Spotify

Does exactly what it says on the tin. Some of the nonsense contained herein may be very loosely related to The Sisters of Mercy, but I wouldn't bet your PayPal account on it. In keeping with the internet's general theme nothing written here should be taken as Gospel: over three quarters of it is utter gibberish, and most of the forum's denizens haven't spoken to another human being face-to-face for decades. Don't worry your pretty little heads about it. Above all else, remember this: You don't have to stay forever. I will understand.
Post Reply
User avatar
Obviousman
Outside the Simian Flock
Posts: 7090
Joined: 22 Aug 2004, 12:14
Location: Soon over Babaluma
Contact:
Contact Obviousman

I thought to switch my digital music and iPod to Spotify the other day. I would like to use Spotify more to find new stuff rather than relying on, errr, evaluation copies. I know Spotify's royalty schemes are far from fair but it's better than nothing I guess. Plus I can guarantee all scared musicians that I will still regularly (manically?) visit record stores wherever I can find them!

However, here is my problem: It seems Spotify doesn't handle the original ID3 tags too well. Artists are split up over several spellings (e.g. with and without the), album titles are dismissed so tracks are split over albums in different spellings, compilations, ... At 15,000ish tracks this sort of mess does turn finding stuff into a bit of a nightmare. Oh and all my lovely cover art has disappeared too. That turns browsing my iPod into a bit of a bore.

Anyone who's got an idea how to set things straight again? :D
Styles are a lie.

My Facebook/My Flickr
Top
User avatar
Quiff Boy
Herr Administrator
Posts: 16795
Joined: 25 Jan 2002, 00:00
Location: Lurking and fixing
Contact:
Contact Quiff Boy

I use spotify premium regularly to find and listen to (streamed) music but I've never imported my mp3 library into spotify for that exact reason.

It's a great music discovery tool but it's not the best media library. Better to have a standalone dedicated audio player app for that (iTunes for example... Stop sniggering at the back!)

Spotify tries to compare your mp3 this with its own library to find matches. In theory then you can take that library to any device with a spotify app on it because it's "in the cloud". However as you've noticed it tagging isn't as precise as your own (sheer amount of files, them being supplied by record labels, bands having different names in different territories - think the m*****n uk for example). Its a nightmare for spotify to manage all those variations :(

I know that doesn't answer your problem but hopefully it help shed light on why... :|
What’s the difference between a buffalo and a bison?
Top
User avatar
Obviousman
Outside the Simian Flock
Posts: 7090
Joined: 22 Aug 2004, 12:14
Location: Soon over Babaluma
Contact:
Contact Obviousman

Well, that's more or less what I thought to be the issue too. So, I guess there's no way of getting both your 'regular' stuff and Spotify discoveries onto the same device properly then... If there'd been a possibility to transfer my Spotify playlists to iTunes that'd been nice too but I guess that's not possible either.
Styles are a lie.

My Facebook/My Flickr
Top
User avatar
markfiend
goriller of form 3b
Posts: 21181
Joined: 11 Nov 2003, 10:55
Location: st custards
Contact:
Contact markfiend

I have a folder for each artist, then within that a folder for each album, and then within that tracks have filenames that are track number + song name. for example, ~/music/Sisters Of Mercy, The/Floodland/01 Dominion - Mother Russia.mp3

If your music files are properly organised in the file system like that then you can probably retag them based on their file paths. There's a linux retagging utility called Kid3-qt which will do this, and I'm sure there are similar for other operating systems.
The fundamental cause of the trouble is that in the modern world the stupid are cocksure while the intelligent are full of doubt.
—Bertrand Russell
Top
User avatar
Obviousman
Outside the Simian Flock
Posts: 7090
Joined: 22 Aug 2004, 12:14
Location: Soon over Babaluma
Contact:
Contact Obviousman

I think that's what iTunes does automatically, it was also something Spotify advised to switch off to be safe. But I think they take their tags from GraceNote, which probably leads to the issue I have...
Styles are a lie.

My Facebook/My Flickr
Top
User avatar
markfiend
goriller of form 3b
Posts: 21181
Joined: 11 Nov 2003, 10:55
Location: st custards
Contact:
Contact markfiend

Oh yes I forgot, iTunes organises the music filesystem based on the ID3 tags, so if the ID3 tags get f**ked up by Spotify, you can always regenerate the ID3 tags from the filesystem, is what I was getting at. If that's any help?
The fundamental cause of the trouble is that in the modern world the stupid are cocksure while the intelligent are full of doubt.
—Bertrand Russell
Top
User avatar
Obviousman
Outside the Simian Flock
Posts: 7090
Joined: 22 Aug 2004, 12:14
Location: Soon over Babaluma
Contact:
Contact Obviousman

Hmm, I'll have a look, thanks!
Styles are a lie.

My Facebook/My Flickr
Top
Post Reply

Return to “General Chat”