I also tested enabling the option to find the original release instead of the release where the song appears. However, even with this setting, the metadata retrieved does not include key details from the original release, such as the track number.
This means that associating the song with the original release is not really useful unless all the relevant details from that release are correctly assigned. Otherwise, the metadata remains inconsistent.
Could you clarify how this process works and whether there’s a way to ensure complete and accurate original release data?
In the screenshot, you can see that the songs by Stan Getz correspond to the original release Getz/Gilberto , but I currently have them distributed across multiple releases, and I would like to unify them.
However, even if I wanted to consolidate them under the original Getz/Gilberto release, I am still missing the track number for each song in that original release, and I haven’t been able to find it.
Additionally, I noticed that the same original release appears in one instance with a total of 14 tracks and in another with 18 tracks, which makes me think they are two different editions of the same release.
My goal is to unify all my tracks under a single original release.
I’d appreciate any guidance on how to achieve this.
No I cannot see that, I can see the opposite - they are from different releases as indicated by the folder structure. If you want to force SongKong to match them all to the same release the best solution would be to put them all in the same folder and remove metadata that indicates they are diferent albums (such as album field)
The original album field tries to find the earliest album the song was released on. For example you may have a compilation and therefore the album field would match the compilation name but the original album field would match the earliest album the song was found on.
But this is unrelated to track no field, track no field relates to the track no on the album field not the original album field.
I understand your explanation, but I’m wondering—where exactly should I place all the songs if the very reason I purchased SongKong was to determine the correct folder corresponding to the original album, which I don’t know in advance?
Am I supposed to put all songs from the same album artist into a single folder, disregarding and losing all the album information registered so far? That seems counterintuitive, as my goal is to consolidate songs under their original album while preserving accurate metadata.
Additionally, once I obtain the original release information and successfully associate the songs with it, which track number will they adopt—the one from their current release or the one from the original release?
Again, am I supposed to put all songs from the same album artist into a single folder, disregarding and losing all the album information registered so far? I have all my songs related to a music player and I’m not able to change folder structure without losing its relationship with the mentioned application.
I have asked you three times to send me your support files and you just ignore the request, if there is a problem with doing this tell me but please don’t just keep ignoring requesting and asking more questions which are difficult ho answer when I have incomplete information from you.
I understand your request for the support files, but I don’t feel comfortable sending them because I am not fully aware of the content, and they are sent automatically.
Additionally, the questions I’ve been asking are quite general, and I believe they could be helpful to other users as well. My goal is to clarify the best way to organize and utilize SongKong, and I’m sure other users may encounter similar challenges.
Regarding the folder structure, I find it unreasonable to expect users to modify the organization of their music collection for the application to function correctly. Instead, SongKong should assume that all songs are in a “virtual” folder corresponding to the release artist , and it should only modify or ignore the release album tag if necessary to group all songs under the original release.
I would appreciate it if you could consider these points and let me know your thoughts.
I think if you have enough trust to use the application you should be able to trust sending the support files. They only contain SongKong logs, reports and preferences but there is not an easy way to check beforehand, maybe I should add that.
What you could do is run Create Support Files and then cancel the task whilst it is uploading, then you can view the SongKongSupport.zip file created in your home/user folder and check for yourself.
They are non-standard really, and more to the point I cannot give you as complete answer as I would like because I dont have the full details.
So in my experience 90% of customers store their albums in album folder, 5% stores them in artist folders without album folders, and a few percentage have them all songs stored in one folder or in a complete mess.
But in your case you have the songs stored in album folders but the album folders dont necessarily relate to the album you actually want the songs matched to. Furthermore, you dont want to fix the folder structure so that the folder structure does match the correct albums, this is very much a non-standard use case.
Actually SongKong does group by metadata, but only within the folder (with special cases for boxsets and multi-disc albums). Now if we were to to ignore folder strcuture and base only on metadata that means we have to load all songs before we can do any processing, meaning nothing happens for quite some time and there would be a risk of hitting memory limits. It also means we ignore useful folder structure metadata and from what you are saying the album artist and album metadata is not neccessarily correct anyway.
There is a Match to Album task for forcing matches to a particular album, but this is folder based so when you have an album split over multiple folders you would have to apply to each folder in turn.
You may prefer Jaikoz because this works better for adhoc matching and custom scenarios. But personally I would recommend you reconsider this statement
I have all my songs related to a music player and I’m not able to change folder structure without losing its relationship with the mentioned application.
I understand your point about the folder structure not necessarily aligning with the album you want the songs matched to. However, my main goal with SongKong was to fix the metadata of my tracks first. Once that’s done, I intend to use a script to properly reorganize the folder structure, which would then match the correct albums.
I do find it a bit restrictive that your application seems to require folder structure changes before it can properly tag and organize the tracks. Given that SongKong markets itself as a solution for cleaning up digital music collections—whether it involves fixing metadata, missing artist info, or inconsistent tracks—I assumed I would be able to address those issues independently of my folder structure.
Could you clarify why this restriction is in place? It seems that having the metadata fixed first should allow for greater flexibility when organizing the tracks later.
Could you please provide specific details on how the songs should be stored, including the folder structure and the required tags, as well as the optimal SongKong settings for this setup? This way, I can create a parallel structure of songs, apply the tag corrections, and verify the results. I’ll also be able to generate a support file with the outcomes for further troubleshooting.
This information will help me ensure that I am using SongKong correctly and getting the desired results.
Regarding the music player choice you questioned, it is a professional product, much like many others in the industry, that allows for detailed tracking of music playback, including performers, albums, titles, and more. It comes with countless features that make it truly unique. However, like many other professional systems, it doesn’t allow for the synchronization between physical music files and the database without losing many of the advantages these features offer, such as cataloging work, playlist creation, music formats, and playback logs.
This trade-off is something that many professionals in the industry accept, as the benefits of having a robust cataloging and management system far outweigh the occasional inconvenience of synchronizing.
But how does that fit it with you saying you cannot change folder structure because it will break folder structure?
Its really hard to give advice without being able to see your music structure. But one solution i have used is to use Rename Files task so they are in AlbumArtist folder only without album folder, then run FixSongs so then for a paricular AlbumArtist it can group songs that were previously in different folders but are same album and be able to join some albums together, then run Rename Files task again this time putting the songs into an Album Artist/Album structure and this would get you close.
I already did:
Yes the usual procedure is to fix the metadat first and then rename, but your folder structure and possibly metadata is working against what you want to do. From your Getz example it seems one of the problems is you dont want it to match to the album you originally got it from but you want to construct an album from multiple albums, or was it really form original album and another tool has messed things up and split into multiple albums?
Could you please provide specific details on how the songs should be stored, including the folder structure and the required tags, as well as the optimal SongKong settings for this setup? This way, I can create a parallel structure of songs, apply the tag corrections, and verify the results. I’ll also be able to generate a support file with the outcomes for further troubleshooting.
Its impossible to give specific details without knowing the current state of your music collection, if you are willing to generate a support file then why can you not provide one now?
However, like many other professional systems, it doesn’t allow for the synchronization between physical music files and the database without losing many of the advantages these features offer, such as cataloging work, playlist creation, music formats, and playback logs.
Within the application itself can you not tell it you are moving a file to a different location!
I can create a parallel structure of songs, apply the tag corrections, and verify the results—without changing my current song folder structure—just for testing SongKong.
To set this up correctly, should I place all songs of each release artist in a [release artist] folder? What filenames and tags should I ensure are in place before running SongKong?
Finally, what SongKong configuration should I use to ensure all these songs are curated by original release, original date, original track number, etc.? I want to test the process accurately and generate a support file with the results.
Yes but if you sent me the support file now I can best advice you what to do to get best results. If you dont send support file until afterwards then you have already changed your folder structure and SongKong has already ran so maybe not optimally.
Im not sure what you mean by this, its unclear give me some examples.
My goal is to split current compilations, greatest hits, singles, EPs, and songs without a clear source into their very first original releases . That’s the reason I purchased SongKong.
To achieve this, how should I organize my current songs on my hard drive? Should I follow a specific folder structure , such as grouping tracks by release artist or something else?
Also, what filenames and tags should I preserve to ensure SongKong can correctly match and reorganize them by their original release, original date, original track number, etc.?
I want to make sure I’m setting up everything properly for the best results.
In normal circumstances just running the Default profile would usually be fine, but your collection does not fit into this definition.
I’m sorry but I don’t feel I can give you the correct advice if you are unwilling to send your support hiles. I don’t want to give you incorrect advice based on incomplete knowledge of your music lib and then get blamed for unsatisfactory results.
I don’t understand how you can offer a commercial product that doesn’t adapt to different music library configurations. Nowhere on the SongKong website does it mention specific requirements for how the music library must be structured in order for the software to function correctly.
Given the way SongKong is marketed, I expected it to handle a variety of scenarios, including mine. If the software cannot meet my needs, despite my willingness to adjust my workflow based on your recommendations, I believe you should seriously consider offering a refund.
It does offer different workflows but requires the user to have clear understanding of what they want to achieve, it cannot do it totally automatically. It makes no sense asking me about specific fields when I have no knowledge of what metadata is in your existing files and whether the data is correct or incorrect, you are asking the impossible.
I’ve already explained how you can check the support before sending them so I fail to understand why you are so resistant to helping yourself here.
You could run a Status Report and then select View as Spreadsheet to download a spreadsheet of your existing metdatan, then email support@jthink.net this file.
This way I have a copy of your metadata so I can give you instructions on best approach, and you know exactly what you have sent me.
Disadvantage is I can’t see what you have already done in SongKong and therefore cannot answer your original question in this post Inaccurate Results with ISRC Lookup
