08-11-2020, 01:24 PM
(08-11-2020, 12:25 PM)Atair Wrote: I would really appreciate if the 'Artist' column in tag view would really use the artists tag instead of the albumartist (or even better selectable by option).
The reason is that albumartist by design allows only one single entry while artists allows for multiple entries separated by semicola.
While albumartist may be approptiate for pop music with only one main performer, this does not hold true for jazz and classical music (conductor, orchestra, singers etc., and maybe also composer when the dedicated composer tag is not supported).
It certainly bears consideration, but please don't think there's some hard and fast specification of these "tags".
There isn't even agreement on the use of the word "tag". To some, it refers to an individual element of metadata such as "artist". This usage is typical among users and some software (like MPD and iTunes).
To others (like me), it refers to the bundle of metadata elements associated with a digital audio file. This latter usage is typical among specification writers.
The names and contents of the elements is another area of contention. Your statement "albumartist by design allows only on singe entry while artists allows for multiple entried separated by semicola", for example, is contradicted by the ID3v2 specification.
ID3v2.3 calls its metadata elements "frames" and each frame type has a 4-character identifier. A leading "T" denotes a text frame. Quoting from the spec, here's the performer (TPE) frames of interest in your discussion.
Quote:TPE1
The 'Lead artist(s)/Lead performer(s)/Soloist(s)/Performing group' is used for the main artist(s). They are separated with the "/" character.
TPE2
The 'Band/Orchestra/Accompaniment' frame is used for additional information about the performers in the recording.
TPE3
The 'Conductor' frame is used for the name of the conductor.
TPE4
The 'Interpreted, remixed, or otherwise modified by' frame contains more information about the people behind a remix and similar interpretations of another existing piece.
The MPD decoders/metadata handlers map the contents of the "TPE1" frame to MPD's "artist" tag and "TPE2" to "albumartist".
The developers of the iTunes metadata scheme went a different direction and the developers of WMA yet another direction and the developers of Vorbis comments yet another, ad nauseum.
I quite like the Vorbis comment scheme (used with my FLAC files). It's a freeform collection of name/value pairs. It would be a dream for tagging each track as if they were entries in a full-fledged musicologist's database in normal form. The nightmare begins when you try to match this with any common music player. To fracture a saying, you're forced to drive your queries through the eye of a needle.
You can find useful information on the InterWEB™. There's the metadata specs themselves, of course, and folks like MusicBrainz and HydrogenAudio have some nice mapping tables for common schemes.
Regards,
Kent
