folder sorting...

[dragonstar0828]

How can I get Subsonic when listing the album folders for a specific artist/band to sort like Windows?

Specifically I put an underscore in front of a name, e.g. _Forged In ock, because I want it at the TOP of the list but Subsonic puts them at the bottom of the list.

Is there an alternative prefix character I can use that will cause these album folders to be at the top of the set belonging to a specific artist/band?

Thanks in advance for any help...


drc

[J_T_W]

Under Settings\General, is "Sort albums by year" checked?

[dragonstar0828]

> Under Settings\General, is "Sort albums by year" checked?

No but where does it get it's "year" from?

My concern would be if a live recording was from say 1980 but the source CD came out in 2000 - I have the folder named with 1980 as the first part of the name so that's how I want them sorted not by some internal release year.


drc

[J_T_W]

The rendering within the browser (or returned by API to your 3rd party client) is (generally) sorted in one of two ways. If the folder has no playable files within it, sort information is taken from the Folder name only. If it has playable media within it, sort information is taken from the first file with metadata contained therein, or if no files have metadata, the Folder name. When sorting on metadata, the Album Title is used for display, but sorted either Alphabetically or by Year based on your choice. As with other media server utilities, your own personal sort/filing method is best served using a structure that is generally accepted globally, and keeping a reliance on metadata-only sorting to a minimum yields good results. I personally go with a folder structure similar to what Plex recommends, as I found that I get similar sorting/display across Plex, Subsonic, and Airsonic (Madsonic not so much). But in general, "[Alpha]\Artist\Year - Album\Track Number - Song Title" or "[Alpha]\Artist\Year - Album\[Release ID or Disc Number]\Track Number - Song Title". In the former, Subsonic navigation and sort is Folder-name based for Alpha (I've ~2500 artists, so breaking it down was easier for my own use), Folder-name based for Artist, then a split with Folder-name for folders that have child {Release ID or Disc Number] at the top of the list, followed by Metadata-name for albums below. If [Release ID or Disc Number], it switches to Metadata when going to that level. It has been real hot minute since I had "loose" files in a single folder, or folders with playable media and subfolders mixed, so I can't recall how that renders. I don't know if you have a favorite metadata editor - I personally go for MP3Tag - but ensuring that the metadata is accurate for the album level has proven a necessity for my collection.