Metadata - Understanding the UI

[tenbob]

Hi Spoon and co. I just upgraded to Reference 14 and need a bit of help to understand the user interface. I really can't work out what's going on in some cases.

I'm a bit confused because the Meta drop-down menu contains some items that are toggles (marked with a tick) and some that are actions. It looks like the middle section between the two lines lists all possible sources of metadata. So you can toggle each one on or off according to whether you want to use it or not.

The first menu item is also a toggle to turn on PerfectMeta (Intelligent Lookup).

So I turn on PerfectMeta and check all possible sources. The data comes up when I insert a CD or click Meta. But where is it actually coming from?

If I click the second menu item Review PerfectMeta Matches I see a table that compares the data from four sources (AMG, GD3, Music Brainz and freedb). But that's only 4 out of the 10 sources that I checked. What was the data from the other sources (if any)?

I tried using another menu item, Retrieve From. Presumably this retrieves the data from just one of the 10 sources. But I can't tell if it has actually done anything. For example, I tried inserting a CD that doesn't have any CD text. If I click Retrieve From CD Text the screen doesn't change even though there is no data present.

Despite searching the help files and the forum I still can't understand what some of the options are for.

What is the dBpoweramp cache? Presumably this stores data that I type in myself. But even if I uncheck it, data that I have typed in seems to persist indefinitely. Where is it coming from?

What is TrackType? It seems to be another database, but it is not mentioned in the Help file and is not displayed in the review pane. How can I see the data it supplied?

What are CD-ISRC and CD-UPC and how are they used to obtain metadata?

What is the significance of the cdplayer.ini file on the PC. How did it get there and how is it used to obtain metadata?

If I turn off PerfectMeta where is the data coming from then? There may be several sources checked. Which ones have priority?

And finally the options to submit changes to freedb or AMG are greyed out. How do I enable them.

Many thanks in advance for the explanations. Bob

[Spoon]

Re: Metadata - Understanding the UI

PerfectMeta only uses the 4 mentioned. Most people only need those 4 checked, not the others.

You can only submit to AMG if the data was typed yourself.

[dundee60]

Re: Metadata - Understanding the UI

I have some cd's that do not read any meta in all four bet it gets all info in windows media player is there a way that I could use that?It is too much work to type it all in,Olf

[Spoon]

Re: Metadata - Understanding the UI

There is no way of using WMP metadata.

[tenbob]

Re: Metadata - Understanding the UI

Thanks, Spoon. That helps a lot. I'll just use the four sources you recommend - AMG, GD3, Music Brainz and freedb.

But what are the other options for? Can you please point me to somewhere I can read an explanation of what the program does.

And can you clarify what happens with Retrieve from. If the source I specify doesn't have any data, does the program tell me? Or does it continue to display the previous data from a different source? It's a bit confusing.

Bob

[Spoon]

Re: Metadata - Understanding the UI

If you use retrieve from it will overwrite the existing only if the source is active, not a huge amount of CDs have CD-Text, etc, so there is no need to have these checked.

[tenbob]

Re: Metadata - Understanding the UI

Thanks Spoon. I think it would be useful if the program told you when it can't find any data from a particular source.

I've been clicking Retrieve from CD Text and assuming the data on screen was what it read. In fact the CD had no CD text at all. I had to use a different program to find out what was really happening.

Maybe in the next release there could be a more informative dialog?

Thanks, Bob