Server Version#: 1.28.1.6104 (Ubuntu 22 LTS)
Player Version#: 4.3.0
I keep looking and I can’t seem to find a way to play a folder and subfolders. For instance I have 2 different albums from the same artist, but when I want to play the original version (FLAC from 1967) instead I play one song from that album and then Plex switches to the remastered versions (MP3 2005).
I don’t have problems playing the flac files, but plex would work much better for me if I could have it play a folder and all subfolders on either a straight play or shuffle.
In order to manage several editions of the same album, you must:
- enable the checkbox “prefer local metadata” in the properties of the music library
- insert complete meta tags into your files. Crucially, tag all songs of one album edition with the same content in the “Album” meta tag. And the other album edition must have different content in its Album meta tag.
- Don’t use staggered subfolders for different album editions. If you have different editions of an album, store them directly beside all the other albums of that artist.
I updated my FLAC files to have the correct MP3v1 and MP3v2 tags, deleted my entire music library from Plex(refreshing the metadata didn’t work!) , created it again and checked the box that says prefer local metadata, and plex still doesn’t properly read the tags. I checked the tags using MusicBrainz Picard and Mp3tag and for some reason that I can’t fathom, Plex ignores them for the most part.
I am running Ubuntu 22.04 with Plexmediaserver Version 1.28.2.6151.
Minor correction: Flac files don’t have “id3” tags at all. They use “Vorbis comments” to store metadata.
You can’t play folders or subfolders in Plex.
You can play tracks, albums, or artists.
Please show an example of how your music is organized and which meta tags you have set.
Here is an example for this.
Of particular interest for Plex is the folder/subfolder organization and the “Album Artist” meta tag.
Okay, so I can’t play folders, I got that. I can’t seem to get Plex to read the metadata properly from FLAC files for instance this one file exports the following information from mp3tag
Mp3tag - File Overview
9/10/2022
| Title | Artist | Album | Track | Year | Genre | Filename |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Symphony no. 3 in F major, op. 90: IV. Allegro - Un poco sostenuto | Johannes Brahms | Complete Works | 4 | 2008-05-21 | Classical | 04 Symphony No.3 in F,Op.90-Allegro-Un poco sostenuto.flac |
Plex generates the following xml for the same file
<MediaContainer size="1" allowSync="1" identifier="com.plexapp.plugins.library" librarySectionID="6" librarySectionTitle="Music" librarySectionUUID="9d2960d3-2e1a-4de6-a783-5e12db7eed12" mediaTagPrefix="/system/bundle/media/flags/" mediaTagVersion="1661864098">
<link type="text/css" id="dark-mode" rel="stylesheet" href=""/>
<Track ratingKey="67053" key="/library/metadata/67053" parentRatingKey="67049" grandparentRatingKey="65914" guid="local://67053" parentGuid="local://67049" grandparentGuid="plex://artist/5d07bbfc403c6402904a5ec9" type="track" title="" titleSort="Symphony No.1 in C,Op.68-Adagio-Piu andante-Allegro non troppo ma con brio-Piu allegro" grandparentKey="/library/metadata/65914" parentKey="/library/metadata/67049" librarySectionTitle="Music" librarySectionID="6" librarySectionKey="/library/sections/6" grandparentTitle="Various Artists" parentTitle="[Unknown Album]" summary="" parentIndex="1" art="/library/metadata/65914/art/1662822991" grandparentThumb="/library/metadata/65914/thumb/1662822991" grandparentArt="/library/metadata/65914/art/1662822991" duration="1033293" addedAt="1588352878" updatedAt="1662822355">
<Media id="89140" duration="1033293" audioChannels="2" audioCodec="flac" container="flac">
<Part accessible="1" exists="1" id="89616" key="/library/parts/89616/1588352878/file.flac" duration="1033293" file="[EDITED]/Music/Johannes Brahms Edition Complete Works ( 60 CD )/CD01/04 Symphony No.1 in C,Op.68-Adagio-Piu andante-Allegro non troppo ma con brio-Piu allegro.flac" size="80119265" container="flac">
<Stream id="191419" streamType="2" selected="1" codec="flac" index="0" channels="2" bitrate="620" audioChannelLayout="stereo" bitDepth="16" samplingRate="44100" displayTitle="FLAC (Stereo)" extendedDisplayTitle="FLAC (Stereo)"> </Stream>
</Part>
</Media>
<Extras size="0"> </Extras>
<Related> </Related>
</Track>
</MediaContainer>
I mispoke about the tags I have the IDv1 and IDv2.3 tags updated for the FLAC files.
2 things:
- it’s classical music. This unfortunately complicates things.
- your folder structure´doesn’t follow the pattern
Music/Artist/Album
There is no indication of which “Album Artist” you have set in your files.
(this is not the normal “Artist” tag)
It’s sad that Plex has an issue with classical music.
I would have hoped that the structure
/Music/Johannes Brahms Edition Complete Works ( 60 CD )/CD01/
was close enough for Plex to figure out to treat it as some sort of compilation, but as shown by the inability to go from on song to the next in the same folder, Plex only minorly considers folders. Do you think that if I change the folder structure Plex will fix the issues or should I just go through and update all the Album Artist tags?
It is missing the Artist folder level.
So the structure should be like this and Plex will be happy?
/Music/Johannes Brahms/Johannes Brahms Edition Complete Works ( 60 CD )/CD01/
I can delete all the music from Plex and start over again, but I am just checking before I delete everything again.
Yes, this will have a higher chance of success.
However, you need to make sure that only albums which have been tagged with “Johannes Brahms” as the “AlbumArtist” are stored inside the Johannes Brahms folder. (and that applies to all Artist level folders of course)
Check for the presence and correctness of the AlbumArtist meta tag.
It is crucial in Plex.
I recommend adding your music “bite-size”.
You should disable the immediate analysis for loudness and sonic characteristics while testing this. (in the server preferences)
Okay thank you. That said I had to redo my music library in any case because some of my mp3’s had wrong metadata (which I believe was fetched from the internet) and nothing I could do would get Plex to reread the Idv1/2 tags after the songs were added. Even after checking prefer local metadata and rescanning the metadata I could not get Plex to register the correct tags for some compilations that I have of various artists that are grouped together in a compilation over multiple cds, which I gather Plex hates.
The solution for such a situation is called the Plex Dance.
In the case of music, you can omit step 4.
Other tips:
With multi-disc albums, store the disc number as a single number in its dedicated meta tag. Do not add the disc number to the “album title” tag.
Do also look out for empty “track number” meta tags. These can cause weird behaviour.
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