Album versions grouped: user misconfig, bug, or feature req?

[gormsby]

Long-time happy GMMP user here, love the player!

I have an interesting case, not sure if this would be a bug, a feature request, or is due to a misconfiguration on my part. I've been through all the settings, I think, and have not found a fix.

I have two versions of an album--a domestic and an import, different track listings. Thus the artist and albumartist metadata for the tracks on both is the same, as is the album title. In the metadata, there are also fields for albumdisambig (short for disambiguation) and for label, and these are different for the two albums. Thus:

Album 1's tracks metadata includes:

artist: Fields of the Nephilim

albumartist: Fields of the Nephilim

album: Dawnrazor

label: Beggars Banquet

albumdisambig: [empty]

Album 2 tracks metadata includes:

artist: Fields of the Nephilim

albumartist: Fields of the Nephilim

album: Dawnrazor

label: RCA

albumdisambig: US Release with extra tracks

Note that the label and disambig may not be actual values, but I know they are different for each album.

I have the GMMP setting for "multi-folder album" unchecked, because I put double disc albums in a single folder and use 'disctotal', 'disc' and 'track' values to get the sorting right.

When browsing the album in GMMP, it has one folder for the "Dawnrazor" album and lists tracks from both versions:

1. Intro (The Harmonica Man) 02:01

1. Intro (The Harmonica Man) 02:01

2. Slowkill 03:45
2. Slowkill 03:44

3. Laura II 04:41

3. Preacher Man 04:54

...etc

And as a result, when I play the album, it plays both tracks #1, then both tracks #2, etc.

Is there a way to have these two versions of the album broken out in Album views, such that I would have two Dawnrazor albums (each with their own cover art, which is also different for the two albums), and independently playable?

Thanks!

[GoneMAD]

label and disambig are not tags that gmmp reads. This link shows how gmmp groups albums: gonemadmusicplayer.blogspot.com/p/dealing-with-split-albums.html

It sounds like you want them grouped together so that part is fine.

"When browsing the album in GMMP, it has one folder for the "Dawnrazor" album and lists tracks from both versions:"

Are you browsing from the folder tab or the album tab? GMMP plays using the sort order of the view. Folder view defaults to filename(because its a file browser.. file browsers always default to sorting by filename), album details will sort by disc no, then track num, then filename. If you choose the "Track Num" sorting option in the folder view it will order the same way as the album details

[GoneMAD]

"Is there a way to have these two versions of the album broken out in Album views, such that I would have two Dawnrazor albums (each with their own cover art, which is also different for the two albums), and independently playable?"

to answer that question, use different album names: Dawnrazor and Dawnrazor (US Release) or something like that, or have them in separate folders and leave the multi folder options unchecked

Edit: Also note that once an album is scanned in, its not going to be grouped differently on a rescan. You would need to delete the database and rescan (or move its location on storage)

[gormsby]

I realize by using the term "folder" I was confusing the issue. In my description in my initial post, I was only talking about Album view, not Folder view.

GoneMAD wrote:

to answer that question, use different album names: Dawnrazor and Dawnrazor (US Release) or something like that, or have them in separate folders and leave the multi folder options unchecked

I have them in separate folders in the file structure, and the 'mutli-folder albums' option is unchecked. I wasn't sure if I unchecked it after scanning my library, so I verified it was unchecked, then deleted the database and rescanned, and both album versions' tracks are still listed together as one album in album view. So GMMP must be grouping tracks with the same album and artist names in a single Album view even if the folders in the file structure are different:

/music/mp3/Fields_of_the_Nephilim/Dawnrazor_[RCA]/1_Intro_The_Harmonica_Man.mp3

vs

/music/mp3/Fields_of_the_Nephilim/Dawnrazor_[Beggars_Banquet]/1_Intro_The_Harmonica_Man.mp3


So the 'checkbox off and separate folders' trick doesn't work. I'm reluctant to rename the albums with different titles because...well...they don't have different titles, just different versions. Fortunately, your mention of folder view jogged my memory: For this case, I can always browse to the album by Folder rather than Album and that avoids the problem. That's a workaround I can live with (though support for 'albumdisambig' would be a nice enhancement.)

Thanks for taking the time to follow up with me.

-Gabe

[gormsby]

Oh, just realized that I could also check my 'year' metadata. It's quite possible that the two releases fell in different calendar years, and if I got that metadata accurate, it could lead to them being split up appropriately too.

[GoneMAD]

id have to recheck the code for the multi folder albums. I've had to tweak the album grouping stuff over the years and since that defaults to on i doubt i did much testing with it off

yes a different year and different folder should definitely have them split in the album view

[MotleyGord]

Aug 28, 2021 21:01:41 GMT -5 gormsby said:

…So the 'checkbox off and separate folders' trick doesn't work. I'm reluctant to rename the albums with different titles because...well...they don't have different titles, just different versions. Fortunately, your mention of folder view jogged my memory: For this case, I can always browse to the album by Folder rather than Album and that avoids the problem. That's a workaround I can live with (though support for 'albumdisambig' would be a nice enhancement.)…

Typically the AlbumArtist and Album combination form a match with metadata to create unique Albums that GMMP (and most other players) can identify. But when different release versions exist, there isn’t really any other way to separate them other than to have something appended at the end of the Album title. Some common ones are “<year> Remaster”, “Deluxe”, “Special Edition”, “xx-th Anniversary”, etc. In your example case, you may have to chose one or even both of them to be called out from the standard title to more easily identify them when browsing.

A different option may be to use the discnumber/totaldiscs tags and then just choose which is disc 1 and the other disc 2. Both will exist under the same identical Album title this way, just listed with all tracks from one disc first, then the next disc second.

Maybe one of these two solutions are viable for you, depending on how many albums you have to work on with duplicate titles.

[MotleyGord]

gormsby I just thought of one identical scenario I have. There are two releases of “Greatest Hits” by Queen (go figure). There are some releases with volume numbers, etc. But for the original,Greatest Hits (no version) there is a UK version and US version with identical titles but very different track listings. In this case I changed the standard <space> character between the two words to a different Unicode space. So both appear the same, but actually are listed separately in the album list under the Artist listing for Queen, and even in the full Album listing. So this is another alternative for you to try in your library.