Box Set Cover Art

[DavidHB]

(19-05-2015 17:24)simoncn Wrote:  This would only be the case if
1) folder view is not being used,
2) the tracks of the album are split between different folders,
3) only the folder.jpg approach is used to associate artwork with the album's tracks (i.e., no embedded artwork at all), and
4) the folder.jpg images are different for different tracks.

Thanks. Not impossible of course, but perhaps not a case that occurs all that often ...

David

[pzyvbv]

(19-05-2015 17:24)simoncn Wrote:  This would only be the case if
1) folder view is not being used,
2) the tracks of the album are split between different folders,
3) only the folder.jpg approach is used to associate artwork with the album's tracks (i.e., no embedded artwork at all), and
4) the folder.jpg images are different for different tracks

Hi

Thanks for the reply.

I don't know if a lot of people use folder view...I know I do not as for me it seems to defeat the point of tagging somewhat.

I would assume that for most boxsets (or "album" - all the tracks for each disc within the same boxset are merged - different $DISCSUBTITLE tag values but the same $ALBUM tag value for all tracks) the artwork for each disc is likely to be different (e.g. the original album cover for the particular disc) so the folder.jpg image will be different across tracks on different discs (i.e. one folder.jpg for each $DISCSUBTITLE value). I know I could use the boxset artwork for every track, but this doesn't look so great...

Finally I don't understand why it is relevant that the artwork is taken from a folder.jpg (point 3 above)...wouldn't there still be a "choice" of artwork for the boxset (album) even if the artwork were embedded within each track? All the tracks for one disc would have the embedded artwork for that disc and all the tracks for another disc would have the embedded artwork for that other disc, etc. So which embedded artwork would be chosen for the album (boxset)? Am I missing something here? Hopefully I am and using embedded artwork may give me what I want?

In summary it would be good to be able to set an image for a boxset, but I do understand that this would be difficult since there is no track , i.e. no tagged entity, that is related to the "merged" album that does not also have its own associated artwork that is disc specific, regardless of whether this artwork is sourced from a folder.jpg or embedded?

I think I will agree to differ with David here as I think most boxsets (or albums comprising of merged tracks from different discs if you prefer), e.g. retrospectives, would be like this and so not that uncommon. I suppose it depends how many boxsets you own!

Regards
Chris

[simoncn]

(19-05-2015 20:39)pzyvbv Wrote:  Hi

Thanks for the reply.

I don't know if a lot of people use folder view...I know I do not as for me it seems to defeat the point of tagging somewhat.

I would assume that for most boxsets (or "album" - all the tracks for each disc within the same boxset are merged - different $DISCSUBTITLE tag values but the same $ALBUM tag value for all tracks) the artwork for each disc is likely to be different (e.g. the original album cover for the particular disc) so the folder.jpg image will be different across tracks on different discs (i.e. one folder.jpg for each $DISCSUBTITLE value). I know I could use the boxset artwork for every track, but this doesn't look so great...

Finally I don't understand why it is relevant that the artwork is taken from a folder.jpg (point 3 above)...wouldn't there still be a "choice" of artwork for the boxset (album) even if the artwork were embedded within each track? All the tracks for one disc would have the embedded artwork for that disc and all the tracks for another disc would have the embedded artwork for that other disc, etc. So which embedded artwork would be chosen for the album (boxset)? Am I missing something here? Hopefully I am and using embedded artwork may give me what I want?

In summary it would be good to be able to set an image for a boxset, but I do understand that this would be difficult since there is no track , i.e. no tagged entity, that is related to the "merged" album that does not also have its own associated artwork that is disc specific, regardless of whether this artwork is sourced from a folder.jpg or embedded?

I think I will agree to differ with David here as I think most boxsets (or albums comprising of merged tracks from different discs if you prefer), e.g. retrospectives, would be like this and so not that uncommon. I suppose it depends how many boxsets you own!

Regards
Chris

There is no concept of a "box set" in MinimServer, only a multidisc album. All my multidisc albums use the same artwork image for everything in the album. My impression is that this is the normal case, bearing in mind that we are talking about "album" art.

If you use embedded art, MinimServer will take the album art image from the first track in the album (starting with disc 1) that has embedded art. This will happen irrespective of the order in which the discs are scanned. This will not give you exactly what you want but it will enable you to control which image you get for the complete album.

[DavidHB]

(19-05-2015 20:59)simoncn Wrote:  There is no concept of a "box set" in MinimServer, only a multidisc album. All my multidisc albums use the same artwork image for everything in the album. My impression is that this is the normal case, bearing in mind that we are talking about "album" art.

I agree that, with all servers and local players I have tried, this appears to be the case. As only MinimServer (AFAIK) has containment hierarchy levels between album and item/track, it could hardly be otherwise. So to respond to Chris, I'm not sure what it is on which we could 'agree to differ', as my posts were essentially about the facts of the case.

(19-05-2015 20:59)simoncn Wrote:  If you use embedded art, MinimServer will take the album art image from the first track in the album (starting with disc 1) that has embedded art. This will happen irrespective of the order in which the discs are scanned. This will not give you exactly what you want but it will enable you to control which image you get for the complete album.

Is there any possibility that the scanning sequence could be changed to allow for variable album art at the levels below 'Album'? I have a number of multi-disc albums which have different art for different discs and the art for any one disc is not fully applicable to all. I recognise that, if such a change were implemented, the Control Point would also need to respond to it, but I hope that the Bubble apps, at least, might do so.

David

[DavidHB]

(19-05-2015 20:39)pzyvbv Wrote:  I don't know if a lot of people use folder view...I know I do not as for me it seems to defeat the point of tagging somewhat.

You'll find plenty of posts in this and other similar forums, in which users ask for new features related to folder view, and in which they state their intention to avoid the use of tags. This can be because a user with a large untagged or poorly tagged collection is reluctant to commit to the task of tagging it fully. For me, that defeats the point, not just of tagging (obviously), but of putting one's music on the network in the first place.

Simon has expressed concern that the cost of entry, or learning curve, of current music streaming technology is much too high for the ordinary user, and I agree with him. The learning and workload required to tag a collection is a major part of this entry cost, and is denying some (possibly many) users the real benefits of their streamed music system.

David

[simoncn]

(20-05-2015 11:18)DavidHB Wrote:  Simon has expressed concern that the cost of entry, or learning curve, of current music streaming technology is much too high for the ordinary user, and I agree with him. The learning and workload required to tag a collection is a major part of this entry cost, and is denying some (possibly many) users the real benefits of their streamed music system.

I think the solution to this should be to make the tagging process simpler rather than using folders in place of tags.

[simoncn]

(20-05-2015 11:02)DavidHB Wrote:  Is there any possibility that the scanning sequence could be changed to allow for variable album art at the levels below 'Album'? I have a number of multi-disc albums which have different art for different discs and the art for any one disc is not fully applicable to all. I recognise that, if such a change were implemented, the Control Point would also need to respond to it, but I hope that the Bubble apps, at least, might do so.

David

Can you give an example of such an album? Are either or both of the album and disc images embedded in the track files?

[DavidHB]

(20-05-2015 13:44)simoncn Wrote:  Can you give an example of such an album?

Here is album art for the set of 12 "London" Symphonies of Haydn, which are packaged as 2 "Duos", but which, for obvious reasons, I treat as a single multi-disc album.

(20-05-2015 13:44)simoncn Wrote:  Are either or both of the album and disc images embedded in the track files?

I thought I had stuck to the rule of 1 set of album art per album, but these were ripped quite early on, and it seems that I embedded both sets of art in their respective files. And, of course, they display exactly as I would wish them to in BubbleDS. Which, of course, you knew all along. Me and my big mouth ...

David

[DavidHB]

(20-05-2015 13:35)simoncn Wrote:  I think the solution to this should be to make the tagging process simpler rather than using folders in place of tags.

Me too, but there is still the fear factor to overcome. MP3Tag is not hard to learn, and provides the means of tagging a lot of files in a short time, but it is still an uphill struggle to convince people that the job is not all that difficult or time consuming.

David

[simoncn]

(20-05-2015 18:35)DavidHB Wrote:  I thought I had stuck to the rule of 1 set of album art per album, but these were ripped quite early on, and it seems that I embedded both sets of art in their respective files. And, of course, they display exactly as I would wish them to in BubbleDS. Which, of course, you knew all along. Me and my big mouth ...

Can you explain this in slightly more detail? In BubbleDS, which image do you see for the overall album? I would assume it is the first. From your previous post, I had thought you had a third image that you wanted to use for the overall album.