Author Topic: tracks not in order, won't add new changed name tracks  (Read 5817 times)

phred

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The best advice would be to learn how to tag your music properly.
Or use a different player that relies on folders and not tags.
Remember, MB is a music -manager- first and a player second. In order to accomplish the first, a decent tagging regime is necessary.
Download the latest MusicBee v3.5 or 3.6 patch from here.
Unzip into your MusicBee directory and overwrite existing files.

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ma_t14

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astro46 what happens if you select the tracks in MB > Right-click > Send To > File Rescan

If that doesn't help, you could also try using:

Tools > Advanced > Compress Library

This gets rid of redundant/deleted entries from the library, which applies to your case.

Regarding the sorting issue though, that is certainly very strange. If the above don't fix it you could try sending the files to Steven (in a private message) so he can investigate. But first post a screenshot of your main panel and what sorting you are using so we can better understand your setup.
Last Edit: May 14, 2021, 06:21:49 PM by ma_t14

astro46

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astro46 what happens if you select the tracks in MB > Right-click > Send To > File Rescan

If that doesn't help, you could also try using:

Tools > Advanced > Compress Library

This gets rid of redundant/deleted entries from the library, which applies to your case.

Regarding the sorting issue though, that is certainly very strange. If the above don't fix it you could try sending the files to Steven (in a private message) so he can investigate. But first post a screenshot of your main panel and what sorting you are using so we can better understand your setup.
ma_t14,  thanks, thanks for the suggestions.  unfortunately neither rescan or compact changed the display.  
Here is pic of main panel that you asked for: Note that the file names are different from the track names.   This different than every other album.

ma_t14

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astro46 what happens if you select the tracks in MB > Right-click > Send To > File Rescan

If that doesn't help, you could also try using:

Tools > Advanced > Compress Library

This gets rid of redundant/deleted entries from the library, which applies to your case.

Regarding the sorting issue though, that is certainly very strange. If the above don't fix it you could try sending the files to Steven (in a private message) so he can investigate. But first post a screenshot of your main panel and what sorting you are using so we can better understand your setup.
ma_t14,  thanks, thanks for the suggestions.  unfortunately neither rescan or compact changed the display.  
Here is pic of main panel that you asked for: Note that the file names are different from the track names.   This different than every other album.


From what you said previously, I understood that you made changes to the tags  (track names) that weren't then reflected inside MusicBee. Which is why I suggested rescanning the existing tracks and compressing the library. Now I'm not sure if that was the case.

You keep mentioning the filenames being different than the track names as being a problem. What makes you think that this is a MusicBee issue though and not how the files where created by Audacity or changed by other means? I'm a bit confused on this part. MB won't do make any changes to tags/filenames unless you explicitely instruct it to.

In any case, if you wish, you can easily mass rename the filenames based on the existing tags from within MusicBee.

Select the tracks > Right-click > Folder (Move) > Move Files to Organized Folder

Leave the "to folder" checkbox unchecked if you don't want to change the location of the files.

Using the "naming tamplate" field you can adjust the filenames to be changed to what the rest of your albums look like. Which would just be (based on what you previously said):

<Title>

You can see a preview of any changes in real-time, before you confirm your changes.

Last Edit: May 17, 2021, 09:12:13 AM by ma_t14

astro46

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ma_t14,   this is not about mb changing any of the tags.

This started from the tracks not being in track# order.   Not having found an option (I since was directed to where this option is located) to direct track # order (again, I didn't have this issue previously, with other albums, they automatically displayed according to track #),  I went into the subfolder (not in mb) for that album, in a backup, and renamed each file,  prefacing each name with side and track number.  I hoped that this would force mb to properly order, plus make it easier to reference tracks when using the cover info.

I then deleted the folder from mb, hence from the computer storage (there is another thread about this issue, which you have seen),  copied the folder from backup to storage and rescanned with mb.   At first I thought that mb was simply re-adding the folder from some secret storage, because the track names still didn't reflect the name that I changed them to.  Later I saw that I could separately list the track file names, which displayed correctly.  But the track names are still different from the file names,  missing the side and track # info.   I don't see why mb is stripping the side and track # (eg A1, B2, or S1 2, S1 3) from the file names when it displays the track names. They should be the same.  Unless mb has a cross-reference somewhere from previous scan,  so is continually associating track names from that folder name with track numbers,  regardless of file names.   This is just a guess.

I know that I can bulk change detail info by highlighting all tracks then going into detail and entering data. But these changes were different for each track.


The Incredible Boom Boom

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You're making things way too complicated.

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I went into the subfolder (not in mb) for that album, in a backup, and renamed each file,  prefacing each name with side and track number.

Why would you expect MusicBee to always properly parse your untagged or badly tagged tracks according to your personalized, random filename structure?

Tag your tracks - stop messing with file names and folders - and they will display exactly how you wish.

Or move to a player that simply and solely displays all files by whomever's distinct folder and filename structure.
Or play your files in Windows Media Player from their folders.

All the time you've spent manually renaming individual files could have been spent just tagging them properly in the first place.

astro46

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Quote
Why would you expect MusicBee to always properly parse your untagged or badly tagged tracks according to your personalized, random filename structure?

Are you suggesting that mb shouldn't be expected to display the file names as the track names?

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Tag your tracks - stop messing with file names and folders - and they will display exactly how you wish.

Don't put the tracks from individual albums in subfolders for each album,  but put all tracks, from all albums,  together in one folder?   No subfolders, no separating of tracks by album?

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Or move to a player that simply and solely displays all files by whomever's distinct folder and filename structure.
Suggestions?

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All the time you've spent manually renaming individual files could have been spent just tagging them properly in the first place.
How should I have tagged them differently to get them to display in track order, or to have the file name display as track name? The tags had track numbers.

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Why would you expect MusicBee to always properly parse your untagged or badly tagged tracks according to your personalized, random filename structure?

how is mine a random filename structure?

phred

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The best advice would be to learn how to tag your music properly.
Or use a different player that relies on folders and not tags.
Remember, MB is a music -manager- first and a player second. In order to accomplish the first, a decent tagging regime is necessary.
If you don't want to follow the advice that more than one user has given you, in this and your other threads, forget about MB and go find a music player. Not a music manager. Suggestions? https://letmegooglethat.com/?q=folder%20music%20player for windows
Download the latest MusicBee v3.5 or 3.6 patch from here.
Unzip into your MusicBee directory and overwrite existing files.

----------
The FAQ
The Wiki
Posting screenshots is here
Searching the forum with Google is  here

ma_t14

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Are you suggesting that mb shouldn't be expected to display the file names as the track names?

The "track name" you are referring to is stored inside the "title" tag of the file and has nothing to do with the filename. So yes, that's expected behaviour in MusicBee and every other music player that is displaying the title tag as a column in the main view.

For the title tag to be the same as the filename would require an intentional modification, they are separate entities.
Last Edit: May 18, 2021, 02:13:54 PM by ma_t14

astro46

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Are you suggesting that mb shouldn't be expected to display the file names as the track names?

The "track name" you are referring to is stored inside the "title" tag of the file and has nothing to do with the filename. So yes, that's expected behaviour in MusicBee and every other music player that is displaying the title tag as a column in the main view.

For the title tag to be the same as the filename would require an intentional modification, they are separate entities.

so, where is the software getting a track name,  if not from the track file name?


astro46

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Since I started digitizing cassettes, cd's  a few months ago, (and this is my only use of computer for playing music) i was stunned to learn how primitive the environment is.  foremost was the difference in standards between formats (mp3, m4a, flac, etc), versions of formats, and the naming of fields in different music programs.  And how info entered in one software often doesn't make it into another software.

I get the general idea of the link that you provided; that music programs may depend on whatever data  they find that corresponds with their data field naming scheme. I use  mp3 occasionally.  Mostly m4a. Sometimes flac.   

It was clear at the beginning that metadata was going to be an unreliable vehicle for storing music information, and a source of problems.  This has proven correct.  And that if I was depending on metadata to hold music info,  at some point in the future I will be disappointed, should I switch software, or metadata version support changes.

The Incredible Boom Boom

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It was clear at the beginning that metadata was going to be an unreliable vehicle for storing music information, and a source of problems.  This has proven correct.  And that if I was depending on metadata to hold music info,  at some point in the future I will be disappointed, should I switch software, or metadata version support changes.

You should use Spotify.
Or come up with The One Definitive Categorization Method to Rule Them All yourself for us all to use instead.

Seriously.

Your attitude relative to your ignorance of the subject matter in discussion is petulant and what makes people prefer to be as equally sardonic when responding to you.

I mean, really - you're still listening to cassette tapes, while bitching about how no one has developed - for free! - music software that neatly aligns with your antiquated cataloguing preferences.

My first piece of advice is for you to grow up.
Then download an idiot proof file tagger and learn how to use it.
Last Edit: May 19, 2021, 05:01:07 PM by The Incredible Boom Boom

frankz

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Since I started digitizing cassettes, cd's  a few months ago, (and this is my only use of computer for playing music) i was stunned to learn how primitive the environment is.  foremost was the difference in standards between formats (mp3, m4a, flac, etc), versions of formats, and the naming of fields in different music programs.  And how info entered in one software often doesn't make it into another software.

I get the general idea of the link that you provided; that music programs may depend on whatever data  they find that corresponds with their data field naming scheme. I use  mp3 occasionally.  Mostly m4a. Sometimes flac.  

It was clear at the beginning that metadata was going to be an unreliable vehicle for storing music information, and a source of problems.  This has proven correct.  And that if I was depending on metadata to hold music info,  at some point in the future I will be disappointed, should I switch software, or metadata version support changes.
I know OP isn't up for discussing his/her misconceptions about digital music files, but for the benefit of anyone who may stumble across this thread from a Google search they run looking for information about digital music files I feel compelled to note that what's above is almost entirely the opposite of correct.

Metadata tags are STANDARDIZED across platforms and programs.  The way they are stored within the internal structure of the file may differ from file format to file format, but this is entirely transparent to the end user.   There is a group of standards for each format and that standard is widely known, publicly available, and near universally adopted where this information is used.

In other words, if you have a Title or Artist or Album or Track Number or Genre (etc) tag in a file - any common format music file - any music player on any platform will know what to do with that information. Any tag editor on any platform will know how to add, edit and store that information. Databases (Musicbrainz, Discogs) are filled with this information using these same standardized names for the information, and because of this you can automatically match this information to your own files in any number of ways using any number of software programs (including MusicBee).

Contrast this with using folder / file naming structure to identify files, where the developer of each program on each platform has to jerry-rig a way to try to decipher and interpret the countless number of ways individual users may name their files (if these programs even support scanning file names to find out what's actually inside the file at all).
Last Edit: May 19, 2021, 04:51:06 PM by frankz

hiccup

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Then download an idiot proof file tagger and learn how to use it.
+1 on Tag&Rename
Speaking as another idiot using and appreciating it a lot as the first step to get new files and folders into shape before importing them to MusicBee.