[TH3 M0L3]

Hi All

So, I've recently sorted my music library out by running it all through music brains and mp3tag.
I'm noticing a phenomenon whereby some albums, usually compilation albums are not displaying correctly in album view.

The problem is that say there are 10 track in the album, then that album is displayed ten times with each entry only containing one track.

I've checked the tags on a few of the albums in question, and all appears to be in order with album tags on each track being identical. I've checked that the artwork is the same too.

What I am thinking is that even if the album name is x across all tracks, if the artist is different across each track then XBMC sees this as a separate album.
I can see why this is and accept that there might be identical album names released by different artists, eg "Greatest Hits".

What I need to know is if there is an option for XBMC to display compilation Albums as one Album in Album view.

There are many albums like this (Now, iTunes top 100, R&B collection, Hard Rock Singles, etc)

Any suggestions are welcome, and thanks in advance for the help!

**edit pastebin

Code:

http://pastebin.com/etLyLYsG

[whitebelly]

Compilations can be recognized as one album if the "album artist" tag is the same for each song (such as "Various Artists"), even if the "artist" tag is different for each song.

[TH3 M0L3]

Compilations can be recognized as one album if the "album artist" tag is the same for each song (such as "Various Artists"), even if the "artist" tag is different for each song.

Kudos to you. It's so simple that I completely overlooked it.

I'll jump onto it tomorrow and report back.

** edit: Just loaded an album into mp3 tag and I can confirm that "artist" and album artist have been tagged the same. Changing all "album artist" tags to that of the respective album, so hopefully this will sort out my display issues.

Thanks for the heads up!

[discdog]

Do either of you know if this is by design? That is terrible default behavior. A thing is known about a set of tracks: their album name is the same and their folder is the same. To make no assumption about this relationship is just bizarre.

[TH3 M0L3]

Hi discdog, and welcome to the forums.

It would appear that this is default as I've not changed anything to this effect.

Personally, I agree with you. If the tracks are in the same folder and have same album name the they should be seen as one album.
The only thing I can assume is that XBMC reads track tags, not locations, ergo the need to have album artist tags correct too. I struggle to see any other use for this Album Artist tag.

I'm painstakingly sorting out my library and have found multiple tracks in different locations which musicbrainz Picard incorrectly tagged as being on a compilation. As a result, when in album view XBMC displays these under the same album despite their different locations.

Having the Album artist tags set to Various Artists on my compilations has worked for me.

[whitebelly]

I believe the reason for the default behavior is to allow the option of excluding artists found only on compilations from the artist listing. To do that, there needs to be something to distinguish those albums. Maybe not the ideal approach, but it works.