How Do I.. fix my dynamic file name and path scheme?

[db7]

Okay, my mind is melting. I've looked at this for ages and can't spot the issue and therefore am hoping that one of you kind folk might spot it -
wood for the trees an' all that..

I want to set up a dynamic naming as follows (for the ripper and also batch converter);

If 'soundtrack' = ..soundtrack\year - album\(if multi CD no.)\track - artist - title

If 'classical' compilation of various composers works = ..classical\various\album artist\year - album\(if multi CD no.)\track - title

If 'classical' cd of one composers works = ..classical\composer\album artist\year - album\(if multi CD no.)\track - title

Normal pop/rock etc. compilation cds = ..Various Artists\year - album\(if multi CD no.)\track - artist - title

Finally, if a normal pop/rock cd by one artist = ..album artist\year - album\(if multi CD no.)\track - title

I've got this at the moment..
[IFEQUALS]Genre,Soundtrack,soundtracks\[year] - [album]\[IFMULTI] CD[disc][]\[track] - [artist] - [title][][IFEQUALS]Genre,classical,classical\[IFCOMP]Various\[album artist]\[Year] - [album][IFMULTI]CD[disc][]\[track] - [title][][IF!COMP][composer]\[album artist]\[year] - [album]\[IFMULTI]CD[disc][]\[track] - [title][][][IFCOMP]Various Artists\[year] - [album]\[IFMULTI]CD[disc][]\[track] - [artist] - [title][][IF!COMP][IFVALUE]album artist,[album artist],[artist][]\[Year] - [album][IFMULTI] CD[disc][]\[track] - [title][]


If I use just the soundtrack and classical bit it seems to work. If I use the remainder it seems to work. Together though it falls over and adds extra folder paths to some of the file types..

Can someone help?
If someone can suggest a better scheme I'd also welcome comment.

Thanks in advance!

[BrodyBoy]

Re: How Do I.. fix my dynamic file name and path scheme?

Can someone help?
If someone can suggest a better scheme I'd also welcome comment.

Thanks in advance!

This is why I use profiles!

Honestly, I used to try and write every possibility into one naming scheme like that, but I've found individual profiles to be a far better solution. Now, I have a few basic profiles, like "Soundtrack," "Standard," "Compilation," etc. For the given disc type I'm ripping, I select the right profile, and not only is the path/naming scheme automatically and accurately defined, but a whole suite of other little metadata manipulations are also set up for that specific type of album. With "Soundtrack," for example, the exact ways that I use AlbumArtist, AlbumSort, genre, etc., for those albums is automatically set correctly.

If you really want one profile to accommodate all your album types, I'll go through and try to debug your scheme above. But I'd highly recommend that you break it up into different profiles.

[db7]

Re: How Do I.. fix my dynamic file name and path scheme?

Hi,

Thanks for the fast reply!

I agree that the profile route might be fine in CD Ripper but as far as I'm aware there is no such option in Batch Converter given that it needs to cover all genres etc.

A fix to my script would be great! :-)

Thanks,
:-)

[BrodyBoy]

Re: How Do I.. fix my dynamic file name and path scheme?

Okay, I think I see the problem. The first two conditional schemes are genre-based, with other parameters like compilation status and multi-disc status being "sub-conditions" within those two broader categories. Their actions apply to just those tracks that are genre=Soundtrack or genre=Classical.

But then the next conditional scheme broadly applies to all tracks since it's based on the existence of a single parameter, the compilation flag. There's nothing to preclude its application to the soundtrack and classical tracks already processed above.

So I'm thinking it would be better to have the compilation flag determine two basic schemes, and let the genre category be the "sub-conditions." This way every track must fall into only one of the two broad categories (compilation or not-compilation), and will only be processed by that naming scheme and its conditions. Does that make sense?

Schematically, it would look like this:

[IFCOMP]

[IFEQUALS]Genre,Soundtrack,soundtracks\[year] - [album]\[IFMULTI] CD[disc][]\[track] - [artist] - [title][]
[IFEQUALS]Genre,classical,classical\Various\[album artist]\[Year] - [album][IFMULTI]CD[disc][]\[track] - [title][]
Various Artists\[year] - [album]\[IFMULTI]CD[disc][]\[track] - [artist] - [title][][]

[IF!COMP]

[IFEQUALS]Genre,Soundtrack,soundtracks\[year] - [album]\[IFMULTI] CD[disc][]\[track] - [artist] - [title][]
[IFEQUALS]Genre,classical,classical\[composer]\[album artist]\[year] - [album]\[IFMULTI]CD[disc][]\[track] - [title][]
[IFVALUE]album artist,[album artist],[artist][]\[Year] - [album][IFMULTI] CD[disc][]\[track] - [title][][]

But it seems the very last category (non-compilation "regular" albums) would create the same problem you're seeing now, where one condition ([IFVALUE]Album Artist) would still apply to already processed tracks. So that one still needs some work......:(

[db7]

Re: How Do I.. fix my dynamic file name and path scheme?

Thanks, I'll try it...
There must be an easier way though!
Will post back when I've tried it.

[BrodyBoy]

Re: How Do I.. fix my dynamic file name and path scheme?

Not necessarily an easier way, since you're trying to put so many conditions into one naming scheme. It would help enormously if we could use additional qualifiers like OR and AND with the functions. I kept thinking, if I could only write "[IF!EQUALS]Genre, Soundtrack OR Classical.....", this would be an easy fix!

Another thing that kept coming to mind...... I'm guessing that, like most people, you probably have the Classical albums organized separately from the Soundtracks, and both probably separate from your rock/pop albums. Is that right? I can't help but wonder, then, how often you're really going to be converting some big batch that includes every type of music file you own, such that the naming scheme needs to cover every possibility? If you're doing a library overhaul/conversion, that would be....once. In that case, wouldn't it just be easier to break your batches down into more manageable groups? All the classical, all the soundtracks, then all the other....or something like that?

[db7]

Re: How Do I.. fix my dynamic file name and path scheme?

I completely agree about the AND OR operators. Being able to use these would mean it was fairly trivial to get the scheme I want. I feel a 'request' thread coming..

I do have the classical, soundtracks and rock/pop separated out - or rather, I want this structure! I currently have a lot of classical albums in the same directory as the rock/pop albums with the naming based on composer or artist(s). It's a bit of a mess - hence wanting to sort it out.

The only way I can think of to get my scheme to work is to add another tag field to all the files that will effectively flag the tracks as 'normal' / 'classical' / 'soundtrack' - but this would kinda defeat the aim of an automated script as I'd have to sort out all of these flags! (and I'd rather keep 'standard' tags).

Here's hoping that Spoon or LtData will jump in and say this scheme is possible! ..... .. ..... ?

Also, would you put classical music soundtracks under classical or soundtrack!?

Cheers,

[BrodyBoy]

Re: How Do I.. fix my dynamic file name and path scheme?

Personally, I always put all soundtracks in the soundtracks folder, regardless what kind of music they are.

I had the flagging idea as well. Here's what I would do. Make a pass through the entire library with the Music Converter....not converting or renaming or re-filing anything yet...and simply use the ID Tag Processing DSP to add a single flag. Basically, you make up your own tag that flags a file as "soundtrack/classical" or "not". (I use these kinds of "internal tags" in my tag editor....they're very handy).

So, if genre=Soundtrack OR if genre=Classical, you flag those as "1" or whatever you want. In all other albums, the tag would not be written. So then, in the naming scheme I suggested above, you could specifically target the non-soundtrack and non-classical albums via the absence of that tag.

And if you want, you could even go through when you're all done and remove that tag. Though that's not necessary, as it won't show up anywhere or hurt anything.

[db7]

Re: How Do I.. fix my dynamic file name and path scheme?

In case anyone wants to know the result of this I thought I'd post a little run down of the route I took..

I decided I'd use the genre naming scheme given at Discogs that sets broad genres and then splits them into 'sub-genres' or 'style' - see http://www.discogs.com/help/submissi...es-styles.html. This seems to be logical for ipod use etc. whilst retaining specific genre info.

To fit with this naming scheme I moved from 'soundtrack' to 'Stage & Screen'.

So, the actual method - firstly I made a new tag field called 'ClassicalorScreen' with a value of '1' for all classical or stage & screen (musical, score, soundtrack or theme) tracks. This helps to 'gate' the logic of the naming scheme.

Next I changed the naming scheme for the batch converter to this.. [shown schematically - delete all of the spaces between lines if you want to try it):

[IFCOMP]
[IFEQUALS]Genre,Stage & Screen,Stage & Screen\[year] - [album]\[IFMULTI]CD[disc][]\[track] - [artist] - [title][]
[IFEQUALS]Genre,Classical,Classical\Various Artists\[album artist]\[Year] - [album][IFMULTI]CD[disc][]\[track] - [title][]
[IF!EQUALS]ClassicalorScreen,1,Main\Various Artists\[year] - [album]\[IFMULTI]CD[disc][]\[track] - [artist] - [title][][]

[IF!COMP]
[IFEQUALS]Genre,Stage & Screen,Stage & Screen\[year] - [album]\[IFMULTI]CD[disc][]\[track] - [artist] - [title][]
[IFEQUALS]Genre,Classical,Classical\[composer]\[album artist]\[year] - [album]\[IFMULTI]CD[disc][]\[track] - [title][]
[IF!EQUALS]ClassicalorScreen,1,Main\[album artist]\[Year] - [album][IFMULTI] CD[disc][]\[track] - [title][][]


This results in all classical albums going into 'classical', stage & screen into 'stage & screen' and everything else into 'main'.

At some point, if I can be bothered - which I probably can't for a while!, I'll set a new tag field as something like 'style' and add in the sub-genres.

Cheers BrodyBoy for the suggestions etc..