2013-04-03, 07:47
Upon request i have changed this thread to a Windows How To (should be easily applicable to Mac if you can run the following 2 programs - Music Brainz Picard & MP3Tag
What will this guide teach me?
This guide is designed for people who want to create (super) smart music playlist with additional flexibility for song type filtering.
And by song type filtering i mean attaching keywords that help describe your individual songs own unique identity. You see each song has a genre, release year, artist, album, album artist...But you knew that, what you might not know is that most songs also have Moods, Feeling, Occasions, sub-genres, Additional info and comments, release decades, ect.
This guide will teach you how to take all that info (ie: genre, moods, feelings) and store them in a way that you can use XBMC's smart playlists to create fully flexible playlists depending on what mood your in. They say background music in an office environment increases efficiency by up to 60%, well maybe you have a home office. Maybe your home is a constant party zone and your sick of having slow rock sneaking in to your hard rock playlists, whatever the case smart playlists are great for set and forget music lovers.
My music playlists now look something like this:
[Chillout, Ska, Drum N Bass] Reggae
[Chillout, Instrumental] Ambient
[Chillout, Top 40] Soft Rock, Classic Rock
[Energetic, Dreamy, Rave, Love] Dance, Trance
[Australian] *All*
[Garage Rock, Indie, Punk] Alternative
[Mellow, Latin, Sexy] Jazz, R&B
[Angry, Westcoast, 2000s, ] Gangsta, Rap
[Old School, B Boy, 1990s, Eastcoast] Hip-Hop
[Funky, Summer, Upbeat, Acoustic] Rock
[Mellow, Sad, Retro, 1980s, Smooth] Pop, Soft Rock
*Note - Something worth mentioning, the more specific your playlist becomes, the less songs it will display. If your music collection isn't significant your effort here might be in vein.
How long will this take me?
This will probably take you at least 2 hrs (of your time) depending on your familiarity with windows and the 2 programs needed.
And another unknown amount of (computer) hours (depending on your system speed, music library size and settings you choose. And also whether you choose to follow this entire guide or just parts.
Using the 2 programs mentioned this process is 95% automated, with the use of bulk editing and online databases your songs metadata is 'scraped' and embedded whilst your off flying kites and racing ostriches... or whatever is you do.
Lets get started
Download Music Brainz Picard with the link below
http://musicbrainz.org/doc/MusicBrainz_Picard
Read this thread below and become familiar with how to install plugins.
http://musicbrainz.org/doc/MusicBrainz_Picard/Plugins
Now try installing the third plugin listed, called 'Move Feat. Artists to Titles' as i recommend it in order for you to keep your 'Artist' field clean inside XBMC, so you dont have a thousand artists feat random artists as I used to when i browse my music via artist, as seen below.
Its easy to install if your having trouble go here http://users.musicbrainz.org/~luks/picar...ntitles.py right click anywhere on the page and 'save as' to your plugin directory. Remember to activate by goign to Options - Plugin and checking the new plugin.
*Note if its not working try reloading the song or restarting Picard.
Now see if you have installed it correctly whilst in Picard go to File>add file or folder or just select your music folder on the tree to the left of the screen. You want to find an song that contains (feat. random artist) such as 2Pac Feat. Big Skye" in the artist field.
Once you have found the song drag it across into the middle window (unmatched cluster) and wait for it to process. Picard will attempt to find the album it belongs to via its online database. It will then appear in its album name in the window on the right.
*Note - It may offer you multiple albums and place it in the wrong one (such as a compilation album when you want it in its original album) you can just drag and drop it into any available albums until your happy.
*Note - In the off chance it finds no album, your song is truly unique as its not on music brainz database, you should recite the song, learn a dance to go with itand make a youtube video of that!, you should also learn how to build an nfo for it or use another online database if you want to include it in you music library. That is beyond the scope of the guide.
See here i added phil collins and one other artists by dragging them in to he middle window and once processed they arrive on the other side under their respective album names.
Now highlight a track (that has (feat artists) in the artist field) and look at the bottom info section.
*Note you may have to drag the divider up the page so you can see the info section.
You see how the value has changed to reflect the Feat Artists being moved into the track field from the artists field. I have installed my plugin correctly.
Now read this thread.
http://musicbrainz.org/doc/MusicBrainz_P...Lastfmplus
and then install the plugin from the linking in the above thread or from the direct link below
http://www.mediafire.com/?qlso9gc8c75aq5a
*Note - this plugin in is more complex and requires its own sub directory inside the plugin directory.
Next, dont forget this step. Go to Options, and check the ID3v2 2.4 checkbox otherwise Mood info will not work for you.
Check your plugin works correctly by selecting any song, dragging it into Picard, letting it process into its respective album, selecting the song and looking at the info fields at the bottom.
Scroll the tag info section down and notice the new fields highlighted in different colors. Such as Moods, Custom comments and Occasions.
*Note - If you cannot find them try a different song, On average about 60-70% of my music has additional ID3 data available on music brainz. The other 30% will not show any extra fields (ie Mood info)
My plugins are working correctly.
See 3rd post for rest of guide.
What will this guide teach me?
This guide is designed for people who want to create (super) smart music playlist with additional flexibility for song type filtering.
And by song type filtering i mean attaching keywords that help describe your individual songs own unique identity. You see each song has a genre, release year, artist, album, album artist...But you knew that, what you might not know is that most songs also have Moods, Feeling, Occasions, sub-genres, Additional info and comments, release decades, ect.
This guide will teach you how to take all that info (ie: genre, moods, feelings) and store them in a way that you can use XBMC's smart playlists to create fully flexible playlists depending on what mood your in. They say background music in an office environment increases efficiency by up to 60%, well maybe you have a home office. Maybe your home is a constant party zone and your sick of having slow rock sneaking in to your hard rock playlists, whatever the case smart playlists are great for set and forget music lovers.
My music playlists now look something like this:
[Chillout, Ska, Drum N Bass] Reggae
[Chillout, Instrumental] Ambient
[Chillout, Top 40] Soft Rock, Classic Rock
[Energetic, Dreamy, Rave, Love] Dance, Trance
[Australian] *All*
[Garage Rock, Indie, Punk] Alternative
[Mellow, Latin, Sexy] Jazz, R&B
[Angry, Westcoast, 2000s, ] Gangsta, Rap
[Old School, B Boy, 1990s, Eastcoast] Hip-Hop
[Funky, Summer, Upbeat, Acoustic] Rock
[Mellow, Sad, Retro, 1980s, Smooth] Pop, Soft Rock
*Note - Something worth mentioning, the more specific your playlist becomes, the less songs it will display. If your music collection isn't significant your effort here might be in vein.
How long will this take me?
This will probably take you at least 2 hrs (of your time) depending on your familiarity with windows and the 2 programs needed.
And another unknown amount of (computer) hours (depending on your system speed, music library size and settings you choose. And also whether you choose to follow this entire guide or just parts.
Using the 2 programs mentioned this process is 95% automated, with the use of bulk editing and online databases your songs metadata is 'scraped' and embedded whilst your off flying kites and racing ostriches... or whatever is you do.
Lets get started
Download Music Brainz Picard with the link below
http://musicbrainz.org/doc/MusicBrainz_Picard
Read this thread below and become familiar with how to install plugins.
http://musicbrainz.org/doc/MusicBrainz_Picard/Plugins
Now try installing the third plugin listed, called 'Move Feat. Artists to Titles' as i recommend it in order for you to keep your 'Artist' field clean inside XBMC, so you dont have a thousand artists feat random artists as I used to when i browse my music via artist, as seen below.
Its easy to install if your having trouble go here http://users.musicbrainz.org/~luks/picar...ntitles.py right click anywhere on the page and 'save as' to your plugin directory. Remember to activate by goign to Options - Plugin and checking the new plugin.
*Note if its not working try reloading the song or restarting Picard.
Now see if you have installed it correctly whilst in Picard go to File>add file or folder or just select your music folder on the tree to the left of the screen. You want to find an song that contains (feat. random artist) such as 2Pac Feat. Big Skye" in the artist field.
Once you have found the song drag it across into the middle window (unmatched cluster) and wait for it to process. Picard will attempt to find the album it belongs to via its online database. It will then appear in its album name in the window on the right.
*Note - It may offer you multiple albums and place it in the wrong one (such as a compilation album when you want it in its original album) you can just drag and drop it into any available albums until your happy.
*Note - In the off chance it finds no album, your song is truly unique as its not on music brainz database, you should recite the song, learn a dance to go with itand make a youtube video of that!, you should also learn how to build an nfo for it or use another online database if you want to include it in you music library. That is beyond the scope of the guide.
See here i added phil collins and one other artists by dragging them in to he middle window and once processed they arrive on the other side under their respective album names.
Now highlight a track (that has (feat artists) in the artist field) and look at the bottom info section.
*Note you may have to drag the divider up the page so you can see the info section.
You see how the value has changed to reflect the Feat Artists being moved into the track field from the artists field. I have installed my plugin correctly.
Now read this thread.
http://musicbrainz.org/doc/MusicBrainz_P...Lastfmplus
and then install the plugin from the linking in the above thread or from the direct link below
http://www.mediafire.com/?qlso9gc8c75aq5a
*Note - this plugin in is more complex and requires its own sub directory inside the plugin directory.
Next, dont forget this step. Go to Options, and check the ID3v2 2.4 checkbox otherwise Mood info will not work for you.
Check your plugin works correctly by selecting any song, dragging it into Picard, letting it process into its respective album, selecting the song and looking at the info fields at the bottom.
Scroll the tag info section down and notice the new fields highlighted in different colors. Such as Moods, Custom comments and Occasions.
*Note - If you cannot find them try a different song, On average about 60-70% of my music has additional ID3 data available on music brainz. The other 30% will not show any extra fields (ie Mood info)
My plugins are working correctly.
See 3rd post for rest of guide.