ID3 tag separator in dBpoweramp

[Dat Ei]

Hey there,

I've tried to find documents on how to correctly separate multiple values in id3 tags referred to id3 Standard, i.e. various artists for one track.

I've learned that the values should be separated by NULL Bytes, but this is the binary and encoded view. But what would be the correct character or syntax in dBpoweramp's user interface (like in CDRipper) to separate the multiple values?


Dat Ei

[Spoon]

Re: ID3 tag separator in dBpoweramp

Artist1; Artist2

[Dat Ei]

Re: ID3 tag separator in dBpoweramp

Tanks Sporn. How can I mask a real ";", just for the case that I one as part of the tag value?

Dat Ei

[Spoon]

Re: ID3 tag separator in dBpoweramp

We have no provision for this.

[Dat Ei]

Re: ID3 tag separator in dBpoweramp

Hey Spoon,

so if the use of "; " is the right way to separate the multiple artists and album artists, how can I manage to get a directory name in my path in the style of "Artist1, Artist2[,...]"?

If I use the element [album artist] in the file naming, I only get the name of "Artist1". [Artist2] et. seq. will be ignored.


Dat Ei

PS: Sorry for the misspelling in my last post: "Tanks Sporn" should have been "Thanks Spoon".

[Spoon]

Re: ID3 tag separator in dBpoweramp

Naming will never use multiple artists, only the first one, so:

[artist]

or [album artist] is only for the first artist.

[Dat Ei]

Re: ID3 tag separator in dBpoweramp

But wouldn't it be a good idea, if the naming could use multiple artists?

It is very often the case, that 2 or 3 artists join for one or even more productions. Think of productions from "Al Di Meola, John McLaughlin, Paco De Lucía" or "Ella Fitzgerald, Louis Armstrong". Maybe specialized elements for the naming could do the job.

Otherwise one have to rename the directories by hand everytime you rip or convert a multiple artist album. Not very comfortable...


Dat Ei

[Spoon]

Re: ID3 tag separator in dBpoweramp

It was our view that allowing multiple would likely push the filename over the maximum length allowed, so it would be trimmed back and would be ugly.

Why would you have to rename the folders? for an album with multiple artists you would have an overall album artist, or rip to a Various Artists folder.

[Dat Ei]

Re: ID3 tag separator in dBpoweramp

Hey Spoon,

Why would you have to rename the folders? for an album with multiple artists you would have an overall album artist, or rip to a Various Artists folder.

ok, to explain my motivation I have to go farther back.

I have two aims:

1.) The naming of my folders should represent the album artists. I would be nice, if the artists would be separated by ", ". The reason for this aim is that I want to have a good overview in a file Explorer, just on the level of the file system.

2.) The second aim is to have separated artists and album artists in my flac files, which are the base of my archive. This archive delivers the input for my XMBC system, which offers a database system supported access to the files. To my understanding it is necessarily that the artists and album artists are separated (by " / "), if you want to have a clean matching from artist / album artist to a song or even album. Otherwise you will see in the artist list one entry per combination of artists, which increases the list a lot.

I hope I could make my points clear.


Dat Ei

[Spoon]

Re: ID3 tag separator in dBpoweramp

Most media programs would not use the filenames or folder names, rather the ID Tags.

[Dat Ei]

Re: ID3 tag separator in dBpoweramp

Hey Spoon,

Most media programs would not use the filenames or folder names, rather the ID Tags.

you are absolutely right. The problems exist on another level.

1.) If the naming of the directories is based on the first arstist only, the resulting directory name depends on the order of the artists. This would be the case too, if the naming would consider all artists. But in the later case, you have a chance to easily identify different orders of artist.

Let's look at my example of "Al Di Meola, John McLaughlin, Paco De Lucía". It could be the case that one or more albums will be ripped or converted to a directory named "Al Di Meola" (aside to albums with "Al Di Meola" only or with "Al Di Meola" and other musicians), while others are in "John McLauglin" or "Paco De Lucía".
Considering all album artists could lead to "Al Di Meola, John McLaughlin, Paco De Lucía" or ""John McLaughlin, Al Di Meola, Paco De Lucía" etc. pp., which isn't unique too, but you can judge the content by a quick view.

2.) Using only the first album artist can easily lead to doublets. I.e. let's have a album named "Greatest Hits" from "Al Di Meola" and one album "Greatest Hits" from "Al Di Meola, John McLaughlin, Paco De Lucía". CDRipper and BatchConverter, not using a database, would generate identical paths for these albums. Even if you rename the albums and put them in unique paths in your archive by hand, the next time you convert files from your archive into a different codec, you will run into the same problems of non unique paths. Or do you see a different chance or workaround for that?


Dat Ei

[Spoon]

Re: ID3 tag separator in dBpoweramp

The default naming string in CD Ripper does not have these issues:

[IFVALUE]album artist,[album artist],[IFCOMP]Various Artists[][IF!COMP][artist][][]\[album]\[track] [artist] - [title]

[Dat Ei]

Re: ID3 tag separator in dBpoweramp

Hey Spoon,

The default naming string in CD Ripper does not have these issues:

[IFVALUE]album artist,[album artist],[IFCOMP]Various Artists[][IF!COMP][artist][][]\[album]\[track] [artist] - [title]

I don't see the reason why CD Ripper should not have this issue. Ok, I try to examine my example: "Greatest Hits" from "Al Di Meola" and "Greatest Hits" from "Al Di Meola, John McLaughlin, Paco De Lucía". In both cases the album artist would be "Al Di Meola", it is no compilation, the artist is "Al Di Meola" and the name of the album is "Greatest Hits". The tracks would be ripped to the same folder, wouldn't they? With a bit of bad luck you have doublet track names.


Dat Ei

[Spoon]

Re: ID3 tag separator in dBpoweramp

Yes you are correct.

[Dat Ei]

Re: ID3 tag separator in dBpoweramp

Ok, in other words: I have to put it on the wishlist...


Dat Ei