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IDProjectCategoryView StatusLast Update
0015410MMW 5Tagging / organizing (properties / auto-tools)public2020-12-17 05:35
Reporterrusty Assigned To 
PriorityimmediateSeverityfeatureReproducibilityalways
Status closedResolutionreopened 
Product Version5.0 
Target Version5.0Fixed in Version5.0 
Summary0015410: Improve auto-tagging granularity (albums vs singles and field selection)
DescriptionFor discussion/Triage

When tagging tracks with existing metadata, MM will sometimes make recommendations to overwrite the existing metadata even if the user didn't want it to do so:
a) because it was accurate to begin with because the user already manually changed the auto-tag recommendation based on a preference for Albums vs singles
b) because the user only wants to tag _some_ fields _on_the_fly_ (rather than based on pre-configuration of which fields to look up)

We can resolve as follows:
a) Add the following in Options:
[x] Group multiple tracks within a single album if possible (wording tweaked)
[ ] For individual tracks, prefer albums to singles released in the same timeframe (new)
...
...
If enabled, this option will recommend an Album (rather than a Single) if both the Single and the Album _were_released_in_the_same_year (i.e. it will override the regular logic of always recommending the oldest matching release).

b)i) We may want to allow users to accept recommendations only for certain fields (in addition to certain tracks) e.g. If I'm auto-tagging a particular batch of tracks just for the purpose of adding album art and don't want changes to affect any other tags. The only way I can think of doing this in a non confusing manner would be to:
- Move the existing Track selector checkboxes to the left of all of the Track# field (i.e. to the left of all selectable fields)
- Add field selector checkboxes to the left of each displayed field, and grey out recommendations for a field if it's checkbox isn't selected
HOWEVER, I'm also afraid that this might make the dialog too busy-looking, so we may want to consider this an idea for now co consider for the future.

ii) If we implement the above, we may also consider getting rid of the current 'conflict' indicators, and instead display existing metadata next to new metadata (like in the auto-tag from filename dialog). This would make it easier/quicker to see and to accept conflicting changes, but would also make the UI much busy and difficult to evaluate. Again, something to consider for the future.
TagsNo tags attached.
Fixed in build2250

Relationships

related to 0015348 closedrusty Auto-tag: Year fields appear to get mixed up 
related to 0015373 closedpetr Auto-tag: Multiple-artist tracks often get incorrect Album Artist (and consequently Album) recommendations 
related to 0016597 closedpetr Properties/Auto-Tag: Auto-Tag tries to tag incorrectly correctly tagged album 
related to 0017217 closedpetr Auto-Tag can fail to match some tracks to the associated Compilation 

Activities

rusty

2019-02-14 06:28

administrator   ~0052626

Note: in testing 2159, it seems that when 'Group tracks within a single album' is enabled in the options,
tracks from disc 2 of David Bowie - Best of Bowie, are split into 2 groups: 3/4 from the 'Best of Bowie' album and the other 1/4 from their original albums. I would suggest that when the user selects all tracks from a single album (especially when the Album metadata already exists), MM should either:
a) tag all tracks from the original albums
b) tag all tracks from the existing album

The proposed settings/wording above need to be adjusted to meeting this case (of the user possibly prefering a new compilation vs older originals).

petr

2019-02-14 08:23

developer   ~0052629

Last edited: 2019-02-14 08:28

When 'Group tracks within a single album' option is checked, engine is trying to place tracks to existing album as most of the tracks as possible. When more than 50% of the tracks (from existing album) cannot be placed to an existing album, other detections are automatically used for ALL tracks from existing album (by title and artist or fingerprint), otherwise just for tracks that cannot be placed to existing album.
So for example when you have album Best Of Bowie and it can place 17 tracks of the 20, then it places 17 tracks into existing album (because it's more than 50%) and for the rest use other detections.

rusty

2019-02-15 01:00

administrator   ~0052634

Right, but here's another example that illustrates the problem more clearly:
For Jewel - Pieces of You, 13/14 tracks are grouped in 'Pieces of You' , but Track 1 'Who will save your soul' is grouped in 'Who will save your soul (single)'.
Shouldn't MM be able to find the album that's common to all of the other tracks, especially considering that all 14 tracks are in a single directory?

btw, the reason I raised this issue in this bug is because it brought to mind deficiencies in the original logic
The originally described approach was:
"[x] Group tracks within a single album if possible (if multiple tracks are either within a single directory or have a common Album Artist and Album, then the algorithm tries to use/find a single Album for all of the tracks. Otherwise tracks are looked up individually defaulting to the oldest instance of the track that appears on an Album [not singles, unless only a single is a match])."

The problem with this approach is that in the case of multiple tracks from a single album (either because MM can find such groups or because metadata for such groups pre-exists), users will almost always want the tracks to be grouped, _except_ for Compilations published after the original tracks. With that in mind, here are a couple of options (both have similar underlying logic, but the first seems easier to understand. Also, both contain the additional feature described earlier re. preferences for individual tracks):

[x] For individual tracks, recommend albums instead of singles from the same time
[x] Group multiple tracks within one album if possible
 . [x] Avoid compilations

OR

[x] Group tracks within an album, if possible
 . [ ] Prefer singles for individual tracks, if released more than a year prior to an album
 . [ ] Avoid compilations whenever possible


Alternatively, we could simplify the first option even further to reflect the fact very few users would not care to disable grouping of multiple tracks within an album (i.e. in this design, MM will always attempt to group multiple tracks within a single album, except in the case indicated below):
[x] For individual tracks, recommend albums instead of singles from the same time
[x] For groups of tracks, avoid compilations (treat as individual tracks instead)

rusty

2020-01-28 22:41

administrator   ~0056334

Raised to 'immediate' to make a decision and finalize strings.

petr

2020-01-29 08:12

developer   ~0056361

I think last option is best as like you wrote ... most of the users use albums grouping.

petr

2020-04-22 21:30

developer   ~0057688

Fixed

rusty

2020-05-01 21:19

administrator   ~0057827

This still isn't working with the Jewel album mentioned earlier. i.e. 13/14 tracks are tagged Album:Pieces of You, and Track#1 to Album:Who Will Save Your Soul!

petr

2020-05-05 13:55

developer   ~0057865

Fixed

rusty

2020-05-13 15:15

administrator   ~0057987

Tested 2247. And the Jewel album is being looked up correctly (tested several other albums as well).

However, when disable 'For groups of tracks, avoid compilations (treat as individual tracks instead)' and then select all the track from Album: '1985 CD 1 Time Life Music' and initiate auto-tag --> MM still tags them as individual tracks (it fails to realize that it's a compilation album). Shouldn't that setting allow MM to realize that this group of tracks should be tagged as a compilation?

rusty

2020-05-13 20:28

administrator   ~0057994

Last edited: 2020-05-13 20:31

So it turns out that the Time Life CD isn't stored to musicbrainz. However, I tested with another CD: Pulp fiction, and MM again sprit the tracks across several different albums.

Note: when the Album field is "Pulp Fiction: Music from the Motion Picture", auto-tagging splits the album into 3. If the Album is 'Pulp Fiction" then the tracks are split into 11 albums.

petr

2020-05-13 22:05

developer   ~0057997

Fixed

peke

2020-05-15 03:27

developer   ~0058032

Looks like possible relations to 0016597 behavior. Which also splits correctly tagged album into two albums where only track that needs to be corrected is suggested to be tagged as Single?

rusty

2020-05-15 18:45

administrator   ~0058055

Tested 2248 with the Pulp Fiction album, and it's looking better, though there's still an issue:
1) If the Album is named 'Pulp Fiction: Music from the Motion Picture' in advance, then:
a) '[x] For groups of tracks, avoid compilations (treat as individual tracks instead': 16 individual albums found - OK
b) '[ ] For groups of tracks, avoid compilations (treat as individual tracks instead': 1 album found for all of the tracks - OK

2) If the Album is named 'Pulp Fiction' in advance, then:
a) '[x] For groups of tracks, avoid compilations (treat as individual tracks instead': 16 individual albums found - OK
b) '[ ] For groups of tracks, avoid compilations (treat as individual tracks instead': 16 individual albums found !!

For case 2b) shouldn't MM detect that the original album title is incorrect and that there's a common album for all of the tracks?

petr

2020-05-15 21:34

developer   ~0058056

Fixed.
fyi tracks need to be analyzed one by one, but at the end of the batch it will try to find one album for all tracks from batch.

rusty

2020-05-17 02:37

administrator   ~0058064

Tested 2249 and it's mostly working now. Just a couple of issues:
1) Although a common album is found for all the tracks, the track#/date/year is missing for tracks #2 and #14.
2) Can't this be done more efficiently. i.e. right now, album art is looked up for each track individually and then that art is rejected and replaced with album art that is looked up for the compilation. Wouldn't it make more sense to look up album art _after_ MM determines the album name?

Also, if MM isn't configured to avoid compilations, and the album field has been entered with an album name common to all of the tracks, then shouldn't MM first try to find an Album that is common to all of the tracks and that would avoid both issues 1 and 2? Or does MM already do this, and in this particular case no album matched so it started looking the tracks up individually?

petr

2020-05-17 09:59

developer   ~0058070

When 'avoid compilations' is disabled and tracks have pre-filled album, then auto-tag tries to find that ablum (even when it's compilation) and use it. In your case 'Pulp Fiction: Music from the Motion Picture' is correct album name (https://musicbrainz.org/release-group/1703cd63-9401-33c0-87c6-50c4ba2e0ba8) and in case this name is filled, tracks are correctly assigned. When you change album to 'Pulp Fiction', this album have different tracks (https://musicbrainz.org/release-group/6ec24356-e2f9-402a-9e9c-2ee68ce5b509) and individual tracks need to be looked up.

petr

2020-05-17 10:01

developer   ~0058071

re 1) i see ... when i look up thwse two tracks, musicbrainz returns album info without tracks details (for some reason) ... will try to manage that

petr

2020-05-17 13:38

developer   ~0058074

Fixed. It was also fixed Peke's '1985 CD 1 Time Life Music' album to correct name 'The 80's Collection: 1985'.

rusty

2020-05-19 15:24

administrator   ~0058113

Verified 2250.