dMC Batch Converter - Multiple Albums AND Generating Multiple Playlists

[MAD_HATTER]

Hiya,

I'm using dMC batch converter with multiple input albums, and am using the playlist writer to write playlists.

The problem is that it writes a SINGLE playlist, and not MULTIPLE playlists (one for each album). So if I'm batch converting 50 albums, it writes a single big playlist file, and not individual playlists for each album.

Is this how it works or am I missing something?

If so, then I consider this a bug (or maybe a pending feature?)

The playlist writer should be able to output multiple playlists, 'grouping' the input files based on certain user-selected parameters (such as album - would make a good default, artist, etc).

It should also handle multi-disc albums (e.g. Batman Dark Knight soundtrack has 2 discs, and so playlist writer should have options to output individual playlists for each disc, and also a single playlist containing both discs in sequence..., perhaps placed in a parent folder of the 2 discs)

So, once again, am I missing something?

This makes batching a problem for me as I am compelled to process a single album at a time to get 'nice' generated playlists per album - loosing the benefits of a batch workflow...

I'd like to hear your thoughts on this functionality - thanx Spoon

(P.S. dbPowerAmp is simply the best - that's why I'm still using it, even though I'm running Linux!)

(P.P.S. I LIKE TEA)

[garym]

Re: dMC Batch Converter - Multiple Albums AND Generating Multiple Playlists

Just curious. Why do you need a playlist per album? Most players allow you to browse and play an album just from the tag data.

[MAD_HATTER]

Re: dMC Batch Converter - Multiple Albums AND Generating Multiple Playlists

Hiya, firstly; if in a collection of 10,000+ songs some are not tagged nicely, browsing a list of albums by tag will bring up a super-long poorly ordered list that is very inconsistent.

The ideal solution is to have the entire collection tagged very nicely, but that's not always a reality.

As much as I'm into tags being the future, simply rejecting standard hierarchy organisation completely is not the way forward.

My usage scenario:
I listen to WHOLE ALBUMS - Always! (I'm just not a singles' person)
e.g. I listen to OSTs, ROCK, TECHNO.

When wanting to listen to the music in a majority of my players (Linux, and Android), I find that I simply can't separate easily between OST and ROCK, etc.
If I browse albums, I get a long list combining all styles (OST & ROCK).

Also, as not all of my music is tagged perfectly, these lists are very messy and inconsistent. Often they don't even follow simple alphabetical ordering (as in the tags are not perfect, so I might be looking for 'batman' as ost-batman,' etc.)

I know there are a lot of great systems for auto-tagging my music - but even the tags they assign are too varied and inconsistent.

If my entire collection is not tagged correctly, I can't isolate my music perfectly, in the way I want.

The ultimate solution is to tag my entire collection perfectly - which I plan to one day...

Until then, as I only listen to full albums, and want simple division of my collection, I use perfect filenaming, and a folder hierarchy layout.

This is where playlists are useful, in helping me access my music from my folders.


*** ANYWAY ***

For standard 'look at me - I only listen to a random mix of music that is either all R&B, or some other kind of sh*t, and have no grasp of story-telling in that what OSTs' provide, and so don't evar wanna listen to full albums, just an ongoing mixed slurry of random track after another' kind of people, creation of a single playlist to 'point' to the locations of each of those random batched tracks is useful.

I just don't find the playlist generator useful for encoding more than one album at a time, & see multi-playlists per album as a feature...

Once again - for whole-album based listening; the ultimate solution is 100% perfectly tagged music, but that's just not a reality for people with busy lifestyles, and stupidly large collections.

Regardless of how & why I need such playlisting support, if a tool exists to automate playlist generation, and that tool could be improved, I don't see why not.


P.S. I LIKE TEA