ID3v2 tags for multiple-artist CDs

[Rob Funk]

Scott Haug <scott (AT) houseofhaug (DOT) net> wrote:
> Second, I'd like to be able to browse by artist, but only have artists
> show up that cover an entire album. I'd like there to be a special
> entry for "Various" or "Compilations". I _don't_ want artists that
> show up as individual tracks on compilation albums to be in that list.

What about artists that have *both* their own albums *and* tracks on a
compilation? I like all of an artist's tracks to appear under that
artist, rather than under a separate "Various" entry.

> I think a "Browse by Artist/Album" (or
> similar) would be handy, especially for folks whose music collection
> is (almost) entirely from their CD collection.

I agree that album browsing should be linked more closely with artists,
though the compilation problem gets worse in that case rather than better.
I'd like to browse albums on my slimp3 similarly to how I do on my CD
shelf -- by artist, then by album chronologically within an artist, or
just by album title for compilations.

> Another useful addition would be to support the "MCDI" frame in tags,
> which is the "Music CD identifier" frame. I don't know what apps
> actually add these frames when ripping, but if support were added to
> the slimserver, I would try to create a tool for adding them.

I like this idea! This would be a much more reliable way to link different
songs from the same album than the current album title method. (It's
probably too much to hope for to be able to convert from the CDDB ID to
the MCDI.)

One more issue that comes up for me is overlap between regular albums and
compilations. I have lots of songs that appear on both an original album
and a compilation. (Or even when I don't have the original album, I like
to tag the song with the original album name rather than the comp name for
better identification.) I'd love to have some way of having that song
appear under both the comp and the original album without having two
copies of the song. However, this is a limitation of the ID3
album-related tags (including MCDI) that each track can be associated with
only one album.

--
==============================| "A slice of life isn't the whole cake
Rob Funk <rfunk (AT) funknet (DOT) net> | One tooth will never make a full grin"
http://www.funknet.net/rfunk | -- Chris Mars, "Stuck in Rewind"

[Scott Haug]

Thursday, January 8, 2004, 8:55:48 AM, Rob Funk wrote:

RF> What about artists that have *both* their own albums *and* tracks on a
RF> compilation? I like all of an artist's tracks to appear under that
RF> artist, rather than under a separate "Various" entry.

Of course. I like browsing this way at times, too. That's why I
wouldn't change "Browse by Artist" (which gives you access to all the
albums an artist appears on), but add the "Browse by Artist/Album" (or
similar) category.

RF> I agree that album browsing should be linked more closely with artists,
RF> though the compilation problem gets worse in that case rather than better.
RF> I'd like to browse albums on my slimp3 similarly to how I do on my CD
RF> shelf -- by artist, then by album chronologically within an artist, or
RF> just by album title for compilations.

This is pretty much what I would expect the "Browse by Artist/Album"
grouping to provide. Compilations would be under their own category,
not under the artist, and you would have access to them by the album
name. How albums were sorted under an artist would be a good server
setting (chronological vs. alphabetical).

-Scott

[Robert P. Goldman]

>>>>> "Rob" == Rob Funk <rfunk (AT) funknet (DOT) net> writes:

Rob> Scott Haug <scott (AT) houseofhaug (DOT) net> wrote:
>> Second, I'd like to be able to browse by artist, but only have artists
>> show up that cover an entire album. I'd like there to be a special
>> entry for "Various" or "Compilations". I _don't_ want artists that
>> show up as individual tracks on compilation albums to be in that list.

Rob> What about artists that have *both* their own albums *and*
Rob> tracks on a compilation? I like all of an artist's tracks to
Rob> appear under that artist, rather than under a separate
Rob> "Various" entry.

They will --- you should see an

Artist -> Normal Album -> all tracks
Compilation title -> selected tracks by artist

if you take Scott's suggestion.

>> I think a "Browse by Artist/Album" (or
>> similar) would be handy, especially for folks whose music collection
>> is (almost) entirely from their CD collection.

Rob> I agree that album browsing should be linked more closely
Rob> with artists, though the compilation problem gets worse in
Rob> that case rather than better. I'd like to browse albums on
Rob> my slimp3 similarly to how I do on my CD shelf -- by artist,
Rob> then by album chronologically within an artist, or just by
Rob> album title for compilations.

>> Another useful addition would be to support the "MCDI" frame in tags,
>> which is the "Music CD identifier" frame. I don't know what apps
>> actually add these frames when ripping, but if support were added to
>> the slimserver, I would try to create a tool for adding them.

Rob> I like this idea! This would be a much more reliable way to
Rob> link different songs from the same album than the current
Rob> album title method. (It's probably too much to hope for to
Rob> be able to convert from the CDDB ID to the MCDI.)

Actually, I would tend to AVOID using the MCDI tag. I have a lot of
multi-cd sets (notably operas), and I'm actually going to some effort
to smash the multiple CDs into single albums by giving them all the
same identifier.

After all, whether a track is on CD 1 or 3 is simply an artifact of
the limits of the piece of plastic. I'd rather have them turn up as a
single menu entry. Then I'd like to use TIT1 to subdivide the single
set into meaningful components, like acts or movements, instead of
components that were dictated by the limits of the recording medium.

R

[Scott Haug]

Thursday, January 8, 2004, 10:13:27 AM, Robert wrote:

>>>>>> "Rob" == Rob Funk <rfunk (AT) funknet (DOT) net> writes:

RPG> Rob> What about artists that have *both* their own albums *and*
RPG> Rob> tracks on a compilation? I like all of an artist's tracks to
RPG> Rob> appear under that artist, rather than under a separate
RPG> Rob> "Various" entry.

RPG> They will --- you should see an

RPG> Artist -> Normal Album -> all tracks
RPG> Compilation title -> selected tracks by artist

RPG> if you take Scott's suggestion.

Actually, isn't this the way 'Browse by Album' works already? I had
envisioned 'Browse by Artist/Album' to look more like the following:

Artist A
Full Album A1
Track 1
Track 2
Full Album A2
Artist B
Full Album B1
Compilations
Compilation C1
Compilation C2


-Scott