Metadata Madness

Posted by: PeterJ on 07 January 2018

I have been enjoying streaming with Naim players and various servers for nearly three years now. I have ripped my CD collection (using dBpoweramp) as well as buying downloads from Qobuz and Highresaudio.

However, there are a couple of metadata issues that are driving me mad.

The first is inconsistency between artist names. For example I have a number of ELO albums some of which are under artist ELO, some under Electric Light Orchestra and some under Jeff Lynne's ELO. Is there a bulk metadata editor I can use to harmonise this by changing the artist name on all tracks of the albums under anything but ELO?

The second is the way compilations are handled (I assume) by the Naim App. All the artists from a compilation are listed as 'Various artists' (or a variant of this) rather than under their own names. It seems that the App is picking up the 'Album Artist' (or nothing at all) from the track metadata rather than the 'Artist' tag. Can the App be configured to pick up 'Artist' rather than 'Album Artist' or nothing at all?

Many thanks...Peter

Posted on: 07 January 2018 by ChrisSU

Doesn’t DBPoweramp have a metadata editor? Alternatively, I find Metadatics very good if you are a Mac user.

Posted on: 07 January 2018 by hungryhalibut

DBpoweramp does indeed have a metadata editor. As to configuring the App, it’s all down to how the upnp server is set up: the app just sees what the server sends.

Posted on: 07 January 2018 by Nick Lees

dbPoweramp does indeed have a batch editor, so that should allow you to standardise your ELOs.

If your Now That’s What I Call Grime Volume 567 compilation has the album artist tagged as Various Artists, then that’s what the Naim app will pick up, and if the Artist field for each track is filled in then that should work OK too. It does for me, using Minimserver.

What are you using as a UPnP server? I have to say the Naim app is pretty much rock solid in presenting whatever the server is giving it.

Edit: apologies to HH for repeating him. Slow typist here.

Posted on: 07 January 2018 by PeterJ

Nick Lees posted:
If your Now That’s What I Call Grime Volume 567 compilation has the album artist tagged as Various Artists, then that’s what the Naim app will pick up, and if the Artist field for each track is filled in then that should work OK too. It does for me, using Minimserver.
What are you using as a UPnP server? I have to say the Naim app is pretty much rock solid in presenting whatever the server is giving it.
Edit: apologies to HH for repeating him. Slow typist here.

You are indeed correct. I had been using Twonky on my Melco (and on the NAS prior to that).

If I use MinimServer it does show artists on compilations correctly. I had not used MinimServer up until now as I it does not update automatically when I added new music to the Melco (I need to reboot it). Is there any way that MinimServer will update automatically when new music is added?

I will try dBpoweramp on bulk tag editing.

Posted on: 07 January 2018 by Eloise

PeterJ posted:
You are indeed correct. I had been using Twonky on my Melco (and on the NAS prior to that).
If I use MinimServer it does show artists on compilations correctly. I had not used MinimServer up until now as I it does not update automatically when I added new music to the Melco (I need to reboot it). Is there any way that MinimServer will update automatically when new music is added?
I will try dBpoweramp on bulk tag editing.

No MinimServer won’t automatically upgradeupdate... its one slight annoyance of MinimServer. You can however initiate an update from the web page on any browser which can be more convinient than having to use MinimWatch. Assuming you know the IP address of your MinimServer then browsing to http://192.168.x.x:9790 (Replace 192.168.x.x. with your own IP address of course) gives you a basic status page where you can select rescan.

Minimserver does however have a (temporary) tag editor. You can set up a file so that all occurrences of a particular tag is replace. See http://minimserver.com/ug-other.html#Tag%20update (hope the link is okay). But it means you can set up a file while says replace the Artist tagged as “ELO” as “Electric Light Orchestra” (or vice versa).

Its something you need to build manually but may be easier than retagging things...

Posted on: 07 January 2018 by Adam Zielinski

I use Metdatics for those tasks - especially batch updates. It’s a paid-for app but works a treat.

’

Posted on: 07 January 2018 by T38.45

Another vote for Metadatics...just drop your files in it and edit album, composer, titel, genre etc....very easy to handle!