MrC-temp

General

Media Center helps you manage, organize and view your files by maintaining a collection of properties on a per-file basis. Each file managed by Media Center belongs to a particular media type (eg. audio, video, image), and each media type has a predefined set of properties available and valid for use.

Examples of file properties are Artist, Album and Genre for audio files, Actor, Director, and Aspect Ratio for movies, and Width, Height and Focal Length for images.

Initially, a file's properties are imported when the file is imported, or created when the file is created by Media Center (e.g. when ripping a CD or DVD). Typically, this data comes from a file's internal metadata (commonly referred to as tags), or is looked up from external databases. In addition, several library tools are available to assist in creating or modifying properties and tags.

Media Center can also save a file's properties to the internal metadata within the physical file itself. These tags are then available for use by other programs that support the specific file types. The tags supported by a given file type are file type-specific, but there is often commonality or overlap in various media or file formats. Media Center helps manage this by automatically mapping essentially similar tags with different names into a standard set of properties.

In addition, Media Center allows creation of an almost limitless number of custom (or user) properties. This allows for managing information about files that is not predefined by Media Center or by a given format's standard tags. These custom properties may also be saved to a file's tags, should the format support user-defined or extensible tags.

Saving file properties to the physical file allows tags to be re-imported by Media Center, and used by other programs on a variety of systems. While typical metadata consumes a trivial amount of extra disk storage (relative to the file's size), larger metadata such as cover art, lyrics or extensive notes may be more noticeable, especially when files are exported to smaller devices such as handhelds. See Save File Properties in Disk Files for more information.

The table below shows the standard default properties available in Media Center. File properties are listed and managed under:

 Tools > Options... > Library & Folders > Manage Library Fields...

Note here that properties are called fields. This is primarily a technical and pedantic distinction. The terms properties, fields, and tags become synonymous in common language, but do nonetheless maintain distinct meanings. It might help to think of a spreadsheet, where column headers are fields, rows are files, and a row of individual cell values are the file's properties. If each row were saved to an external file, the row's cells would be called tags.

As briefly mentioned above, properties help manage and organize related files. They can also be searched. In all of these, either directly or indirectly, one or more library fields is used in the construction.

When used in expressions or searches, a field is expressed by surrounding its name with square brackets. For example, Album Artist is written and used as [Album Artist]. Field names are case-insensitive, meaning there is no distinction between upper- or lower-case letters. They are typically written in camel-case to help make them more distinguishable, especially in complex expressions.

Field Specifications

Each field in Media Center has several defined characteristics. These are shown in the marked-up example dialog to the right, Manage Library Fields. Each field:

1. Has a standard, unchangeable name
2. Has a display name and its plural version (not currently shown in table)
3. Is valid for the specified media/file types (Audio, Image, Video, Data, TV)
4. Is either "User" data, or is automatically calculated via expression
5. Stores a particular type of data (see Field Data Types)
6. May or may not be relational (no default fields are currently relational)
7. Has rules about its editability (see Field Edit Types)
8. May have a list of acceptable values
9. May be stored in file tags (when possible)
10. May have one or more search keywords used for queries
11. May be searched by default when performing search queries
12. May be hidden from normal view/usage (these field names are shown in italics in the Media Center Predefined Fields table below)

Field Data Types

Data Type	Description
String	An unformatted sequence of characters.
Integer	A whole number (no decimal portion).
Decimal	A floating point number.
Percentage	A decimal from 0 to 1 indicating 0% to 100%.
List	A semicolon-separated list of strings.
Date	A complex type that is either date-only, or date and time. (TBD: need refs)
Unknown	An unspecific catch-all type, not specifically defined.

Field Edit Types

Edit Type	Description
Standard	A free-format, editable field.
Clear-only	A clear-only field, whose value is set or updated by Media Center.
Large	A free-format, editable field, used for large data (e.g. lyrics, notes, descriptions). (TBD: recommended for data larger than XXX characters).
Not editable	A non-editable field.
File	A file-path specification field.
5 Star	A selectable, 5-star graphical field, typically used for ratings.
Calculated, Editable	A calculated, editable field, whose initial value is automatically set.
Calculated, Not editable	A calculated, non-editable field whose value is automatically set.

Predefined Fields

The table below lists Media Center's default fields. The rows list the available fields, and the columns indicate how the field is defined, and gives a brief explanation of the fields usage or meaning. Where applicable, additional links and field-specific information is also listed. The value for some fields is calculated by Media Center. When possible, the expression used to derive this value is also shown. In some cases, this value may be modified. Beneath a field name is a list of the default Search Keyword(s), if available, which are used for field-specific searching within Media Center.

(TBD: in the source code, fields are grouped by certain categories (eg. statistics). are these useful to show?)

Note: Some fields are used internally by Media Center to maintain state information, and are not viewable in panes, categories, or the Tag Action Window. These are typically configured through various options and settings dialogs.

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Media Center Predefined Fields

Field Name  search keyword(s)	Media Types	S  t o r e d	S  e a r c h	Data Type Edit Type	Description
Access Rating  accessrating=	A I V D T	✓		String Standard	Specifies the access rating when access control is in effect. See also: Access Control
Actors  actors=	V			List Standard	A semicolon-separated list of a movie's actors.
Album  album=  al=	A I V D T	✓	✓	String Standard	The name of the album.
Album Artist  albumartist=	A	✓		String Standard	Designates the artist to use for compilation albums. See also: Album Artist and Album Artist (Auto)
Album Artist (auto)  autoalbumartist=	A			String Calculated, Editable	Automatically calculated based on the contents of an album's Artist tracks. Expression: AlbumArtist() See also: Album Artist and Album Artist (Auto)
Album Gain  albumgain=  ag=	A			Decimal Clear-only	Automatically calculated gain for an album, based on Replay Gain. See also: Album Gain
Album Type  albumtype=	A			String Calculated, Not editable	Automatically calculated value indicating if the album has a single artist or multiple artists, and if the album is complete. Expression: AlbumType() See also: Multiple Artist Albums#Complete Albums
Altitude	I			String Standard	Camera's GPS altitude when photo was taken. See also: Photo Tagging
Aperture	I			String Not editable	Camera's aperture setting used to create the photo. See also: Photo Tagging
Artist  artist=  ar=	A I V D T	✓	✓	String Standard	Track artist, or movie's director. See also: Album Artist and Album Artist (Auto), YADB
Artist - Album (Year)	A			String Calculated, Not editable	Automatically calculated field used for album grouping. Expression: Clean([Artist] - [Album] /([FormatDate([Date, 0), Year)/))
Aspect Ratio  aspect=	V			String Standard	Video aspect ratio.
Audio Analysis Info	A			String Not editable	Automatically calculated data created and used by audio analysis engine. See also: Audio Settings and Analysis, Analyze Audio
Author	D			List Standard	A semicolon-separated list of a document's authors.
Band  band=  bd=	A	✓	✓	String Standard	Designates a track's band.
Bios  bios=  bio=	A	✓		String Large	Musician or group biography. (Musicmatch)
Bit Depth  bitrate=	A   V			Integer Not editable	Audio / video bit depth.
Bitrate	A   V		✓	Integer Not editable	Audio / video bitrate, in bits per second (bps).
Bookmark	A   V			String Clear-only	Specifies the bookmark location for resumption of playback.
BPM  bpm=	A	✓		Integer Standard	Beats-per-minute, calculated automaticaly during audio analysis.
Budget	V			String Standard	A movie's financial budget.
Camera	I		✓	String Standard	Camera EXIF tag. See also: Photo Tagging
Caption  caption=	I	✓	✓	String Standard	An image's caption.
Catalog #	A I V D T	✓		String Standard	***TBD***
Category Image Category	I			String Not editable	***TBD***
Channels	A   V			Integer Not editable	Number of playback channels
Cinematographer	V			List Standard	A semicolon-separated list of a movie's cinematographer(s).
Comment  comment=  c=	A I V D T	✓	✓	String Standard	A general use comment field.
Complete Album  completealbum=	A			Integer Not editable	Indicates if an album is a complete album. See also: Multiple Artist Albums#Complete Albums
Composer  composer=	A	✓	✓	String Standard	The composer of a piece or work, typically used with classical music.
Compression	A   V			String Not editable	The compression type and scheme used for compressed audio/video.
Conductor  conductor=	A	✓		String Standard	The conductor of a piece or work, typically used with classical music.
Copyright  copyright=	A I V D T	✓		String Standard	Media copyright information.
Country  country=	A I V D T			List Standard	A semicolon-separated list of countries relevant to the media.
Credits  credits=	V			List Standard	A semicolon-separated list of movie credits.
Custom	A I V D T	✓		String Standard	General use custom field.
Custom 1	A I V D T	✓		String Standard	General use custom field (may not exist).
Custom 2	A I V D T	✓		String Standard	General use custom field (may not exist).
Custom 3	A I V D T	✓		String Standard	General use custom field (may not exist).
Date  date=  d=	A I V D T	✓		Date Standard	General date of media.
Date (filename friendly)	A I V D T			String Calculated, Not editable	A version of Date that has been cleaned for use in filenames. Expression: FormateDate(Filename)
Date Created	A I V D T			Unknown Not editable	A file's creation date/time as reported by the system.
Date Imported  dateimported=	A I V D T			Unknown Not editable	The date the media was imported into the MC / MJ database. See also: [1]
Date Modified	A I V D T			Unknown Not editable	A file's modification date/time, as reported by the system.
Date Recorded	V   T	✓		Date Standard	The date/time of a video recording.
Day	A I V D T			Integer Calculated, Editable	Day segment of Date. Expression: FormatDate(Day)&DataType=[Number]
Description	A I V D T	✓	✓	String Large	A general description of the media.
Dimensions	I V			String Calculated, Not editable	Automatically calculated image/video dimensions. Expression: Clean([Width] x [Height])
Direction	I			String Standard	Camera's directional heading when photo was taken. See also: Photo Tagging
Director  director=	V			List Standard	A semicolon-separated list of a movie's directors.
Disc #	A   V	✓	✓	Integer Standard	The disc number, for multi-disc audio or video sets. See also: Multidisc Albums
Distributor	V			List Standard	A semicolon-separated list of a movie's distrubutors.
DLNA Server Info	A I V D T			String Not editable	Internal information for the MC DLNA server.
Duration  length=  duration=	A   V			Unknown Not editable	The duration of an audio / video track.
DVD Video Info	V			String Standard	Internal information used for a DVD.
Edit Info	I			String Not editable	Internal information used for image editting.
Editor	V			List Standard	A semicolon-separated list of the editor(s) used to capture/create a video.
Encoding Settings	A I V D T			String Standard	Description
Episode	V   T	✓		String Standard	Episode number of a television / video series.
Episode URL	A I V D T	✓		String Not editable	URL of a single podcast episode.
Events  events=	A I V D T	✓	✓	List Standard	A semicolon-separated list to specifiy relevant events for the media.
Feed URL	A I V D T	✓		String Not editable	URL of a podcast feed.
File Size  size=	A I V D T			Unknown Not editable	A file's on disc size (human readable, unitized and rounded).
File Type  filetype=	A I V D T		✓	String Standard	The type of file (eg. mp3, jpg, flac, pdf).
Filename  filename=  location=	A I V D T		✓	Unknown File	The full pathname to the location of a file.
Filename (name)	A I V D T			String Calculated, Editable	The name-only portion of [Filename]. Expression: FileName()
Filename (path)	A I V D T			Unknown Calculated, Editable	The path-only portion of [Filename]. Expression: FilePath()&DataType[Path]
Flash	I			String Not editable	Indicates if a camera's flash was used to take image. See also: Photo Tagging
Flickr Info	I V			String Not editable	Description
Focal Length	I			String Not editable	The lens focal length used when a image was captured. See also: Photo Tagging
FPS  framerate=  fps=	V			Decimal Standard	The number of frames-per-second in a video/movie.
Genre  genre=  g=	A I V D T	✓	✓	String Standard	Genre of media. See also: YADB
Get Cover Art Info	A   V D			String Not editable	Description
Gross Revenue	V			String Standard	A movie's gross reported revenue.
Grouping	A I V D T	✓		String Standard	For support of the iTunes Grouping field. See also: [2]
Height  height=	I V			Integer Not editable	The height dimension of an image/video (see also Dimensions above).
Image File  imagefile=	A   V	✓		Unknown Not editable	The name of the associated artwork for audio/video.
Instrument	A	✓		String Standard	A song's primary instrument.
Intensity  intensity=	A	✓		Integer Standard	A musical intensity metric automatically calculated during audio analysis. Values: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5
ISO	I			String Not editable	The ISO standard film speed used when an image was captured. See also: Photo Tagging
Keywords  keyword=  keywords=  kw=	A I V D T	✓	✓	List Standard	A semicolon-separated list of user-defined keywords.
Language	A I V D T			List Standard	A semicolon-separated list of languages.
Last Played  lastplayed=	A I V D T			Unknown Clear-only	Date / time the file was last played or viewed.
Last Skipped  lastskipped=	A I V D T			Unknown Clear-only	Date / time the file was last skipped. See also: Skip Count
Latitude	I			String Standard	Camera's GPS latitude when photo was taken. See also: Photo Tagging
Library Server Info	A I V D T			String Not editable	Internal information used to manage state for Library Server.
Library Server Key	A I V D T			Integer Not editable	Internal authorization key used to help secure Library Server.
Library Server URL	A I V D T			String Not editable	URL used to specify location of Library Server.
Longitude	I			String Standard	Camera's GPS longitude when photo was taken. See also: Photo Tagging
Lyricist	A   V	✓		String Standard	The lyricist resonsible for a work.
Lyrics  lyrics=	A   V	✓		String Large	User-stored lyrics or transcription.
Media Sub Type  mediasubtype=	A I V D T		✓	String Standard	More specific sub-classification of Media Type. Values: Adult, Audiobook, Home Video, Karaoke, Movie, Music Video, Other, Podcast, Radio, Remix, Short, Single, TV Show
Media Type  mediatype=	A I V D T		✓	String Standard	General classification of media type. Values: Audio, Image, Video, TV, Data, Playlist
Mix Album  mixalbum=	A	✓		Integer Not editable	Used to specify if an album is a mix album.
Month	A I V D T			String Calculated, Editable	Month segment of Date. Expression: FormatDate(Month)&DataType=[Month]
Mood  mood=	A	✓		String Standard	General mood classification of a song. (Musicmatch)
MPAA Rating  mpaa=	V			String Standard	A movies MPAA rating.
MPAA Rating Description	V			String Standard	A textual description of MPAA rating.
Music By	V			List Standard	A semicolon-separated list of people responsible for a movie's music.
Name  name=  title=  n=	A I V D T	✓	✓	String Standard	The primary name assosciated with a file.
Notes  notes=	A I V D T	✓		String Large	General notes assosciated with a file.
Number Plays  numberplays=	A I V D T			Integer Clear-only	An automatically updated statistic indicating the number of times a file has been played/viewed. See also: Changing the number of plays
Orchestra	A	✓		String Standard	The name of the orchestra responsible for performing a piece, typically used with classical music.
Original Title	A I V D T			String Standard	The original title given to a work.
Peak Level  peaklevel=	A	✓		Percentage Clear-only	An automatically calculated value indicating the percentage of an audio track's maximum level before clipping would occur. See also: Overflow Handling, Technical Information on Replay Gain Adjustment, Analyze Audio, [3]
People  people=	A I V D T	✓	✓	List Standard	A semicolon-separated list of people assosciated with a work.
Period	A	✓		String Standard	A musical period, typically used with classical music.
Places  places=	A I V D T	✓	✓	List Standard	A semicolon-separated list of places assosciated with a work.
Playback Channel Key	T			Integer Not editable	Description
Playback Device	T			String Not editable	Description
Playback Info	A   V			String Standard	Description
Playback Range  playbackrange=	A   V			String Standard	Specifies the begin and end times for A-B repeat. See also: [4]
Preference  preference=	A	✓		String Standard	A subjective classification of a user's preference for a song. (Musicmatch)
Prequel	V			List Standard	The prequel to a movie.
Producer  producer=	A I V D T			List Standard	A semicolon-separated list of responsible producer(s)
Protection Type  protectiontype=	A   V			String Not editable	Indication of the type of DRM protection.
Publisher	A I V D T	✓		String Standard	A work's publisher.
Rating  rating=  r=	A I V D T	✓	✓	Integer 5 Star	A 5-star user rating.
Read Only  readonly=	A I V D T			Integer Not editable	Indicates if the file is read-only. Values: 0, 1
Recording Rule ID	T			Integer Not editable	An internal ID representing a TV recording rule.
Removable  removable=	A I V D T			Integer Calculated, Not editable	Indicates if the file resides on removable media. Expression: IsRemovable()
Replay Gain  replaygain=  rg=	A	✓		Decimal Clear-only	An automatically calculated value indicating the gain to be applied to an audio track. See also: Replay Gain, Album Gain, Audio Settings and Analysis, Analyze Audio
Rotation	I			Integer Standard	The rotation (in degrees) applied to an image.
Sample Rate	A   V			Integer Not editable	The rate of sampling for an audio/video file.
Screenwriter  screenwirter=	V			List Standard	The screenwriter responsible for a movie.
Season	V   T	✓		String Standard	The season of a movie/video series.
Sequel	V			List Standard	The sequel to a movie.
Series	V   T	✓	✓	String Standard	The series information for a movie or TV show.
Series Description	V   T	✓	✓	String Standard	A description of the series for a movie or TV show.
Shutter Speed	I			String Not editable	The shutter speed used to capture an image. See also: Photo Tagging
Situation  situation=	A	✓		String Standard	A subjective choice of situations for when playing the song would be appropriate or relevant. (Musicmatch)
Skip Count  skipcount=	A I V D T			Integer Clear-only	An automatically updated statistic indicating the number of times a file has been skipped. See also: Last Skipped
Soloists	A	✓		List Standard	A semicolon-separated list of soloists for a music work, typically used in classical music.
Stack Conversion Type	A I V D T			String Not editable	Description
Stack Files	A I V D T			String Not editable	Description
Stack Tag  stacktag=	A I V D T			String Not editable	Description
Stack Top	A I V D T			Integer Not editable	Indicates if the file is the top of a stack.
Stack View	A I V D T			Integer Not editable	Description
Store Field: Album ID	A I V D T			String Not editable	Description
Store Field: Album Popularity	A I V D T			Integer Not editable	Description
Store Field: Amg Album Review	A I V D T			String Not editable	Description
Store Field: Amg Artist Bio	A I V D T			String Not editable	Description
Store Field: Artist ID	A I V D T			String Not editable	Description
Store Field: Artist Popularity	A I V D T			Integer Not editable	Description
Store Field: Asset Code	A I V D T			String Not editable	Description
Store Field: Assosciated Video ID	A I V D T			List Not editable	Description
Store Field: Available Asset	A I V D T			String Not editable	Description
Store Field: Download Date	A I V D T			Date Not editable	Description
Store Field: Genre ID	A I V D T			String Not editable	Description
Store Field: License Count	A I V D T			String Not editable	Description
Store Field: License Reissue Count	A I V D T			String Not editable	Description
Store Field: MP3 Available	A I V D T	✓		String Not editable	Description
Store Field: MusicNet File GUID	A I V D T			String Not editable	Description
Store Field: New Release	A I V D T			Integer Not editable	Description
Store Field: Number of Tracks	A I V D T			Integer Not editable	Description
Store Field: Playlist Description	A I V D T			String Not editable	Description
Store Field: Playlist Guid	A I V D T			String Not editable	Description
Store Field: Playlist Image	A I V D T			String Not editable	Description
Store Field: Playlist Name	A I V D T			String Not editable	Description
Store Field: Playlist Type	A I V D T			String Not editable	Description
Store Field: Purchase Date	A I V D T			Date Not editable	Description
Store Field: Purchase Description	A I V D T			String Not editable	Description
Store Field: Ranking	A I V D T			Integer Not editable	Description
Store Field: Similar Artists	A I V D T			String Not editable	Description
Store Field: Store Name	A I V D T			String Not editable	Description
Store Field: Track ID	A I V D T			String Not editable	Description
Studios  studios=	V			List Standard	A semicolon-separated list of responsible movie studios.
Style	A	✓		String Standard	A musical style, typically used to further refine genre.
Tag Line  tagline=	V			String Standard	A movie's branding or slogan.
Tempo  tempo=	A	✓		String Standard	A subjective indication of a track's tempo. (Musicmatch)
Text	D			String Not editable	General text describing a data file.
Thumbnail Info	A I V D T			Integer Not editable	Internal information used for view thumbnails.
Thumbnail Info (Local)	A I V D T			Integer Not editable	Internal information used for view thumbnails.
Thumbnail Offset Large	A I V D T			Integer Not editable	Internal information used for view thumbnails.
Thumbnail Offset Medium	A I V D T			Integer Not editable	Internal information used for view thumbnails.
Thumbnail Offset Small	A I V D T			Integer Not editable	Internal information used for view thumbnails.
Track #  tracknumber=  t=	A	✓	✓	Integer Standard	The track number of the song within an album.
TV Channel	T			String Not editable	The TV channel used for a TV recording. See also: [5]
TV Channel Number	T			String Standard	Defines remote channel number used to tune TV Channel. See also: [6]
TV Tuner Input Type	T			String Not editable	Description
TV XMLTV ID	T			String Standard	Stores ID used when mapping a channel to XMLTV data. See also: [7]
UPC	A I V D T	✓		String Standard	Universal Product Code.
Usage Reporting Info	A I V D T			String Not editable	Description
Use Bookmarking	A   V			String Standard	Specifies if bookmarking is active for the track / video. Values: Default, Yes, No
Video Standard	V			String Standard	The encoding/decoding video standard in use (eg. NTSC, PAL, SECAM).
Volume Name  volume=	A I V D T			String Standard	The name of the volume on which the file resides. Expression: FileVolume()
Web Media Info	A I V D T	✓		String Standard	Description
Web Media Search	A I V D T	✓		String Standard	Description
Web Media URL	A I V D T	✓		String Standard	The URL of a remote media file.
Width  width=	I V			Integer Not editable	The width dimension of an image/video (see also Dimensions above).
Year  year=	A I V D T			Integer Calculated, Editable	Year segment of Date. Expression: FormatDate(Year)&DataType=[Number] See also: YADB
Year - Album	A			String Calculated, Not editable	An combination of Year and Album used for views, sorting, etc. Expression: Clean(FormatDate([Date, ], Year) - [Album])

Custom Fields

Custom fields may be added with the Add New Field button in the Tools > Options > Libraries & Folders > Manage Library Fields... dialog.

Tag Import Options

Media Center provides a few options for the importation of tags for some file types. These options are available via Plug-in Manager > Input for the given file type. Select the Configure button for a given type, if available.

For images and video, Media Center will fill in the Album field with the year of the image or video (if the album field is otherwise empty). This puts a reasonable value there when importing directly from a digital camera. (TBD - should this be moved? Is it comprehensive wrt other types/fields?)

Classical Music

The tagging of classical music is unfortunately more complex and standards are lax. See Tagging Classical Music.

Photos

For more comprehensive information on tagging photos, see Photo Tagging.

More

• Check if a file contains tag information
• Edit File Properties (tags)
• Save File Properties in Disk Files
• Remove Tags
• Sync the database and tags
• Licensed Files (Windows Media Manager)
• Multiple Artist Albums
• Re-rip existing music and keep tags and statistics
• Tree & View Settings
• Library Tools
• Cover Art
• [8]

For more information on tag/metadata specifications for file formats, refer to the following external websites:

• mp3: [9]
• Vorbis/FLAC: [10]
• exif: ...
• jpg: ...
• ...