Music Database Duplicate ID3 Tags

[slaman]

It's odd - I import my music collection and a single tag will show up twice... for example, I will have two selections for the "Dancehall" genre, even though they are exactly the same tag... I've already tried deleting the database and reimporting.

[slaman]

I've noticed a similar thing with movie genres too... odd!

[mememe]

What format is your music stored in? Does this only happen with a particular format?

I ask because I had this problem with flac files. In my case it was caused by someone putting and ID3 tag in it which isn't supported. I simply stripped the tag and edited the vorbis comment (which is the supported tagging format for flac) and the problem went away.

[slaman]

What format is your music stored in? Does this only happen with a particular format?

I ask because I had this problem with flac files. In my case it was caused by someone putting and ID3 tag in it which isn't supported. I simply stripped the tag and edited the vorbis comment (which is the supported tagging format for flac) and the problem went away.

My music is stored entirely in .mp3 format...

[mememe]

Have you checked to be sure that the same information isn't being stored in some arcane section of the tag (like many programs will copy artist to album artist automatically)?

[slaman]

Have you checked to be sure that the same information isn't being stored in some arcane section of the tag (like many programs will copy artist to album artist automatically)?

Really odd... I removed the entire database, ran all my mp3s through mp3tag and pressed "save". Then I refreshed my database and all duplicates were gone in XLobby... odd... I'm thinking it may be due to the fact that some mp3s were missing id3v2 tags, and only had id3v1 tags?

Anyways, two more small issues:

a)
- I can't get my filter for "artist" working properly... genre, originalartist, trackname, year, and albumname all work fine... but artist doesn't (it only searches for originalartist)
- I sort my mp3 list using: originalartist:albumname:tracknumber:artist:trackname, which may have something to do with it

b)
- I want a button that works the same way as pressing F2, going to databases, selecting music, and pressing refresh, then sort
- I tried to create an event that does "refresh music", the sets sort order, then performs another refresh... nothing happens

Any ideas? Thanks mememe!

[mememe]

a)Generally it imports information like originalartist from the tag. Is artist showing as a field in your database/xml file, and does it have the correct information? Why two different tags for artist and originalartist (what are you trying to differentiate exactly)? My first step for troubleshooting would be to remove the originalartist from the sort and see if artist is picked up then. (just as a side note, I have found it's a good idea to put tracknumber at the start of your sort since some albums will have them added in the wrong order otherwise and it doesn't effect anything else since only the tracks have that field. For your uses I would try something like tracknumber:artist:year:albumname which should give you the same results with the added benefit of listing the albums for each artist according to the year of their release. Having trackname at the end of the sort isn't really needed since it is already going to be overridden by the tracknumber that appears earlier in the sort statement, and is probably causing some of your issues that require a sort after refreshing the database.)

b)Setup an event using the "refresh" command (under category in the list) and enter the name of your music category. Then tie that event to a button. Anytime that button is pushed, it will refresh the database attached to that category (in this case music). They should automatically be added in the sort order you have already specified for that database, you shouldn't need to sort after an add unless you are changing the sort order for the entire database. If they are being added in the wrong order, then it's most likely an issue with file naming or the tags (such as albums randomly being picked up as various artists when they aren't). In general, the tags are going to have the greatest impact on things being imported correctly. I recently spent several days doing a mass re-tagging of about 600 albums, but I can hit import anytime and everything ends up exactly as it should. After that initial fix it's easy to just do it as you get new albums.

[slaman]

a)Generally it imports information like originalartist from the tag. Is artist showing as a field in your database/xml file, and does it have the correct information? Why two different tags for artist and originalartist (what are you trying to differentiate exactly)? My first step for troubleshooting would be to remove the originalartist from the sort and see if artist is picked up then. (just as a side note, I have found it's a good idea to put tracknumber at the start of your sort since some albums will have them added in the wrong order otherwise and it doesn't effect anything else since only the tracks have that field. For your uses I would try something like tracknumber:artist:year:albumname which should give you the same results with the added benefit of listing the albums for each artist according to the year of their release. Having trackname at the end of the sort isn't really needed since it is already going to be overridden by the tracknumber that appears earlier in the sort statement, and is probably causing some of your issues that require a sort after refreshing the database.)

Thanks for the feedback!!! I have now changed my sortorder to read: tracknumber:originalartist:albumname. The reason I have both originalartist and artist is that the first refers to the album's artist, whereas the latter refers to the track artist. This way I can have originalartist as Michael Jackson, and the track's artist field could be Michael Jackson Ft. Janet Jackson.

The proper tag for this is albumartist, but Xlobby doesn't import that tag.

Anyways, after making this slight change, my search filter is still returning originalartist and not artist. You had a good idea that it must be a conflict with the tagnames... Well, I tried to remove the originalartist tag from one of my albums, then searched for the artist field... still didn't show up. Only returned originalartist values still.

I'm thinking it's something to do with my button itself... I have an event on my search button that calls set filter - under category, music is set, and under Filter, I had artist. I changed this to "comments" and still nothing... it must be a corrupt button???

So I create a new button... no change. Must be the event?

I create a brand new event... and this time I get rid of the OriginalArtist event... turns out the track artist one works now, but the originalartist one doesn't. Definitely a bug in the program I think....

b)Setup an event using the "refresh" command (under category in the list) and enter the name of your music category. Then tie that event to a button. Anytime that button is pushed, it will refresh the database attached to that category (in this case music). They should automatically be added in the sort order you have already specified for that database, you shouldn't need to sort after an add unless you are changing the sort order for the entire database. If they are being added in the wrong order, then it's most likely an issue with file naming or the tags (such as albums randomly being picked up as various artists when they aren't). In general, the tags are going to have the greatest impact on things being imported correctly. I recently spent several days doing a mass re-tagging of about 600 albums, but I can hit import anytime and everything ends up exactly as it should. After that initial fix it's easy to just do it as you get new albums.

Yep, this is exactly what I did. I created a button associated to an event with a single event called "refresh" - the category is music (I'm assuming I should using the same name as the database, which is also called music) and nothing happens. That screen that normally pops up saying scanning for changes, importing files, etc... nothing happens. My changes aren't added.

I deleted that event and tried creating a new one... nothing.

[mememe]

You could always use something to move that tag info into another entry that is picked up. Once it is in the database you can manipulate or identify it however you want.

As for the update not working, try installing another instance of xlobby (just copy the files to any folder and start the program). Does it work there? I've had many times where import has broken on me, and usually something as simple as moving a new version of the executable into the main directory has worked. I'm assuming it's a bug that was never fixed and only pops up under certain circumstances. It happens to me with music pretty much exclusively. I can't think of another category I've ever had it happen on.

[slaman]

You could always use something to move that tag info into another entry that is picked up. Once it is in the database you can manipulate or identify it however you want.

As for the update not working, try installing another instance of xlobby (just copy the files to any folder and start the program). Does it work there? I've had many times where import has broken on me, and usually something as simple as moving a new version of the executable into the main directory has worked. I'm assuming it's a bug that was never fixed and only pops up under certain circumstances. It happens to me with music pretty much exclusively. I can't think of another category I've ever had it happen on.

Wow... after spending literally days trying to figure this out, I found out that if I unselect "multi-threaded" from the Event menu, it works!!!! One thing is that it shows the Xlobby window and says "Not Responding" while it searches/scans for changes... any way to hide this process and keep it going in the background?

Now if I can only figure out how to fix my originalartist filter. I tested it with new id3 tags, I have tried adding new events, new buttons, and nothing seems to work... it's like I broke the search.

Will keep digging. Progress has been made!

[slaman]

EDIT: Sigh... multi-threaded DOES work... the thing WAS working all along, it was just taking some time to do... Now, I want to pop up an overlay that says "please wait until completed"... and then automatically closes when it's done.

I tried to put a "show overlay" event, then the refresh event, then the "close overlay" event, but it no overlay showed... I have to put a manual 25s wait command in there.

Any ideas?

[lpg]

I had to do a delay with an overlay screen when I was mounting a blu-ray discs. Here is the writeup I did. It may help you out. http://sites.google.com/site/lpgshtpc/Home/xlobby---setup-of-multiple-video-players

[slaman]

I had to do a delay with an overlay screen when I was mounting a blu-ray discs. Here is the writeup I did. It may help you out. http://sites.google.com/site/lpgshtpc/Home/xlobby---setup-of-multiple-video-players

Great guide!!! Thanks for sharing!

When I read things like this, it makes me kick myself because I am still adding movies manually. Ugh.

In your guide, let's say you refresh to import the movies... then run the spider on each one to download cover art - you have to specify to save that .jpg in the movie folder, then press refresh for your custom import to recognize it as coverart? I am assuming the same thing could be done for trailers (which, for me, always have an extension of .mp4 or .mov)

[lpg]

Well, I have been collecting cover art and posters for years. I even wrote a program to move the covers around. I only use spiders for info and do them manually.