Track Names Inconsistent

[tulz43]

When I added 160gigs of aiff files to my pi (using a powered external hd) and updated the database some of the track names have the track number in front and others don't. This puts the album out of order. The same thing happens when I use Volumio but Volumio doesn't show the complete album where as Rune Audio does. Volumio lists a number of the tracks as unknown but rune has no problem getting the names. Any idea why Rune would be added track numbers in front? When I look at the metadata in iTunes they all look the same.

[ACX]

Hi tulz43,
we chose to display the filename instead of the metadata when those are missing or badly encoded. Could it be your case?
Also check how those tracks are displayed by other MPD clients.

[tulz43]

Thank you. What is the best way to check the metadata? The filename as far as I can remember doesn't have a track number in it. If the metadata was bad you'd think the whole album would be like that. I'll see what another client does with the same albums tonight.

Should the folder be structured (ie: music/artist/album)? Or should everything be in music?

[tulz43]

Using mPod it mirrors the way rune audio displays. So that would mean it's the metadata then?

[ACX]

Yes, it's the metadata, and structuring the folder tree does not have effects on how a track name is displayed.
If you are under Windows try Mp3Tag, it's the best program I've tried so far for managing ID3tags.

[tulz43]

Thank you sir. Sure seems like all the good metadata programs are pc only and I'm on a mac. Might have to finally install bootcamp.

When I look at the data in iTunes it all looks correct. The only ones that do it seem to be from cd rips straight to iTunes. I had some flac that I converted to aiff and they don't do it.

Does Rune look for ID3v1 or ID3v2 tags?

[skrodahl]

This may be tangential to the topic, but it could perhaps be of use.

For all the strengths of mpd, there is still a lot to desire from a library-keeping viewpoint. One of my main gripes with mpd is the inability to handle files that lack correct track numbers in the tag. (RuneAudio circumvents this to a certain degree.)

All in all, the library needs to be kept tidy, and mpd is not the tool for it.

What I've done (also on a Mac, and I have not found a single tag editor that even works), is to use Subsonic (http://subsonic.org). It is a music player and a streamer, and it gives me access to all my music wherever I am through the web and app.

Subsonic's way of organizing the music library is by using folders, just like RuneAudio. It will find artwork for you, and the web interface ID3 tag editor is excellent. It will also give you different views, like recently added / most played etc, and I was using it to create playlists before RuneAudio 0.3. I always double-check all tags in Subsonic before updating the mpd database.

I realize that this might not be the solution you're looking for. It's my way of organizing my library, and I hope it can be of some help.

(I can't say much about iTunes' abilities, as it doesn't support flac.)

(Edit: A couple of minor typos, message was sent from my phone.)

[tulz43]

Thanks a bunch skrodahl! I'm definitely not trying to use MPD as an organize. I used iTunes while ripping all cd's to aiff. I'll give subsonic a try and see what happens. I need iTunes for my other idevices but I know you can turn off iTunes organization. So maybe iTunes could share the library of subsonic.

I was thinking of giving kid3 tagger a try. It works with AIFF files and all platforms.

[skrodahl]

Thanks a bunch skrodahl! I'm definitely not trying to use MPD as an organize. I used iTunes while ripping all cd's to aiff. I'll give subsonic a try and see what happens. I need iTunes for my other idevices but I know you can turn off iTunes organization. So maybe iTunes could share the library of subsonic.

I was thinking of giving kid3 tagger a try. It works with AIFF files and all platforms.

As far as I know, iTunes is also using a folder structure (as well as a separate DB) to organize the music.

As you've seen with RuneAudio, you can point it to that folder structure and use the music from there. You can do the same with Subsonic.

While RuneAudio is only reading the files, you have to be aware that Subsonic also can change your files (which was kind of the point in the first place). The folder structure is always intact, but ID3-tags can be changed and the cover art is added as a jpg file in the album folder.