Why would the same music Library have different Album Counts........

[Cut-Throat]

I have a couple of computers and have the same version of LMS running on both of them.

I backed up the Music Library on one computer with a portable drive. I took the portable drive over to the other computer and ran LMS and a Complete Clear and Re-scan on this Library. The Album counts on each system and while they are close, they are not exact.

I compared the Disk Byte Count on each System's Music Library and they are Identical. But the Album count listed on LMS on one system is 3775 Albums and on the other System it is 3762. Does anyone have an idea of why I might have a discrepancy?

[JJZolx]

I can only really think of one thing (apart from the scan failing to complete on one or both). Check the setting for grouping multi-disc albums. If you have one server grouping multilple disc sets together as a single album, and the other not doing so, the album counts will differ. When LMS doesn't group disc together, each disc is treated as a separate album.

Settings > My Music > Group Discs

[Cut-Throat]

I verified that my Settings as far as Combining Albums were the same on both computers, and then re-ran the Complete Clear and Re-Scan on both Computers.
What I found interesting is that all of the results are the same on both Systems Except Total Albums and Total Playing Time. So, there seems to be some bugs in this.
Here is a screen shot of both results. I could understand a setting that changed Total Albums, but not one that would change Total Playing Time.

************************************************** ***************************

************************************************** ***************************

************************************************** ***************************

[rayman1701]

It depends on what criteria is used to get the totals. For example in iTunes, an album called "Greatest Hits" will be counted once, no mater how many different artists there are, they all get counted as the same album. Now I've noticed that in LMS it actually knows that The Beach Boys - Greatest Hits is a different album compared to Queen - Greatest Hits. That's one thing that has irked me about the way iTunes gives totals, if it's the same name, then it's 1 album. Which is why I've just gotten to the point that I actually use the Artist name: Greatest Hits or Artist name: Live in the album title to keep titles from being merged in iTunes. But then there are regular albums with the same name, like No Way Out or something like that, and they still get merged, so the album count still isn't the same. So that's one reason why every music manager may have a slightly different count. I just go with the total track count to make sure everything is in both libraries.

[JJZolx]

I'd check the scanner.log file on the first computer and see whether or not there are problems scanning some files. Enable scan.import debugging in the settings. I wouldn't chalk it up to a bug quite yet.

[Cut-Throat]

I stand Corrected. I reviewed the Settings on my systems and saw that there was a 'Group Discs' Setting. I had been looking at the "Compilation" Settings instead. I made them the same on both computer systems and I did come up with the same number of Albums, so now I understand how this setting works. Thanks for the Tip!

However the "Total Playing Time" again came up with a Completely Different Number than the other two times I had run Scans. This is the Bug that I was referring to. Since every other number is now the same. Tracks, ALbums, Artists....etc....The Total Playing time should also be the same. Not that I care, but there it is.

Total Images: 0
Total Videos: 0
Total Tracks: 47,613
Total Albums: 3,775
Total Artists: 1,455
Total Genres: 74
Total Playing Time: 5720:03:45

[garym]

I stand Corrected. I reviewed the Settings on my systems and saw that there was a 'Group Discs' Setting. I had been looking at the "Compilation" Settings instead. I made them the same on both computer systems and I did come up with the same number of Albums, so now I understand how this setting works.

However the "Total Playing Time" again came up with a Completely Different Number than the other two times I had run Scans. This is the Bug that I was referring to. Since every other number is now the same. Tracks, ALbums, Artists....etc....The Total Playing time should also be the same. Not that I care, but there it is.

Total Images: 0
Total Videos: 0
Total Tracks: 47,613
Total Albums: 3,775
Total Artists: 1,455
Total Genres: 74
Total Playing Time: 5720:03:45

I recall others reporting this. I've never actually paid attention to the total playing time.

[JJZolx]

Strange. I run a lot of different versions of SBS/LMS on my server, and they all give the same counts and the exact same total playing time. LMS 7.8, LMS 7.7.3 (x 2), SBS 7.6.5 and SBS 7.5.6.

I'd be a little concerned that some files aren't being scanned properly, but I have no idea what may be wrong.