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what exactly is the "compliation" switch/tag for various-art

In the various (pun not intended) ways to get media libraries to treat compilation/various-artist albums differently (such as writing "various artists" in the "album artist" field), I'm asking here specifically about the the "compilation" tag/switch.
Compilation albums that come out of iTunes have a tag field that shows up in foobar2000 as ITUNESCOMPILATION with a value of 1 in the field (so effectively it's 1/0 switch). Is this what people refer to when they talk about the "compilation" switch, or do some people use a field/switch that's just called COMPILATION?
Thanks.
God kills a kitten every time you encode with CBR 320

what exactly is the "compliation" switch/tag for various-art

Reply #2 –
Quote from: ozmosis82 on
Check out:
http://www.hydrogenaudio.org/forums/index....showtopic=31211
I believe its usefulness is primarily an iTunes one.

Thanks for the link. My interest is in that if I make a mix cd and put the mp3's in a zip file to give to friends who listen to music on their computers instead of on cd, should I try to put the iTunes Compilation stamp on there?
Tracks from compilation albums ripped or tagged in iTunes show up in foobar2000 with a tag field titled ITUNESCOMPILATION (and "1" is written in the field). For the record, I've only checked this in aac files coming out of iTunes so I don't know if foobar2000 would display the compilation tag from an iTunes mp3 file.

I just used foobar2000 to stick a custom tag field on the mp3 files of my mix cd, so each file has a value of "1" in the field ITUNESCOMPILATION. I don't know if iTunes will read this tag and classify the songs as part of a compilation if someone imports the mp3's from my mix cd into iTunes, but if it doesn't work, at least it hasn't hurt anything beyond adding a few bytes of non-harmful data to each filesize.
God kills a kitten every time you encode with CBR 320

what exactly is the "compliation" switch/tag for various-art

Reply #3 –
I use MP3TAG to create an ITUNESCOMPILATION field with a value of "1" for compilation disks. When I add these to my ITUNES library, ITUNES recognizes that these are compilations automatically.  Note that there is another field simply called COMPILATION that also takes on a value of 0 or 1.  This is created in my case when I rip CDs in dbpoweramp and the CD is a compilation of some sort (soundtrack, etc.).  ITUNES does not do anything with the plain COMPILATION tag. In fact, I use mp3tag to scan my files and if the compilation field is set to 1, it creates a ITUNESCOMPILATION with value of 1. The code for the mp3tag action is:

Code: [Select]
$if($neql(%itunescompilation%,),%itunescompilation%,%compilation%)


The only effect of the ITUNESCOMPILATION is that these albums are listed under compilations in the artist listings. Otherwise, the album would be listed mulitple times under each artist on the compilation. Some people like the former, some the latter.  There is also a setting on the IPOD to list compilation albums under a separate compilation heading or separately for each artist.

See my posting part way down in this thread for lots more info on doing things to mp3/aac files before importing into ITUNES that might be useful. In short, I turn Album replaygain values into soundcheck values, etc.

http://www.hydrogenaudio.org/forums/lofive...php/t61524.html

what exactly is the "compliation" switch/tag for various-art

Reply #4 –
iTunes uses its own ID3v2 entry called TCMP for mp3s

what exactly is the "compliation" switch/tag for various-art

Reply #5 –
Quote from: spoon on
iTunes uses its own ID3v2 entry called TCMP for mp3s
Yes, and a reminder for the original poster... "Album Artist" is stored as TPE2 in MP3 ID3v2, which is referenced as BAND in mp3tag.  iTunes has a half baked implementation of Album Artist, though... outside of Cover Flow.  But you should set it appropriately.

what exactly is the "compliation" switch/tag for various-art

Reply #6 –
Quote from: garym on
The only effect of the ITUNESCOMPILATION is that these albums are listed under compilations in the artist listings. Otherwise, the album would be listed mulitple times under each artist on the compilation.


Also, if iTunes is set to organize a collection it will put a "compliation" album in a directory (folder) called "Compilations".  Usually it puts them in Artist > Album.  If you didn't tag it as a compilation, a compilation album would be split up with some tracks in each artist's directory.  That'd be a nuisance if you wanted the album kept together on disk.

what exactly is the "compliation" switch/tag for various-art

Reply #7 –
>"Album Artist" is stored as TPE2 in MP3 ID3v2, which is referenced as BAND in mp3tag

I would say that is the standard now, especially as WMP does also, there is (a guess) 99% of audio player (software, not hardware) market right there.

what exactly is the "compliation" switch/tag for various-art

Reply #8 –
Quote from: garym on
I use MP3TAG to create an ITUNESCOMPILATION field with a value of "1" for compilation disks. When I add these to my ITUNES library, ITUNES recognizes that these are compilations automatically.  Note that there is another field simply called COMPILATION that also takes on a value of 0 or 1.  This is created in my case when I rip CDs in dbpoweramp and the CD is a compilation of some sort (soundtrack, etc.).  ITUNES does not do anything with the plain COMPILATION tag. In fact, I use mp3tag to scan my files and if the compilation field is set to 1, it creates a ITUNESCOMPILATION with value of 1

Okay, good. So I assume I can use foobar2000 to write the tag ITUNESCOMPILATION=1 to all of my various artists and compilation discs and that if these files end up in iTunes they will be properly classified as compilation albums. I was wondering if the tag needed to specifically be written by iTunes (with its own slightly weird id3 structure) to be recognized by iTunes.
God kills a kitten every time you encode with CBR 320

what exactly is the "compliation" switch/tag for various-art

Reply #9 –
Quote from: spoon on
>"Album Artist" is stored as TPE2 in MP3 ID3v2, which is referenced as BAND in mp3tag

I would say that is the standard now, especially as WMP does also, there is (a guess) 99% of audio player (software, not hardware) market right there.


Winamp also uses TPE2 for Album Artist - it's by now the de facto standard, just like TCMP for compilation.

what exactly is the "compliation" switch/tag for various-art

Reply #10 –
To clarify, this all works as I indicated, but I'm using mp3tag to add ITUNESCOMPILATION tag. ITUNES picks up tag automatically when I add the files to the ITUNES library. But note that when I open these files within fb2k, fb2k doesn't recognize the ITUNESCOMPILATION (when I look at file properties or add a column with %itunescompilation% fb2k doesn't show anything for this field).  I didn't spend much time investigating this because I got the outcome I wanted with mp3tag (and have to use mp3tag to convert ITUNES soundcheck values to replaygain album gain anyhow).

p.s. I can also map "compilation" to "itunescompilation% in dbpoweramp when encoding from FLAC to mp3 file and ITUNES recognizes this.

Quote from: timcupery on
Quote from: garym on

I use MP3TAG to create an ITUNESCOMPILATION field with a value of "1" for compilation disks. When I add these to my ITUNES library, ITUNES recognizes that these are compilations automatically.  Note that there is another field simply called COMPILATION that also takes on a value of 0 or 1.  This is created in my case when I rip CDs in dbpoweramp and the CD is a compilation of some sort (soundtrack, etc.).  ITUNES does not do anything with the plain COMPILATION tag. In fact, I use mp3tag to scan my files and if the compilation field is set to 1, it creates a ITUNESCOMPILATION with value of 1

Okay, good. So I assume I can use foobar2000 to write the tag ITUNESCOMPILATION=1 to all of my various artists and compilation discs and that if these files end up in iTunes they will be properly classified as compilation albums. I was wondering if the tag needed to specifically be written by iTunes (with its own slightly weird id3 structure) to be recognized by iTunes.

what exactly is the "compliation" switch/tag for various-art

Reply #11 –
Well, it's good to know that the tag which foobar2000 calls BAND is formally the TPE2 field, and that the supposed iTunes-specific compilation switch (as fb2k and mp3tag call it ITUNESCOMPILATION) is formally the TCMP field.

When fb2k writes "Various Artists" in the BAND field, it appears that it's writing it in the TPE2 field, as WMP reads this correctly.

Given garym's experience, I'm not sure that using fb2k to write a custom tag field named ITUNESCOMPILATION (with value = 1) will be properly read by iTunes - that is, I'm not sure it's using the TCMP field.

Quote from: eofor on
Winamp also uses TPE2 for Album Artist - it's by now the de facto standard, just like TCMP for compilation.

I just tested using Winamp, and it recognizes either the BAND (TPE2) field OR the fb2k-specific "Album Artist" field as being Album Artist. If the two fields differ, then winamp will display the value from the TPE2/BAND field.
God kills a kitten every time you encode with CBR 320

what exactly is the "compliation" switch/tag for various-art

Reply #12 –
Quote
p.s. I can also map "compilation" to "itunescompilation% in dbpoweramp when encoding from FLAC to mp3 file and ITUNES recognizes this.


If you install R13 alpha it will write compilation out as TCMP, or use the [update ID Tag] utility codec on existing mp3 files to change compilation to TCMP.

what exactly is the "compliation" switch/tag for various-art

Reply #13 –
I'm resurrecting this thread to note conclusions about the ITUNESCOMPILATION tag.

- iTunes writes this tag in the TCMP field, with a value of "1" for compilations, otherwise the tag is not written
- Mp3tag will recognize this field, and will write the TCMP field if asked to write an ITUNESCOMPILATION field
- foobar2000 does not recognize an TCMP tag written by either iTunes or Mp3tag. If you use foobar2000 to write an ITUNESCOMPILATION field, it writes its own unique tag, which is different than what iTunes writes (or recognizes as a compilation). If foobar2000 rewrites the tags for an mp3 file, it strips existing TCMP field (whether written by iTunes or Mp3tag).
- Mp3tag can recognize both TCMP (written by itself or iTunes) and foobar2000's ITUNESCOMPILATION field, and if looking at a file that has both, it will show two fields both with the name ITUNESCOMPILATION. The second such field is the foobar2000-written field.

So here's a request for a change in foobar2000: if fb2k is asked to write a custom tag field called ITUNESCOMPILATION, it would be great if that wrote to the TCMP tag. At present (0.9.6) it can neither write nor recognize that tag, and so an existing TCMP tag gets stripped if fb2k is used to modify or rewrite tags.
God kills a kitten every time you encode with CBR 320

what exactly is the "compliation" switch/tag for various-art

Reply #14 –
Quote from: timcupery on
I'm resurrecting this thread to note conclusions about the ITUNESCOMPILATION tag.

...So here's a request for a change in foobar2000: if fb2k is asked to write a custom tag field called ITUNESCOMPILATION, it would be great if that wrote to the TCMP tag. At present (0.9.6) it can neither write nor recognize that tag, and so an existing TCMP tag gets stripped if fb2k is used to modify or rewrite tags.

So I'm a _long-time_ HA reader, and registered today just to say "OMG PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE" in support of Tim's request.

I'm like (I suspect) many folks, for better or worse (I lean toward "worse"), I'm tied to iTunes (three iphones in the house) and, while I use f2k for all in-home playback, I have to use iTunes and would LOVE LOVE LOVE to see this feature implemented.

Cheers (& thanks).

what exactly is the "compliation" switch/tag for various-art

Reply #15 –
Quote from: hiddentrout on
So I'm a _long-time_ HA reader, and registered today just to say "OMG PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE" in support of Tim's request.

I'm like (I suspect) many folks, for better or worse (I lean toward "worse"), I'm tied to iTunes (three iphones in the house) and, while I use f2k for all in-home playback, I have to use iTunes and would LOVE LOVE LOVE to see this feature implemented.

Glad to hear it

I started a thread detailing a request to change fb2k's tagging protocol to handle the ITUNESCOMPILATION (TCMP) field.
http://www.hydrogenaudio.org/forums/index....showtopic=68904

foobar2000 could be programmed to handle ITUNNORM comments (a non-standard comment field) as separate from the normal COMMENT field, and to use the TPE2 field (which foobar reads as BAND) TO "Album Artist" since it has become the de facto standard because of embrace by WMP and iTunes.

I understand that these iTunes are not per the official id3 standard, but so far as I know, there are not real or practical costs/downsides to fb2k being programmed to at least work with the iTunes standards.

Ironically enough, Windows Media Player, while not acknowledging or displaying the existence of a TCMP tag for iTunescompilation, does keep that tag when it is used to edit tags on mp3 files, whereas fb2k strips this field.
God kills a kitten every time you encode with CBR 320
 
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