A script to automatically edit metadata as it is retrieved?

[johnk]

Is it possible to build a script to filter metadata when it is first imported? I have just begun ripping my rather large classical CD collection, and although the CD Ripper metadata feature saves a lot of time, I still spend a good deal of time editing the imported data. Here's an example of what I want to do.

Most of the metadata sites use full names as standard. So it's Ludwig van Beethoven. And I just want Beethoven.

It would also be helpful to do partial matches. So instead of Piano Concerto No.5, I might want PC No. 5.

I want to fix the genre permanently as "Classical". Some of the sites use weird and unhelpful sub-genres.

So I'm imagining something like this, applied to the retrieved metadata:

IF <COMPOSER> IS Ludwig van Beethoven THEN <COMPOSER> IS Beethoven
IF <ALBUM> IS *Piano Concerto* THEN <ALBUM> IS *PC*
GENRE IS Classical

and so on. A suitably detailed filter file would save me a lot of time.

[Spoon]

Re: A script to automatically edit metadata as it is retrieved?

Christmas came early

http://forum.dbpoweramp.com/showthread.php?t=20160

[johnk]

Re: A script to automatically edit metadata as it is retrieved?

Thank you. That's a very valuable addition to the toolkit and I will find many uses for it.

However, it doesn't actually solve my current problem...I am trying to apply the manipulation as the data is imported. Why? Well, I use the values to create the Filename. So where the imported values might have created:

C:\Music\Symphony\Ludwig van Beethoven\Orchestral\Symphony No. 1 - Karajan
I want
C:\Music\Classical\Beethoven\Orchestral\Symphony No. 1 - Karajan

Applying the manipulations in the DSP actions doesn't catch it early enough to get the filename right.

[Teknojnky]

Re: A script to automatically edit metadata as it is retrieved?

If your familiar with vbscripting, you can do all that in mediamonkey.

[Spoon]

Re: A script to automatically edit metadata as it is retrieved?

After processing the DSP you could potentially use the [Arrange Audio] codec, or as Teknojnky says for vbscripting dbpoweramp can be scripted to read the tags and write:

http://www.dbpoweramp.com/developer-scripting-dmc.htm

[johnk]

Re: A script to automatically edit metadata as it is retrieved?

Thank you for the responses. In case anyone else grapples with this problem, here's what I ended up doing.

When looking for solutions to a problem like this, it is so easy to over-complicate things. Generally, low-tech solutions are always the best.

Like most people with large classical collections, although I have a smattering of discs by obscure/minor composers, my collection is dominated by large batches of discs by well-known composers. So I have maybe 200 discs of JS Bach, maybe 300 of Mozart, and so on.

It makes much more sense, therefore, to "hardcode" the file name, composer by composer. And, since I want all discs' genre to be Classical, then why bother with [genre]? Just write classical in the file name.

So instead of:
[genre]\[Composer]\......\[track] - [Title]
I have
Classical\Beethoven\.......\[track] - [Title]

Using this approach you can safely let the Rule-Based Manipulation DSP take care of the correct tagging after the file has been named. This may not be a "sexy" solution, but in my circumstances it is simple, fast, and it works.

Thanks again to respondents for their help.

[dizwell]

Re: A script to automatically edit metadata as it is retrieved?

A couple of points.

One, his name was Ludwig, not Beethoven.
Two, he was a Romantic composer, not a classical one.

Hardcoding "classical" in a genre where you might quite possible range from, say, Purcell to Glass seems insane to me.

And quite why you'd invest a lot of time and effort into *removing* data is something else I'd never really understand. The guy had a first name and a last name, as most composers do. Pretending they didn't doesn't make any sense to me at all. I'd love to know how your scheme proposes to distinguish between Leopold and Wolfgang Mozart or Johann Christian and Johann Sebastian, for example. And once you allow in Christian names for some, why not be consistent about it?

I will agree in advance that knowing the guy's called "Ferruccio" rather than plain "Busoni" is a bit of a challenge. But after a few weeks, it's second nature.

Short contribution, therefore: don't remove data from your metadata. And don't hardcode incorrect data into it, either.

[johnk]

Re: A script to automatically edit metadata as it is retrieved?

Well, dizwell, I have to say that that felt more like a lecture than a contribution.

I choose to remove data for the simple reason that most devices I use to access music (Squeezebox, MP3 players etc) have limited displays, and endless scrolling is annoying. I want quick access to the information, so I keep the data as compact as possible. And I choose to use "Classical" as a top-level genre. Further genre classification I will handle elsewhere.

I take a logical approach to differentiating between composers. So "Bach" is JS, "Mozart" is WM. The lesser-known Bachs, Mozarts etc get identifying initials. And so on. Inconsistent? Yes. Works for me. Each to their own.

[Spoon]

Re: A script to automatically edit metadata as it is retrieved?

The Style tag is often used to classify the classical piece.

dBpoweramp has just activated the Sonata classical database with 18 fields for classical, there is also a Period tag.

[johnk]

Re: A script to automatically edit metadata as it is retrieved?

dBpoweramp has just activated the Sonata classical database with 18 fields for classical, there is also a Period tag.

Could you expand on this, please? Is this a new addition to the PerfectMeta setup?

[Spoon]

Re: A script to automatically edit metadata as it is retrieved?

It arrives via GD3, it is obvious if a disc is in the database as it has these extra fields such as:

Period
Soloists
Conductor

etc.