Tagging for multiple disc albums

[kdf]

Quoting Richard Palmer <richard_palmer (AT) iprimus (DOT) com.au>:

> Can anybody please tell what tag information Slimserver looks for in MP3
> files to determine multiple disc albums?
>
> I originally ripped a lot of my files using iTunes (to MP3) and for double
> disc albums gave both discs the same album name and used the Disc # tag
> within iTunes.
>
> I'm now using J.Rivers Media Centre 11 to rip to MP3 or WMA lossless, but
> Slimserver no longer recognises my newly ripped 2 disc albums as separate
> discs. (Media Centre has a "Disc#" tag, but slimserver doesn't read this)
>
> So I assume Slimserver is looking for something iTunes tags MP3 files with
> that maybe aren't actually standard?

That is mostly true. The original patch was supplied from a user of itunes. I
believe it uses DISCC and DISC tags (or something similar) which are supposed
to be mp3 suported tags. As has been realised more recently, this set of tags
is suported in VERY few tagging programs, and a great many other use their own
non-standard methods.

> Also is there a tag for WMA files that slimserevr will use to determine Disc
> number?

none that I know of. WMA documentation is a bit sketchy. Most of the tagging
that I've been dealing with (and that's not exhaustive) has been only done by
reverse engineering with a few hints gleaned from digging through less than
helpful documentation.

There has been some talk of adding a simple feature to parse any album tags of
the format (x of y) etc, but I am not sure if anyone has made a patch for that
yet.

-kdf

[kbelinski]

Does "multiple discs album" feature work for cue sheets?

My collection consists of disc images in either WAV or FLAC format. Each disc image is associated with a cue sheet. I name the album title in this format "<album name> (Disc x of y)". I set the "Group Discs" option. It didn't seem to have any effect on my album list after the rescan. Multi-disc albums are still being treated as multiple unique albums. So I suspect it ain't working with cue sheets. Can anyone confirm?

[camelx]

Let's say I have a double cd, should I just rip them both to the same directory? Or would it be better to have a that album directory and under that have disc1 and disc2?

I know that slim is not caring where I physically put them, since it's reading the file ID tags, however I have noticed if I put them in the same directory, you have two track 1s, two track 2s, etc. Is that a problem?

I hope a few could chime in on the best procedures to rip multi-CDs.

I'm using EAC with FLAC and don't want to get to far if there is a better way to handle the muliple cds. This is a very important thing for me, mainly cause most of my collection is classical - and I have a LOT of them.

[JJZolx]

Let's say I have a double cd, should I just rip them both to the same directory? Or would it be better to have a that album directory and under that have disc1 and disc2?

I know that slim is not caring where I physically put them, since it's reading the file ID tags, however I have noticed if I put them in the same directory, you have two track 1s, two track 2s, etc. Is that a problem?

I hope a few could chime in on the best procedures to rip multi-CDs.

I'm using EAC with FLAC and don't want to get to far if there is a better way to handle the muliple cds. This is a very important thing for me, mainly cause most of my collection is classical - and I have a LOT of them.
I don't really think it matters where they are. Like you say, SlimServer just reads the tags. I use DISC and DISCC in flac files for disc # and disc count, which works with SlimServer. If I recall correctly, someone said that the DISCC tag isn't really used and that SlimServer figures out on its own the number of discs in the set.

You _should_ have two track 1s, track 2s, etc. if that's how they're tagged. EAC always (in my experience) tags a disk's tracks 1-N, no matter which disk it is in the set. Because of this, I always place individual discs in their own directory. It's either that, or you need to use an appropriate file naming convention, which includes the disc #, to be able to tell tracks from the two discs apart when you look at the directory.

[camelx]

So to clarify, I rip to artist subdirectory and under that I have the cd album directory, and under than I have disc1 and disc2 directories. I actually physically rip disc1 in the disc1 dir and disc 2 in the disc2 dir. This keeps the track numbers, etc separate and also allows me to make a quick clean burn if I ever want to.

My question is when I use slim to play the cd album, will is start with disc1 and then play disc2? Sorry, I could easily try and find out for myself, but I thought I'd ask here since I'm at work right now.

[JJZolx]

So to clarify, I rip to artist subdirectory and under that I have the cd album directory, and under than I have disc1 and disc2 directories. I actually physically rip disc1 in the disc1 dir and disc 2 in the disc2 dir. This keeps the track numbers, etc separate and also allows me to make a quick clean burn if I ever want to.
Right. That's one way to keep the two disks separate. Another way would be to use a file naming convention and put them in the same directory. Such as

01-01 Some Song.flac
01-02 Another song.flac
01-03 Yet Another.flac
02-01 A Song On Disk 2.flac
02-02 Another Song Again.flac
etc.

But keep in mind that this is mostly for your own sanity, not for SlimServer. SlimServer only knows what it reads in the tags (unless you rely on guess tags, which we won't get into).


My question is when I use slim to play the cd album, will is start with disc1 and then play disc2? Sorry, I could easily try and find out for myself, but I thought I'd ask here since I'm at work right now.
Yes, _if_ you tag the files with the DISC tag then it will. There's a server preference that also comes into play here - Group Discs - that either treats multidisc sets as a single album or as separate albums. I prefer to treat them as single albums. When this is done and the DISC tag is used, then disc 1's tracks will be listed first, then disc 2, etc.

[camelx]

The DISC tag you are referring to, is that an option in EAC? sorry, didn't see that if it is...

Also the server setting for group you refer to - is that the "Title Format" option? if so mine is at - DISC-TRACKNUM. TITLE.

I noticed my EAC settings for "ID3 tag" are:

"additionally write ID3v2 tags"
and
"Use track fromat xx/xx in ID3v2 tags"

Set those based on one of the guides.