The problem I’m facing is the import process matches the tracks against the vinyl media instead of the music card media, and I don’t know how to reassign them. I finally gave up and just imported them as they were assigned by the import command, so now that they’re in my library I’m trying to find a way to reassign them to the correct medium/track number.
For example, the first track “About a Girl” is in the database with disc = 1, track = 1, but I want it to be disc = 3, track = 1. Do I simply use the modify command to change those values for each track?
I went ahead and tried modify which worked, until I did a mbsync which reverted my changes. Is there any way to associate these tracks permanently with the correct medium?
You might try changing the disc number before importing (or doing a re-import) to encourage the match to go differently.
The beet modify route is a good one too, but if you want things to persist across an mbsync, you’ll also want to change the MBIDs. That is, mbsync will reassign everything from MusicBrainz based on the IDs, so you’ll need to change the IDs to get a different match. You can use something like beet modify mb_trackid=..., for instance, to tell each track what it “should” be.
When you say “change the disc number before importing” can you give an example? The files had already been tagged with Picard and had the right disc and track numbers in them, but since the recordings are the same as the other media on the same release I think it misattributed them.
Your second suggestion is exactly what I need though I think! I don’t know how I missed mb_trackid. I’ll try that now.
Here’s what happens when I import. The directory structure I start with looks like:
MTV Unplugged in New York (25th)
├── MTV Unplugged in New York (disc 01)
├── MTV Unplugged in New York (disc 02)
└── MTV Unplugged in New York (disc 03)
├── 01 - About a Girl.mp3
├── 02 - Come as You Are.mp3
├── 03 - Jesus Doesn’t Want Me for a Sunbeam.mp3
├── 04 - The Man Who Sold the World.mp3
├── 05 - Pennyroyal Tea.mp3
├── 06 - Dumb.mp3
├── 07 - Polly.mp3
├── 08 - On a Plain.mp3
├── 09 - Something in the Way.mp3
├── 10 - Plateau.mp3
├── 11 - Oh Me.mp3
├── 12 - Lake of Fire.mp3
├── 13 - All Apologies.mp3
├── 14 - Where Did You Sleep Last Night_.mp3
├── 15 - Come as You Are (rehearsal).mp3
├── 16 - Polly (rehearsal).mp3
├── 17 - Plateau (rehearsal).mp3
├── 18 - Pennyroyal Tea (rehearsal).mp3
└── 19 - The Man Who Sold the World (rehearsal).mp3
I created empty disc 1 and 2 directories in to try to hint that it was a multi-disc album.
After I select the correct release I see:
URL: [20/50]
https://musicbrainz.org/release/045af24f-47aa-4730-a2e6-cc135a12a610
(Similarity: 57.1%) (missing tracks, tracks, media) (3x12" Vinyl, 2019, US, DGC Records, B0029512-01, 25th anniversary)
12" Vinyl 1
* About a Girl (#3-1) ->
About a Girl (#1-1) (id)
* Come as You Are (#3-2) ->
Come as You Are (#1-2) (id)
* Jesus Doesn’t Want Me for a Sunbeam (#3-3) ->
Jesus Doesn’t Want Me for a Sunbeam (#1-3) (id)
* The Man Who Sold the World (#3-4) ->
The Man Who Sold the World (#1-4) (id)
* Pennyroyal Tea (#3-5) ->
Pennyroyal Tea (#1-5) (id)
* Dumb (#3-6) ->
Dumb (#1-6) (id)
* Polly (#3-7) ->
Polly (#1-7) (id)
* On a Plain (#3-8) ->
On a Plain (#1-8) (id)
* Something in the Way (#3-9) ->
Something in the Way (#1-9) (id)
12" Vinyl 2
* Plateau (#3-10) ->
Plateau (#2-1) (id)
* Oh Me (#3-11) ->
Oh Me (#2-2) (id)
* Lake of Fire (#3-12) ->
Lake of Fire (#2-3) (id)
* All Apologies (#3-13) ->
All Apologies (#2-4) (id)
* Where Did You Sleep Last Night? (#3-14) ->
Where Did You Sleep Last Night? (#2-5) (id)
* Come as You Are (rehearsal) (#3-15) ->
Come as You Are (rehearsal) (#2-6) (id)
* Polly (rehearsal) (#3-16) ->
Polly (rehearsal) (#2-7) (id)
* Plateau (rehearsal) (#3-17) ->
Plateau (rehearsal) (#2-8) (id)
* Pennyroyal Tea (rehearsal) (#3-18) ->
Pennyroyal Tea (rehearsal) (#2-9) (id)
* The Man Who Sold the World (rehearsal) (#3-19) ->
The Man Who Sold the World (rehearsal) (#2-10) (id)
Missing tracks (19/38 - 50.0%):
! About a Girl (#3-1) (3:38)
! Come as You Are (#3-2) (4:14)
! Jesus Doesn’t Want Me for a Sunbeam (#3-3) (4:37)
! The Man Who Sold the World (#3-4) (4:21)
! Pennyroyal Tea (#3-5) (3:40)
! Dumb (#3-6) (2:53)
! Polly (#3-7) (3:16)
! On a Plain (#3-8) (3:45)
! Something in the Way (#3-9) (4:02)
! Plateau (#3-10) (3:38)
! Oh Me (#3-11) (3:26)
! Lake of Fire (#3-12) (2:56)
! All Apologies (#3-13) (4:23)
! Where Did You Sleep Last Night (#3-14) (5:06)
! Come as You Are (rehearsal) (#3-15) (4:45)
! Polly (rehearsal) (#3-16) (4:05)
! Plateau (rehearsal) (#3-17) (4:40)
! Pennyroyal Tea (rehearsal) (#3-18) (4:30)
! The Man Who Sold the World (rehearsal) (#3-19) (4:38)
Great! The short answer, FWIW, is that the names are confusing for historical reasons—but mb_trackid is actually the recording ID, and mb_releasetrackid is the track ID.
