MediaMonkey forum

Lowlander wrote: ↑Tue Sep 21, 2021 3:49 pm No, the screenshot doesn't show that. It shows Original Release Date, but doesn't show it's using a Track release date instead of Album release date.

I think that is what I'm saying that I want - which is the original release date of the album containing the songs in question. But maybe I've confused myself at this point. But for the cases in question and for my purposes, the two are the same.

I don't know. I rely heavily on Original Date (for Track not Album), but I don't know if a large percentage of MediaMonkey users do.

Lowlander wrote: ↑Tue Sep 21, 2021 3:59 pm I don't know. I rely heavily on Original Date (for Track not Album), but I don't know if a large percentage of MediaMonkey users do.

Well then. Where/how do you get this Original Date data for your tracks??

Liner notes.

Lowlander wrote: ↑Tue Sep 21, 2021 4:07 pmLiner notes.

Exactly.

...I guess I have thought that, given the power of digital databases and all the rest of this modern rigamarole, there would be a way, then, for a ID managing software to parse, say, liner notes (are there ways to get these batch written into the digital tags?? - I miss liner notes terribly and the majority of my digital library has nothing of the kind attached to the albums, and online streaming services do not offer liner notes as far as I can tell) and to extract the dates provided therein with which to then populate the Original Date field.

I know I'm wanting too much as I become a lazy old man

sordup wrote: ↑Tue Sep 21, 2021 4:02 pm Where/how do you get this Original Date data for your tracks??

You can laugh: Google, Wikipedia, Discogs, etc.

I use "original date" primarily to mark cover versions of songs, then store the original date and artist. If I think I recognize a song as a cover version, I feed the mentioned search engines and then enter the information manually.

I try to avoid compilations, best-of albums, etc, where the original and publication date do not match.

I have standardized to use Original Date as the recording date and is on a track by track basis. This is all manual and primarily through liner notes, but more recently wiki/discog sites for albums often have this. I've put many hours into this and I quite enjoy the result.

Perhaps differently than many others I use the Date field as the first release date for the track. If a compilation or re-release I'll use the original release date, not the release date of the compilation. (Remaster I stick with the original date, but a re-mix I will use the new release date.)

I retain notes about the source of the track in the Comments section.