Pulling hair out over "lost" Gracenotes/iTunes Classical
Posted: Sat May 28, 2011 12:41 am
Sorry, it was hard to find a way to summarize this problem with such a short topic title character limit.
I am increasingly finding myself pulling my hair out over all the errors and inconsistencies in the Gracenotes database, as my uploaded classical collection increases.
A year ago, I sold all my hi fi gear and went 100% towards computer-based listening. So now, when I buy a new CD, I upload it and listen to it afterwards. I do save the CD, of course.
As my uploaded library grows, it becomes more and more difficult to find the material I just uploaded -- especially if more than one performer and/or composer is represented on the disc, or if it's a multi-disc set.
Up until recently, as the library was smaller, I was able to quickly scroll in the Classical "smart list" and find stuff, then correct it so album tracks once again are grouped together.
Guessing which variant will succeed in finding the album artwork is a whole other game that I usually lose, but that is far less annoying than not finding the uploaded music at all -- though the album artwork can make it MUCH quicker to find material when dealing with all the inconsistencies with Gracenotes' filing system (not even mentioning the errors).
I have tried everything I can think of, but am finally stumped tonight on my latest upload, as it doesn't show up under the composer in any variant of first name or last name, under song titles such as "concerto", "violin", or movement number or tempo etc., or even under the orchestra or the conductor (in any order of the names) -- though I did notice some inconsistencies in London Symphony vs. London Philharmonic in tracks that are part of the same performance.
I must emphasize that this is the NORM with classical, not the exception! And this problem is common for jazz recordings as well, but not to the same degree -- probably just because jazz recordings typically have less complex information to file and cross-file, so there's less room for error to start with.
So, having described the problem, and how it is now at the point where even going back and forth between different views, different columns for sorting, searching by album list, classical vs. all music in the library, etc., can result in being stymied more and more, I'm wondering what strategies people have developed to correct Gracenotes mistakes so that they can find the music in their collection.
I am increasingly finding myself pulling my hair out over all the errors and inconsistencies in the Gracenotes database, as my uploaded classical collection increases.
A year ago, I sold all my hi fi gear and went 100% towards computer-based listening. So now, when I buy a new CD, I upload it and listen to it afterwards. I do save the CD, of course.
As my uploaded library grows, it becomes more and more difficult to find the material I just uploaded -- especially if more than one performer and/or composer is represented on the disc, or if it's a multi-disc set.
Up until recently, as the library was smaller, I was able to quickly scroll in the Classical "smart list" and find stuff, then correct it so album tracks once again are grouped together.
Guessing which variant will succeed in finding the album artwork is a whole other game that I usually lose, but that is far less annoying than not finding the uploaded music at all -- though the album artwork can make it MUCH quicker to find material when dealing with all the inconsistencies with Gracenotes' filing system (not even mentioning the errors).
I have tried everything I can think of, but am finally stumped tonight on my latest upload, as it doesn't show up under the composer in any variant of first name or last name, under song titles such as "concerto", "violin", or movement number or tempo etc., or even under the orchestra or the conductor (in any order of the names) -- though I did notice some inconsistencies in London Symphony vs. London Philharmonic in tracks that are part of the same performance.
I must emphasize that this is the NORM with classical, not the exception! And this problem is common for jazz recordings as well, but not to the same degree -- probably just because jazz recordings typically have less complex information to file and cross-file, so there's less room for error to start with.
So, having described the problem, and how it is now at the point where even going back and forth between different views, different columns for sorting, searching by album list, classical vs. all music in the library, etc., can result in being stymied more and more, I'm wondering what strategies people have developed to correct Gracenotes mistakes so that they can find the music in their collection.