dip
2005-08-07, 16:39
The new Various Artist Feature is great but still has some problems (I am using the Windows XP version):
1. After installing the August 7 nightly instead of 755 artists only 233 artists were shown in my library. All artists which exist only on various artists albums were no longer shown separately in browse artists as expected. But after the next rescan (with clearing the database) all 755 artists are back in browse artists. It doesn't matter whether I choose "Automatically identify "Various Artist" albums" in the server settings or not, I never get the behaviour I had after the first installation of the August 7 nightly. So it seems that the rescan does not correctly consider this option.
I verified this behaviour by deleting the slimserver program directory and by copying back my previous (backuped) directory.
2. I tried to use a "Customized "Various Artist" identifier" but that did not work at all. The albums are always listed unter "Various Artists".
3. I have one artist which has one song on a Various Artists album and four songs with No Album. This artist is shown in browse artists, so it seems that No Album is treated like an album (is that by design or a bug?). In the web interface after clicking on the artist two entries (the Various Artists album name and No Album) are shown. On my Squeezbox 2, however, only the Various Artist album name is shown. The No Albums songs cannot be accessed through browse artists.
4. It seems that the Various Albums feature must be improved to correctly recognize the "Multiple Items in Tags" feature. I have multiple artists separated by "&" and accordingly defined "&" as separator for multiple artists. When a Various Artists album exists including a track from a multiple artist (like "Artist 1 & Artists 2") then the "Artist 1" is correctly not shown in browse artists but "Artist 2" is incorrectly shown. At the same time in the song info Album Artist is set to "Various Artists", Artist is set to "Artist 1" and Track Artist is set to "Artist 2". It seems to me that Artist should be replaced by Track Artist and should be set to "Artist 1 Artist 2".
1. After installing the August 7 nightly instead of 755 artists only 233 artists were shown in my library. All artists which exist only on various artists albums were no longer shown separately in browse artists as expected. But after the next rescan (with clearing the database) all 755 artists are back in browse artists. It doesn't matter whether I choose "Automatically identify "Various Artist" albums" in the server settings or not, I never get the behaviour I had after the first installation of the August 7 nightly. So it seems that the rescan does not correctly consider this option.
I verified this behaviour by deleting the slimserver program directory and by copying back my previous (backuped) directory.
2. I tried to use a "Customized "Various Artist" identifier" but that did not work at all. The albums are always listed unter "Various Artists".
3. I have one artist which has one song on a Various Artists album and four songs with No Album. This artist is shown in browse artists, so it seems that No Album is treated like an album (is that by design or a bug?). In the web interface after clicking on the artist two entries (the Various Artists album name and No Album) are shown. On my Squeezbox 2, however, only the Various Artist album name is shown. The No Albums songs cannot be accessed through browse artists.
4. It seems that the Various Albums feature must be improved to correctly recognize the "Multiple Items in Tags" feature. I have multiple artists separated by "&" and accordingly defined "&" as separator for multiple artists. When a Various Artists album exists including a track from a multiple artist (like "Artist 1 & Artists 2") then the "Artist 1" is correctly not shown in browse artists but "Artist 2" is incorrectly shown. At the same time in the song info Album Artist is set to "Various Artists", Artist is set to "Artist 1" and Track Artist is set to "Artist 2". It seems to me that Artist should be replaced by Track Artist and should be set to "Artist 1 Artist 2".