Multi Volume Rip

[Milamber]

Good Afternoon everyone,

This is my first post and, as a septuagenarian, I would ask you to please be extra gentle

I have been playing around with DBP and PerfectTunes which I purchased today following a few days of trying it out. I have managed to rip to various formats and converting formats etc. What has totally flummoxed me, despite reading posts on the subject both here and elsewhere, is how to combine multiple disks into what will appear as one on my IPod Touch. Several posts here offer guidance, but I cannot find the appropriate settings in mp3tags, Most of my music is multi volume and is primarily from the 50's and 60's - I know, but I am *that* old If someone could please offer some assistance, I should be most grateful. Thanks for reading my post and regards to all forum members.

[Milamber]

Re: Multi Volume Rip

Well then, I am a little further forward with this, having found a little tidbit elsewhere. I have now got all the tracks in one folder, but they are not numbered consecutively. I ripped Disk 1, tracks 1 - 25, but could not assign track 1 to be 26 - it's track 51 - does this even matter ? Thanks for reading. Regards.

[Spoon]

Re: Multi Volume Rip

Here is what you do:

Rip disc 1 as normal. Make a note of track count.
Insert Disc 2, make sure that the Disc identifier at the top is set to: 1/1
Also check the album name matches disc 1, and that there is no ', disc 2' post pended to the album name.
Apply a track offset to disc 2, right click on the track one title and select 'Apply Track number offset' apply exactly the track count of the first disc, example disc 1 has 12 tracks, so apply a +12 offset.

Then rip.

[BrodyBoy]

Re: Multi Volume Rip

Several posts here offer guidance, but I cannot find the appropriate settings in mp3tags,

1. Load the whole album into mp3tag (i.e., all the files from all the discs).
2. Get them into the appropriate order, usually by clicking the TRACK column header first, then clicking by the DISK column header.
3. Once they are in the correct order, select all files (CTRL+A).
4. Finally, click on the Autonumbering Wizard button in the menu bar. This will assign consecutive track numbers.

It's a good idea to delete the disk numbers if you're ignoring them anyway, as some players can be confused by them. This is also a good time to ensure that things like the ALBUM, YEAR, and ALBUM ARTIST tags are consistent for all the discs as well. As with the track re-numbering, you select all files, then simply make sure that those key tags show correctly over in the left-side Tag Panel.

[Milamber]

Re: Multi Volume Rip

Many thanks to you both for the guidance, I am grateful.

Spoon: This is what I am trying to do, but I appear unable to select a track offset of 26. CD 1 has 25 tracks. On selecting CD 2 and right clicking track 1 of CD 2 gives a list of numbers. I expected to be able to "overwrite" with a different number ie 25. I have learnt something here this morning as I would have selected 26 rather than 25. Regards.

BrodyBoy: Thanks for an alternative solution. I did try looking with mp3tag and tried the autonumbering option with all tracks selected, not sure what I expected, but it appeared that it made no changes. Regards.

ps trying to learn very new things at 70 is, in itself, challenging, but I am sure I will get there eventually. Again, my thanks to you both - I'm off to do battle with it again.

[Spoon]

Re: Multi Volume Rip

You can apply the offset twice, add an offset of +10 then +16

[Milamber]

Re: Multi Volume Rip

Well, that would never have crossed my mind Spoon. Many thanks, off to try it right now. Regards.

[Milamber]

Re: Multi Volume Rip

Thanks so very much Spoon, that, as you well knew, worked perfectly. It also explains why there are negative values to choose from. I am well pleased and can now get on with the other 400 or so items that I have. One compilation has 10 CD's and I was thinking that I would never manage to sort that lot, but now anything looks possible. Thanks again and best Regards.

[BrodyBoy]

Re: Multi Volume Rip

Thanks so very much Spoon, that, as you well knew, worked perfectly. It also explains why there are negative values to choose from. I am well pleased and can now get on with the other 400 or so items that I have. One compilation has 10 CD's and I was thinking that I would never manage to sort that lot, but now anything looks possible. Thanks again and best Regards.

So glad you've got your solution.

I would suggest...respectfully....that you reconsider consecutively re-numbering a 10-volume set. Or at least try one really extensive set first, use it a bit and make sure you like that arrangment....before doing this with all your big sets. I have a lot of multi-volume sets as well, and through experience, I've found that I have a "limit" on how many tracks feel manageable (within a single album listing). Depending on the playback device I'm using, really long track lists invariably become very cumbersome to use. Even if I remember that a particular song is somewhere around, say, *150 or 200, the scrolling alone is a pain in the butt. So now, I generally look for an alternate organization once the total tracks starts to hit ~75-100.

So for up-to-four disks sets? I almost always combine them as one album, ditching the disk * and assigning consecutive track numbers. (The exception is when there's a logical reason the tracks are grouped on different disks, like The Doors' "Live in New York" set where each disk is a different show.) But on really long sets (I have a few of those 9-10 volume behemoths too), I find a way to break them up.

YMMV, of course, and this is all a matter of personal choice. Just thought I'd share my own experience with organizing those mega-sets.

[Milamber]

Re: Multi Volume Rip

BrodyBoy,

Thanks for the response and the information contained therein. I have trouble remembering which *ALBUMS* I have, never mind which tracks are on them :smile2: I intend to "make haste slowly" and rip everything to FLAC and go from there. I have my favourite albums of course and a few of them now grace my IPod touch and tend to play "all music" in a random way. I still have many 2 or 3 disks to rip, but will give careful consideration to your thoughts as and when I get there. It will be sometime yet, but it's all now possible. My Best Regards.

[garym]

Re: Multi Volume Rip

Confirming BrodyBoy's good suggestion. I too have lots of multivolume sets. I prefer to use the following protocol:

1. Give the all the exact same ALBUM name
2. Use DISK (or DISKNUMBER) to assign the proper disk number, 1 to N
3. The tracks are numbered 1 to N *on each disk* starting over with 1 on each disk.
4. Note: I have dbpa set to create a subdirectory for the album, then under that, a separate subdirectory for each disk. Of course this has nothing to do with the tags (metadata), but is just an organization scheme that visually works for me when I'm manually reviewing my file structure.

In this way I can simply select the album to play and it will play all disks IN PROPER ORDER. And on my players, I can see easily if something is from disk 1, disk 2, etc. when playing. (a side benefit: if grouped by disk properly, as in my case, I can use PerfectTunes to check ACCURATERIP status any time in the future on those files.

[Milamber]

Re: Multi Volume Rip

Thanks garym, I can see where you are with this, but what I enjoy doing, after sorting and removing duplicates is to play each Album with "Random" selected. When I know I am in for a protracted session of something, where music is in the background, I just randomise the whole player. This suits me just fine and the originals are ripped to FLAC and stored, so as I will hopefully never need to repeat the process.

All you gentlemen have provided food for thought and, for each "offering", I am most grateful. Shows there is more ways to skin a cat than I had initially thought. Regards to you all.

[garym]

Re: Multi Volume Rip

Thanks garym, I can see where you are with this, but what I enjoy doing, after sorting and removing duplicates is to play each Album with "Random" selected. When I know I am in for a protracted session of something, where music is in the background, I just randomise the whole player. This suits me just fine and the originals are ripped to FLAC and stored, so as I will hopefully never need to repeat the process.

All you gentlemen have provided food for thought and, for each "offering", I am most grateful. Shows there is more ways to skin a cat than I had initially thought. Regards to you all.

I'm a bit confused. I'll too often simply play my collection on "random" all day long. I don't understand why your tagging would be different from what BrodyBoy and I suggest above because of your desire to play random. The random play is a function of the player you're using and shouldn't be at all related to how you tag the albums and track numbers.

[Milamber]

Re: Multi Volume Rip

I'm a bit confused. I'll too often simply play my collection on "random" all day long. I don't understand why your tagging would be different from what BrodyBoy and I suggest above because of your desire to play random. The random play is a function of the player you're using and shouldn't be at all related to how you tag the albums and track numbers.

garym. I'm usually confused about most things audio and video. I have found something that works for me right now and am content to carry on as I am unless something really bugs me when I shall seek an alternative solution. I have this thread marked for downstream access and, although it may seem otherwise, I really appreciate the assistance offered by all respondees. Regards.