Playing an album entirely with amarok or banshee

English Applications
#1

Hi,

I have my collection of CDs ripped to mp3, and I want to play them a CD
at a time.

And I can’t.

Both want to organize by artists or something.

For example, I have a CD by “Carreras, Domingo and Pavarotti”. It is a
single album, but it appears as 3 in banshee. I can select the three and
play “them”, but they are sorted by artist instead of the track number
in the album.

I would like a player that organizes the list by albums and allows me to
play the selected album in track order, the same as if I insert the CD
in the reader.

Can it be done?

Perhaps ignoring the collection as scanned by those programs and select
the directory on disk instead… :-?

–
Cheers / Saludos,

Carlos E. R.
(from 12.1 x86_64 “Asparagus” at Telcontar)

#2

Amarok does this. And correctly with all the CD’s I ripped to FLAC or mp3 myself. Just pick the Album view. Things that go wrong f.e.: Concert for Bangla Desh, 2 CDs, both have the same album title, tracks from both CDs numbered 1,2,3,4 etc. In Amarok it shows up as one alblum, track 1,1,2,2,3,3, etc. If you know the concert you’ll understand what’s wrong with it. I overcome this issue by adding I, II etc to the title using easytag or amarok itself.

#3

On 2013-02-18, Carlos E. R. <robin_listas@no-mx.forums.opensuse.org> wrote:
> Hi,
>
> I have my collection of CDs ripped to mp3, and I want to play them a CD
> at a time.
>

Yes it definitely can be done in Banshee (on mp3 not raw audio) by including it as a collection (and I think it uses
online data to update the album art), and playing one album at a time definitely preserves track order. Unfortunately
I’m on my work machine rather than home (where I use Banshee) so cannot give you a detailed description of how to do it
at the moment. I hope by telling you this however you can consider it’s worthwhile doing! What I do know is I have my
collection under path …/mp3/compose/album/*.mp3 and specifying that in Banshee is generally all it needs to work out
the rest. HTH

#4

Checked a couple of things, here you go Amarok:

  • Select the Album - Artist view
  • In the sorting, level one, check “Album”
  • In the sorting, level 2 check “None”.
  • In the sorting, level 3 check “None”.

Now the albums will show alphabetically and the tenor trio should not be torn apart :D. My (wild) guess is, that it’s sort of the same in Banshee.

EDIT: I guess you already know about double clicking or dragging an entire album to the playlist.

#5

On 2013-02-18 16:16, Knurpht wrote:
>
> Amarok does this. And correctly with all the CD’s I ripped to FLAC or
> mp3 myself. Just pick the Album view.

And how do I do that?

I see no “album view” in the view menu or anywhere else. That’s the problem.

Things that go wrong f.e.: Concert
> for Bangla Desh, 2 CDs, both have the same album title, tracks from both
> CDs numbered 1,2,3,4 etc. In Amarok it shows up as one alblum, track
> 1,1,2,2,3,3, etc. If you know the concert you’ll understand what’s wrong
> with it. I overcome this issue by adding I, II etc to the title using
> easytag or amarok itself.

I corrected that by giving slightly different album name when ripping
(album 1, album2, etc). Or by numbering the tracks of the second CD at
an offset. I have version 2.5.0, if that makes a difference.

–
Cheers / Saludos,

Carlos E. R.
(from 12.1 x86_64 “Asparagus” at Telcontar)

#6

On 2013-02-18 16:15, flymail wrote:
> On 2013-02-18, Carlos E. R. <robin_listas@no-mx.forums.opensuse.org> wrote:
>> Hi,
>>
>> I have my collection of CDs ripped to mp3, and I want to play them a CD
>> at a time.
>>
>
> Yes it definitely can be done in Banshee (on mp3 not raw audio) by including it as a collection (and I think it uses
> online data to update the album art), and playing one album at a time definitely preserves track order.

That needs me creating those collections with something else like
easytag, and placing all of them in the same folder to choose from
easily. Awkward.

> Unfortunately
> I’m on my work machine rather than home (where I use Banshee) so cannot give you a detailed description of how to do it
> at the moment. I hope by telling you this however you can consider it’s worthwhile doing! What I do know is I have my
> collection under path …/mp3/compose/album/*.mp3 and specifying that in Banshee is generally all it needs to work out
> the rest. HTH

Yes, giving it a directory to play, it works, yes. That’s what I’m
doing, but then I can not see the metadata, and I think it is not tagged
as “played”.

–
Cheers / Saludos,

Carlos E. R.
(from 12.1 x86_64 “Asparagus” at Telcontar)

#7

On 2013-02-18 16:48, Carlos E. R. wrote:
> On 2013-02-18 16:16, Knurpht wrote:
>>
>> Amarok does this. And correctly with all the CD’s I ripped to FLAC or
>> mp3 myself. Just pick the Album view.
>
> And how do I do that?
>
> I see no “album view” in the view menu or anywhere else. That’s the problem.

I found it.

On the left panel, the line that says “search collection”. At the right
side there are three very little icons. First one is “Edit filter”.
Second one is “merged view”. Third one is “sorting options”. Here,
select “Album/artist”. Choose this one, and the albums appear on the
left panel.

Also, select for second and third level “none” and then the track
tittles appear under the albums.

It is also possible to select “genre” for first level and “album” for
the second. But selecting anything for the third level destroys it.

Finally, I can select full CDs to play!

(I had this easier years ago with kde amarok).

–
Cheers / Saludos,

Carlos E. R.
(from 12.1 x86_64 “Asparagus” at Telcontar)

#8

Took some time here too, I have only the first level used.

#9

On 2013-02-19 16:36, Knurpht wrote:
> Took some time here too, I have only the first level used.

I would like to get it working with banshee as well, because as I use
XFCE, a gnome application is lighter. But amarok is a very nice application.

–
Cheers / Saludos,

Carlos E. R.
(from 12.1 x86_64 “Asparagus” at Telcontar)

#10

On 2013-02-19, Carlos E. R. <robin_listas@no-mx.forums.opensuse.org> wrote:
> On 2013-02-19 16:36, Knurpht wrote:
>> Took some time here too, I have only the first level used.
>
> I would like to get it working with banshee as well, because as I use
> XFCE, a gnome application is lighter. But amarok is a very nice application.

I use Banshee and successfully play albums in the correct track order. If you right-click Music' and select Preferences, under the Source Specific’ tab you can specify the hierarchy (I use Album Artist/Album). Under the tools
menu, you can `Fix MetaData’ which should sort out dependencies associated with multiple artists (although I never have
had to use this).

#11

On 2013-02-20 14:36, flymail wrote:
> On 2013-02-19, Carlos E. R. <> wrote:

>> I would like to get it working with banshee as well, because as I use
>> XFCE, a gnome application is lighter. But amarok is a very nice application.
>
> I use Banshee and successfully play albums in the correct track order. If you right-click `Music’ and select

Preferences, under the `Source Specific’ tab you can specify the hierarchy (I use Album Artist/Album).

Ok, done that. The CD I mentioned previously appears as four items, one
for each artist in the CD. It should be a single entry.

> Under the tools
> menu, you can `Fix MetaData’ which should sort out dependencies associated with multiple artists (although I never have
> had to use this).

Done that, no change.

–
Cheers / Saludos,

Carlos E. R.
(from 12.1 x86_64 “Asparagus” at Telcontar)

#12

On 2013-02-20, Carlos E. R. <robin_listas@no-mx.forums.opensuse.org> wrote:
> Ok, done that. The CD I mentioned previously appears as four items, one
> for each artist in the CD. It should be a single entry.
>
>> Under the tools
>> menu, you can `Fix MetaData’ which should sort out dependencies associated with multiple artists (although I never have
>> had to use this).
>
> Done that, no change.
>

Ok now I think I understand the problem you are having. Assuming your collection is in mp3 format, you need to edit the
tags for Banshee to deal with multiple artists (it doesn’t seem to be as smart as Amarok). If you ctrl/shift-select all
tracks belonging to a single album, and use right-click to edit track information, you can tick the check-box for
flagging a compilation and harmonise the artist field. If Banshee doesn’t correctly order them (I don’t possess such an
album to test this), you can over-rule the track ordering in the same dialog box.

An alternative solution is the edit the tags using a devoted tag editor such as easytag, which is listed in Packman’s
repo.

#13

On 2013-02-20 16:35, flymail wrote:
> On 2013-02-20, Carlos E. R. <> wrote:

> Ok now I think I understand the problem you are having. Assuming your collection is in mp3 format, you need to edit the
> tags for Banshee to deal with multiple artists (it doesn’t seem to be as smart as Amarok). If you ctrl/shift-select all
> tracks belonging to a single album, and use right-click to edit track information, you can tick the check-box for
> flagging a compilation and harmonise the artist field. If Banshee doesn’t correctly order them (I don’t possess such an
> album to test this), you can over-rule the track ordering in the same dialog box.
>
> An alternative solution is the edit the tags using a devoted tag editor such as easytag, which is listed in Packman’s
> repo.

Actually, I did edit the tags of that CD tracks yesterday with easytag
(and then forced both amarok and banshee to do a full rescan). The entry
“Album artist” is the same for all the tracks. However, each track has a
different “Artist”, obviously, and this can not be changed because it
would be wrong.

This CD is just an example I’m using for working this out, it happens to
several other CDs.

Actually, for classical music the tagging system is wrong. We put the
artist for a CD of the Third symphony as “Beethoven”, instead of using
the “Composer” tag as it would be right. The artist should show the
director or the orchestra playing it.

However, when I play it on an mp3 player I want to see “third symphony
by Beethoven”, but such gadgets do not allow users to choose the tags to
display. At least I have not seen it.

–
Cheers / Saludos,

Carlos E. R.
(from 12.1 x86_64 “Asparagus” at Telcontar)

#14

On 2013-02-20, Carlos E. R. <robin_listas@no-mx.forums.opensuse.org> wrote:
> Actually, I did edit the tags of that CD tracks yesterday with easytag
> (and then forced both amarok and banshee to do a full rescan). The entry
> “Album artist” is the same for all the tracks. However, each track has a
> different “Artist”, obviously, and this can not be changed because it
> would be wrong.
>

Sorry I was not clear enough. The key to getting the tag information correct within Banshee is flagging each track as
part of a compilation. Once you’ve ticked Compilation Album Artist', a new field is enabled that allows you to harmonise the tracks using a common field variable such as Pavarotti and others’ without having to edit the original
track artist information (which I would agree would be wrong to modify). If the same album is seen by Banshee to share
identical values for `Compilation Album Artist’ then it is treated as a single album.

#15

On 2013-02-20 17:10, flymail wrote:
> On 2013-02-20, Carlos E. R. <robin_listas@no-mx.forums.opensuse.org> wrote:
>> Actually, I did edit the tags of that CD tracks yesterday with easytag
>> (and then forced both amarok and banshee to do a full rescan). The entry
>> “Album artist” is the same for all the tracks. However, each track has a
>> different “Artist”, obviously, and this can not be changed because it
>> would be wrong.
>>
>
> Sorry I was not clear enough. The key to getting the tag information correct within Banshee is flagging each track as
> part of a compilation. Once you’ve ticked `Compilation Album Artist’, a new field is enabled that allows you to

harmonise the tracks using a common field variable such as Pavarotti and others' without having to edit the original &gt; track artist information (which I would agree would be wrong to modify). If the same album is seen by Banshee to share &gt; identical values for Compilation Album Artist’ then it is treated as a single album.

I see now the one you mean. However, with banshee I have to edit that 16
times, one per track. I tried that, some days ago.

Easytag does not display that tag field. Instead, it has “Album artist”,
which is indeed armonized, and is enough for amarok, but not for
banshee. I thus understand it is a banshee bug.

–
Cheers / Saludos,

Carlos E. R.
(from 12.1 x86_64 “Asparagus” at Telcontar)

#16

On 2013-02-21, Carlos E. R. <robin_listas@no-mx.forums.opensuse.org> wrote:
> I see now the one you mean. However, with banshee I have to edit that 16
> times, one per track.

I agree it’s not ideal. You can however group-select tracks (using ctrl/shift-select) and edit the compilation album
artist to ensure they have a common value, but it’s a little cumbersome.

#17

On 2013-02-21 10:12, flymail wrote:
> On 2013-02-21, Carlos E. R. <robin_listas@no-mx.forums.opensuse.org> wrote:
>> I see now the one you mean. However, with banshee I have to edit that 16
>> times, one per track.
>
> I agree it’s not ideal. You can however group-select tracks (using ctrl/shift-select) and edit the compilation album
> artist to ensure they have a common value, but it’s a little cumbersome.

It is cumbersome, that’s the problem. It appears that I have to do it
track by track, non on bulk. And I would have to add it manually on new CDs.

I’ll have to use amarok only, or clementine. Amarok also displays the
cover photo of the CD, which is nice while choosing one to play.

At least in Linux we have choice :slight_smile:

–
Cheers / Saludos,

Carlos E. R.
(from 12.1 x86_64 “Asparagus” at Telcontar)

#18

On 2013-02-21, Carlos E. R. <robin_listas@no-mx.forums.opensuse.org> wrote:
> It is cumbersome, that’s the problem. It appears that I have to do it
> track by track, non on bulk. And I would have to add it manually on new CDs.

I have never had to go so for CDs with single artists, so it probably depends on the nature of your music collection how
cumbersome!

> I’ll have to use amarok only, or clementine. Amarok also displays the
> cover photo of the CD, which is nice while choosing one to play.

Hehe - Banshee also shows the cover art but I think Amarok is nicer.

> At least in Linux we have choice :slight_smile:

:slight_smile: - I was hoping to find a console-based player (perhaps adaptations of mplayer) that can retrieve mp3 tags and
metadata to order album tracks automatically so that a single album can be played along the lines of `mplayer
~/mp3/artist/album/*.mp3’. Alas, among the choices I see no solution for this short of coding it myself!

#19

On 2013-02-21 13:21, flymail wrote:
> :slight_smile: - I was hoping to find a console-based player (perhaps adaptations of mplayer) that can retrieve mp3 tags and
> metadata to order album tracks automatically so that a single album can be played along the lines of `mplayer
> ~/mp3/artist/album/*.mp3’. Alas, among the choices I see no solution for this short of coding it myself!

I have used such a thing years ago! But I don’t have the name in my notes.

Looking for the word “play” in yast, I see cmus:

cmus - Curses-based Ogg, MP3, WMA, and WAV Player

CMus is a small and fast text mode music player for Linux and *BSD.
Supported file formats include FLAC, Ogg, MP3 (via libmad), wav, and all
module formats supported by libmodplug. Included output plugins are
ALSA, ARTS, OSS, and Sun. It can be controlled through a UNIX socket.
Background playlist loading and a metadata cache make loading files very
fast. Playqueue, playlist filters and directory browser. Three playlist
views are available: artist/album/track, shuffle list, and sorted list.
There are three play modes: all, artist, album.

Another possibility is gst123 - the name of the old program I recollect
had 123 in it, too.

I have tried ‘cmus’ just a bit. Commands work like “vi”, they start with
“:”. awkward! Messages in an xterm are yellow on white, unreadable. It
is designed for a black terminal, I guess.

I expected something easier, with a menu, like ‘mc’ or ‘pine’.

–
Cheers / Saludos,

Carlos E. R.
(from 12.1 x86_64 “Asparagus” at Telcontar)

#20

On 2013-02-21, Carlos E. R. <robin_listas@no-mx.forums.opensuse.org> wrote:
> Looking for the word “play” in yast, I see cmus:

I didn’t see it. After a search I could find it listed inunder the Packman Multimedia repo.

> I have tried ‘cmus’ just a bit. Commands work like “vi”, they start with
> “:”. awkward! Messages in an xterm are yellow on white, unreadable.

Looks perfect :slight_smile: - thanks for the heads up!