Strange Search Results

[xyresic]

Hi all,

When I do a music search, say for an artist, MusicBee returns albums by that artist, which is what I'd expect.  However, it also returns albums by other artists not related to my search terms that share an album name with the artist I searched for.

For example, if I search for "KMFDM," a result would be "In Dub".  But also I see "Hallucinogen"'s album "In Dub".  I didn't search for "In Dub" so why does the other album show up?  If I searched for "In Dub", I'd expect to see both those albums in the results.

Any ideas?
Thanks -

[Pickles7853]

Did you restrict the search to <artist> tag only or is it searching through all the tags (which is I believe the default).
You can check the scope of the search by clicking the pulldown arrow next to the hourglass (they are next to each other in the text entry search field).

I went online and I found no real relationship between them.  So, my only guess is that in one of your file tags for Hallucinogen there is a mention of KMFDM.  Perhaps in a field for similar artists?  Just a thought.

[xyresic]

Search is not restricted presently.  There's nothing in the tags for Hallucinogen that calls out KMFDM.  Similarly I get a result for an album called Angst (from a black metal band), 2 Nihil results (from two separate black metal bands), Paradise (from a new age group), and Blitz (from a rock band).  Each of those results are when I search specifically for KMFDM and each of those albums are indeed KMFDM album titles.

It's as if it's finding KMFDM albums in my search and then doing a second search that doesn't limit by KMFDM based on the results of the original search.  Crazy.

I did go to search criteria and choose both Album Artist and Artist and each time it returned with the extra album titles.  Really starting to look like a bug.

And it goes both ways.  I did a search for Hallucinogen and it returns the Hallucinogen albums, but also KMFDM "In Dub".

I also did a search for Pearl Jam and the albums show up, but also two other albums both called "Ten" from different bands.

[xyresic]

Appears to affect all searches.  If I search for a band that has an album titled "III", the search is pointless.  Lots of bands title their albums by roman numerals, and the search is lost in the muck of all the other albums with the same title as one of the search band's albums.

[phred]

I did go to search criteria and choose both Album Artist and Artist and each time it returned with the extra album titles.  Really starting to look like a bug.

I doubt it's a bug as this has not been reported before. And there would be lots of posts if others were experiencing the same behavior.

I assume you're using the search box at the upper-right, yes? Do a search strictly for <artist>. What happens? Then do a search strictly for <album artist>. What happens?

If neither of those give the expected results, try a Custom Search for each tag individually. I believe the default hotkey is CTRL-F, but I may have changed it years ago. You can find the default hotkey by going to Preferences > Hotkeyes > and type in "custom search" in that window's search bar.

If you are continually seeing both artists when searching, I'm pretty sure it can be nothing other than your tags. Check using the Tag Inspector, which is a tab in the Tag Editor.

[xyresic]

Correct, box in the upper right.  If I "search specific fields" and set to artist I get the same behavior.  Same for albumartist.

Using crtl-f (custom search) brings up a new tab and the behavior is not present, for either artist or album artist.  So problem appears only with the search box in the upper right side of the app.

I've reviewed the tags for the non-KMFDM albums that show when searching for KFMDM.  Again, KMFDM nor the tags appear to be the issue.  This is appearing for any search I do.  I can give plenty of other examples.

One item of note:  All my mp3s are full albums, not individual songs.  So the album and albumartist are always the same, as are the title and album values.  For example, Pearl Jam "Ten":

Artist                 Pearl Jam
AlbumArtist     Pearl Jam
Title                   Ten
Album                Ten

I just don't see how this would be relevant to the strange search behavior, but I'm throwing it out there.

[xyresic]

More examples:

Searching for the noise group "Boris" brings up the first album from Prog Rock group Asia called "Asia" because Boris has an album called "Asia"
It also brings up the album "Flood" by They Might Be Giants because Boris has an album called "Flood".

Searching for Frank Herbert brings up the audio book "Dune", but also finds "Dune" by Klaus Schulze.

The tags appear fine.  I didn't put connections to all these "doppleganger" albums' tags.

[phred]

This is very odd but I still don't feel it's a bug.
What version of MB are you using? (Help > About) INCLUDE THE LETTER (if any) AFTER THE NUMBER

[xyresic]

3.4.7805

[Pickles7853]

I've been experimenting and I can only find one oddity where the search results are not what I think they should be.
Though I am not sure it matches what you are seeing.

If I set my filter options to: [click hourglass] >> Search Results >> Show the first match
Then it does not seem to really matter what I search for.  I get an unrelated mess of almost all my albums.

If I set my filter options to: [click hourglass] >> Search Results >> Show all matches
Then I get the search results I expect.

Note: After you choose "Show all matches" if you go back to the same menu an extra sub-filter will appear which allows to view the entire album in place of specific tracks.  Try changing these options.  Mine is set to "Show all matches" and "Always show entire album" is unchecked.  But since you have entire album mp3s I am not sure if this setting will make a difference or not.

[xyresic]

Unchecking "Always Show the Entire Album" solves the problem.  Great!  Buy why is this?

[xyresic]

...and thank you
Never would have thought that had something to do with it.  Maybe because the track name is the album name in my case.  But, there are plenty of albums that have a track that is the same as the album name...wouldn't it cause the same issue for those situations?

[xyresic]

Side note...To upgrade to the newest version, would I use the most recent patch that is part of your signature, or should I download the full app again (most recent) and run it (3.5.8698).  3.6 appears to be in beta.

[Pickles7853]

...and thank you
Never would have thought that had something to do with it.  Maybe because the track name is the album name in my case.  But, there are plenty of albums that have a track that is the same as the album name...wouldn't it cause the same issue for those situations?

Not sure.  Since my option for "Show the first match" is not working as I thought it would, I can only set it to the other.  Without more than one working option I have no way to make a comparison as to how each should properly function.  Maybe because the track name is the album name and both artist and album artist are also the same.  If your search is working OK now I am not going to test it further.

Side note...To upgrade to the newest version,

Assuming this is directed at phred.  I try not to upgrade MusicBee as much as I can.  Since there are multiple versions (store, stand alone, full) and you do *this* in situation X but replace directory files in situation Y... I get royally confused every time I think about upgrading.  It is likely much simpler than I make it out to be but I keep thinking I am going to blork something up so end up leaving it alone.  So... no comment...

[phred]

Side note...To upgrade to the newest version, would I use the most recent patch that is part of your signature, or should I download the full app again (most recent) and run it (3.5.8698).  3.6 appears to be in beta.

The version you're using is three to four years old and you don't state if it's the Store version. Assuming it is not the store version, go to the first forum topic and get the latest 3.5 version. Once that's installed, come back here and get the latest 3.6 patch and apply it per the instructions in my signature. Technically 3.6 is still called "beta" but most of us here have been using for about a year and a half. And Release Candidate 3 was issued a few days ago. The "official" release of 3.6 should happen within a month of so. The latest 3.6 patch will bring MB includes the RC3 fixes/updates/improvements/etc.