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Topic: Album List Management? (Read 4093 times) previous topic - next topic
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Album List Management?

Ok, so just remember I am an easily confused senior citizen trying Foobar out for the first time this week.  Pls. bear with me.

I have got album art working. Great!
I have got an album list which merges all files from any hard drive into one great album list. Double Plus Great!

TWO MORE NEWBIE QUESTIONS THAT SEEM TO ELUDE ME IN THE FAQs and Wiki etc.
1.  I would like a album list for different types of music....ambient, classical etc.  How can I create an album list from simple directory names that WON'T merge with all the pop titles in my existing album list?  If I just go 'add" and select my classical hard drive won't that just merge all my classical in with the pop list I have already?

or

is it a question of sorting the album list.  If so, I don't trust that I have files with tags for music type.  Can I sort just by directory instead?  I have just "all music" showing at the top of the tree now.

2.The look is very stark.  Isn't there a way to put a skin on Foobar?

3.  Sorry, one more...is there a gapless plugin?  I can's see it by name....I think it goes by a different name?

Thanks a lot.

Album List Management?

Reply #1 –
There are ways to process portions of the directory name to sort your music. You'd need to use a function like $directory(%path%,3). However I have found that the overall structure of foobar and TAGZ lends itself better to using proper tags instead of continually extracting information from your directory structure. There are a lot of powerful functions in foobar for manipulating and maintining proper tags on your files. For example to update your music genre tag based on the directory they reside in you can do this:

- Put all the music you want to work with into a playlist.
- Highlight all the songs you want to update and right click on the selection.
- Select the "Tagging" submenu then the option "Manage scripts" from the menu
- You should see the masstagger dialogue window. If you see anything in the upper left "Actions to perform" section. Click [Clear] to start a new script.
- Click the [Add] button to make a new script. Select "Format value from other fields" and click [OK]
- For the "Destination field name" select "GENRE". Now the formatting pattern you need to enter the function we mentioned above such as $directory(%path%,3).
- Click [OK] and this should add the entry in the actions to perform.
- Click [Run] and it will update the GENRE tag on all the previously selected files based on the directory stucture.

NOTE: You will need to play with the number in $directory(%path%,3) to suit your needs. I would suggest using a temporary foo_trackinfo panel to play with this string until you get what you need.  For more functions to manipulate this refer to the file titleformat_help.html in your main foobar directory.  And as always, when dealing with a new function you are not confident in please backup the files you will modify in the event you mess up.

Album List Management?

Reply #2 –
Thankyou  for the tip...however I was hoping to avoid a workaround like that.  I've been collecting music for awhile, and would have to check/edit the tags of over 26,000 tracks.

Album List Management?

Reply #3 –
Then you will need to whip up a custom album sort string using $directory(%path%,n).  And the automated process described above will quickly handle 26,000 files in only a few minutes.

Album List Management?

Reply #4 –
Thanks.

Album List Management?

Reply #5 –
Quote from: psychokid on
1.  I would like a album list for different types of music....ambient, classical etc.  How can I create an album list from simple directory names that WON'T merge with all the pop titles in my existing album list?  If I just go 'add" and select my classical hard drive won't that just merge all my classical in with the pop list I have already?

Assuming your Genre settings are ok, you should create JPG files with similar names to the genre names and place all of them in one folder.

on the Album Art panel path options, put c:\pix\%genre%.jpg (replace c:\pix with your foldername).
Putting this line underneath the other lines looking for artist/album/folder and such, and over the "no cover" folder (marked by -- in the beginning of the line), you'll be able to show this custom pic for each genre, in case they don't have an album/artist pic of their own.
Quote
2.The look is very stark.  Isn't there a way to put a skin on Foobar?

Not as such. There are, however, many many options of using panels and such. Look for the "Foobar Appearance" thread.

Note that all appearance customizations require the Columns_UI component.
Quote
3.  Sorry, one more...is there a gapless plugin?  I can's see it by name....I think it goes by a different name?

Try looking for "continuator". It's a DSP plugin that can perform gapless playing or crossfades.


Have a good time. Foobar's full of options, but requires quite a lot of patience at start.
Try to read Wikis and forum thread about all components you use. Took me ages, but it's worth it.
It's a whole new world, this player. Takes time, takes energy, takes endless hours on forums and such (if you really want to customize it completely to your needs) - but it's probably the last player you'll ever have.

g'night everybody

Album List Management?

Reply #6 –
Quote from: hal9001 on
Quote from: psychokid on

1.  I would like a album list for different types of music....ambient, classical etc.  How can I create an album list from simple directory names that WON'T merge with all the pop titles in my existing album list?  If I just go 'add" and select my classical hard drive won't that just merge all my classical in with the pop list I have already?

Assuming your Genre settings are ok, you should create JPG files with similar names to the genre names and place all of them in one folder.

on the Album Art panel path options, put c:\pix\%genre%.jpg (replace c:\pix with your foldername).
Putting this line underneath the other lines looking for artist/album/folder and such, and over the "no cover" folder (marked by -- in the beginning of the line), you'll be able to show this custom pic for each genre, in case they don't have an album/artist pic of their own.

LIST, not art, he said.
Quote
Quote
2.The look is very stark.  Isn't there a way to put a skin on Foobar?

Not as such. There are, however, many many options of using panels and such. Look for the "Foobar Appearance" thread.

Note that all appearance customizations require the Columns_UI component.

Um... no they don't? THere are plenty of advanced titleformatting scripts that dont need Columns UI.
Quote
Quote
3.  Sorry, one more...is there a gapless plugin?  I can's see it by name....I think it goes by a different name?

Try looking for "continuator". It's a DSP plugin that can perform gapless playing or crossfades.


Have a good time. Foobar's full of options, but requires quite a lot of patience at start.
Try to read Wikis and forum thread about all components you use. Took me ages, but it's worth it.
It's a whole new world, this player. Takes time, takes energy, takes endless hours on forums and such (if you really want to customize it completely to your needs) - but it's probably the last player you'll ever have.

g'night everybody

Or, he could fix his MP3 headers.
err... i'm not using windows any more ;)