About MusicID

[DarkMagess]

Is MusicID just a way for QMP to better index my files and/or get around those people who don't tag files properly? Is it altering any of my current tags or just getting information for its own use?

[Paul]

MusicID is good for:

#1: Retrieving metadata for unknown files
MusicID does waveform analysis of files so even files named 1.mp3 with no tags have a good chance of being identified.

#2: Retrieving richer metadata for known files
Chances are the data that comes down from Gracenote for a recognized file is more complete than what is currently in your file's tags.

#3: Grouping files back into proper artist/album groups
MusicID scans files groups at a time to find files that could belong on the same album, thereby making your collection easier to navigate and more accurate.

#4: Normalizing metadata
MusicID uses metadata from a single moderated source, so when a set of files for an album or artist becomes identified you can be certain they will be tagged consistently. E.g.: No more 'Beatles, The' for some tracks, and 'The Beatles' or 'Beatles' for other tracks.

#5: Allows the application to 'know' what the songs are.
Without MusicID, song and metadata are just text and numbers to the application. The identifying data delivered by MusicID allows the application to make relationships in your music which powers things like Intellimix and AutoPlaylists.

Whether MusicID alters your files is up to the application implementing it. QMP is set by default to not touch your files, it only updates the ML database. And it is easy to revert back to your file's data should you decide to.

[DarkMagess]

MusicID is good for:
#1: Retrieving metadata for unknown files
MusicID does waveform analysis of files so even files named 1.mp3 with no tags have a good chance of being identified.
#5: Allows the application to 'know' what the songs are.
Without MusicID, song and metadata are just text and numbers to the application. The identifying data delivered by MusicID allows the application to make relationships in your music which powers things like Intellimix and AutoPlaylists.

Whether MusicID alters your files is up to the application implementing it. QMP is set by default to not touch your files, it only updates the ML database. And it is easy to revert back to your file's data should you decide to.

Ok, my library has been scanned. MusicID has identified some thing incorrectly and doesn't have information about others. What can I do about this? The ones that it has incorrect, there isn't data for in the source it's contacting.

[Paul]

Ok, my library has been scanned. MusicID has identified some thing incorrectly and doesn't have information about others. What can I do about this? The ones that it has incorrect, there isn't data for in the source it's contacting.
For anything that matches incorrectly (which hopefully is a very very small percentage), just select and right-click and choose 'Reload File Tag Information'.

For anything that failed to match at all, you can right-click and choose 're-identify track' (or 'resolve track' depending on the file's state) and manually select a correct match.

[DarkMagess]

For anything that matches incorrectly (which hopefully is a very very small percentage), just select and right-click and choose 'Reload File Tag Information'.

Ok, this will set them back to being Not Identified. Is that the best I'm going to be able to do?

For anything that failed to match at all, you can right-click and choose 're-identify track' (or 'resolve track' depending on the file's state) and manually select a correct match.

And if there is no correct match to select?

[Paul]

Ok, this will set them back to being Not Identified. Is that the best I'm going to be able to do?
If you think they should match, you can update the tags (in the tag editor, not the ML data) with more information then try to re-identify them.

And if there is no correct match to select?
Then don't select any, and try the above.

[DarkMagess]

If you think they should match, you can update the tags (in the tag editor, not the ML data) with more information then try to re-identify them.


Well, it's not that I think they should match... it's that I have cds by indie artists which don't appear to be part of their database. The original tags were grabbed from Gracenote, so I assume MusicID and gracenote aren't sharing info, and I just wondered if there was any way to give MusidID the data it needed.

[Paul]

Well, it's not that I think they should match... it's that I have cds by indie artists which don't appear to be part of their database. The original tags were grabbed from Gracenote, so I assume MusicID and gracenote aren't sharing info, and I just wondered if there was any way to give MusidID the data it needed.
MusicID is Gracenote and is using the same data as their CDs. However, there may not be waveform matches in their database for those particular tracks yet (even though there are the same CDs in their database) which is why it's not matching. The text from file is also used for matching, but that still may miss if the CD you're trying to match against is not popular enough (like only 5 people own it).

[DarkMagess]

MusicID is Gracenote and is using the same data as their CDs. However, there may not be waveform matches in their database for those particular tracks yet (even though there are the same CDs in their database) which is why it's not matching. The text from file is also used for matching, but that still may miss if the CD you're trying to match against is not popular enough (like only 5 people own it).

Hmm. Yeah. I may be one of five people that owns some of these :> So I'll just have to wait and maybe someday matches will appear?

[Paul]

Hmm. Yeah. I may be one of five people that owns some of these :> So I'll just have to wait and maybe someday matches will appear?
Yes, their database is growing all the time. You may be able to speed up the matching of those files by ripping the original CD for them. This will generate the needed waveform fingerprints for the tracks on that CD (as long as the CD was originally matched by Gracenote).

[DarkMagess]

Yes, their database is growing all the time. You may be able to speed up the matching of those files by ripping the original CD for them. This will generate the needed waveform fingerprints for the tracks on that CD (as long as the CD was originally matched by Gracenote).

How can I do that?

[Paul]

How can I do that?
Put the CD in the drive, open QMP to the encoder, and rip away.

[DarkMagess]

Put the CD in the drive, open QMP to the encoder, and rip away.

Ok, so now I have one copy of a CD that QMP ripped and a copy that I had previously ripped. The new one identifies, but the old one won't bring up the same information in the Re-Identify list. How astoundingly annoying. I can see the gracenote ID tags in the files that are identified. There's a copy button. Why can't I copy this ID information?

[DarkMagess]

If I rip this cd a few times, will it increase the chances that my I can identify my original files?

You have no idea how much this makes me want to scream.

[BALTY]

If I rip this cd a few times, will it increase the chances that my I can identify my original files?

You have no idea how much this makes me want to scream.
If you don't mind me asking... Why do you care about the original files you have? Just keep the new ones that are identified.
Or are you saying that it identifies, but you aren't able to rip?
I'm confused. Are they or aren't they identifying? :foureyes:

[DarkMagess]

If you don't mind me asking... Why do you care about the original files you have? Just keep the new ones that are identified.
Or are you saying that it identifies, but you aren't able to rip?
I'm confused. Are they or aren't they identifying? :foureyes:

Mostly, I don't want to be doing things twice. I rip to Flac, then transcode to Ogg. With a few cds in particular, it will only Identify them if QMP rips them to ogg itself.

The part that annoyed me, in particular, was that all the data for identifying the music is coming from Gracenote. The track tags in the original files are gotten from gracenote. Yet when musicID goes back out to Gracenote MusicID to confirm, it wouldn't, even though their database gave me the track info to begin with. It wouldn't even offer the artist as an option for me to manually choose.