My MP3Tag -> Discogs -> MusicBrainz -> beets process

General Discussion
1

Here is a DRAFT process that I've recently been using with a high success rate over the past two weeks during my journey to get my 80K track CD collection into beets and I think I've finally figured out a pretty successful workflow:

Using MP3Tag:

  1. I sometimes strip 100% of the tag information from the file by Convert -> File Name to Tag using my naming convention %artist% - %album% - %year% - %title% - %track%

  2. Then I re- sort (1) By Track number and (2) Folder Path to ensure the tracks are in the correct order

  3. I then attempt to get a match from freedb via Tag Sources -> freedb and save the results when I find one

  4. My experience has been that that If you cannot get a freedb match then something is probably wrong with your album track setup since I get a result 95+ percent of the time

  5. Using View -> Extended Tags jot down any freedb relevant information (Year, DISCID, Publisher etc.)

  6. Proceed to Tag Sources -> Discogs Artist + Album and hopefully you can find a match using the freedb data collected in step 5. as a guide and save the results

  7. Again, jot down any relevant Discogs information (BARCODE, DISCOGS_RELEASE ID, PUBLISHER, etc

  8. Proceed to Tag Sources -> MusicBrainz Expanded -> Search by Artist + Album + Tracks and look for a match using the Discogs data collected above as a guide

  9. If you cannot find a MusicBrainz then you can actually logon to Discogs and submit an entry to MusicBrainz using the Discogs data (I'll attempt to outline the process in a separate post)

  10. After I get a MusicBrainz match I simply use the “beets import -a” command to import the album successfully into beets

2

I wonder why you need so many sources to tag ...
I thought that encoders would identify a CD and then look for the corresponding tag information. At least the very old CDex looked at FreeDB to find the tag data.
And starting with this information should not require additional sorting and other steps involving FreeDB.

3

I should clarify that my CDs are kind of old ie 2013ish so finding Discogs and MusicBrainz matches is more difficult. Beets uses MusicBrainz primarily, I’ve spent hours finding matches before discovering this simpler process. I knew I was in trouble when I initially ran my CDs clustered through Picard and got less than 30% matches

4

I don't think 2013 is really that old. Many of mine date back to the early '80's. It may be that they are not as popular, but even then for 2013 they should be found at least using a source like Discogs.

5

What I meant: if you still have the CDs then these have a CD id which identifies the version and usually finds a match in FreeDB.
And with that tag data, gathered from FreeDB, it should be easy to get more data from other sources.

6

Unfortunately once I got 100% verified EAC AccurateRip WAV files I threw the CDs away. However, I did scan the CD inserts for a few 1000 of them and still have the scans so I can use those for 50% of my collection. I also have most of the EAC log files somewhere and they might have some information as well.
Thanks for the insight

7

In hindsight I think the mistake I made was ignoring the MB Picard warning that "this is a very powerful program" and letting it run rampant on the 80K tracks. I should have just have started over again and retagged everything from the filenames which would probably saved me having to follow the convoluted process I described...

8

As of today I ripped 2047 CD-Albums (years 1984 to 2024) and when doing so, I let fre:ac identify the CD, run CUETools to verify accurip and go straigt to mp3tag Discogs Artist + Album.

Now the one and only way to realy identify the CD I ripped, is it's BARCODE

In some rare cases there are BARCODES without the number under the code or really missing the bars, but I think I had 10-15 max. You'll still find the numbers on the edge of the case, inside the booklet and/or the Disc.

Again, the BARCODE is unique to the CD you hold in your hands, but there can be so, so, so many releases…

Discogs Artist + Album sorted by Country
grafik

By now I spot the BARCODE in split seconds, mark the line, preview the cover and compare it to the one in my hands. Good to go 99% of the time (I'm not very picky on cover quality, but it has to match my CD).

I never came here to thank for adding BARCODE feature to mp3tag, untill now so huge Thank You @Florian

Now when it comes to MusicBrainz…if you want more tags… it is as simple as that now:
grafik

One thing where freeDB struggles are very recent CDs, so I have added a custom field for BARCODE in mp3tag, which I punch in from the CD cover in no time.

Example, which I could not find in freeDB or DISCOGS, but with the barcode search in MisicBrainz:
grafik

To me BARCODES have become the one thing I get right from start and never ever skip, as it is the true ID of the CD I am ripping.

Now, just aqustion to all of you… I also started adding my own tag DISCOGS_ARTIST_ID, which to me, complets the info to a CD.

Useful to you — useful to add to future mp3tag release?

9

Turns out I can import EAC log files into Picard to lookup my CD's and unfortunately I have a few 100 that I will have to enter in MusicBrainz

10

Yes, I am finally starting to pay attention to barcodes now too...