[REQ] Date Acquired Suggestion

[MikeGahrns]

I've recently had to rebuild my MM Db. I often want to play songs I acquired in the last month, last year etc., but now all of 22,000+ songs have a date added of last week.

This got me thinking that it would be great if MM would optionally preserve the date the song was first acquired.

Suggestion:
In the Tool, Options, Library "When adding files to the library" section, add an option

"Record date acquired in tag" . If the .mp3 file didn't have this tag, when adding the file to the library, add to the .mp3 a tag with the date. If the .mp3 file already had this tag, then you know it was previously added to a MM5 library. Also expose a "Date acquired" field that you can add to your columns and search on.

This has happened to me several times and I think is bound to hit long term users eventually, especially when they upgrade to a new computer.

I believe there are tools that will allow you to migrate db properties like date added, times played, etc. , but they are a hassle. This would be a simple solution that would happen seamlessly for the average user.

It could be useful to extend this concept to other db only properties so that they follow along with the .mp3.

With my db rebuilds, I never got into tracking play history of songs, like last played, times played. But if something similar was done by saving these info into tags that followed the .mp3 I would use these more.

[Lowlander]

To migrate see: https://www.mediamonkey.com/wiki/index. ... w_computer

[Rob_S]

I think this misses the point. The OP would like this date to be tagged to the track automatically on first scan.

This would enable it to survive any data base losses or damage, or transfer to other computer without existing database.

The issue might be to make sure any acquired tracks do not already have this field filled.

Personally I would have found an implementation of this very useful over the years, but probably too late now!!

I have no way of knowing when my tracks were first acquired.

[MikeGahrns]

Yes, Rob_S captures the essence of what I am suggesting as a new feature and why.

Lowlander's migration pointer is helpful, but doing something like what I suggest would make it a lot simpler for the average user.

Rob does have a valid point, that for people who already have a large library of the date acquired for existing tracks isn't all that useful. (And initially it won't be for me either, as my date added is all last week because of my db rebuild).

But, you have to start somewhere. I think a lot of MM users are hard core music aficionados and are constantly curating, cleaning, updating their music files. This would at least allow them to track new additions coming into their library.

I have been a MM for a long time, and there definitely is a split in my collection over the years based on how I have acquired my music. e.g. poor artwork on CDs I initially ripped, etc.

This suggestion would just make it easier for new music coming into my library. Existing media wouldn't have a meaningful date acquired.

[MikeGahrns]

Re: the potential Issue Rob mentions, I think all MM would need to do when adding/scanning, is check to see if the MM specific Date Acquired tag is present.

If it is, then don't update/add Date Acquired. If the tag was there, then you know the file was previously added to a MM db.

And if someone wants MM to "re-issue" the Date acquired, they would remove the tag from the .mp3 prior to doing a a MM rescan/add files to library.

[MattTown]

As far as I can see the "Added" field available under the "Properties" field group does record the date and time that the song was added to the library, so a new field may not be necessary.

I cannot tell whether that field gets written to an MP3 file - "Added" or anything like it does not seem to be present in the ID3v2.4.0-frames reference document and the MM support article https://www.mediamonkey.com/support/kno ... year-date/ does not mention the Added field at all.

But, yes, some extra protection for ensuring that that field is not overwritten would be highly welcome. I have had MM for a long time and do want to preserve information about how long I have had particular songs, but have had that information reset at least twice during updates, very annoying.

Cheers

Matt

[MikeGahrns]

I am speculating, but I am guessing the "Added" field is just taken from the SQL db that MM is using as its library database. Hence the suggestion for a "Date Acquired" field, in order to distinguish between the two.

[Rob_S]

I think Added represents the date this track was first scanned into this particular database, and thus does not attach to the track itself. It could have a different date added on a different install of MM, ie portable on the same computer.

What we are looking for is a "Date Acquired" which would be the first time this track was scanned by media monkey for myself, and stay fixed in that track until it is cleared on purpose. Ideally it would be somehow cleared before being acquired by or sent to a different user.

The date acquired field should be editable manually so I can record some other date for myself in case I had the track before I had MM itself.

[MikeGahrns]

Yup, Rob_S made a nice summary.

I envisioned the Date Acquired field to be manually editable, just like most MM fields like song Date, Artist, etc.

An enhancement to what I had suggested earlier... If the option is marked to add a Date Acquired field on first scan, the MM logic should be if Date Acquired is blank, or the tag is not present. (earlier I said just if the tag wasn't there.)

This way, if someone wants to send to a different user, they or the recipient could "clear" this simply by blanking out the field with MM, instead of using third party tagging software to clear a Date Acquired tag. Then on next MM scan in their library, the recipient would get the current date for the date that they acquired it.