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Topic: Tweaking Album Artist tag to show blank in Playlist (Read 2494 times) previous topic - next topic
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Tweaking Album Artist tag to show blank in Playlist

Hello,

I want to tweak the Album Artist tag so that it does not automatically substitute the Artist when the former is blank. I have added Album Artist as a column in my Playlist view. I want to sort the library so I can see when Album Artist is blank. I want to make the edits manually.

TIA

Re: Tweaking Album Artist tag to show blank in Playlist

Reply #1 –
Code: [Select]
$if(%album artist%,%album artist%)
is supposed to achieve this, and it does, but it doesn't seem to work for .cue sheets for me for some reason...

Re: Tweaking Album Artist tag to show blank in Playlist

Reply #2 –
Okay, I've forgotten about the $meta function, it seems to do the trick.
So,
Code: [Select]
$if($meta(album artist),%album artist%)
should do exactly what you want

Re: Tweaking Album Artist tag to show blank in Playlist

Reply #3 –
Try this
Code: [Select]
$if2($meta(album artist),)

Re: Tweaking Album Artist tag to show blank in Playlist

Reply #4 –
Thanks for the reply, Pollux, but I am a dummy. Can you tell me exactly what to do? Does this piece of code need to be added somewhere? Or, does an existing code need to be edited?

TIA

Re: Tweaking Album Artist tag to show blank in Playlist

Reply #5 –
Quote from: isaiah36 on
Thanks for the reply, Pollux, but I am a dummy. Can you tell me exactly what to do? Does this piece of code need to be added somewhere? Or, does an existing code need to be edited?

TIA
In File=>preferences=>playlist view edit the contents of your "album artist" column. Replace %album artist% with the code (mine or jazzthieve's. His is neater, but basically it doesn't matter).

Re: Tweaking Album Artist tag to show blank in Playlist

Reply #6 –
Thanks, Pollux! I went ahead and tried exactly that with jazzthieve's code, after checking the box for 'Use custom sort script' in the column properties. It worked.

But I have a lot of manual editing to do! Is there a way I can tell Foobar to batch edit all the empty Album Artist tags with the contents of the Artist tag? I need this only for the empty fields. Plex Media Server only reads Album Artist, and makes a mess of my library. I want to make it easier so the rest of the family can listen to music from the phone or the TV, without a computer.

Re: Tweaking Album Artist tag to show blank in Playlist

Reply #7 –
You'd be better off with dedicated tag editing software. There are components for Foobar for that purpose though, like masstagger, So you might want to try that first.

Re: Tweaking Album Artist tag to show blank in Playlist

Reply #8 –
Quote from: isaiah36 on
Is there a way I can tell Foobar to batch edit all the empty Album Artist tags with the contents of the Artist tag?

Library menu > Search, enter the pattern -

Code: [Select]
"$meta(album artist)" MISSING

Select all the resulting tracks (click a track and Ctrl-A)

Right-click tracks > Properties

Right-click Album Artist field > 'Format from other fields', enter the pattern -

Code: [Select]
%artist%

Check the preview and OK, OK.

Re: Tweaking Album Artist tag to show blank in Playlist

Reply #9 –
Thanks, Anamorphic! It's working, and it reads the database lightning fast! Amazing. Is there any limit to the awesomeness of Foobar?

Re: Tweaking Album Artist tag to show blank in Playlist

Reply #10 –
Any idea why DSF files may not be taking tags? I have converted some DFF files to DSF for meta tags, but the tags are not sticking somehow.

Re: Tweaking Album Artist tag to show blank in Playlist

Reply #11 –
foo_input_sacd does not support editing tags, to my knowledge. And neither does my component, foo_input_dsdiff.

Re: Tweaking Album Artist tag to show blank in Playlist

Reply #12 –
Quote from: kode54 on
foo_input_sacd does not support editing tags, to my knowledge. And neither does my component, foo_input_dsdiff.

It is not a consistent behavior oddly. Some files do take tags, others do not. The Masstagger tool wiped a lot of old tags out. I suspect they were not embedded tags, but a separate db Foobar maintains to keep the files orderly even if they cannot be tagged.

I had read somewhere that DFF files are not taggable but DSF files are. Now, I am using an app called EZ Meta Tag Editor (free trial) which is able to embed tags in both.
 

Re: Tweaking Album Artist tag to show blank in Playlist

Reply #13 –
Just FYI for anyone reading about the Masstagger, it did the main thing I needed done. but it did not do something else. I tried to remove a string of words from the title field, and it returned 'No changes'. The string was '(2010 Digital Remaster)' embedded in the titles. It could be I was doing it wrong somehow.