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Thread: Change Compilations to Various

  1. #1
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    Change Compilations to Various

    My question is I ripped about 200 CD's using DBpoweramp with compilations checked so I have a Compilations Folder.

    I sent my other CD's to MusicShifter. They use DBpoweramp and those CD's were put into the Folder Various.

    How do I get all my CD's tags into various, or vise versa into Compilations so all those type of CD's are grouped into one folder.

    Looking at Tag editors I do not see Various or Compilations.

    Is there an easy way to do this?

    Thanks

  2. #2
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    Re: Change Compilations to Various

    Just cut and paste all the albums in the "compilations" folder to the "Various" folder, or vice versa. This is simply the folder location not a metadata tag.

  3. #3
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    Re: Change Compilations to Various

    There are two ways to make sure that compilation CD's are grouped correctly (in music software), and that's to use either the Compilation tag (with a value of 1) or by setting the AlbumArtist tag to a single "artist", which normally is 'Various Artists' but in your case might be 'Various'.

    Before you start moving your files you need to make sure that both, your rips, and those from MusicShifter are using the same approach. If you're on Windows it's probably easier to use mp3tag to do this; just drag some albums onto the interface, select some and right click and select 'Extended Tags' and look for the tags AlbumArtist and Compilation. If at this stage you find that both are using the same approach then you could simply move the files over to the Various folder, if not you need to conform to the standard you want to use (I'd suggest using AlbumArtist as it'll be more compatible).

  4. #4
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    Re: Change Compilations to Various

    The files I ripped had the compilation box checked. What does checking the compilations box actually do?
    [MAXLENGTH]240,[IFCOMP]Compilations\[album][IFMULTI]\Disc [disc][]\[track] - [title] - [artist][][IF!COMP][IFVALUE]album artist,[album artist],[artist][]\[album][IFMULTI]\Disc [disc][]\[track] - [title][][]

    So those flac files are in the folder compilations.

    The ones MusicShifter do not have a compilation tag or number, and Album Artist is Various.
    So they are in the folder they created under Various.

    It would be nice to have them in one place either in Compilations, or Various.

    Looking at AlbumArtist it was not clear how to do this with their rules.

    Thanks for responding.

  5. #5
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    Re: Change Compilations to Various

    Quote Originally Posted by GVCCbob View Post
    The files I ripped had the compilation box checked. What does checking the compilations box actually do?
    [MAXLENGTH]240,[IFCOMP]Compilations\[album][IFMULTI]\Disc [disc][]\[track] - [title] - [artist][][IF!COMP][IFVALUE]album artist,[album artist],[artist][]\[album][IFMULTI]\Disc [disc][]\[track] - [title][][]
    If the compilation box is set, you use this part of your naming string:

    [IF!COMP][IFVALUE]album artist,[album artist],[artist][]\[album][IFMULTI]\Disc [disc][]\[track] - [title][]

    If the cmpilation box is not set, you use the other part of your naming string:

    [IFCOMP]Compilations\[album][IFMULTI]\Disc [disc][]\[track] - [title] - [artist][]

    If I rip a compilation CD with multiple artists, I open the edit window of CD Ripper before ripping, set the compilation flag and blank the field album artist.


    Dat Ei

  6. #6
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    Re: Change Compilations to Various

    Quote Originally Posted by GVCCbob View Post
    The files I ripped had the compilation box checked. What does checking the compilations box actually do?
    [MAXLENGTH]240,[IFCOMP]Compilations\[album][IFMULTI]\Disc [disc][]\[track] - [title] - [artist][][IF!COMP][IFVALUE]album artist,[album artist],[artist][]\[album][IFMULTI]\Disc [disc][]\[track] - [title][][]

    So those flac files are in the folder compilations.

    The ones MusicShifter do not have a compilation tag or number, and Album Artist is Various.
    So they are in the folder they created under Various.

    It would be nice to have them in one place either in Compilations, or Various.

    Looking at AlbumArtist it was not clear how to do this with their rules.

    Thanks for responding.

    The compilation tag having a value of "1" tells (some) music servers that the album is a compilation album and that each track may have a different artist. I always have this set for my compilation albums. As noted, however, one can achieve the same sort of outcome by using an ALBUM ARTIST for every album, and putting something like Various for a compilation.

    If it was me (the compilation tag approach), I'd load up all the albums ripped with musicshifter that have "Various" for AlbumArtist and use an ID tag editor to batch "tick" the compilation tag (or make it a value of "1"). Then I'd move all those albums under the "Compilations" folder you already have. You can leave AlbumArtist as "Various".

  7. #7
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    Re: Change Compilations to Various

    Quote Originally Posted by GVCCbob View Post
    What does checking the compilations box actually do?
    Ticking the Compilation box tells CD Ripper to add a tag called COMPILATION to all the files generated from the ripping process and give them a value of 1.
    As has been said before, this helps some software to properly group albums containing varying track artists, but it also enables the use of the [IFCOMP]/[IF!COMP] action within dBpoweramp, so if you primarily use dBpoweramp for your tagging then it's a good idea to have it set. Along similar lines I notice your use of [IFMULTI] in your folder generation, outside of CD Ripper this relies on having the DISCTOTAL tag populated, or storing the DISCNUMBER tag as DISCNUMBER/DISCTOTAL so that might be something to consider if you're not storing it already.

    As a belt and braces approach, I'd set the Compilation tag on those albums from MusicShifter tagged as 'Various' as well as making sure that all the compilation albums have the same value in AlbumArtist, whether it be Various or Various Artists is up to you.

    You can use dBpoweramp Batch Converter to perform the tag changes.
    From the dBpoweramp Control Center select Batch Converter, then select the folder containing the MusicShifter files and finally Convert. When you're dropped into dBpoweramp Music Converter choose '[ID Tag Update]' from the Encoding dropdown, then under the Additions tab just click 'Add New', select 'Compilation' from the left drop down and set the value to 1 on the right, and finally click 'Convert >>'

    As always test the process on one album first and ALWAYS have a backup.

    At this point you could use Batch Converter to move the files to their final destination (following the same process as above except using 'Arrange Audio' instead of '[ID Tag Update]' from the Encoding dropdown and setting the dersired Root Path and Arangement), but I don't know if that will also move any other files you happen to have in the album folders, so it might be safer just to move them to the Compilations folder manually.

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