-Brading Software Message Board
+--Forum: Mp3/Tag Studio Suggestions
+---Topic: Auto Tag - expected file name format started by Icester
Posted by: Icester on Dec. 24 2005,03:35
I have a suggestion that should be easy to implement and would be huge benefit to those with fairly carefully named mp3 collections.
The AutoTag feature is VERY nice. However, if the filename and directory structure is not in the correct format then it throws a warning and results can be somewhat unpredictable.
My suggestion is that you have "Alternate expected file name format handling" rules. In other words, if the expected file name format does not match the "Expected file name format" then it goes to the next expected format and uses its rule - if it doesn't match, then go on to the next expected format etc.
"Why?" you ask. Let me give an example. Supposed I have a collection that is formatted as follows:
\Artist\(Year) AlbumTitle\Track - Title.mp3 (most common format)
\Artist\AlbumTitle\Track - Title.mp3 (year of album unknown)
\Artist\Artist - Title.mp3 (for miscellaneous songs)
Thanks,
Icester
Posted by: Magnus Brading on Dec. 24 2005,18:09
If you think about this for a moment, you may see that it is not completely possible. This is because the program can never know if a folder name is e.g. an artist name, an album name, or a completely unrelated name.
Because of this, the best solution is instead often to combine the filter and the macro capability in Mp3/Tag Studio in a clever way, to accomplish practically the same effect.
Posted by: Icester on Dec. 25 2005,04:39
First of all, let me tell you what a great program mp3-tag studio is! Extemely functional without all the unnecessary fluff that you see all too often. Great job! Secondly, I can't believe how quickly you responded to my request!
I understand - that makes sense. I guess I am making the classic mistake of implying human intelligence to a programming problem. It is so easy for us to solve this problem. Also, I don't think I explained myself very well.
Suppose that the mp3's are named consistently such that there are certain delimiters that would always differentiate a field. As in the example from above:
\Artist\(Year) AlbumTitle\Track - Title.mp3 #1
\Artist\AlbumTitle\Track - Title.mp3 #2
\Artist\Artist - Title.mp3 #3
#1 is the most common. An example might be:
\Michael Jackson\(1984) Thriller\04 - Billy Jean.mp3
#2 - If there are no ( ) at the beginning of the album directory-actually if there is no leading (, then leave the year field blank. More importantly, when mass batch processing, it won't throw a lot of warnings. The program looks for #1 first but doesn't see a ( leading the "album directory name" so it goes to handler #2 which is "no year known".
#3 - If there are mp3 files in the artist directory (not in a "\albumtitle" or "\(year) albumtitle" subdirectory of the artist directory) then it would normally throw a warning because it expected to see 2 directories \artist\album. This would mean that #1 and #2 would both fail, therefore it would go to handler #3 that would leave the id3 tag for album and year blank.
Of course I understand that usefulness of this tool really depends on the consistency of the mp3 filenames in the collection.
Thanks.
Posted by: Magnus Brading on Dec. 28 2005,10:51
It's always nice to see creative ideas, so don't worry.
Anyway, some of your assumptions are wrong (e.g. in #3, the program will not know if it only has an "Artist" directory above it, since there will be some other directory above that one too, and nothing is normally done relative to the working dir, to enable complex operations like directory based auto-taggings on multiple recursive albums and such), and you are also not taking into consideration how complex such a multi-template system would be for people to use and understand. I always have to keep the delicate balance of keeping a powerful program while not completely scaring people away by making it too complex.
Posted by: Icester on Dec. 28 2005,21:38
You're right. I hadn't really considered that. I guess it would be useful to my own personal collection, but probably not to many others out there.
Thanks for all your feedback. I am really impressed!
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