Artist - Track Name not recognized

[alecm33]

Hello, I loaded audio files using the file naming convention:  artist - trackname.wav.  However, mAirList database recognizes the file as one track name, ignoring the artist. 

Example: 'U2 - Acrobat.wav' is read as the track 'U2 -Acrobat' but the artist 'U2' is ignored.  I assume I don't have something enabled?  Any suggestions are welcome.

Thanks and regards, Alec

[Charlie]

Alec,
Has been like this for a while, see my old post here:
http://forum.mairlist.com/index.php/topic,2568.0.html

My workaround isn't much good if you're starting a fresh library, of course   In today's linear age I think a basic filename string check would work wonders when importing new files.  I remember Torben saying that first it checks for an MMD, then a Tag and if there are none it'll just use the filename as "Title".

[Torben]

I wonder, can you actually rely on a single dash as the artist/name separator? There can be a dash (enclosed by two blanks) in the filename for any reason. It doesn't necessarily separate the artist and title. It is not a convention - although many people name their files that way.

At eldoradio, we're using two dashes ("artist -- title.mp3"). That format is actually hard coded into mAirList.

I think I could add an option for the single dash convention, so people can switch it on or off as needed.

[Cad]

An even better idea would be to make the Artist/Title Separator string an option, like the prefix characters for soft/hard fixed times, and with a default of a single hyphen (sorry, eldoRadio, but most people IME do use a single hyphen!).

It would also be a good idea to have an option for 'Artist first' or 'Title first' in the filename (default: Artist first).

I think that providing those two options in the File import options of Config would cater for 90+% of all users, unless anyone knows differently?
--
BFN
CAD

[Charlie]

I have never seen the double-hyphen used but I can certainly appreciate it's usage. Practically every filename convention I've seen is ARTIST-TITLE with or without a space surrounding the hyphen. There are further tweaks to this along the lines of "Beatles, The" which people seem to favour but generally a single - character is the norm.

So, once again - for an initial import, you would have to use something like BulkRenameUtility to convert the - to -- , import your WAVs into mAirList, run the Set Item Attributes script, and then rename both your WAV and MMDs back to - at the end. Phew!

[Cad]

Let's not forget that if your files have an internal file tag, the file name is academic because mAirList will read the file tag in preference to the file name.

Beatles, The and similar artist 'names' is IMHO an (understandable) abomination.  The mani problem being when it comes to Now Playing and (to a lesser extent) your playout log.  If you use that system then logically (also IMHO), you should also say (for example) Wonder, Stevie, John, Elton, and (perhaps ugliest of all?) Flock Of Seagulls, A.

This was why I suggested some time ago that mAirListDB would benefit from an option similar to MediaMonkey, where you can define your own 'ignore' strings to be taken into account when placing Artists in alphabetic order.  In the UK and USA, you would probably use 'a;the' as that string.

My own (imperfect) solution is to have file names on disk in the form (for example) Beatles - Help.mp3, BUT in the file tag, I would have the Artist in the form The Beatles.
--
BFN
CAD

[Torben]

Let's not forget that if your files have an internal file tag, the file name is academic because mAirList will read the file tag in preference to the file name.

Alec was talking about WAV files...

[Charlie]

Although not popular in "domestic" circles, WAVs can have their own tag   Cartchunk, for example. An ID3 tag can also be stuck in a RIFF chunk and there is also the Broadcast Wave Format. BSI also have a free util that inserts an MPEG header into a WAV (PCM) file although these files are not compatible with all playout/media systems.

[Torben]

I know about all these tags, and they will be supported soon. But as you mention, they aren't widely used, at least for now.

[alecm33]

Charlie, Cad, Torben-

Thank you all for the replies!  Most CD rippers that I've seen support the artist - track.WAV format.  I use CDex (and sometimes EAC) and CDex uses this format.  While I understand the concern about a hyphen in the trackname, I think 90% or more of the files would work.  All of my rips are done in WAV, and I think WAV will become more popular for playout systems as HD prices continue to drop.    

If I could suggest the following:  Have a "File Name Format" configuration option.  The configuration could list a variety of options, enabled by checkbox (default: artist - title).  Actually, I think Cad's proposal is very good.      

Thank you and regards, Alec  

[Torben]

I know that many CD rippers use this format as a default format, and it works quite well if a human is looking at the file names. But it's not such a good machine readable format, because the hyphen is a very common character that is used for many other purposes, and then everything is getting ambigious. It's even worse when you have no spaces around the hyphen.

For example, I wouldn't want my automation software to break "Interview Jay-Z.wav" into artist: "Interview Jay" and title: "Z". That's why I believe this must be user configurable in some way. I would really prefer to have a more intelligent parser with user-defined formats, but it's not so easy to implement. Need to think of an elegant solution. Which is not so easy right now, with a six-day old child that keeps me from working during the day and sleeping during the night

[alecm33]

I didn't know.  Congratulations on the birth of your child!!!!

Alec

[Cad]

it's not such a good machine readable format, because the hyphen is a very common character that is used for many other purposes, and then everything is getting ambigious. It's even worse when you have no spaces around the hyphen.
…
That's why I believe this must be user configurable in some way. I would really prefer to have a more intelligent parser with user-defined formats

In practice, the Config option string would include the two spaces around the hyphen(s): so the default string would be <space>-<space>.  If anyone uses non-spaced hyphen(s) as their 'standard' Artist/Title delimiter string, then includes hyphens elsewhere in their file names, they clearly don't deserve software as excellent as mAirList; though they do deserve all the other consequences IMHO.
--
BFN
CAD