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Topic: The COMPILATION=1 tag in FLAC Vorbis Metadata (Read 2334 times) previous topic - next topic
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The COMPILATION=1 tag in FLAC Vorbis Metadata

Hello,
My media playing software checks if there is a COMPILATION=1 tag specified in the metadata of music files and displays those music compilation albums in a separate "Compilation" folder which is a good thing in my opinion.

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I was wondering if any of you use this tag as well and if there is any disadvantage of adding it to Vorbis metadata. Have you ever encountered problems with it? maybe on some external audio players?
From what I read media players rely on COMPILATION=1 to distinguish between a compilation and a normal album. For now I'm only using one media player called "Lollypop" in Linux and haven't had the chance to test it on other players.

I added the COMPILATION=1 tag to both multi-artist compilations that have the ALBUMARTIST set to Various Artists and for same-artist compilations as well.

Re: The COMPILATION=1 tag in FLAC Vorbis Metadata

Reply #1
There is a disadvantage to anything that external metadata sources might overwrite with something you don't want. I don't know if there is any of those taggers that will change/delete your COMPILATION=1 for same-artist compilations though.

I added the COMPILATION=1 tag to both multi-artist compilations that have the ALBUMARTIST set to Various Artists and for same-artist compilations as well.
Aren't there players who will replace the album artist with "Various Artists" if there is a COMPILATION or similarly named tag with "1"?


(I don't use "Various Artists", I make sure to get them to the end of the alphabet. Depending on how your locale does the sorting, you might try µVarious or something. An "international" keyboard has µ on AltGr+m.)

Re: The COMPILATION=1 tag in FLAC Vorbis Metadata

Reply #2
Quote
Aren't there players who will replace the album artist with "Various Artists" if there is a COMPILATION or similarly named tag with "1"?
That is possible. I haven't though about it. Thank you.

Re: The COMPILATION=1 tag in FLAC Vorbis Metadata

Reply #3
Usually albums are grouped by the Album Artist tag. This tag can contain any text of your choice, not precisely "Various Artists". If Album Artist == Artist, treat the track as belonging to a regular studio album.

You can add any number of additional tags that you wish. Perhaps one player uses a tag, but another uses a different one, and you can add both. Unless you mind the metadata looking slightly less tidy.

Re: The COMPILATION=1 tag in FLAC Vorbis Metadata

Reply #4
I've noticed that MusicBrainz Picard adds a RELEASETYPE tag to each album. It can have a value like "album", "compilation", or "single". I don't know if the RELEASETYPE makes any difference other than it can be used as a custom column in certain apps for sorting. I'm not sure about playlists. Is it possible to create a custom playlist based on a tag? like a separate playlist for compilations? Show all albums in this playlist that have RELEASETYPE=compilation.

Re: The COMPILATION=1 tag in FLAC Vorbis Metadata

Reply #5
Is it possible to create a custom playlist based on a tag? like a separate playlist for compilations? Show all albums in this playlist that have RELEASETYPE=compilation.
That is player-specific. I have no idea of that player you are using. Had you been on foobar2000 ...

Re: The COMPILATION=1 tag in FLAC Vorbis Metadata

Reply #6
I'm using DeadBeef in Linux which is pretty much a foobar2000 clone.  I think it's available for windows and mac as well but for windows probably foobar2000 is btter choice.
I'm going to try foobar2000 in a virtual machine to check how things look in it.

Re: The COMPILATION=1 tag in FLAC Vorbis Metadata

Reply #7
Scrolling https://deadbeef.sourceforge.io down to the bottom, they ask me what I am waiting for, and the answer is "a link to a help file" ...

In foobar2000 you can search for %releasetype% HAS comp, it looks like DeaDBeeF uses percent signs too ... fb2k can do without them as in releasetype HAS pila,  and you can use wildcards like %releasetype% IS compil* - furthermore you can search in a playlist to highlight those which match.

 

Re: The COMPILATION=1 tag in FLAC Vorbis Metadata

Reply #8
I always thought that compilations were multple artists only and didnt realise until recently that single artist 'collections
' are also included in the definition if they include some tracks previously released...just mentioning it incase someone didnt know either!

Seperately, I am fighting with the music app on my iphone to show the artists who have songs on multi artist compilations