Group shown when only one item..

[simoncn]

(30-04-2015 12:19)DavidHB Wrote:  I really enjoy using the freedom MinimServer gives you to define albums in different ways. These days, much of the classical back catalogue can be bought remarkably cheaply as boxed sets, or increasingly as downloads. As the definition of an album is no longer constrained by the format limitations of the CD, the whole set can be tagged as a single item, awkward breaks can be removed, and grouping can be used to mark the divisions of the work intended by the composer. Conversely, sometimes a set (or even a single CD) with, say, separate substantial but disparate works, should be split into more than one logical album.

I also learned early on that Group and Composition, though they will often have the same content, have rather different functions. Composition is used before a particular album is selected, or when an album is not going to be explicitly selected at all. It is important that different recordings of the same work have the same Composition tag, as choosing a particular performance may be an important part of the selection process. Group on the other hand is only used after an album has been explicitly selected, and is used to offer a choice of sections that can be played separately. This difference will on occasion require Composition and Group to have different (if usually related) content. Although this is not a hard and fast rule, I usually find that, where there needs to be such a difference, Group is usually more specific and less aggregated than Composition.

I hope that these thoughts are useful. It would be good to know what use others make of the Album (and related), Composition and Group tags, particularly if their practice is markedly different from the description I have given.

David

One further thought: the full containment hierarchy supported by MinimServer is Album > Disc > Group > Track. The Disc level would usually correspond to a physical disc but it can be used for any purpose. The "discs" can be named (instead of numbered) by populating the DISCSUBTITLE tag.