Artist Name with a "?"

[Arroyero]

I ve made an extensive search about this silly issue in the forums without finding an answer other than one post from 2005 (unanswered).

I am running SC 7.3.3 in Vista and my database is 1000+ records (17000+ tracks, 300+ artists). It´s been working beautifully for months now but sudenly a couple of days ago one of the artists, Frank Zappa (he´d love this) appears with a question mark at the end - Frank Zappa?.

Tags are normal, and this doesnt appear with any other artist, album, genre, or any other tag, only Zappa?.

I have 50+ Zappa records, and now they all appear with the "?". I have deleted the folder and all, logically, disappear from SC. I put them back, and there´s the "?" again.

I´ve checked with Mp3tag that there are no "invisible" tags although, as I said, I´ve made no changes to the database in the last two weeks, and this only appeared two days ago.

Any suggestions?

[BastiaanR]

Did you add new Zappa songs/albums 2 days ago? if so, check the (extended) tags for these songs to see if they have any "ZAPPA?". (Where the ? could be a '?' or any other (funny) character or a space).

[Arroyero]

Did you add new Zappa songs/albums 2 days ago? if so, check the (extended) tags for these songs to see if they have any "ZAPPA?". (Where the ? could be a '?' or any other (funny) character or a space).

Thanks but no, I have not touched that directory recently, but just in case I used Mp3tag and it reads the tag correctly, and no record has "funny" tags, just the basic ones.

It seems obvious to me that SC is adding the ? but why? all zappa tracks are played correctly. Could SC be expressing its disregard for some artists?

[Phil Leigh]

if you browse "New Music", are there any albums (possibly compilations?) in there that have Zappa tracks on them? If so, check their tags.

[Arroyero]

Thanks. All Zappa records appear under new, but that makes sense as I have deleted and restored them several times.

It´s just funny that it only happens to this artist. I am considering doing a fresh install of SC, or perhaps restoring a backup from before it happened and then let it scan again and see what happens.

[Phil Leigh]

Thanks. All Zappa records appear under new, but that makes sense as I have deleted and restored them several times.

It´s just funny that it only happens to this artist. I am considering doing a fresh install of SC, or perhaps restoring a backup from before it happened and then let it scan again and see what happens.

My Zappa albums (I only have 3 - Hot Rats, Freak Out! and Zoot Allures) are OK.

Is it possible that a rogue Zappa track on a compilation album has a bad tag?
Compilation albums are merged into the database attheend of the scan...

[Arroyero]

No. I have stripped all the tags of all Zappa tracks to the basic ones (year, title, track, album, artist). and Mp3tag doesnt find any other (or corrupted) tags. I still dont understand, even if that wasnt the case, how could that turn all Zappa tracks into Zappa?.

Does the ? mean anything internally to SC that I am unaware of? If it does it may give me a clue...

[Phil Leigh]

I seem to recall that a ? is not allowed in SC strings - I had a problem with ? and the Mysterians...

Where exactly do you see the "?" (and what skin are you using for the SC UI?)

[Arroyero]

Thanks a lot for your efforts.

You can see by yourself how it appears. I can make no sense at all other than a SC fault. Remember, it doesnt happen anywhere else, and no other program finds that "?", including WMP or Mp3tag!

BTW, my SC installation is in Spanish.

[Phil Leigh]

Man, that is weird...
Now I've seen your screenshot - it just seems more bizarre!
So I guess you have tried opening ALL of your Zappa tracks ta the same time and changing the Artist tag to "Frank Zappa" in MP3Tag?... and also that you don't have any ARTISTSORT tags for your Zappa tracks?

I've never seen anyhting like this - but it has to be SOMETHING in your tags.

What happens if you temporarily change one of your tracks to "Eric Zappa"... I bet the "?" goes away...