Tag "Grouping" in m4a not read by Minimserver

[bkraakman]

Hi, I started using the tag Grouping on my mp3's and m4a's and added them via itunes.
I checked if they where there on MusicBrainz Picard.
The tag works for my mp3's, but not for my m4a-files (both apple-lossless and aac format). The m4a-files are found in Grouping under 'unknown'.
I hope you can fix this.

Furthermore, I am very satisfied with Minimserver. I have it installed on my Synology Nas and play the music on my Yamaha musiccast system. It is fast (much faster then itunes) and I don't need the extra computer (running itunes) anymore.

The only things i miss is being able to create smart play lists (like genre contains 'jazz' to include jazz, jazz rock, jazz fusion, etc). Hence the use of the tag 'Grouping'

I also miss the possibility to search for an artist or album in the musiccast app, so tips on that are welcome!

Thanks in advance.

[stefano_mbp]

Grouping tag is used by flac, wav, dsf, mp3 while for m4a ContentGroup tag is used.
You can “unify” those tags in Minimserver using in aliasTags
ContentGroup:Grouping
In this way you’ll find in Grouping also the content of ContentGroup

[simbun]

(28-07-2025 09:32)bkraakman Wrote:  The only things i miss is being able to create smart play lists (like genre contains 'jazz' to include jazz, jazz rock, jazz fusion, etc). Hence the use of the tag 'Grouping'

You could use tagUpdate to create "smart" playlists.

tagUpdate.txt

Code:

@GENRE=Jazz
@GENRE=Jazz Rock
@GENRE=Jazz Fusion
+SMARTPLAYLISTS=Jazz
@GENRE=Pop
@GENRE=Pop/Rock
+SMARTPLAYLISTS=Pop

MinimServer properties:

Code:

indextags: SmartPlaylists
itemTags: SmartPlaylists
tagUpdate: /path/to/tagUpdate.txt

This creates a new index called Smartplaylists with the values:

• "Jazz" containing all tracks with the genres Jazz, Jazz Rock or Jazz Fusion
• "Pop" containing all tracks with the genres Pop or Pop/Rock
  

I'm not at home at the moment so I haven't been able to test the code.

[bkraakman]

(28-07-2025 09:50)stefano_mbp Wrote:  Grouping tag is used by flac, wav, dsf, mp3 while for m4a ContentGroup tag is used.
You can “unify” those tags in Minimserver using in aliasTags
ContentGroup:Grouping
In this way you’ll find in Grouping also the content of ContentGroup

Thanks for this suggestion. This explains a lot.

[bkraakman]

(28-07-2025 11:41)simbun Wrote:  

(28-07-2025 09:32)bkraakman Wrote:  The only things i miss is being able to create smart play lists (like genre contains 'jazz' to include jazz, jazz rock, jazz fusion, etc). Hence the use of the tag 'Grouping'

You could use tagUpdate to create "smart" playlists.

tagUpdate.txt

Code:

@GENRE=Jazz
@GENRE=Jazz Rock
@GENRE=Jazz Fusion
+SMARTPLAYLISTS=Jazz
@GENRE=Pop
@GENRE=Pop/Rock
+SMARTPLAYLISTS=Pop

MinimServer properties:

Code:

indextags: SmartPlaylists
itemTags: SmartPlaylists
tagUpdate: /path/to/tagUpdate.txt

This creates a new index called Smartplaylists with the values:

• "Jazz" containing all tracks with the genres Jazz, Jazz Rock or Jazz Fusion
• "Pop" containing all tracks with the genres Pop or Pop/Rock
  

I'm not at home at the moment so I haven't been able to test the code.

Thanks. This looks interesting and worth a try.

[bkraakman]

Thanks for this info. I managed to create a 'smart' list by doing this, but had to leave itemtags empty

So:
indextags: SmartPlaylists
tagUpdate: /path/to/tagUpdate.txt

tagUpdate.txt

Code:

@GENRE=Jazz
@GENRE=Jazz Rock
@GENRE=Jazz Fusion
+SMARTPLAYLISTS=Jazz
@GENRE=Pop
@GENRE=Pop/Rock
+SMARTPLAYLISTS=Pop

[simbun]

(29-07-2025 13:28)bkraakman Wrote:  Thanks for this info. I managed to create a 'smart' list by doing this, but had to leave itemtags empty.

I've just tested that scenario and you're absolutely right; if you want to use a tag anywhere in the MinimServer configuration it must be specified in either indexTags or itemTags (if you don't want it included as an index).

tagUpdate is very powerful; amongst other things I've used it to build a "playlist" of albums from the "Rolling Stone: The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time" list. Whilst it's not in order (I have a regular playlist for that) having it as an index item allows you to further refine the selection using the regular MinimServer indexes e.g. Pick the "playlist" then subset to those albums from the 1970's e.t.c.

I'm glad it works for you.