every so often, a request floats by for a feature that MB doesn't do but for which a work-around exists.

Work-arounds were presented to you, yet you choose to ignore them. Or not like them. No one is forcing you to spend hours and hours looking for a solution. No one is forcing you to use MB. If you can switch to another application that does exactly what you want in less than five minutes, it seems like that's what you should do.

[The Incredible Boom Boom]

I am sure there is a way, however I spent a significant chunk of two days looking for it, unfortunately to no avail. At some point a person needs to take a step back and ask themselves, do I keep obsessing over this software until I coax it into fitting my needs, or do I just switch to another one that gives me what I want in <5 minutes?

If I were @Steven, I think I would look favorably upon implementing a dead-simple solution (sort by folder structure option) that has the considerable virtue of putting the onus on users to achieve whatever arcane sorting scheme it is they might want, just by tweaking their own file structure.

Ok, first...

Work-arounds were presented to you, yet you choose to ignore them. Or not like them.

And second...

What was wrong with @HaiFi's solution below? It seems to me this is what you wish to accomplish, absent the Music Explorer aspect.

Someone else can correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe the Music Explorer is supposed to serve a specific purpose and being used like a main library isn't it. What (I assume) you wish to do is easily accomplished in a Main Panel.

In the past, there have been requests to make MusicBee fit some ultra-specific need a user has that cannot, in any way whatsoever, currently be achieved. Your request does not, in any way, shape or form, fall under category. What you want to do with MusicBee can be done easily and in just a few minutes. @HaiFi provided a screenshot of exactly what you requested, within an hour of your original post and I specifically detailed to you, two times, how to accomplish it exactly how you've asked in both the Main Panel and the Music Explorer. Once again, the Music Explorer serves a function different from what you desire it to fulfill, but that doesn't make it a flaw. It's intentional and won't be changed, because then it would just be redundant with the main layout panels. Here is another method...



I threw this together in the main panel in under thirty seconds and it seems to be exactly what you want, based on your opening post. The only difference between this layout and the layout of the Music Explorer is the Explorer bar at the top of the page. Otherwise, it is functionally and visually the same. The only "difficult" task is to your tags. In lieu of repeating myself...

I would suggest the original poster set these various artist albums' "iTunes Compilation" tag to "Yes," tag albums with only a couple of different artists as multi-values into <Sort Artist> (e.g. <Sort Artist> = Celine Dion; Death Grips), tag <Sort Artist> in compilation albums with several different artists as the name of the album's publisher and then sort the Music Explorer by <Sort Artist> the name of the compilation album.

While I certainly do appreciate the conversation, I would rather MusicBee had spent the time tracking bugs and assisting users.

Which is why Steven is ignoring this topic.


[Mod: removed size tags because it was excessively large on mobile]

[fredo]

Okay, I realize that my words did not come across as intended. I meant to suggest that my issue, being philosophical and conversational about software use cases, was less deserving of the developers' and volunteers' time and attention than tracking bugs and assisting users experiencing hard issues. Hope this makes sense. My apologies for the poor wording.