#musicbrainz

finally got my CD collection in from the garage. Went to musicbrainz to try and get back to where I was with a CD, and realised I never saved my progress. D'oh :)

maybe this way I can use picard to read the discs and do it that way instead.

okay, interesting. I inserted a disc after dusting off my portable cd reader, used picard, and it finds an interesting match - disc 1 inserted, and it matches with https://musicbrainz.org/release/fdf424c5-ab78-4... - however, I only have a 2 disc album, which matches disc 1 and disc 5 on that release. Is it fine to just copy/paste that information, and make sure my own barcode

and disc ID is submitted?

okay. no idea how to edit it. feeling rather stupid.

oh. I need to have the ripped files handy. D'oh.

okay, getting a teensy bit overwhelmed, and not sure if I just try to create a new release, and use the discID that picard submitted and found here: https://musicbrainz.org/cdtoc/BgywKAIRjlnJstyZn... -

how can I double check that all that sector information is indeed what my disc is?

the disc ID is generated from the sectors

i.e. if they weren't the same you'd have a different discID

ahh, got it, thank you.

now I know that, I can use those two disc IDs in the release that I make. Which is hopefully going to be easy, as I just need to copy disc 1 and disc 5 of the existing match :)

Nice, did you find how to use existing mediums for a new release? You can also link the release after you’ve finished and we can have a look

no, I haven't figured that out yet - but I'm just reading the 'how to add a release' page, and found this bit of text that's making me wonder if I need to create a new 'release group' instead of a release?

"If you're in the page for the artist you want to add a release to, just press "Add release" in the sidebar (if it's a different version of a release we already have, it's better to press "Add release" in the release group page instead!). " https://musicbrainz.org/doc/How_to_Add_a_Release

is my 2 disc album a 'different version of a release'?

(because the discs already exist in a 5 disc release)

ah, probably not a release group, after I've done a tiny bit more reading, but must admit, this bit still isn't crystal clear to me.

I'm going for a release, hopefully this is not an error :P

okay. some minor track time discrepancies between the insert, and the other disc ID matches :(

hmm, not so minor. how do I get the same sort of track list information as I find here? https://musicbrainz.org/cdtoc/BgywKAIRjlnJstyZn...

is it possible that someone put /that/ disc timing in wrong? or is that automatically generated?

okay. I think the insert is quite wrong. :) Just checked my ancient rips of the CD, and they have the same timings as the disc above, or very close to it.

Am assuming that ffprobe's output is the true length of the track, and not just a field in the file. :)

2 discs is probably too different to a 5 disc release to be considered a “different version”? If they are something like “deluxe version” and “super deluxe version” then they would go in the same release group

I wouldn’t worry too much about TOC and DiscID at this stage tbh. I would go Editing > Add Release. Then when you are on the “Add Medium” tab of the release editor, select “Existing Medium” and add the two existing discs. After you’ve created the release you can add your DiscID and do any tidy up, it becomes a bit easy when you have a release in MB to look at :)

*a bit easier

I have been going back and forth from the existing 5 cd entry to mine. heh.

this is my edit btw. https://musicbrainz.org/release/273a17d7-8c54-4...

(adding discids now)

giving in and watching the video on https://musicbrainz.org/doc/How_to_Add_Disc_IDs :P

and I'm not sure how to add my album's CDs to the existing discids still :/

You have MusicBrainz Picard? And then clicked ‘Lookup CD’?

yeah, but it only ever shows up that the 5 disc release.

I can't submit a new disc, or I'm missing something...

I think it’s slightly tucked away in the UI, I’m just putting in a CD to try remember

oh good god. I'm reading it wrong

I forgot to do the search after. let me see now :)

Don’t worry, the first entries are definitely the worst!

done! I forgot I had to 'submit', then search on *that* page.

btw the benefit to using the ‘existing mediums’ method is that it will use the existing recordings (the same recording can be on multiple releases). But tbh I wouldn’t worry about recordings (and then works…) until later, it’s all opaque enough without thinking about that!

Nice one!

btw, what is the 'in hand' edit that the person who recorded the video used as an edit note? to say "I have this media in my hand"?

Yup

and yes. I am really hoping I don't have these very basic questions on an ongoing basis ;) Not that I buy CDs anymore, this is just for the missing ones in my collection that beets didn't find properly.

A very simple edit note, but usually means that the information is good quality/first hand

ahh, thanks.

Eh, keep asking them, we were all there once!

And if you end up enjoying editing/have the right flavour of OCD/data entry enjoyment, you might end up sticking around for longer than you expect 😝

lol. I love the idea of musicbrainz. I'm still amazed how cddb went nutso back in the day.

there is indeed a very slight bit of paranoia of 'will this happen to musicbrainz?'

Everyone starts by adding some of their CDs, and next thing you’re neck deep googling the history of some obscure Ukrainian pressing plant that you’ve never heard of

lmao

looks like the discid submit was automagically accepted, wonder if 'lookup cd' will work to get my thingy now!

That is a resounding 'yes'. Woohoo

The history of MusicBrainz is that it was created from the ashes of CDDB, with the explicit aim to never allow that to happen again. The fundamental structure of MB is that even if it was ‘sold’ (I think the occasional corporate jackass mentions buying a stake, if I remember correctly mayhem ?) anyone (or lots of people) could copy and run the website and database

Nice one!

yeah, I do like that almost all the data is able to be taken out.

If you want, you can set sub-second track times using the DiscID (it does this automatically if there is no existing track time data when you add a DiscID, otherwise it’s a manual choice) on the release as well, by clicking these:

I'm getting the 'almost all' from the front page of musicbrainz, or at least, something near the front page.

damn, that doesn't seem to want to work for me, being on IRC.

error code 'M_NOT_FOUND' in some json

I’ll pop over :P

Ugh, hit my upload limit on the free ircloud account

*irccloud

in this case, I think the track times came on automagically because I cheated and used the track information from the 5 disc thingy

I didn't see anything about subsecond timings in the little video about discids (which also showed how to match up track times from the discid info)

OK, stuff the screenshot, click the ‘Disc ID’s tab, and then ‘set track durations’

okay, I just see minutes and seconds - and the link was 'set track lengths' which then goes to https://musicbrainz.org/cdtoc/BgywKAIRjlnJstyZn...

Is the back cover here accurate for the release? I’ll use a script to add the front and back covers to your MB entry: https://www.allmusic.com/album/release/mr000208...

Yup, it’s all subseconds so you wont see anything in the preview. Sometimes you’ll see a difference though, and it’s always satisfying to know you’re getting it juuuust right

got it - thanks. And yes, the back cover is correct - that's the back cover on the little box that goes over the fatbox. The fatbox back cover has a barcode and catalogue number too

slick. submitted track timings now.

that was a lot of effort for just one compilation. :-D I don't expect/hope future ones to be this much of a 'wtf am I even doing' struggle ;)

Thanks! I’ll add those covers for now. I’m also using a script to mass-merge the recordings with that existing 5 disc release. I might even add a “included in…” relationship between the two release groups. But that’s all extra stuff, great job!

ps. I kinda assumed picard would show me the track times from the CDs. Totally misunderstood what it was really for.

super, appreciate it!

I should carry on with trying to sort my music collection out. The main goal is to make sure all my tagging is right. It's not as bad as I thought it was, but it could definitely be way better. Especially for the times when I've, umm, used other sources.

(which is actually VERY low)

Hmm Picard will show you track/file/rip metadata, but not much information from a CD in the drive, indeed. Unless I’ve forgotten a feature

stopped doing music streaming now, so will be looking to buy more music. Not sure I want the hassle of storing physical CDs though.

You’ve passed the hardest hurdle, that first release! If you’re ever spending more time editing I can highly recommend looking at some other tools. Particularly importers for digital releases: https://wiki.musicbrainz.org/Guides/Userscripts

Unless you’re adding works etc it will eventually only take a minute or two to add a release. Especially a digital release, using something like https://harmony.pulsewidth.org.uk/

Can recommend Bandcamp, personally, at least until it gets shittified

talking of userscripts, what's the thing of choice nowadays - violentmonkey is the most 'open source' that I'm aware of, is that about right?

ah, no, greasemonkey is still open source, yay

ooh, I don’t know, I’m a heathen and use closed-source tampermonkey (I can’t remember why I had to switch from greasemonkey)

me either. I had to switch at a workplace, but haven't had a userscript manager ever since I left that job.

Welcome to your new job ;)

(as in, I also switched to tampermonkey). Was probably a firefox update.

<12lazybookwyrm> Just to add a couple more things about that release, for the medium titles we just leave those blank normally unless there's a subtitle for the CDs. "CD 1" wouldn't be used, but sometimes you might see a CD that's titled something like "1989-2000" and then you'd add it to the medium title. Also, release status is a really good thing to add, "official" is gonna be the normal one if the release is

from a legit label. Promotional, bootlegs, and the other types are less common.

lazybookwyrm - ah, thanks! I saw CD 1 - CD 5 for the other release, and also the insert says 'CD 1' and 'CD 2', so I thought that was the right way.

should I just remove that text?

I must've missed the 'release status' field entirely... looking onw

These kinds of regional comps it’s honestly a bit hard to know if it’s official or not, but the label looks pretty legit

Yeah I would remove the ‘CD 1’, ‘CD 2’

you know, after all this? I don't even like this album all that much. This was born out of a desire to just have the right data :P

I like some of Ray Charles' stuff, but not all of it :P

<12lazybookwyrm> Yeah, the "CD 1, CD2, etc" text you saw on the other is just auto generated by the medium type and number.

oh. d'oh.

Oh lord, I have added so many absolute shite albums! Pretty cool to add a Italian compilation that is only in one other database though! I (and a few others) quite enjoy adding crappy op-shop finds, there’s something interesting about it

heh. That's a point. I could buy stuff from op-shops (also, you just outed yourself as a possible Aussie)

Close :D

NZ?

<12lazybookwyrm> Lol, I've added so much music that I haven't ever listened to yet and maybe wouldn't like. I just buy used CDs cheap and add them for fun. Heck, I've bought "100 random CDs with no cases" listings from eBay and ripped and added them to MB

“charity shop” mate

Yup

Took me a while to switch from 'charity shop' to 'op shop' when I became an immigrant :P

If you’re interested in getting into CDs, now is a prime time to grab them imo, cheap as. That said, I’m not a CD collector, if I buy physical I’ll grab a record. But if there’s something interesting for a dollar, why not...

lazybookwyrm. haha. OK. I don't think I'm going to be /that/ OCD ;)

Charity shop still works!!

<12lazybookwyrm> I've added 1171 discids since end of 2020 lol

I've been debating selling my CD collection, honestly. Because I want the space back in the garage. And the "don't let the artists starve" (well, except maybe Ray Charles, because, well...) makes me wonder 'should I just rebuy the music I like'

😵‍💫

which is almost certainly not going to happen :P

lazybookwyrm. holy heck

I spend a lot on music, but the amount I spend does not influence the amount I listen to, if that makes sense. e.g. if I was very poor right now I would still listen to the same amount of music, and be spending less. Everyone has a different capacity for support

lazybookwyrm - is that when you started with musicbrainz, or just your arbitrary start date to check?

yeah. I 'have money', but I haven't spent it on CDs for over a decade now, thanks to streaming services.

In other words, I don’t think you’re obliged to go out and re-buy a thousand albums haha, spend a little and be happy!

'but this person on IRC said it was OK, judge' ;)

perfect

<12lazybookwyrm> That's when I added my first discid, couple of months after I started using MusicBrainz

heh, nice. I have about 100-150 CDs on the coffee table right now :P

not a massive collection, compared to many.