Author Topic: File property "Category" - How can I alter it? It affects sorting on device  (Read 628 times)

Hanna

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Hi all, a question about the file property CATEGORY and how to alter it. I cannot find a way to alter this particular property.


BACKGROUND:
File type:  .m4b   (audiobooks)
I've discovered that automatic placing of files on Android device, after transfer, works differently depending on the value of the field CATEGORY. Please see screenshot 1

---If the file property CATEGORY is set to "Audiobooks"  the file is automatically sorted according to the pattern I set for Audiobooks in MusicBee (please see screenshot 2).  

---If the tile property CATEGORY is set to "None"  then the file is put in a generic folder on my Samsung, which is not the folder I want it to be in.


PROBLEM
For this reason^^, I want to CHANGE the property CATEGORY to "Audiobooks" for a large number of .m4b filees, so that the files get correctly auto sorted when I transfer them to the device. (I am transferring so many files to the device, that I need them to be auto-sorted. Manually sorting on a mobile takes too long and if I do it from the computer, Explorer frequently crashes. Yes I am a nerd with too many books and so are most people reading a forum like this, probably!  )

However, it seems that this property cannot be changed.
I'm not sure how the value Audiobook was set as the category. I did not set it.

I've used "Media Info" to try to figure out if there are any specific properties to the files. In Media Info, there is no difference between files that are affected. I found two files with the exact same encoding properties, that were affected by this.
The only difference I can see, is the value of the property Category, which I am not able to change. . I can reproduce the problem at will depending on the value of this property, so I am sure that it is the key to my problem.


EXAMPLES:  
--Category = None (not sorted as expected)  E. Snowden - Permanent Record   ;    S. Petranek - How We'll Live on Mars

--Category = Audiobooks  (sorted as expected)   Caragh M. O'Brien - Birthmarked ;  Viktor Mayer-Schönberger - Big Data


GOAL:
Change the property "CATEGORY" to "Audiobooks" for the Snowden, Petranek and Atwood books.


STEPS TO REPRODUCE:
1. Create a playlist in MusicBee.
2. Add one file each from the the Examples, to the playlist.
3. Observe how one has Category=Audiobooks and the other does not.
4. If you want to see the entire flow, then set a path on an Android device, for transferring Audiobooks to your mobile phone. See screenshot 2 for dynamic paths based on metadata values. Then right click on the playlist and select "Transfer to Device".
5. Observe how the files with Category=Audiobooks transfer according to your path, but the file with Category=None is put in a Root folder called AUDIOBOOKS which you did not specify anywhere.
6. If you are using the extremely popular Smart Audiobook Player Android app, this means you will have to manually move the file on the phone, and rename the folders manually to get the file to display correctly in Smart Audiobook Player.


:-* IDEAL BEHAVIOUR: :-*
--Treat all files with extension .m4b as Audiobooks.  This format is not used for anything other than spoken word with a long duration (i.e.audiobooks), so it can be assumed that anything with extension .m4b is going to be considered an audiobook, by the user.
--I.e.  If file extension = .m4b   set Category = Audiobooks
--Alternatively, allow the user to manually edit this property.
 

SCREENSHOTS:

Screenshot 1 with property "Category" highlighted.




Screenshot 2 with the sorting pattern on Device, which only works if Property = Audiobooks.

Last Edit: November 24, 2022, 12:28:48 PM by Hanna

Mayibongwe

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GOAL: Change the property "CATEGORY" to "Audiobooks" for the Snowden, Petranek and Atwood books.
- Select the files.
- Right-click > send to > audiobooks.
Favourite song at the moment:   Decode by Paramore

Hanna

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GOAL: Change the property "CATEGORY" to "Audiobooks" for the Snowden, Petranek and Atwood books.
- Select the files.
- Right-click > send to > audiobooks.
Thank you that works! 

I still think it would be MUCH better to either do this automatically for .m4b extensions, since they are not going to be anything other than an audiobook.

The Incredible Boom Boom

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I still think it would be MUCH better to either do this automatically for .m4b extensions, since they are not going to be anything other than an audiobook.

You could either post this request in the Wishlist board, or request this topic be moved to that board.
@Steven may then follow through with implementing this feature.