Different Cover Art for Multi-Disc Albums

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1

Whilst I’ve been trying discsubtitle I’ve been merging together boxsets where I had each CD as a completely separate album with its own artwork.

If I now have the three CDs as a multi-disc album and select Disc 2 to play it seems Serento will only use the artwork for Disc 1 in the queue display. However, the correct artwork is shown on my system display.

I’d prefer to retain the separate CD artwork rather than just use the boxset cover art if possible.

2

You may be better off with a different setup @Gaz - For this I would set up a different folder for each “Element” with the files and artwork in it. I would exclude disc numbers completely, and put the main album in the root of the album folder - then I THINK Serento reads those folders as Versions - they will have their own name and Artwork.

I had this for the Seal deluxe boxed set completely by accident - I just hadn’t sorted the files properly before I put them in the server and never noticed.

I prefer a disc subtitle approach splitting the album up most of the time but, for you, the folders may be right. From memory I think I had this:

Seal/AlbumName/

  • Album Tracks
  • /Rare/
  • /Live/
  • /Alternate/

Or something like that - I may have had the album in a double level AlbumName folder but I’m not sure.

try a few setups, rescan resync and see what works.

3

Thanks @tiefling , I will do some testing but I think what you suggest will split 3 discs back into 3 separate albums again.

When I tried adding the Discsubtitle to the disc folder name, I.e. Disc - disc number Discsubtitle it did show as separate albums, not one album with CD1, CD2, etc. Lorin said that this is because Serento actually uses the Disc x folder name to determine if it is part of a multi-disc album. If anything is added to Disc x or just Discsubtitle is used it assumes it’s a different album. What I’m after is one album with CD1, CD2, etc, but with different artwork for each CD.

I will do some further experiments though.

Gaz

4

It will split it, yes, but if you have versions turned on those splits will appear as versions under a single album rather than as fully separate albums - it may not be what you want but if you want to recapture a “different covers chucked in a box set” feel it may work.

If they appear separately completely then you may not have Versions on:

  • Album Settings > Album Version Grouping > On

There’s a detailed post I put up from @lorin.bute ’s email on her somewhere about how versions are parsed - the first stage uses folders so give that a read.

5

Thanks again @tiefling . I’ve not tried using versions before so I will do some testing with it.

I read Lorins explanation of how versioning works and I have even more admiration on how he’s created Serento. At least I know what naming to avoid now.

Thanks

Gaz

6

I tried turning on Album Version Grouping but unfortunately it combines some albums in my library which I really want to keep separate. I could rename them but I like them as they are.

I primarily tried different configurations (with Versioning off) on the album where I want to have separate CD artwork, the results were as I expected:-

  • Using Disc x for the folder name kept the album together with separate CDs, but it only uses the artwork in the first CD. (All artwork is embedded so I’m not sure how its doing this).
  • Using Discsubtitle for the folder name separates each CD into a separate album, which is basically what I’m trying to change.

For the time being I’ll leave it using Disc x and ponder what to do about the artwork. While I was doing this I found a few more albums that don’t have a full stop after “Vol” in the album name. I need to fix this to stop the album name being truncated, that will keep me busy for a while.

Gaz

7

Tagging and sorting is a joy.

I’ve had an odd system for many years due to a legacy server setup and split online storage providers which I’m gradually unpicking while simultaneously re-tagging all my genres.

It makes for great app testing fodder though ;o)

i’m having joys wrapping my head around classical tagging ATM, how it works and how the app uses it.

8

This has been fixed in the upcoming version.

Albums can have their own album art while every CD in that album can have it’s own art, either as a file (something like cover.png) or embedded in the track of the CD.

Thanks for the suggestion!