Using ID-Tag editor, can I copy the Artist name to the Composer field?

[no1uno]

I like to see my soundtracks and other compilations in one place when looking at Artists on my player, so I usually change the Artist tag on the whole album to the title of the album. However, I'd prefer to not lose the information about who the artist is -- can I copy that info to either the Composer filed or a Comment field, for the whole album, before I change all of the artist names? I've tried typing "<Artist>" in the Composer field in ID -Tag, but that just puts "<Artist>" there....

For example, for The Crow soundtrack, I'd like the Composer of track 1 to be "The Cure", not "Perry Bamonte; Simon Gallup; Robert Smith; Porl Thompson; Boris Williams", and track 4 be "Nine Inch Nails" not "Ian Curtis; Peter Hook; Stephen Morris; Bernard Sumner".

Thanks!

(FYI I know that the track Artist info is lost on the soundtracks etc I've ripped already, but I can easily re-rip once this is solved.)

[Spoon]

Re: Using ID-Tag editor, can I copy the Artist name to the Composer field?

Depending on your player, you might be able to set the 'album artist' to group that album to one artist, then individual artists for each track.

[no1uno]

Re: Using ID-Tag editor, can I copy the Artist name to the Composer field?

Thanks, bummer -- just discovered mp3tag, which makes it easy

[BrodyBoy]

Re: Using ID-Tag editor, can I copy the Artist name to the Composer field?

I like to see my soundtracks and other compilations in one place when looking at Artists on my player, so I usually change the Artist tag on the whole album to the title of the album. However, I'd prefer to not lose the information about who the artist is -- can I copy that info to either the Composer filed or a Comment field, for the whole album, before I change all of the artist names? I've tried typing "<Artist>" in the Composer field in ID -Tag, but that just puts "<Artist>" there....

For example, for The Crow soundtrack, I'd like the Composer of track 1 to be "The Cure", not "Perry Bamonte; Simon Gallup; Robert Smith; Porl Thompson; Boris Williams", and track 4 be "Nine Inch Nails" not "Ian Curtis; Peter Hook; Stephen Morris; Bernard Sumner".

Thanks!

(FYI I know that the track Artist info is lost on the soundtracks etc I've ripped already, but I can easily re-rip once this is solved.)

Yes, mp3tag does make it easy, and is the better solution for post-rip tag editing.

But I'd like to re-iterate Spoon's suggestion....using ALBUM ARTIST is a better way to meet your objective. Most players (there are a few exceptions, like classic iPods) can use ALBUM ARTIST to organize their library index, rather than ARTIST. This is a powerful tool for doing things like you're talking about- keeping soundtracks, compilations, or whatever separated out in the Artist view on the player. This way, you don't lose any of the actual artist data, nor do you have to preserve it by moving it to some other tag. (like COMPOSER or COMMENT).

In my case, I use the ALBUM ARTIST tag (Soundtracks) on all my soundtracks, and(COMPILATIONS) on all my compilations. So when scrolling through the artist view on my players, those albums are all neatly contained within their respective "categories." (My purpose in adding the parentheses is to force them to the top of the alphabetized artist list. This makes them even more "separate" and especially easy to get to, but the parentheses are not necessary.)


One more point: No need to re-rip just to add tags. If the audio data is sound, you can easily add the missing tags with another program like mp3tag or MusicBrainz Picard. These kinds of programs can access the online databases like dBp does. No need for manual entry or re-ripping.

[no1uno]

Re: Using ID-Tag editor, can I copy the Artist name to the Composer field?

Excellent point, thanks! However, on-the-go I listen on an 160gb iPod classic, which indeed does not allow listing by Album Artist.

[BrodyBoy]

Re: Using ID-Tag editor, can I copy the Artist name to the Composer field?

Excellent point, thanks! However, on-the-go I listen on an 160gb iPod classic, which indeed does not allow listing by Album Artist.

I also format one of our libraries for an iPod Classic.....isn't it annoying as all get out that they don't update the software and fix some of these weird quirks? It's perplexing that they still sell the product yet have no interest in supporting it. I don't it's had a firmware update in about three years.

In any event, I've found the best approach to dealing with that player's quirks is to load it manually. This way, tags can be fixed/changed on-baord, so to speak, rather than having to go back to the library, change tags, re-load or update, etc.

As far as separating out soundtracks and compilations on the iPod Classic, this can be accomplished with careful (and consistent) combinations of the compilation flag and the Sort Artist tags. If you set the compilation flag to yes ("1" in mp3tag), and set the the ARTISTSORT tag to %album%, those albums won't clutter up the Artist list....instead, they'll appear alphabetically by album title under Compilations.

[garym]

Re: Using ID-Tag editor, can I copy the Artist name to the Composer field?

I also format one of our libraries for an iPod Classic.....isn't it annoying as all get out that they don't update the software and fix some of these weird quirks? It's perplexing that they still sell the product yet have no interest in supporting it. I don't it's had a firmware update in about three years.

In any event, I've found the best approach to dealing with that player's quirks is to load it manually. This way, tags can be fixed/changed on-baord, so to speak, rather than having to go back to the library, change tags, re-load or update, etc.

As far as separating out soundtracks and compilations on the iPod Classic, this can be accomplished with careful (and consistent) combinations of the compilation flag and the Sort Artist tags. If you set the compilation flag to yes ("1" in mp3tag), and set the the ARTISTSORT tag to %album%, those albums won't clutter up the Artist list....instead, they'll appear alphabetically by album title under Compilations.

hmmm, in my ipod 160gb, I make sure compilations flag is set to 1, but I don't have to do anything with artistsort (which I don't use). There is a setting in either itunes or the ipod that groups the compilation albums together so they don't clutter the artist list. I'm not near the ipod right now so can't give any more specifics.

Edit: just looked at my ipod 160GB. To confirm, my albums tagged with a COMPILATION field (equal to "1") show up in my menu under "COMPILATIONS" rather than under ARTIST listing. And these various compilation CDs are listed alphabetically by name of album. And again, I don't use ARTISTsORT or ALBUMSORT tags. So my ARTIST listings are not clogged with the many one-off artists that may be on various compilations.

another edit: in the ipod itself, under SETTINGS > MUSIC MENU be sure to "tick" COMPILATIONS.

[BrodyBoy]

Re: Using ID-Tag editor, can I copy the Artist name to the Composer field?

hmmm, in my ipod 160gb, I make sure compilations flag is set to 1, but I don't have to do anything with artistsort (which I don't use). There is a setting in either itunes or the ipod that groups the compilation albums together so they don't clutter the artist list. I'm not near the ipod right now so can't give any more specifics.

Edit: just looked at my ipod 160GB. To confirm, my albums tagged with a COMPILATION field (equal to "1") show up in my menu under "COMPILATIONS" rather than under ARTIST listing. And these various compilation CDs are listed alphabetically by name of album. And again, I don't use ARTISTsORT or ALBUMSORT tags. So my ARTIST listings are not clogged with the many one-off artists that may be on various compilations.

another edit: in the ipod itself, under SETTINGS > MUSIC MENU be sure to "tick" COMPILATIONS.

Good (& important) point about ensuring that Compilations is enabled in the iPod's music menu. That does affects how the Classic treats the compilations flag, and it's not "automatic" that it's there when you have compilations in your library (as users will sometimes assume).

Allow me to elaborate on the ARTISTSORT tag, even if it's not of interest or use to you. (May or may not be to the OP, either.) The compilation flag covers the "first layer" of clutter, the ARTIST view listings, while ARTISTSORT covers a second layer of clutter....the album/track listings displayed under that artist.

• Without using ARTISTSORT, the iPod Classic uses the ARTIST field for sorting: If a given artist has any compilation track(s) and also has any non-compilation tracks, then all of that artist's tracks, including those on compilation albums, will appear under their listing in the Artist view.
• Using the album/compilation name in the ARTISTSORT field (on compilations), the iPod Classic will use this as the "artist" field for sorting: The compilation tracks will not appear in the artist's album/track listing.

Example: Let's say I have two dozen Bob Dylan albums, all included under the "Bob Dylan" artist listing on my iPod Classic, as expected. But various Bob Dylan songs have also appeared on another couple dozen of the soundtrack albums I have.
Without an ARTISTSORT tag: Because some of my Bob Dylan tracks have a compilation flag and some don't, they will ALL be included under his artist listing. So, under Bob Dylan, I have 48 different albums listed, 24 of which are soundtracks that only contain one track (the Bob Dylan song on each album).
With the ARTISTSORT tag: Only my two dozen actual Bob Dylan albums are included under his artist listing. His tracks on soundtrack albums appear only on those soundtrack albums.

Again, note that this situation only applies where you have both compilation and non-compilation tracks for the same artist. If one's library includes no such artists, this is all moot. Also, if one wants all the artist's tracks listed under their artist listing, compilation or not, you wouldn't use the ARTISTSORT tag...the iPod Classic defaults to the ARTIST tag and all tracks will be listed. (I prefer to separate out the compilation/soundtrack tracks from the artist listing, so I do use this method. Writing the ARTISTSORT tag is part of a custom mp3tag Action group I apply to all soundtrack albums during final tag review.)

[garym]

Re: Using ID-Tag editor, can I copy the Artist name to the Composer field?

aha. Now I fully understand your method and I agree that it makes sense to achieve your objective. In my own case, I *do* want the compilation albums to show up under the artist (that has non-compilation albums as well). So if there is a Bob Dylan song on a soundtrack, I do want to see this album/track show up under Bob Dylan artist listing. I can certainly see why one would not want this, as in your case and I like your clever method for achieving this outcome. In my own use case, I'm only keeping the artists that are ONLY on compilation albums from showing up in the separate artist listings and cluttering up that list. Thanks for clarifying.