Want to print artist/album list of ogg/mp3 files

[skwire]

"a mess*" = Inside the 10cc album The Very Best, are some tracks from Godley&Creme (former 10cc members), but because albumprinter (merely) is reading the tags it says I have an artist's folder named Godley&Creme. I don't, it is a 10cc album = a mess.
Come to think about it, you know there could many other examples like this.

-Curt (May 11, 2009, 06:23 PM)

At the risk of sounding defensive, I'd already mentioned in a previous post that VA (various artist) albums weren't handled (though they could be).  Also, I didn't want to depend on the directory structure since everybody is different when it comes to that.  For instance, I have a couple of root folders e.g.:

/Normal/P/Pearl Jam/[1991] Ten/01 - Once.wv
/Emulated/SNES/Seiken Densetsu 3/sd3-1-01.spc

The OP wanted to know the music format as well.  Anyway...no big deal.  The OP appears happy and that's what counts.   Thanks for your feedback.   

[bcpaladin]

I used Karen's Directory Printer.  I set it to print only folder and file names.

http://www.karenware...s/ptdirprn-setup.exe

[superboyac]

skwire, you are da man!!
I love this program.  Let me tell you my history with this issue:
Before the days of good desktop indexers (Google Desktop, Everything, X2, Copernic, etc.) it was very important for me to catalog the mp3 files on my computer.  I eventually settled on MP3 Collector, which was great at the time.  Since then, it has stopped being developed for the most part.  The BIG complaint with MP3 Collector was that it would export a list of the UNIQUE albums that you had.  It would give you just a list based on each mp3 file.  So if an album had 12 songs, there would be 12 lines in the list.  But all I wanted to know is which albums I have.  The developers always insisted the program wasn't meant for that because mp3 files are not physically grouped or whatever reason they gave.  They were basically saying they just didn't want to do it.  Then they said they MAY do it later.  Years later, nothing has happened.

The whole reason why i want this is because when I walk into a record store, I want to know which albums I have and which ones I don't, so I don't waste my time buying something I already have.  So this program is EXACTLY what I've been looking for.

[superboyac]

I'm thinking about the various artists issue.  I'm going to run into that also.  But it depends on how people tag these files.  I would think that most people have the "album" tag the same for an album with various artists.  Now, how do you deal with all the different names under "artist"?  Well, one thing the program can do is if it detects multiple artists for the same album name, it can assume that all of those are together, and either say <various> in the artist cell, or actually list all the different names (but that might be long and ugly looking).

The problem with that is the situation where two different artists name an album the same thing.  Especially with stuff like "Greatest hits".  So, in a case like that, maybe the program can THEN check to see if the files are in the same folder.  But then what if you have the folders split into 'Disc 1" "Disc 2"...so the folders will be different, but it's really the same album?  ugh...this can get complicated.  but not impossible!  i can do this...give me time.

[skwire]

skwire, you are da man!!
I love this program.

-superboyac (November 18, 2010, 11:10 AM)

Great to hear.  Thanks for the feedback.

I'm thinking about the various artists issue.  I'm going to run into that also.  But it depends on how people tag these files.  I would think that most people have the "album" tag the same for an album with various artists.  Now, how do you deal with all the different names under "artist"?  Well, one thing the program can do is if it detects multiple artists for the same album name, it can assume that all of those are together, and either say <various> in the artist cell, or actually list all the different names (but that might be long and ugly looking).

-superboyac (November 18, 2010, 11:23 AM)

Well, that's where the so-called "ALBUM ARTIST" tag comes in.

The problem with that is the situation where two different artists name an album the same thing.  Especially with stuff like "Greatest hits".  So, in a case like that, maybe the program can THEN check to see if the files are in the same folder.  But then what if you have the folders split into 'Disc 1" "Disc 2"...so the folders will be different, but it's really the same album?  ugh...this can get complicated.  but not impossible!  i can do this...give me time.

-superboyac (November 18, 2010, 11:23 AM)

Agreed, there are a bunch of different scenarios that could occur so, at best, anything you do will be imperfect.  However, to give you peace of mind, Album Printer does handle "different artist with the same album name" issue.  It combines the artist name with the album name and uses that to compare against its list.  So, in other words, "Artist_A - Greatest Hits" is considered different from "Artist B - Greatest Hits."

[superboyac]

Agreed, there are a bunch of different scenarios that could occur so, at best, anything you do will be imperfect.  However, to give you peace of mind, Album Printer does handle "different artist with the same album name" issue.  It combines the artist name with the album name and uses that to compare against its list.  So, in other words, "Artist_A - Greatest Hits" is considered different from "Artist B - Greatest Hits."

-skwire (November 18, 2010, 11:37 AM)

Yes, i think I can tell it's doing that already.  Very nice.  I want to throw some weird examples at it, but I'd have to do it at home where my files are.  I haven't tagged anything for a while.  I use to be borderline OCD about it.  So what happens when there's like a tribute album with several artists, and each artist is named as the "artist" on their track?  How does AP know the difference between that and a bunch of different "greatest hits" albums?

[skwire]

So what happens when there's like a tribute album with several artists, and each artist is named as the "artist" on their track?  How does AP know the difference between that and a bunch of different "greatest hits" albums?

-superboyac (November 18, 2010, 12:20 PM)

It doesn't.  That's what I meant in an earlier post when I said that various artist albums aren't currently handled.  There are a few methods that could attempt to handle this but the original poster didn't request it so I never added it.

[superboyac]

So what happens when there's like a tribute album with several artists, and each artist is named as the "artist" on their track?  How does AP know the difference between that and a bunch of different "greatest hits" albums?

-superboyac (November 18, 2010, 12:20 PM)

It doesn't.  That's what I meant in an earlier post when I said that various artist albums aren't currently handled.  There are a few methods that could attempt to handle this but the original poster didn't request it so I never added it.

-skwire (November 18, 2010, 12:26 PM)

OK, I see.  If I think of a good way to do that, I'll post it.

[skwire]

OK, I see.  If I think of a good way to do that, I'll post it.

-superboyac (November 18, 2010, 12:34 PM)

The perfect way would be for everything to have a proper ALBUM ARTIST tag but the chances of that are slim.  Another way is to check if a given album folder has only one artist.  However, this assumes the user has a properly formatted folder structure.  Not nearly all do; I know plenty of folks that still just dump all their music files into one folder.

[superboyac]

Yeah, personally, I wouldn't rely on any folder or file names and/or structures for this kind of thing.  It needs to go by the tags.  You can't help it if people don't use the tags the standard way.  I'm still looking for a good way to organize my classical music using the standard tags.  It's tough.  I've been trying different things for like 5 years, nothing has been satisfactory.

[skwire]

I didn't mean using folder or file names.  I meant it more like if a group of files within a folder (most folks keep one album in one given folder) contained more than one artist, that "album" could be considered a various artists album.  Does that make things more clear?

[superboyac]

Yeah, yeah...I'm just thinking out loud, sorry.  I'm not really suggesting anything that you haven't thought of at this point.  I'm positive whatever you figure out will work fine.

[longrun]

There are a few methods that could attempt to handle this but the original poster didn't request it so I never added it.

-skwire (November 18, 2010, 12:26 PM)

Original poster would be me. I didn't ask you to translate AP into Amharic either, but honestly, don't some things go without saying?

I still marvel that a few hours after inquiring about software like this I had my very own program in hand. Thanks again. I only wish I had similarly catalogued all my LPs before they were stolen a few years back. I can't remember half the music I had.

superboyac, if you ever solve the classical music issue to your satisfaction please let me know.

[skwire]

Original poster would be me. I didn't ask you to translate AP into Amharic either, but honestly, don't some things go without saying?

-longrun (November 18, 2010, 05:55 PM)

It depends.  If an additional feature can be added in a specific manner then, yes, I will usually add it even if I'm not explicitly asked to.  Handling various artist stuff isn't specific, however.  In fact, without proper ALBUM ARTIST tags, it's very inexact and a downright pain in the arse.    As I mentioned before, there are a few methods that could be employed but not all will work for everyone and I really don't want to get mired in a whole bunch of options trying to cater to all scenarios.  Does that help to explain my hesitation in adding this a bit better?

[longrun]

Damn. I sincerely and humbly apologize, skwire. This was my obviously lame and misguided attempt at humor. Once again I have learned that things don't always come across in writing as intended. (I guess smileys do have a purpose after all.) I did not ask for and never expected an allowance for various artists and in fact declined your generous offers for additional features. I was merely trying to say once again that you quickly and expertly helped me out with your amazing skills. Please forgive my unartful comment. You deserved better.

[skwire]

Damn. I sincerely and humbly apologize, skwire.

-longrun (November 18, 2010, 11:19 PM)

No need to apologise as I didn't take it that way.  I'm an easy-going, laid-back kind of guy.  I just wanted to expound a bit on why I hadn't added that capability.