Renaming Classical Music files

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Level 1

4 points

Renaming Classical Music files

My problem is that I cannot tell from the name alone which classical piece is playing on my iPod. This is because classical composers use generic titles, such as Symphony or Sonata to label their work.

What I need to do is add the name of the composer to the title but as I have over 5,000 files in my library it is a mammoth task.

I have comes across Steve MacGuire's (aka turnigntest2) scripts and there is one that almost fits the bill. Bit it adds the name AFTER the existing title, whereas I would like it BEFORE.

If Steve or anyone else knows how to help me I would be very grateful.

Windows 7

Posted on Aug 3, 2013 4:34 AM

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Answer 1

turingtest2

Level 10

272,871 points

Aug 3, 2013 5:05 AM in response to Froissart

Hi, I'm sure I can help you out...

In essence what you want is to prepend the composer to the track name, correct? Can I assume that composer will be filled out for the tracks involved, or that if it isn't (or is already in the track name) the script does nothing?

I.e.

<Name> becomes <Composer> - <Name>

Are you happy with a dash as a separator or would you prefer something else like curly brackets around the composer's name?

tt2 (Steve MacGuire)

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Answer 2

Froissart Author

Level 1

4 points

Aug 3, 2013 5:40 AM in response to turingtest2

Hi Steve,

That sounds even better than I expected. I tried your KeywordsToName script but it adds the keyword (i.e. composer name) at the end of the existing text rather than at the beginning.

If this script could be adapted to put the keyword first, that would be brilliant. (I am not technically competent to do this myself.)

But what you suggest is the dream solution. What I would like is the composer's surname, which is already in the Composer field, copied to the beginning of the Name field, with a dash separating it from the existing text.

An example would look like this:

Brahms - Trio for Piano, Clarinet and Violoncello in A minor, Op. 114 (i. Allegro)

A few of my tracks already have the composer name in the Name field, so I would need to select only those needing attention. I presume I could do this playlist by playlist which would not be a major task.

Thanks a million.

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Answer 3

Froissart Author

Level 1

4 points

Aug 3, 2013 5:59 AM in response to Froissart

P.S.

I should have mentioned also that I have a lot of non-classical music on iTunes and I don't need this facility for those songs. This would not be an issue if I can select the tracks that need amending before running the script.

Thanks again.

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Answer 4

turingtest2

Level 10

272,871 points

Aug 3, 2013 6:09 AM in response to Froissart

I'm mobile at the moment, but I'll cook something up for you later in the day.

tt2

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Answer 5

Froissart Author

Level 1

4 points

Aug 3, 2013 8:34 AM in response to turingtest2

Much appreciated....🙂

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Answer 6

turingtest2

Level 10

272,871 points

Aug 3, 2013 5:05 PM in response to Froissart

I've uploaded AddComposerToName to my scripts page. Should do the trick.

tt2

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Answer 7

Froissart Author

Level 1

4 points

Aug 4, 2013 4:48 AM in response to turingtest2

That is absolutely brilliant Steve. It works perfectly. Thanks a million!

I can imagine a great many classical music buffs will be in your debt once word gets around.

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Answer 8

turingtest2

Level 10

272,871 points

Aug 4, 2013 5:01 AM in response to Froissart

You're welcome. 🙂

tt2

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Answer 9

May 27, 2014 10:23 AM in response to Froissart

Mr. MacGuire,

I applied your script to my itunes library.

Thanks for making useful script!

Actually it works well... On the other hand, there was some problem.

I tried to apply it to specific album but sometimes it applied to whole libarary.

Did i do in a wrong way?

Fortunately, I have backup file of library.

But I'm afraid if it could happen again.

answer me please

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Answer 10

turingtest2

Level 10

272,871 points

May 27, 2014 10:58 AM in response to Sosom Park

In general my scripts apply to the currently highlighted tracks or all tracks in the current playlist if none are selected. If the search tool has been used to display fewer tracks then the script may still "see" more of them, but there is normally an initial message that says how many tracks are to be processed that should help prevent accidents.

tt2

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