2016-08-06, 15:15
Since there's only one developer working on the Music library, we can't expect miracles, but I thought it would be good to at least discuss some of the flaws / limitations of the Music library and perhaps stimulate a rethink on the longer term future?
I'll start with my view - but others can add as they see fit.
1) Lack of support for anything other than Albums
Over the years, I've become increasingly frustrated with Kodi's general assumption that all song belong to an album. Technically it doesn't assume this, but in terms of viewing your media sensibly, this assumption is quite strong.
As a result of this, Kodi is particularly weak at handling EPs, Singles, One off songs etc.
An EP in a logical sense, is still a collection of tracks (like an Album)
A 'single' is quite often a collection of tracks too (like an Album)
A 'one off song' is truly a one off orphaned song which belongs to no other 'group' (barring all other one off songs!)
With this in mind, it would be nice if it was possible to distinguish an EP, or a Single or 'One off' via the UI and still allow people to tag and organise their music with regular tagging software.
In the very crudest sense any 'album' that contained the string '(EP)' could be designated as an EP. Likewise a Single (with multiple tracks) could use '(Single)' as a designator.
Now I'm not specifically proposing that there should be keyword searches in media paths to discover EPs and Singles etc (it was only an example), but Kodi is definitely lacking in the ability to distinguish these types of collections.
2) Compilation Albums
There are a number of techniques that Kodi uses to identify compilation albums, but there's no formal method of unambiguously declaring a compilation album (that I know of). I think it would be good if there was a way to do this (perhaps addressing it in the same way as EPs and Singles etc).
There are quite a few posts where people ask for the best practices to deal with compilation albums - which is an indication that people are struggling with it (or can't find the best documentation).
3) Mixed Media
One in a while, someone makes a box sex, or a DVD etc that also comes with an audio album. Most commonly this is with a Live Concert dvd + audio disc.
There's no easy way to deal with this situation other than to split up the box sex and put the DVD in your video files structure and the audio disc in your Music file structure.
This is probably a wider Kodi issue than music alone, but I think it's something worth thinking about.
4) Music Videos
Is this a Music or a Video issue?
Music Videos is very 'single' (music video) oriented. There is a notable lack of support for the fairly common Music DVD (live concert / documentary / album).
Sure, people can make it a 'Movie' (which is what I do), and you could give it a genre tag as a means to help differentiate it.
Is the current situation good enough for now? - probably
Is it really the best solution? - probably not.
I'll start with my view - but others can add as they see fit.
1) Lack of support for anything other than Albums
Over the years, I've become increasingly frustrated with Kodi's general assumption that all song belong to an album. Technically it doesn't assume this, but in terms of viewing your media sensibly, this assumption is quite strong.
As a result of this, Kodi is particularly weak at handling EPs, Singles, One off songs etc.
An EP in a logical sense, is still a collection of tracks (like an Album)
A 'single' is quite often a collection of tracks too (like an Album)
A 'one off song' is truly a one off orphaned song which belongs to no other 'group' (barring all other one off songs!)
With this in mind, it would be nice if it was possible to distinguish an EP, or a Single or 'One off' via the UI and still allow people to tag and organise their music with regular tagging software.
In the very crudest sense any 'album' that contained the string '(EP)' could be designated as an EP. Likewise a Single (with multiple tracks) could use '(Single)' as a designator.
Now I'm not specifically proposing that there should be keyword searches in media paths to discover EPs and Singles etc (it was only an example), but Kodi is definitely lacking in the ability to distinguish these types of collections.
2) Compilation Albums
There are a number of techniques that Kodi uses to identify compilation albums, but there's no formal method of unambiguously declaring a compilation album (that I know of). I think it would be good if there was a way to do this (perhaps addressing it in the same way as EPs and Singles etc).
There are quite a few posts where people ask for the best practices to deal with compilation albums - which is an indication that people are struggling with it (or can't find the best documentation).
3) Mixed Media
One in a while, someone makes a box sex, or a DVD etc that also comes with an audio album. Most commonly this is with a Live Concert dvd + audio disc.
There's no easy way to deal with this situation other than to split up the box sex and put the DVD in your video files structure and the audio disc in your Music file structure.
This is probably a wider Kodi issue than music alone, but I think it's something worth thinking about.
4) Music Videos
Is this a Music or a Video issue?
Music Videos is very 'single' (music video) oriented. There is a notable lack of support for the fairly common Music DVD (live concert / documentary / album).
Sure, people can make it a 'Movie' (which is what I do), and you could give it a genre tag as a means to help differentiate it.
Is the current situation good enough for now? - probably
Is it really the best solution? - probably not.