[nevernow]

Hi, I hope it's ok to post here about an issue I'm having with the scraper. I'm new to Kodi 19 and to the Generic Scrapers.

The issue is that sometimes the scraper correctly detects compilation albums as such and adds a single item to the library; in other cases it fails to detect them and treats them as X albums, one for each artist, all with the same album name.

it's clear from the log that the issue is with compilation detection and not with what the scraper does afterwards: when things go well there's a line there saying:

html:
DEBUG <general>: Album '[TITLE] is a compilation as there's no overlapping tracks and there is more than one unique artist

I read about the scraper's behavior for compilations here , but I couldn't figure out how the Artist information folder would come into play nor which properties confuse the scraper, given those criteria.

I also tried creating an album.nfo file with the following content:

xml:


<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" standalone="yes" ?>

<album>

    <title>[TITLE HERE, AS IT APPEARS ON MUSICBRAINZ]</title>

    <artist>Various Artists</artist>

    <compilation>true</compilation>

</album>

but it seems to be ignored. Should it work? I would be happy to create such files for compilations, but I would rather not modify the MP3 tags.

Finally, the folder structure for the albums in question is without an artist folder, so "/music/VA-Polka_Greatest_Hits" and not "/music/VA/Polka_Greatest_Hits" or something like that.

Thanks in advance for any help or tips, let me know if any further information is necessary.

Debug Log

[Karellen]

@nevernow

I doubt the scraper is causing the problem.

Music library is different to the video library. You cannot create your music library using the scraper.
The music library is created from the embedded tags in the music files. Once that is created, the scraper simply downloads additional information. It cannot rearrange your music files in the library, it simply adds info to it.

I think your problem is the embedded tags for the songs in the album are not consistent. Read section 4 of that same wiki page you linked above. Run your album through MusicBrainz Picard and check the suggested changes to find the problem.

[nevernow]

@Karellen, thanks a lot for your reply!

First of all, I've installed Picard and I'll try to familiarize with it. I understand that music scraping is different from video and that it's tag-based, I can assure the files I am talking about are tagged consistently - although the tags might not match MusicBrainz precisely (capitalization, "-" vs ":" and stuff like that).
This said, I ran Picard on the two folders I've been talking about and it has suggestions for both, however one is detected correctly in Kodi and the other isn't. The "good" one even has repeated track numbers in the tags, because it's a multi-disc compilations, while the "bad" one doesn't. "Album Artist" tags aren't set in either case.

You're telling me the bit of code that does the compilation detection work runs outside and before the scraper itself? That makes sense, looking at the log again. Then you're right, the scraper isn't actually causing my problem.

What I'm asking, all in all, is: there's heuristics at work, as outlined in section 8.1 of the aforementioned wiki. Is it possible to override those heuristics with an nfo file? If it's not, I'll live with it, but... I think it should be.

[Karellen]

@nevernow

Firstly, I'll split you out of this scraper thread and move you to the music library.

No, I don't think it is possible to override those Kodi core workings. But I am not a developer, so maybe one of the developers can help you in the music forum.

What will help though is providing the following for ... in other cases it fails to detect them and treats them as X albums, one for each artist, all with the same album name.
1. Debug Log that captures start up, shutdown and the scanning/scraping of the album. Your previous log is no good.
2. Screenshot so we can see the tags in two of the songs that are split into separate albums. A screenshot from Picard or MP3tag extended view is ok.

[nevernow]

Thanks again.

Full debug log, untouched:

https://paste.kodi.tv/cajoladopi.kodi

mediainfo -f of a file from the "good" compilation:

https://paste.kodi.tv/hoqepebumi

mediainfo -f of a file from the "bad" compilation:

https://paste.kodi.tv/deqegopuwa

References:

https://www.srrdb.com/release/details/VA...CD-2017-gF
https://www.srrdb.com/release/details/VA...-2004-AMRC

EDIT: sorry, in this scan neither album was added to the library, not sure why. Maybe this scan log is still interesting in some way, however I'll post a fresh log where the scan goes the way I was describing: one compilation album added correctly as a single one, the other split into one album for each artist. Sorry for the inconvenience.

[Karellen]

mediainfo -f of a file from the "good" compilation:

https://paste.kodi.tv/hoqepebumi

mediainfo -f of a file from the "bad" compilation:

https://paste.kodi.tv/deqegopuwa

It does not show all the tags and their values. We need those screenshots from the mentioned programs.
And you have given me two songs from two different albums, where I asked you for two songs from the same album that is split by the problem you are reporting. Obviously I want two songs that are split into different listings of the same album.

[nevernow]

I'm being unable to reproduce the scan results I initially posted about. The albums are not getting added to the library at all, instead of being split like they did before I posted. I don't know whether this is because it was the first scan, although I did move the folders, cleaned the library and restarted Kodi each time to produce a meaningful log.

I guess I'll post again when I managed to reproduce the initial situation. It would still be great to know whether an nfo file can force a folder to be treated as a compilation album.

And thanks for your time and interest in the matter.

[DaveBlake]

It would still be great to know whether an nfo file can force a folder to be treated as a compilation album.

No it can not. The main purpose of nfo files for albums and artists is to provide additonal information about them e.g. biographies, reviews, themes etc. that is NOT part of standard music file tagging.

Sort out your tagging, start with a clean library and Kodi will correctly populate the library.

[nevernow]

It would still be great to know whether an nfo file can force a folder to be treated as a compilation album.

No it can not. The main purpose of nfo files for albums and artists is to provide additonal information about them e.g. biographies, reviews, themes etc. that is NOT part of standard music file tagging.

Sort out your tagging, start with a clean library and Kodi will correctly populate the library.

Well, that's a clear and conclusive answer. Thanks.

Like I said, I'd rather not edit the tags of my files. Furthermore, according to the wiki Kodi still handles files without the "Album Artist" take, with the heuristics I mentioned above. I think it would make sense to allow users to override such heuristics with an nfo file, even though it's not its main purpose. Overridable heuristics is after all what Kodi does to identify video files as movies (AVI at least), the contexts and use cases seem similar to me.

[scott967]

Music library does allow for cue files, but that is really a poor approach to the problem because cue file standard doesn't provide all the benefits of tagging.  It has never been the design to use nfo files as a replacement for tagging.

scott s.
.

[nevernow]

Music library does allow for cue files, but that is really a poor approach to the problem because cue file standard doesn't provide all the benefits of tagging.  It has never been the design to use nfo files as a replacement for tagging.

scott s.
.

I understand your point. I agree tagging can do much more than a cue or nfo file ever will. However, in my case, I would just like my files to be added correctly to the library.

Given a folder with a name such as "VA-This_is_a_title", containing files that have sensible names and at least the basic "Artist" and "Album" tags, I would like Kodi to be able to tell it's a compilation and add it to my library as such.
Failing that, I would like to be able to tell Kodi "trust me, this is a compilation album, this is its title, this is its MusicBrainz ID" through an nfo file.
I know I repeat myself, but I believe allowing an nfo file to override an existing heuristics would make sense and be a relatively low effort coding-wise.

[DaveBlake]

@nevernow you can wish for music library to be based on folder/file names and nfo files, you can tell us it is easy, but it is not going to happen.

Your problems are created by how you have tagged your music files. You don't have to use Musicbrainz ids or Picard to do this, just some consistent basic tagging of ARTIST and ALBUM will suffice. If albums are being split then it is most likely that you have inconsistent tagging, either different album titles or album artist or some with some Musicbrainz ids and others without (either do tag an album fully with Musicbrainz ID, which is easy with Picard, or don't).

The solution is easy: fix your tags! If you can't see what is inconsistent then share how your files are tagged and we will help you.

[nevernow]

I understand the general message. You're not gonna change the way Kodi works just because I'm asking. Fair enough.

But I can assure you the files I am talking about are not inconsistently tagged. They do have correct Album, Artist and Title tags; no Album Artist or MusicBrainz tags; they are in separate folders and both the files and the folders have sensible names.
Looking at them again, the ones that are scraped incorrectly (of course I am using a sample of limited size, 4-5 albums) do not have track numbers - considering that one of the criteria for the heuristics, I guess that might be the dealbreaker.

In any case, thanks for taking the time to answer my queries.

[NeoCortex]

If there's no common Album Artist tag, how would Kodi know the difference between two different artists on one compilation album and two different albums by different artists with the same album name?
The easiest way to handle compilation albums for me is to set the Album Artist to "Various Artists" and make sure the Compilation tag is set to 1.  If you have a bunch of compilation album files you want to just add those tags to, Mp3tag works really well.

[nevernow]

If there's no common Album Artist tag, how would Kodi know the difference between two different artists on one compilation album and two different albums by different artists with the same album name? [...]

Here is how (read after "As many users don't yet use the Album Artist tag..."). Essentially an educated guess based on the available information. What I was asking is the ability to override such guess with an nfo file, without changing the tags.