Album with custom tag ALBUMVERSION

[exec]

Hi,

I've got a question about the display of the album tag in Asset:
I have some albums multiple times in my collection (standard edition and special edition). The info about the album version is stored in the tag ALBUMVERSION (FLAC). Otherwise the tags are all the same.

Asset now groups these albums together resulting in doubling all the tracks for an album.
As an example there are two albums: "AC/DC - Powerage" and "AC/DC - Powerage (Special Edition)". In the tree listing, Asset only shows "AC/DC - Powerage" with every song doubled.

Is there any chance to separate these two versions, so that there are two albums listed instead of only one.

So when it comes to the CD ripper, I have a rule based mapping.
IF ALBUMVERSION=[anyvalue]
SET ALBUM=[album] ([tag]ALBUMVERSION[])

Now I need something comparable in Asset.

Any ideas?

[Spoon]

Re: Album with custom tag ALBUMVERSION

You need the (Special Edition) in the actual album tag, you can perhaps do this with 'ID Tag Update' and your rule based naming. As a test convert one album to see how it ends up.

[exec]

Re: Album with custom tag ALBUMVERSION

Hey Spoon,

thanks for the quick reply.
Is there no other way? I would like to keep my FLAC files as is without changing any tags.

[exec]

Re: Album with custom tag ALBUMVERSION

I gave it a try, but it doesn't seem to work:
When using the rule based manipulation like stated above, I'll get a lots of errors like:

Error converting to [ID Tag Update], 'K:\Test\Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap (Australian Edition)\01. Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap.flac' to 'K:\Test\Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap (Australian Edition)\01. Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap.IGNORE'
   Error opening file, check no other program has it open.  [clDecoder::WriteIDTags]
   Error opening file, check no other program has it open.  [clDecoder::WriteIDTags]
   Error opening file, check no other program has it open.  [clDecoder::WriteIDTags]
   Error opening file, check no other program has it open.  [clDecoder::WriteIDTags]
   Error opening file, check no other program has it open.  [clDecoder::WriteIDTags]
   Error opening file, check no other program has it open.  [clDecoder::WriteIDTags]
   Error opening file, check no other program has it open.  [clDecoder::WriteIDTags]
   Error opening file, check no other program has it open.  [clDecoder::WriteIDTags]
   Error opening file, check no other program has it open.  [clDecoder::WriteIDTags]
   Error opening file, check no other program has it open.  [clDecoder::WriteIDTags]
   ID Tag Update: Error writing new ID Tags

The files are not in use whatsoever...

Edit: Files where write protected, but explorer doesn't shows this property.
However, now it works.

[mville]

Re: Album with custom tag ALBUMVERSION

Is there no other way? I would like to keep my FLAC files as is without changing any tags.

How/what other way?

The behaviour where Asset defines an album based on the album tag (and probably the album artist tag), is common with most server/player software. So, if you have files with the same album and album artist, the tracks are often combined into 1 single album, as you have described.

This solution is to use unique album names e.g. Powerage and Powerage (Special Edition).

The method to achieve this suggested by Spoon, is a sound one.

[evasv]

Re: Album with custom tag ALBUMVERSION

Is there no other way? I would like to keep my FLAC files as is without changing any tags.

There are other ways, but it will be hard without editing/adding any tags. It could be it's possible, if you have already populated the Albumversion tag for all albums in your collection. See below.

But the most sane and common solution has already been given. Many use it (including me), and it works across platforms/servers. Plus it's always a good idea to have the Album tag unique for every album (by the same artist) in your collection to avoid conflicts. For every version of an album (special edition, reissue, remaster etc) it's good practise to have a unique album tag.

But, if you genuinely dislike the suggested solution there are alternatives. They are a bit unusual so be prepared for caveats.

One solution is to use your Albumversion tag. Index this tag in Asset and also make a tree in Asset so you can browse by the Albumversion tag. The tree could look like this:

Album Artist > Albumversion > Album

You must populate the Albumversion tag for both albums, so maybe use "Standard Album" for Powerage and "Special Edition" for the other.

The caveat here is that the two albums wouldn't be presented in the same overview (list). After you have made your selection in the browse tree, you would then see either your standard albums listed or your special albums listed. If this is good or bad is personal preference, of course.

Another caveat is that you have to write the Albumversion tag to every album in you collection, even the albums which you have only one version of (probably most of them).

A third caveat is that when you browse for albums you must always make a selection for albumversion (unless you browse another tree without the Albumversion container). So this is not a good solution if you have only a few special editions.

So I don't recommend this method for the purpose you have. It is fairly advanced and unusual (for this purpose at least). But since you asked "Is there no other way?" and seeing that you registered in 2007 and probably have some experience with Asset, I wanted to inform you of this alternative.


As a sidenote, I use this method but for a another purpose, namely to separate different types of albums, i.e. studio, live, collection, bootleg, vinyl rips etc.