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Topic: multiple artists supported in any tag formats? (Read 5936 times) previous topic - next topic
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multiple artists supported in any tag formats?

I've been trying to figure out how I can tag for songs that are duets.  Ideally I would love to have a way to put in multiple artists.  Does any tag format support this? 

If yes, I guess the next question would be what software allows this because I have installed a ton of programs looking for this feature and none of them seem to have it (or I just don't know where to look).

Thanks

multiple artists supported in any tag formats?

Reply #1 –
despite a real answer to your question, why don't you write something like
'A & B', 'A with B', or 'A feat. B'
for artist field, or the like, should be more than enough IMHO. space issues for the names are no problem I guess, so what's the downside?
Nothing but a Heartache - Since I found my Baby ;)

multiple artists supported in any tag formats?

Reply #2 –
For consistency, I change all "A with B" and "A feat B, C, D, E, etc." to "A, B, C, & D"

Edit:  You could do this with foobar2000 using artist01, artist02, and then writing a string to display it correctly.

multiple artists supported in any tag formats?

Reply #3 –
I currently do this. [Artist & Artist] where the first Artist is the Artist that released the album.  I just don't think it is logical to put 2 artists in the same field because software like itunes lists this the combination as a separate Artist as it should.

The downside is that when I browse for songs by artist it does so alphabetically.  Therefore I will need to remember which artist was placed first in the artist tag to find where the song is.

Also a featured artist is not another artist in my opinion and since a tool like Helium2 allows me to put a featured artist in it's own distinct field I prefer to tag it as such.  The only problem is that it doesn't allow me to separate the 2 artists in a duet so I am not sure if this is a limitation of the software or the tagging format.

I am happy with ID3v2 with the exception of multiple artists (unless it supports it and I don't know it) but if there is another tagging format that allows featured artists AND multiple artists, I will switch to that format. 

I just want more control and it to be more logical.

multiple artists supported in any tag formats?

Reply #4 –
I can't believe no one's mentioned flexible tag formats yet.

With Ogg Vorbis, Vorbis comments let you do just that. You can add "ARTIST=Sheryl Crow" and "ARTIST=Stevie Nicks" to the same file.

With some other formats, tagging in APEv2 will offer similar capabilities as well.

multiple artists supported in any tag formats?

Reply #5 –
Quote
I can't believe no one's mentioned flexible tag formats yet.

With Ogg Vorbis, Vorbis comments let you do just that. You can add "ARTIST=Sheryl Crow" and "ARTIST=Stevie Nicks" to the same file.

With some other formats, tagging in APEv2 will offer similar capabilities as well.
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Now that is what I was hoping for and what I thought existed.  The problem I think is that most (if not all) APEv2 compatible software restricts this editing by forcing a limited amount of tags on us.  I may be wrong on this but I haven't been able to find an editor/music manager that supports custom tags.  If you know of one, I would love to know.

multiple artists supported in any tag formats?

Reply #7 –
I thought that might be the only solution and have been looking into that program but haven't figured out how to use it properly yet.  I also was hoping for more a music "manager"  This just seems like a player and playlist program. 

I was able to add a field to a monkey's audio file but the problem now is that it is not searchable through the foobar interface so it is great that I have access to create that field but unless I can access it through a searchable interface it is kinda useless. 

I was playing with jriver media center and it seems like I can create additional fields in their database which is a much easier interface because I can make these fields visible AND can search AND organize by clicking on the title head which alphabetizes the list.  This is much easier but I haven't been able to figure out if it is possible to write this new field (which I called Secondary Artist) into the tag.  So I need some kind of combined functionality of foobar and media center together and I would be happy (yeah right...until I find more things to complain about lol)

Thanks for your suggestion though...this is what a great forum is all about.

multiple artists supported in any tag formats?

Reply #8 –
Enable the database in foobar2000's preferences, install some database-manipulation plugins for fb2k, and search away.

You can find more info at the fb2k forums.

multiple artists supported in any tag formats?

Reply #9 –
I have put out an idea multiple times (but it has got nowhere because of apathy of others to add it), it is simple:

Have in any Artist tag: artist1 \r artist2

that would be compatible with ID3v1, id3v2, ape, ogg, mp4 quicktime - well all, shouldn't break any existing program.

multiple artists supported in any tag formats?

Reply #10 –
Quote from: spoon on
I have put out an idea multiple times (but it has got nowhere because of apathy of others to add it), it is simple:

Have in any Artist tag: artist1 \r artist2

that would be compatible with ID3v1, id3v2, ape, ogg, mp4 quicktime - well all, shouldn't break any existing program.


OK, I realize I'm kicking a very old thread, but I think this would be a great idea. Any progress on that?

I was considering just making my own incompatible tagging scheme, but if I can keep compatibility, that would be better ofcourse

edit - a related question: can I append ogg-tags to mp3s without breaking compatibility (eg in hardware players)? That would somewhat help to set up this naming scheme. I'm sure the answer is already in the forum, but I couldn't cook up a sufficiently specific/sensitive query - "mp3 ogg-tag" didn't really do it

multiple artists supported in any tag formats?

Reply #12 –
Thanks, but I'm not sure how player- and format-independent that solution is? I'm not using foobar2000 nor monkey's audio anymore...

multiple artists supported in any tag formats?

Reply #13 –
I'm not sure what your question is?  Tagging is somewhat format specific.

If you are talking about multiple artists in MP3 ID3, ID3v2.3 defines "/" as a delimeter between names.  However, this is not commonly implemented.  (I think Microsoft might be the only one that follows that.)  ID3v2.4 defines a null byte between names.

As kjoonlee posted, APEv2 tagging supports multiple name attributes.  (APEv2 can be used with MP3 or other formats.)  FLAC & OGG has it, too... as does Microsoft's WMA container.

The problem is... the concept of multiple entries for Artists, Composers, Genres, etc. (and my favorite and much needed "Album Artist") is pretty foreign and you will find it's use quite rare in mainstream library management applications or media players.  Most just read the first name and ignore the others... or (in the case of ID3v2.3's "/" text delimiter) just treat the whole string as a single name.  Even if these concepts are somewhat implemented, it's even more rare the metadata tagging will interoperate nicely.

Ah, the lack of robust and enforced standards... it's just the price we pay.    Industry lowest common denominator due to popularity: iTunes & iPod.

multiple artists supported in any tag formats?

Reply #14 –
Quote from: grommet on
I'm not sure what your question is?  Tagging is somewhat format specific.

Ah yes, sorry about the vague formulation. My first post was about using the carriage return character in artist strings: I was wondering if that was getting any support.
And then the second thing was that I wondered how ape files would help, since I'd expect those to be less portable (as in not so widely supported).

Quote
If you are talking about multiple artists in MP3 ID3, ID3v2.3 defines "/" as a delimeter between names.  However, this is not commonly implemented.  (I think Microsoft might be the only one that follows that.)  ID3v2.4 defines a null byte between names.

As kjoonlee posted, APEv2 tagging supports multiple name attributes.  (APEv2 can be used with MP3 or other formats.)  FLAC & OGG has it, too... as does Microsoft's WMA container.

The problem is... the concept of multiple entries for Artists, Composers, Genres, etc. (and my favorite and much needed "Album Artist") is pretty foreign...


Thanks for explaining. I'll start using ID3v2.4 on my MP3 files then. All my newer files are ogg vorbis encoded, and indeed I just put multiple artist tags on them... but like you point out, not every app likes that...

multiple artists supported in any tag formats?

Reply #15 –
I am a simple folk, but I find laughable that ID3 folks just could not come up with something simple and let's face it beautiful as the Vorbis style. It is really not rocket science. This is a very significant reason that I stay with Ogg Vorbis.

However I wish to be prepared for braindead players, hence I make sure that my Vorbis tags only feature a single ARTIST tag using the format discussed above. I do not think that it is too bad. Especially because one day I venture into some sort of music organizer I will expect it to have powerful seach capability, which might remedy this situation.

Triza

multiple artists supported in any tag formats?

Reply #16 –
Quote from: Patsoe on
I'll start using ID3v2.4 on my MP3 files then.
Just be aware that ID3v2.4 support is not very common currently and not the "de facto" standard.  ID3v2.3 is safer for interoperability currently.  I personally don't expect that to change... (FYI: I dislike both informal standards -- they are half-baked.)

But... if all you use are products that handle ID3v2.4... go for it.

multiple artists supported in any tag formats?

Reply #17 –
Quote from: grommet on
Just be aware that ID3v2.4 support is not very common currently and not the "de facto" standard.  ID3v2.3 is safer for interoperability currently.  I personally don't expect that to change... (FYI: I dislike both informal standards -- they are half-baked.)


Thanks, I'll keep that in mind. For now, I only have a PC, so I'm fine. If I get a DAP at some point, let's just hope it wont crash on the tags - hoping for proper support would be too much to ask ofcourse