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Sort data for artists is ignored

Travis Illig

I'm not sure if this is a player issue or a sync issue. I sync my library from iTunes with doubleTwist Sync and have it set to transcode songs my phone can't natively play.

I have my tracks in iTunes configured with sort info, so "Taylor Swift" will get sorted as "Swift, Taylor" - last name first.

Looking at my library in doubleTwist in my phone, the sort data appears to be ignored. "Taylor Swift" shows up under T instead of S where I expect.

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Comments

3 comments

Date Votes
  • Official comment
    doubleTwist Support

    Hello,

    What metadata is embedded in the files? Is it "Taylor Swift" or "Swift, Taylor"?

    Our apps will use whatever metadata is embedded in the files.

  • Travis Illig

    Using mutagen I looked at the data in three different tracks from the phone, all of which sort incorrectly.

    Here, for example, is Amy Winehouse sorted under "A" for "Amy" instead of "W" for "Winehouse":

    The metadata in this shows (with irrelevant stuff like the image and copyright dates and stuff removed):

    -- .\01 rehab.mp3
    - MPEG 1 layer 3, 256000 bps (CBR?), 44100 Hz, 2 chn, 213.82 seconds (audio/mp3)TALB=Back To Black
    TCOM=Amy Winehouse
    TCON=Blues/R&B
    TCOP=(C) 2006 Universal Island Records Ltd. A Universal Music Company.
    TDRC=2006
    TIT2=Rehab
    TPE1=Amy Winehouse
    TPE2=Amy Winehouse
    TPE3=
    TPOS=1/1
    TRCK=1/11
    TSO2=Winehouse, Amy
    TSOP=Winehouse, Amy

     

    So, the PerformerSortOrder and AlbumArtistSortOrder are there, but they're not obeyed.

    I looked at three more, a Taylor Swift M4A, a George Michael MP3, and a Steve Winwood M4A.

    Taylor Swift... it appears Apple must store it in a weird way, since I don't see it in the metadata...

    -- .\01 welcome to new york.m4a
    - MPEG-4 audio (AAC LC), 212.52 seconds, 0 bps (audio/mp4)
    ----:com.apple.iTunes:ASIN=MP4FreeForm('', <AtomDataType.UTF8: 1>)
    ----:com.apple.iTunes:MusicBrainz Album Artist Id=MP4FreeForm('', <AtomDataType.UTF8: 1>)
    ----:com.apple.iTunes:MusicBrainz Album Id=MP4FreeForm('', <AtomDataType.UTF8: 1>)
    ----:com.apple.iTunes:MusicBrainz Album Release Country=MP4FreeForm('', <AtomDataType.UTF8: 1>)
    ----:com.apple.iTunes:MusicBrainz Album Status=MP4FreeForm('', <AtomDataType.UTF8: 1>)
    ----:com.apple.iTunes:MusicBrainz Album Type=MP4FreeForm('', <AtomDataType.UTF8: 1>)
    ----:com.apple.iTunes:MusicBrainz Artist Id=MP4FreeForm('', <AtomDataType.UTF8: 1>)
    ----:com.apple.iTunes:MusicBrainz Disc Id=MP4FreeForm('', <AtomDataType.UTF8: 1>)
    aART=Taylor Swift
    covr=[128860 bytes of data]
    disk=(1, 1)
    trkn=(1, 13)
    ©ART=Taylor Swift
    ©alb=1989
    ©day=2014
    ©gen=Pop
    ©nam=Welcome To New York
    ©too=Lavf52.31.0

    ...but it's definitely there in iTunes:

    The George Michael song, also an MP3, shows the sort data just like Amy Winehouse.

    -- .\1-01 jesus to a child.mp3
    - MPEG 1 layer 3, 128000 bps (CBR?), 44100 Hz, 2 chn, 411.75 seconds (audio/mp3)
    TALB=Ladies & Gentlemen: The Best of George Michael
    TCON=Pop
    TDRC=1996
    TIT2=Jesus To A Child
    TPE1=George Michael
    TPE2=George Michael
    TPOS=1/2
    TRCK=1/14
    TSO2=Michael, George
    TSOP=Michael, George

     

    The Steve Winwood track is interesting because it's an Apple Lossless track that doubleTwist Sync converted to AAC.

    -- .\01 roll with it.m4a
    - MPEG-4 audio (AAC LC), 320.66 seconds, 0 bps (audio/mp4)
    ----:com.apple.iTunes:ASIN=MP4FreeForm('', <AtomDataType.UTF8: 1>)
    ----:com.apple.iTunes:MusicBrainz Album Artist Id=MP4FreeForm('', <AtomDataType.UTF8: 1>)
    ----:com.apple.iTunes:MusicBrainz Album Id=MP4FreeForm('', <AtomDataType.UTF8: 1>)
    ----:com.apple.iTunes:MusicBrainz Album Release Country=MP4FreeForm('', <AtomDataType.UTF8: 1>)
    ----:com.apple.iTunes:MusicBrainz Album Status=MP4FreeForm('', <AtomDataType.UTF8: 1>)
    ----:com.apple.iTunes:MusicBrainz Album Type=MP4FreeForm('', <AtomDataType.UTF8: 1>)
    ----:com.apple.iTunes:MusicBrainz Artist Id=MP4FreeForm('', <AtomDataType.UTF8: 1>)
    ----:com.apple.iTunes:MusicBrainz Disc Id=MP4FreeForm('', <AtomDataType.UTF8: 1>)
    aART=Steve Winwood
    covr=[117326 bytes of data]
    disk=(1, 1)
    trkn=(1, 8)
    ©ART=Steve Winwood
    ©alb=Roll With It
    ©day=1988
    ©gen=Pop/Rock
    ©nam=Roll With It
    ©too=Lavf52.31.0
    ©wrt=Winwood, Steve; Jennings, Will

     

    This looks just like the Taylor Swift M4A data, again where I can't see sort info... but I know it's there on the original ALAC version, clearly visible in iTunes.

     

    In all cases, the sort isn't respected - the artists consistently show up in display name sort, not specified sort order sort.

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  • doubleTwist Support

    Hello,

    Thanks for the information. At this time, our apps do not utilize those extended metadata fields.

    But I will forward your comments to the product manager so she can consider adding support for these fields to a future update.

     

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