MusicBee's "hidden" features

[Jade Knight]

The field <ArtistAndTitle>
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Although not available from any list, <ArtistAndTitle> is a field that can be used and will show <Artist> - <Title> when the fields are set, otherwise it will show <Filename>

How does one go about using fields not in the list?  I don't see any way to type in a custom list...

[redwing]

How does one go about using fields not in the list?  I don't see any way to type in a custom list...

You can use a virtual tag (Preferences> Tags(1)> Define new tags). Enter <Artist & Track Title> in formula. And then you can display the virtual field in your main library.

[redwing]

Manual Creation of Synchronized Lyrics

MB allows the user to create synchronized lyrics manually.

1. Open lyrics panel, right click and select "Edit Displayed Lyrics"




2. Play the track and press Ctrl-T to insert a timestamp when appropriate




3. When everything is done, don't forget to save the edited lyrics (right-click and select "Save Lyrics into Music File")




4. Lyrics in a floating window offers a more user-friendly editing mode, but all the functions are basically the same as with right/left side panel.




5. If pressing Ctrl-T with left hand feels inconvenient, assign a hotkey using "Edit: Hotkey to insert timestamp in synchronized lyrics" under Edit> Preferences> Hotkeys.

[paq]

Search operators
-----------------------------------
When using the search box in MusicBee you can do the following:
- Build OR conditions in the text search using the word or or a plus sign (+) Example: billy + david or harry
- Search for phrases: "billy idol"
- Restrict the field used when searching, example:: artist:M83
- Get similar artists, example:: similar:M83

[redwing]

Update audio stream only while preserving all kinds of metadata

MB allows you to replace your music file with another while preserving all tags and metadata of the original including date added, play count, rating, and (auto-)playlists. This feature can be useful when you want to update your music file to better quality or format without altering any metadata of the original.

1. You can choose either a target file (to be replaced) or a source file (to replace with). There's no need to tag the source file before.

2. Right click on the track, select Send To> Folder (Replace)> and choose one of the two replace commands



3. Choose a target or source file with the file browser, and click on "OK" button of confirmation dialog. Now MB will take care of the rest.

4. Note that the target file will change to the source file's file format. For example, if you replace an MP3 file with a FLAC file, the replaced file will be a FLAC file.

Caution: MB will delete the source file afterwards. If you want to keep the file, restore it immediately from Recycle Bin, or make a copy of it before using it for this purpose.

[redwing]

Locate a track in Playlists

Trying to figure out what playlists a track belongs to? Right-click the track> Search> Locate in Playlist, then you can browse all the (auto-) playlists where the track is included and you can jump to any of them.

[Gary Young]

Location bar*: Type name of a node to jump to that node
---------------------------------------------------------------------
In some aspects it behaves a bit like the URL bar of a browser. You can place the cursor there and type the name of a node to switch to that node. It's not case-sensitive. Wildcards (like "*") are not supported, you'll have to type the full name.



It works for the following nodes:

Music
Bookmarks
Audiobooks
Video
Radio
Inbox
History

But it doesn't work for any other nodes or sub-nodes (Playlists, Internet, Computer, Devices and so on)


*) According to http://www.getmusicbee.com/help/reference/en/Using_MusicBee/#User_Interface this bar is called "Main Panel ToolButton Bar", but I think it refers more to the whole bar, including buttons and so on. So I provisionally took "location bar" to identify the specific part of it.

EDIT: "Adress Box" is the right word for it, as I recently found out.

[Bee-liever]

Other 'Double-Click' Features
----------------------------------------

Double-Click on the Lyrics header in the RH panel to float the Lyrics panel

Double-Click on the Track Information header (RH panel) to expand the Track Information/Lyrics panels and hide Now Playing list

Double-Click on Now Playing (RH panel) to expand the main panel and have a floating Compact Player

Double-Click on Artwork (except in imported Embeded Theater Modes) to bring up full size Artwork in a floating panel

[SimonBRT]

Left-clicking just to the left of the 'Music' icon in the 'Library' section of the left side panel expands/collapses filters.

(Just discovered this by accident - so useful!)

[Gary Young]

Left-clicking just to the left of the 'Music' icon in the 'Library' section of the left side panel expands/collapses filters.

(Just discovered this by accident - so useful!)

Wow, that's cool! Thanks for that one. I only can agree: so useful!

To promote it a bit more...

[paq]

Complete Album
---------------------------------------
You can check if the track is from a complete or incomplete album in your library using the tag <Album Complete?>

Read more about how it works here: http://getmusicbee.com/forum/index.php?topic=9578.msg56924#msg56924

[redwing]

Convert ReplayGain values into SoundCheck values

If you are using iPod/iPhone, you can convert MB's ReplayGain values to Apple's SoundCheck values, which would offer more accurate normalized playing volume for your iDevice. For details, consult the following thread:

http://getmusicbee.com/forum/index.php?topic=9600.0

[VX]

When MusicBee is running and an external device (with audio files) is plugged or turned on, it doesn't appear on the left side in the explorer.
To search for files there, you don't have to restart MusicBee before.

Just use Ctrl-F5 keyboard shortcut - that should force a refresh of the devices on the left panel.

[VX]

The question was asked so many times that I decided to put it here as well:

How can I move multiple files/albums form the Inbox to the Library...?

Just select 'Edit/Select all' when you are in the Inbox and drag'n'drop selected files from the Inbox to the Library.

Alternatively, when you are in the Inbox, choose a file (or use Ctrl+A to select all), right click on your files in the Inbox, then select 'Send To'> 'Music Library'. Done.

[lnminente]

Trackbrowser filtering works from left to right. There is a hidden trick where we can drag and drop the columns to change its order for better fit our needs