Foobar vs JRiver?

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Ah - the never ending questions I seem to have....

I have 3 versions of Thriller by Michael Jackson. All are in different source folders.....yet 1 is a DSD download, other 2 are 2 different CD copies from back in the day. I can see them in their different folder...but Foobar only lists Thriller one time, but unfortunately I see 3 occurrences of each song back to back when I try to play it. UGH.

Not very impressed I guess. What can I do to show differently so I can just play the DSD version? I'm hoping you don't tell me to just delete the other 2.... :)
 
You could try retagging the different Thriller files in Qoobar (tag editor) to help differentiate in some way maybe..?

I used Qoobar to add images to multichannel WAVs before Dave educated me on the hard disk saving beauty of the multichannel FLAC and since then I don't know where I am but its mainly a tag editor piece of software so.. there you go! :eek:
 
Ah - the never ending questions I seem to have....

I have 3 versions of Thriller by Michael Jackson. All are in different source folders.....yet 1 is a DSD download, other 2 are 2 different CD copies from back in the day. I can see them in their different folder...but Foobar only lists Thriller one time, but unfortunately I see 3 occurrences of each song back to back when I try to play it. UGH.

Not very impressed I guess. What can I do to show differently so I can just play the DSD version? I'm hoping you don't tell me to just delete the other 2.... :)

Depending on how you look at it, this isn't really a bug but a feature. I see the same thing in Logitech Media Server. If the Artist+Album are identical, it doesn't matter if the files are in different directories. As Fredblue suggested, you need to tag them in such a way that both Foobar and you are able to differentiate them. Since song and album titles usually use parentheses, I tend to use square brackets in this context, but I'm a bit weird. For example:

Thriller [original CD]
Thriller [DSD download]
Thriller [third version]

In the long run, this will be genuinely useful to you. The larger your collection, the more you're going to need [original 1987 CD], [2009 stereo remaster], [2009 mono remaster], etc. just to be able to find anything. Some people actually do just keep the preferred version online, but I get a kick out of being able to compare without swapping discs.
 
Depending on how you look at it, this isn't really a bug but a feature. I see the same thing in Logitech Media Server. If the Artist+Album are identical, it doesn't matter if the files are in different directories. As Fredblue suggested, you need to tag them in such a way that both Foobar and you are able to differentiate them. Since song and album titles usually use parentheses, I tend to use square brackets in this context, but I'm a bit weird. For example:

Thriller [original CD]
Thriller [DSD download]
Thriller [third version]

In the long run, this will be genuinely useful to you. The larger your collection, the more you're going to need [original 1987 CD], [2009 stereo remaster], [2009 mono remaster], etc. just to be able to find anything. Some people actually do just keep the preferred version online, but I get a kick out of being able to compare without swapping discs.

I don't understand how to rename or retag (or whatever correct term is) at this point. In Tag/Rename program, when I load Thriller (DSD source), it automatically hi-lights the file name (which is actually track number/song/file type). I don't want to change the file name (I don't think), I want to change the Album name (don't I?) So, Album could be called Thriller (DSD). I realize I'm simply missing the point, but this sort of stuff doesn't come easy for me. :)


Thriller JPG snip.JPG
 
this sort of stuff doesn't come easy for me. :)

You and me both buddy.. I've literally had to force myself to get behind the computer to do all this stuff.. baby steps all the way with me since me and PCs do not play well together.. I think you just edit the tags of the album and all should work but you'd have to get it confirmed by someone who knows their stuff like atrocity.

meantime if I were you I'd chuck out the other Thrillers, the DSD is the old SACD in download form and that old SACD is... not to put to fine a point on it, THE MUTTS' NUTS...!!!
 
I don't understand how to rename or retag (or whatever correct term is) at this point. In Tag/Rename program, when I load Thriller (DSD source), it automatically hi-lights the file name (which is actually track number/song/file type). I don't want to change the file name (I don't think), I want to change the Album name (don't I?) So, Album could be called Thriller (DSD). I realize I'm simply missing the point, but this sort of stuff doesn't come easy for me. :)

You can do all the re-tagging in Foobar. Just drag the directory into Foobar, make sure all tracks are selected (Ctrl+A should work) then right click -> Properties. You should see a box where you can alter the tags. Most of what you'll see applies to the entire album/directory, but you can also click on the tag name (e.g., "Track Title") to change the values for individual files/tracks.

None of this stuff is especially complicated...unfortunately, none of it is especially intuitive either!
 
You can do all the re-tagging in Foobar. Just drag the directory into Foobar, make sure all tracks are selected (Ctrl+A should work) then right click -> Properties. You should see a box where you can alter the tags. Most of what you'll see applies to the entire album/directory, but you can also click on the tag name (e.g., "Track Title") to change the values for individual files/tracks.

None of this stuff is especially complicated...unfortunately, none of it is especially intuitive either!

OK - I tried that (and no, it wasn't complicated), but it didn't solve my original complaint. :) That when going to Library in Foobar to search for Thriller, it is only listed 1 time and when I click it - it loads all 3 versions of each song. So - if I really only want to listen to the DSD version....how would I do it under these circumstances? I did edit the Album name in Foobar like you said....

Thriller Library view.JPG
 
OK - I tried that (and no, it wasn't complicated), but it didn't solve my original complaint. :) That when going to Library in Foobar to search for Thriller, it is only listed 1 time and when I click it - it loads all 3 versions of each song. So - if I really only want to listen to the DSD version....how would I do it under these circumstances? I did edit the Album name in Foobar like you said....

Foobar needs to rescan your files to rebuild the album database. If you've told Foobar where to find your files under Library -> Configure -> Music Folders, I *think* the rescan happens when you exit and restart Foobar, but unfortunately I'm not 100% certain.
 
Foobar needs to rescan your files to rebuild the album database. If you've told Foobar where to find your files under Library -> Configure -> Music Folders, I *think* the rescan happens when you exit and restart Foobar, but unfortunately I'm not 100% certain.

Yeah, I figured it might work if I close and restart...but it didn't. I don't recall telling Foobar where to find my music - but all the files on my laptop always show up in the Foobar Library. So, it must be looking in the right places.
 
LOL - OK. So, I literally went to the Library view, clicked on MIchael Jackson and deleted if physically from Foobar. Then it automatically initiated a rescan, and added it back. Only now, it only added the DSD version and left my other 2 versions off. Odd. I can live with this - but I really don't know why it did this....
 
OK - I tried that (and no, it wasn't complicated), but it didn't solve my original complaint. :) That when going to Library in Foobar to search for Thriller, it is only listed 1 time and when I click it - it loads all 3 versions of each song. So - if I really only want to listen to the DSD version....how would I do it under these circumstances? I did edit the Album name in Foobar like you said....

View attachment 23231

I'm bowing out of this one Gene, due to an acute lack of knowledge..!! Haha..!! :D ..but Good Luck! :upthumb
 
LOL - OK. So, I literally went to the Library view, clicked on MIchael Jackson and deleted if physically from Foobar. Then it automatically initiated a rescan, and added it back. Only now, it only added the DSD version and left my other 2 versions off. Odd. I can live with this - but I really don't know why it did this....

Are you sure that it's finished the scan? One of my few complaints with Foobar is that it's never obvious (at least to me) when it's scanning and when it's done. The fact that you've figured out a way to force a scan puts you ahead of my knowledge! I didn't know you could remove an album, either!

OK, you made me look at something...on the "Music Folders" list, if you right-click each one are both "Rescan on startup" and "Monitor for changes while running" checked? I'm not sure I have a lot of faith in the "Monitor" function, but it can't hurt.
 
Are you sure that it's finished the scan? One of my few complaints with Foobar is that it's never obvious (at least to me) when it's scanning and when it's done. The fact that you've figured out a way to force a scan puts you ahead of my knowledge! I didn't know you could remove an album, either!

OK, you made me look at something...on the "Music Folders" list, if you right-click each one are both "Rescan on startup" and "Monitor for changes while running" checked? I'm not sure I have a lot of faith in the "Monitor" function, but it can't hurt.

OK - I just learned a painful lesson. If you delete any file from your Foobar Library, it will delete it from your source. I think. I assumed it was simply deleting it from Foobar Library only....doesn't seem to be the case.
 
I use JRiver - so this is a stab-in-the-dark here:

Does FooBar permit the user to control the browser organization based on tag content? For example, I have JRiver set up so that all tracks/albums with more than 2 channels go to a completely different browsing hierarchy called "Surround Music". This VERY nicely splits the Surround and non-surround content in my library. You can do the same based on sample rate, or any number of other tags. (Another example: I customized the "composer"-based browsing to ONLY contain music that has a genre is tagged as either "Classical" or "Soundtrack". Including the other stuff made for insanely-garbaged-up browsing by composer, as many folks TRY to shoe-horn the "composer" idea into more popular music - with absolutely awe-inspiringly-terrible results in the end. The idea may have idealogical merit, but it is a functional nightmare.)

Lacking this kind of thing in Foobar - another thing I know you CAN do is rename the album name on the tracks in the SACD to "Thriller [sacd]" or something of that ilk. Then it will brute-force change it so the SACD "looks" like a different album to FooBar, and easier for you to see which is which.
 
OK - I just learned a painful lesson. If you delete any file from your Foobar Library, it will delete it from your source. I think. I assumed it was simply deleting it from Foobar Library only....doesn't seem to be the case.

Well, hopefully you can get it out of the trash. Sometimes large files just get deleted completely though. Not that I've ever used a product with "Foo" in the name.
 
OK - I just learned a painful lesson. If you delete any file from your Foobar Library, it will delete it from your source. I think. I assumed it was simply deleting it from Foobar Library only....doesn't seem to be the case.
i am not too familiar with Foobar, but if this is true, the files will still be in the trashbin, won't they?
 
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