Configuration of "Album by Artist" search + alphabetical sidebar

[Claudio Timpano]

Hi,

I'm running Asset UPnP on macOS Sierra (10.12.2) and Linn Kazoo as control point on the iPad.

I recently switched from Linn Kazoo Server to Asset UPnP R5.1 as a trial version because the two streamers I use (Linn and Naim) don't run smoothly with Kazoo Server but do so with Asset UPnP.

There's just one thing I haven't been able to find or configure in Asset UPnP so far: I'd like to browse through all of my albums sorted by "Album Artist" and "Year" by using an alpjhabetical sidebar.

While Kazoo Server offers this kind of search out of the box, I'm still struggling to configure Asset UPnP accordingly.

Although there is an "Album by Artist" search as part of "Advanced Search", I can't find a way of making Asset sort the albums of a given artist by year and show the usual alphabetical sidebar that exists e. g. in the "Album" / "All Albums" search.

Is there a way to make this work?

Thanks,

Claudio

[mville]

Re: Configuration of "Album by Artist" search + alphabetical sidebar

In Asset UPnP Configuration, try editing the Browse Tree, adding a new container Album Artist / Album, with Album by Release as a child container of Album Artist / Album.

[Claudio Timpano]

Re: Configuration of "Album by Artist" search + alphabetical sidebar

Thanks. The proposed solution solves only part of my problem, as it involves three steps:
1. Search for an artist by clicking on the corresponding initial in the alphabetical sidebar.
2. Click on the artist name icon to open a new window displaying all titles of this artist.
3. Click on the Album by Release icon to open a new window displaying the albums of the corresponding artist sorted by release.

What I'm looking for is a search consisting of just one step:
1. Search for an album of an artist by clicking on the artist initial in the alphabetical sidebar and by that jump directly to the albums of this artist sorted by release.

In other words: I would like to see ALL albums of ALL artists in one single view (ideally sorted by release).

The Album by Artist view in Advanced Search is almost what I'm looking for - except for two limitations:
1. I don't see a way of easily jumping to an artist (and all his/her albums) because there is no alphabetical sidebar.
2. The sort order is "strange", i.e. neither by release date nor in alphabetical order.

[mville]

Re: Configuration of "Album by Artist" search + alphabetical sidebar

What I'm looking for is a search consisting of just one step:
1. Search for an album of an artist by clicking on the artist initial in the alphabetical sidebar and by that jump directly to the albums of this artist sorted by release.

In other words: I would like to see ALL albums of ALL artists in one single view (ideally sorted by release).

You would have to something clever with the Album Sort tag to get albums to list (in a single view) by Album Artist/Release Date/Album.

[Claudio Timpano]

Re: Configuration of "Album by Artist" search + alphabetical sidebar

Not sure how to do that. A look at the Asset UPnP OS X Manual didn't really help. The are three options for Artist Sort Handling, but I'm not quite sure about the effect of these options. Would you be so kind as to point me in the right direction. Thanks!

[mville]

Re: Configuration of "Album by Artist" search + alphabetical sidebar

Not sure how to do that. A look at the Asset UPnP OS X Manual didn't really help. The are three options for Artist Sort Handling, but I'm not quite sure about the effect of these options. Would you be so kind as to point me in the right direction. Thanks!

This is not something you do in Asset UPnP.

I was actually referring to how you could populate the Album Sort tag to control the way albums are sorted, however, this would affect all Album list views, so may not be advisable. For example, I populate the Album Sort tag with a combination of my Original Release Date tag and the Album tag e.g. [1967-06] Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (2009 Stereo Remaster). This way, my albums are sorted chronologically, regardless of the software I use to view albums.

[Claudio Timpano]

Re: Configuration of "Album by Artist" search + alphabetical sidebar

I see. I use Yate for tagging. So far, I've only used it to keep metadata clean. No idea yet, how Album Sort tagging works in Yate, but I'll look into it. Which tool are you using?

Coming back to the Album by Artist view in Advanced Search: What is it that determines whether there is an alphabetical sidebar (as e.g. in Album / All Albums) or not (as e.g. in Advanced Search / Album by Artist)? The UPnP server, the control point (Linn Kazoo) or the way files are tagged?

[mville]

Re: Configuration of "Album by Artist" search + alphabetical sidebar

I see. I use Yate for tagging. So far, I've only used it to keep metadata clean. No idea yet, how Album Sort tagging works in Yate, but I'll look into it. Which tool are you using?

I use a Windows 10 Pro 64-bit PC with dBpoweramp Music Converter R15.3, Asset UPnP R5.2, MP3Tag and foobar2000.

Coming back to the Album by Artist view in Advanced Search: What is it that determines whether there is an alphabetical sidebar (as e.g. in Album / All Albums) or not (as e.g. in Advanced Search / Album by Artist)? The UPnP server, the control point (Linn Kazoo) or the way files are tagged?

Asset UPnP and the Browse Tree, which is why it is configurable. Asset initially creates an internal database from the audio file tag data and uses the database to build views based on the Browse Tree.

[Claudio Timpano]

Re: Configuration of "Album by Artist" search + alphabetical sidebar

I use a Windows 10 Pro 64-bit PC with dBpoweramp Music Converter R15.3, Asset UPnP R5.2, MP3Tag and foobar2000.



Asset UPnP and the Browse Tree, which is why it is configurable. Asset initially creates an internal database from the audio file tag data and uses the database to build views based on the Browse Tree.

I have restored the default in Browse Tree. In the Album / All Albums view there is an alphabetical sidebar, but not in the Advanced Search / Album by Artist view (see the two attached images). In would now like to make the alphabetical sidebar appear in the latter view. Is that possible and how?

[Spoon]

Re: Configuration of "Album by Artist" search + alphabetical sidebar

It is the control point not asset which is creating this, I am not sure what its criteria is though.

[Claudio Timpano]

Re: Configuration of "Album by Artist" search + alphabetical sidebar

Checked with Linn (developer of the Kazoo control point software). According to Linn it's not the control point, as it only displays the tree provided by the respective UPnP server.

Seems to be in line with mville's comment: "Asset initially creates an internal database from the audio file tag data and uses the database to build views based on the Browse Tree."

Looks like there are two options to achieve what I'm looking for:
1. Hand in a development request with dBpoweramp regarding the addition of the alphabetical sidebar in the Advanced Search / Album by Artist view (and, for that matter, sort albums by release date). Any idea how to do this?
2. Update the Album Sort tag of all my albums as mville suggested, which is not my preferred option.

Alternative ideas are very welcome.

[Spoon]

Re: Configuration of "Album by Artist" search + alphabetical sidebar

The tree are the fields you browse, the alphabetic selection down the right hand side is not created by asset.