How to view my music library using the same folder structure I have on my hard drive?
#1
----- NEW QUESTION IN LAST POST ----

I know in the Music Library you can search/sort by Genre, Album, Artist, etc....

But is it possible to sort the Library by ALBUM ARTIST?

Thanks!
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#2
Okay, let me rephrase this....

Is there an easy mod to make the Music Library sort by ALBUM ARTIST?
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#3
Okay, let me be more specific one more time.....

I have and an Album -> "Billboard Top 100"

It contains 100 different "Artists" playing 100 different "Titles" from 100 different "Albums".

This would obviously fill my Music Library with lots of "single"

I would like it to appear in my Library under just 1 title -> "Billboard Top 100"

How can I make that happen?

Thanks.
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#4
tag the files correctly

album; Billboard Top 100
artist album: Various Artists
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#5
Okay - But what happens when the song is playing? Won't the info on the screen display ->

Coldplay - Yellow - Billboard Top 100

instead of....

Coldplay - Yellow - Parachutes?

And won't the scrapper not find the info either, since there is no song called "Yellow" on an album called "Billboard Top 100"
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#6
I don't think you can have it both ways. A solution would be to set
title = "Yellow [Parachutes]" or "Yellow (Parachutes)" or "Yellow from 'Parachutes'"

B.
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#7
I think there must be a better way.....

If I tagged my files like this ->

artist - coldplay
album - parachutes
album artist - billboard top 100

artist - u2
album - war
album artist - u2

Then I would be able to sort my Library by Album Artist and have everything sorted quite nicely.

So is there anyway to add "ALBUM ARTIST" to the sort options in the Library?
Or is there another way of doing the same thing?
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#8
Yes, you can tag like you have shown.

XBMC uses Album Artist for artist sorting by default, If I remember correctly. I personally make sure Album Artist field is filled in every album.

For compilations, choose Album Artist = Various Artists (or whatever you desire). In settings, choose to not include artists from compilations. It will work just fine.
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#9
(2014-04-14, 00:12)whitebelly Wrote: [...] In settings, choose to not include artists from compilations.

This bit is key material. It will solve many a "mixed album" headache (Given that "Album Artist" tag is actually set).
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#10
Thanks. I just tried that, Here's my problem with that solution...... I have ->

Bob Marley
- Uprising
Coldplay
- Parachutes
Billboard Top 100
- 2009
- 2010
Cafe Del Mar
- Volume 1

If I view my Library by Artist, then 2009, 2010, and Cafe Del Mar Vol.1 all get grouped under "Various Artist".

So I guess i have a new question ->

How can I view my music library using the same folder/tree structure that I have on my hard drive?
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#11
Use the Files node under Music
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#12
(2014-04-16, 06:12)BubbaLovesTv Wrote: Thanks. I just tried that, Here's my problem with that solution...... I have ->

Bob Marley
- Uprising
Coldplay
- Parachutes
Billboard Top 100
- 2009
- 2010
Cafe Del Mar
- Volume 1

If I view my Library by Artist, then 2009, 2010, and Cafe Del Mar Vol.1 all get grouped under "Various Artist".

So I guess i have a new question ->

How can I view my music library using the same folder/tree structure that I have on my hard drive?

Instead of "Various Artists', set both the Album Artist & Artist fields= "Billboard Top 100" or "Various - Billboard Top 100" (this is how I do it). If you want to preserve artist information for individual songs, you may want to include it in the filename or comment tag.
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#13
(2014-04-16, 09:20)jjd-uk Wrote: Use the Files node under Music

Yeah, but I don't get all the pretty artwork when I scroll through the menu! :-)

(2014-04-16, 12:17)whitebelly Wrote: Instead of "Various Artists', set both the Album Artist & Artist fields= "Billboard Top 100" or "Various - Billboard Top 100" (this is how I do it). If you want to preserve artist information for individual songs, you may want to include it in the filename or comment tag.

If I change the Artist field, wouldn't that mess up the scraper?
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#14
I believe it would. Seing that you've already set "Album artist" as "Various artists" or similar - there will not be any match to this from the scraper, its just a generic label. If you set "Artist" as something generic in the "artist" field too, there will be no scraper match at all.
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#15
(2014-04-16, 06:12)BubbaLovesTv Wrote: Thanks. I just tried that, Here's my problem with that solution...... I have ->

Bob Marley
- Uprising
Coldplay
- Parachutes
Billboard Top 100
- 2009
- 2010
Cafe Del Mar
- Volume 1

If I view my Library by Artist, then 2009, 2010, and Cafe Del Mar Vol.1 all get grouped under "Various Artist".

Looking at this, you have different "Year" tag on some of the files in "Billboard Top 100". If this is not intentional, you need to set all files in this folder with the same year tag, that way the "year" tree structure will go away.

If you kept the "Artist" tag as the originals, and only set "Album Artist" as "Various Artist" - then yes, you will find these albums under Various Artists. However, the individual songs should still be available under the original artist name. I would, however, reccommend that you set "Album" tag for files in these mix albums, as "Singles" ore something similar. If not, when sorting by Artist - you'll end up with a ton of albums for these artists, with just one track inside. A very inconvenient and frustrating way to browse music.

Cleaning up a music collection for the change from just filename & path browsing, to indexed database - can be a frustrating task - the "mixed albums" usually the trickiest part, depending on how you want it.
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