[fredphoesh]

Hello folks
I have read the wiki and also chuckled at the "dummies guide" posted as a sticky on this forum... 
I'd love a real dummies guide please, but also go know if all these are possible:

1/ adding a .txt file in some folder, preferably with the actual flac music tracks, which contains album review/info and artist biography - which can be displayed by kodi
2/ adding jpeg files in some folder, preferably also within a sub folder in the same folder as the flack tracks, but which can be navigated, ie album cover jpegs which are twice as wide as an album cover, would be nice to pan, zoom, move to see all bits of the artwork.
3/ if 2/ is not possible, then to have a sub folder with the flac tracks which can be shown on Artist slideshow addon

It would be REALLY nice if it was as simple as having three folders with each folder containing the flac files, biography, albumreview, art... and whatever goes in there gets displayed automatically when you are asking for that info listening to that album... 

Thanks!
Mark.

[Karellen]

I'd love a real dummies guide please

Why don't you enlighten us and tell us what a "real dummies guide" should be.

[fredphoesh]

I'd love a real dummies guide please

Why don't you enlighten us and tell us what a "real dummies guide" should be.

Wow,no need to be so defensive. I'm not attacking you!

A dummies guide gives a complete step by step instruction.

[Karellen]

I wasn't attacking. I was asking you what you thought a dummies guide should be. Stop being so sensitive.'

But no worries, your comments/requests made me chuckle. Heard of NFO Files??

Maybe you missed the second line in the first post...
This setup is considered an advanced and experimental feature for power users. It is assumed you are familiar with the functions of Kodi and the advancedsettings.xml file.

Maybe it is too advanced for you?

That is an attack.

[fredphoesh]

I'd love a real dummies guide please

Why don't you enlighten us and tell us what a "real dummies guide" should be.

Wow,no need to be so defensive. I'm not attacking you!

A dummies guide gives a complete step by step instruction.

First off,your arrogance is what makes forums like this so unpleasant. You puff your little ego by attempting to make people feel small. Shame on you..

To point, Thea second line is what made me chuckle...calling it a dummies guide then saying it's advanced is self contradictory.

I'm sure an " expert" like yourself is capable of making a step by step guide...but why would you bother, you'd clearly rather feel superior and be utterly unhelpful.

Congratulations.

[scott967]

OP, I think if you are fair and have experience with open source and free software, you have to admit that the Kodi wiki is a pretty inclusive and well-done resource for users.

Kodi tries to accommodate a wide-range of users, and those users tend to have their own preferences in how they manage their digital music.  Not every possible variation can be supported.  The wiki suggests a few methods that are supported by Kodi "out of the box" and also points to options that can work, but need the user to do some study of Kodi's options.

For a "real dummy" it probably is best to follow the precise guidance in the wiki.  But it appears that you already have preferences that you would like to use.  To me, that moves you away from the "real dummy" to more of "an experienced digital music user who wants to adapt Kodi".

Your specific questions suggest two different but related issues

1.  You want to access and see your music (within Kodi) a certain way.

2.  You want to physically organize your local music files (outside of Kodi) a certain way.

I suggest you prioritize these two issues and then ask for help on your top priority since they may not be mutually compatible.

scott s.
.

[Karellen]

Considering the thread title, and the opening paragraph of your first post, you basically trashed what was already available as it was not to your standard. Also note that nowhere have you stated what is wrong with the guide, or what led you to make your comments. You had some expectation that the guide must be rewritten.

A suggestion, if you have attempted to set something up and failed or not understood the requirements, the the better approach would be...

Hey guys, I am trying to set up my Extended Artwork by following the dummies guide, but I am stuck at blah, blah. I am not clear where I go from there...

Which has the following effect...

1. It comes across as a friendly invitation to help you, rather than your approach of trashing to get attention.
   
2. Your questions are a form of feedback that helps us "experts" make existing guides more accurate and user friendly. (note that I still don't know what the problem is)
   

Contrary to your statement, I do not have to do a thing. I choose to do what I do.

But I do concede your point of nomenclature. Advanced and Dummies do conflict. I will change that.

[jjd-uk]

If you found the wiki then the starting point for the new user should be https://kodi.wiki/view/HOW-TO:Create_Music_Library this steps you through all the knowledge articles and would lead you to https://kodi.wiki/view/NFO_files/Music and https://kodi.wiki/view/Music_artwork

1/ adding a .txt file in some folder, preferably with the actual flac music tracks, which contains album review/info and artist biography - which can be displayed by kodi

That would be an nfo file, see above.

2/ adding jpeg files in some folder, preferably also within a sub folder in the same folder as the flack tracks, but which can be navigated, ie album cover jpegs which are twice as wide as an album cover, would be nice to pan, zoom, move to see all bits of the artwork.

Kodi offers a variety of artwork see above, but nothing you can pan and scan while browsing music, not even sure how that could possibly work.

[fredphoesh]

Considering the thread title, and the opening paragraph of your first post, you basically trashed what was already available as it was not to your standard.
.....
But I do concede your point of nomenclature. Advanced and Dummies do conflict. I will change that. 

Firstly, the wiki link you provided in the dummies guide links to a page explaining how to export library/music... the link really should be to this page, which is on topic and has useful information I can use... so perhaps you want to change that too. Also useful is the page on NFO files

So, accusing me of "trashing" the dummie's guide is nonsense. The link provided was not the correct guide for the topic.

Back to business...

I've made a very basic artist.nfo file and popped it in the Artist folder to test this, and have set kodi to look for local instead of online for the test artist...
<artist>
<biography>bla bla about artist</biography>
</artist>

and it worked.
but then if I change the info and choose Change information provider in the contextual menu and choose to Refresh information for this item now, it does not refresh the info. Closing and opening Kodi also doesn't refresh it.

https://paste.kodi.tv/raluzulihi.kodi

tx Mark.

ps
I did find this baffling though - from the nfo wiki 
"<artist></artist> The top level parent tag for the nfo file. All other tags must be contained within these two tags"

then this
"In the album.nfo the top level <artist> tag has been deprecated and is not shown in any sample nfo files. Applies to v12 and prior.

They seem contradictory to me...  but removing <artist></artist> and leaving only <biography></biography> seems to not work.

[fredphoesh]

If you found the wiki then the starting point for the new user should be https://kodi.wiki/view/HOW-TO:Create_Music_Library this steps you through all the knowledge articles and would lead you to https://kodi.wiki/view/NFO_files/Music and https://kodi.wiki/view/Music_artwork

1/ adding a .txt file in some folder, preferably with the actual flac music tracks, which contains album review/info and artist biography - which can be displayed by kodi

That would be an nfo file, see above.

2/ adding jpeg files in some folder, preferably also within a sub folder in the same folder as the flack tracks, but which can be navigated, ie album cover jpegs which are twice as wide as an album cover, would be nice to pan, zoom, move to see all bits of the artwork.

Kodi offers a variety of artwork see above, but nothing you can pan and scan while browsing music, not even sure how that could possibly work. 

Thanks for the help jjd-uk, 
yep, found the wiki with useful info for artist/album info... 
Cheers!

[Karellen]

This is my last reply to you, as I no longer have the patience.

Firstly, the wiki link you provided in the dummies guide links to a page explaining how to export library/music

Yes, exactly! That is right on topic for the guide.

the link really should be to this page, which is on topic and has useful information

Ummm, it is there. It is the very first link I provided in that entire thread. Can you not see it? It is titled Artist Information Folder. I have absolutely no idea how to make that any clearer or more obvious.

Also useful is the page on NFO files

Yes, generally the NFO Files page is very useful, but that page has nothing to do with the topic of the guide. Also, the link to NFO Files is repeated in that thread 5 times.

"In the album.nfo the top level <artist> tag has been deprecated and is not shown in any sample nfo files. Applies to v12 and prior.

What is the problem with this? Why is it contradictory?

Anyway I will leave you in the hands of others.

[jjd-uk]

I did find this baffling though - from the nfo wiki 
"<artist></artist> The top level parent tag for the nfo file. All other tags must be contained within these two tags"

then this
"In the album.nfo the top level <artist> tag has been deprecated and is not shown in any sample nfo files. Applies to v12 and prior.

They seem contradictory to me...  but removing <artist></artist> and leaving only <biography></biography> seems to not work.

Not contradictory at all, but perhaps you read too fast and missed that one comment refers to the artist.nfo file and the other to the album.nfo file.

"<artist></artist> The top level parent tag for the nfo file. All other tags must be contained within these two tags" is in artist.nfo section.

"In the album.nfo the top level <artist> tag has been deprecated and is not shown in any sample nfo files. Applies to v12 and prior." perhaps you missed bold part.

[jjd-uk]

but then if I change the info and choose Change information provider in the contextual menu and choose to Refresh information for this item now, it does not refresh the info. Closing and opening Kodi also doesn't refresh it.

I don't use nfo's files personally, however I would expect it to work if you select Artist open Context menu and there should be an Information option (don't have Kodi install handy at moment so not sure on precise wording), open that to display the Artist Information and then in there should be a refresh button, select that and it should update from the changed nfo I think.

[Powerhouse]

If you want a good start to Music, use MediaElch to scrap all your music. Take a look here at what it can do...

https://mediaelch.github.io/mediaelch-do...index.html