Device Sync with Multiple Artist Tags

[MrJubbly]

Hi,

I'm a long term user/lover of MediaMonkey but I'm having a problem currently. I've tried hunting around for an answer for this, but have not found a definitive answer yet, and I suspect I wont.

I have a FLAC library I have built up over the years. For tracks where multiple artist are credited/perform I have always added these in via MP3Tag, creating multiple Artist tags for the additional performers. In the house, I run my music off this Library via My Logitech Media Server and it copes quite happily with tracks that have multiple artists associated with them and everything is indexed correctly.

I also have a second library which contains MP3 equivalents on the files held in the FLAC library. I use MediaMonkey to manage this and to sync with my MP3 player.

Recent I upgraded my MP3 player to an Astell & Kern SR15. In order to manage syncing to this device I dropped my MP3 Library from MM and added the FLAC library instead. I then transferred a few files across to the SR15 to test and the first think I noticed is that tracks with multiple artists don't quite behave.

No matter what I try It seems that the last artist, where multiple artist tags exist, is the one that is attributed as the artist. So, if have 10 tracks on 'Album X' by 'Artist Y', but on track 9 'Artist Z' also performed, there would be 2 Artist tags: 'Artist Y' and 'Artist Z' (I naturally put the primary artist first). After the sync, if I navigate by album I can go to 'Album X' and see/play all 10 tracks. If I navigate by Artist though and select the primary artist (Artist Y), Album X only shows the 9 tracks (track 9 not present). Under artist navigation there is also an entry for Artist Z, for Album X, for track 9 only.

Looking at the tag on the device for track 9 shows only Artist Z. I have tried going into options for the device configuration and ticking the checkbox for 'Use only first value when multiple Artists / Composers exist but it is still only the last artist tag that gets carried over. I don't mind dropping the additional artist tags on the sync. I just wish it would only take the first and drop the rest, rather than the other way round. I really don't want to go through my whole library and switch all the multiple artist tags round so that the desired primary artist become last in the list.

Is anybody able to provide any insights here? I'm just hoping I'm doing something wrong, or maybe it is something that only works with the 'Gold' version.

Thanks in advance,

MrJubbly

[Lowlander]

Are you using Album Artist and if so would track 9 be the "correct" value?

[MrJubbly]

Hi,

The Album Artist tag is populated and in this case would be set to Artist Y across all 10 tracks. All 10 tracks would have an Artist tag also set to Artist Y. Only track 9 would have an additional Artist tag set to Artist Z.

Hope that makes sense.

Thanks,

MrJubbly

[Lowlander]

How is this displayed in MediaMonkey (the multi-artist)? This could be a problem with how MP3Tag tags the FLAC files or with the media player on how it reads the tags.

[MrJubbly]

Hi,

I don't think it is the device because when I look at the file through Explorer I can see that for the track in question it only has one Artist tag, that being for Artist Z. I would insert an image of an example, but embarrassed to say I'm not sure how to do that here. Essentially though, in MM, the artist field shows Artist Y; Artist Z.

Thanks,

MrJubbly

[Lowlander]

Check the Device Profile in MMW (Tools > Options > Portable Device Sync) and see if it's set to only use 1 Artist (although this should give you the first Artist).

See: https://www.mediamonkey.com/support/ind ... orum-posts

[MrJubbly]

Hi,

If you're referring to ' 'Use only first value when multiple Artists / Composers exist', I do have this ticked. Like you say, I too would expect it to pick the first artist an not the last. I say last because I've tried adding more artist tags on and it is always the last tag.

I have also tried using WinAmp and MusicBe and they both do the same as MM, so perhaps it does have something to do with the way MP3Tag has tagged my files.

Thanks,

MrJubbly

[Lowlander]

Then it likely is the device or MP3Tag.

[MrJubbly]

I do think that the device can't handle the multiple artist tagging. I copied a test file to it just using drag and drop, rather than using any music management software and the play only recognised the last artist tag again. There must also be something about FLAC files that music management software in general can't handle in terms of removing the additional artist tags and only using the first. All that I've tried (including MM) just don't work. Maybe this feature only works on ID3 tags.

[Lowlander]

Perhaps, or the file has additional Artists tags besides the regular Artist tag and the device is using this. I'm not familiar with the FLAC tags, but sometimes Artist is stored as a single tag with a delimiter for multiple values and sometimes multiple values are stored in a tag of their own. Maybe both are present in the files.

[Peke]

Hi,
Can you connect Device to PC using USB and send us one file that observe such behavior. It needs to be from Device so that we can see what is teh difference with one you have on your PC.

After you have both files (original and one from device) please Open support Ticket or Send me Pm with Links to files in order that I can compare them for changes?