Plex on WD MyCloudEx2Ultra. Using Flac files.
I am unable to get a clean library even after the Plex Dance.
When I try to do a Fix Match, I don’t get the option to Prefer Local Data. Why? This would solve my problem. I want to re-read my metadata.
I know that my metadata is ok. When I compare records that fail vs records that don’t fail, there is no difference in the format. To be specific, most of my problem occurs with Track 1 of an album. The metadata format for Track 1 is the same as the other tracks within the album.
This makes no sense.
Even Windows Media Player can do this. Plex…doesn’t. Why?
1 Like
In the Match/Fix Match dialog, select ‘Personal Media Artists’ from the Agent dropdown. This will read embedded metadata.
Or under Auto Match:
do you have your music library set to ‘prefer local metadata’ ??
see pictures @ Loving PlexAmp for iOS
I have done that. It doesn’t help.
I have set the Library to Prefer Local Metadata.
I want to be able just re-read the data in my source files when I do a manual match.
I accept that building a library causes errors.
Oh yes. See my reply above.
Tnx.
unfortunately plex is bad about trying to re-read tags from files, no matter how you do it.
for best results, you should pre-process/finalize your tags before letting plex even see them.
updating them after they are in plex, just plain sucks.
What can I say. I have done this.
Thanks for giving me some credibility 
I was thinking that I was alone.
Can you explain what you mean by “pre-process/finalize your tags”?
I have compared “bad” records to “good” records within the same album. Out of 11 tracks, 10 are fine but Track 1 is an unknown.
I have even counted blank spaces to make sure that there is 1 space too many.
Bizarre.
I just mean when you are ripping your music, that you tag and rename them however you want them to be, before putting them into your plex music path.
Like, I rip with dbpoweramp/cuetools/whatever, to flac files, tag with musicbrain picard, recheck everything with cuetools, rename/organize/do a final check on them with mediamonkey, then move them into the proper place in my plex music folder
I try not to bother editing or fixing them after.
Plex will read most of the tags (except ratings) on import, and try to match them up with musicbrainz/allmusic for any extra enabled content options (related/concerts/etc).
fwiw, even though I have the whole library set to ‘prefer local metadata’, I leave my agent on plex music (not the old personal media agent as posted above).
if you need to refresh any tags, try do it at the artist level, that seems to work the best.
there were a lot of problems when the music library was rolled out, but I think I have most my rough parts fixed, and I make sure new content is clean before plex see’s it…
Thanks for the detailed explanation. I wish I had the desire to do all that work. I use dBPowerAmp and love it
I will just continue using “inferior” “outdated” Windows Media Player until someone upstairs thinks that this is important enough to fix.
once you can successfully get your music into plex, its worth the effort, especially with the new plexamp (but that requires plex pass).
here you can see plex respecting my albums non-standard names (from the tags, I did not modify them manually in plex), while still matching most with musicbrainz and getting the correct art etc.
I looked at musicbrainz. It certainly looks like a powerful utility. Thank you for your help.
But I maintain that there is nothing “wrong” with my metadata. So what do I edit?
I just need a simple feature that re-reads my existing metadata at the album and artist level.
Take care
Have you tried ‘refresh metadata’ at the album or artist level ?
Right-click>Refresh Metadata at the album level…Many times.
I was so excited when I found this feature. It worked on 1 unknown.
But the equivalent in Windows Media Player works like a charm.
I am trying to shame the developers to fix this by constantly comparing Plex to 10 year old software.
I’m finding this experience extremely disappointing with Plex. I did everything everyone (sometimes condescendingly) has recommended in other forum posts: prioritize local media assets for both artists and albums, the big supposed panacea of “prefer local metadata”, and even toggling between the agent “personal media artists” and “plex music” (which auto-toggles the scanner) with “refresh all metadata” in between: all to no avail. (Not to mention “refresh metadata” numerous times and “match/fix match” with “personal media artists”). Plex still overrides some of my artist names and album names-- I assume with matches from MusicBrainz because there is no other explanation for where it would get the artist and/or album name. For example, I have albums with metatags for the “album” that contain encoding information because I want to distinguish hi-res choices from my standard CD rips. Or a high-res 5.1 version from a hi-res stereo version. I also have the directory structure of the library set as: musiclib\Artist\Album\[track]-[title] with the name of the “Album” directory matching the “Album” tag on the tracks.
The idea of having to go back into Plex and manually edit artists and/or albums after the fact (in Plex-- I don’t mind doing this in the file tags themselves) is too distasteful for me-- I already am trying to be meticulous in managing the tags in the files themselves: for me that should be enough: the tags on my music are the master source, Plex should abide by this master source. This is a deal-breaker that has me looking into alternatives for music until Plex can fix this up.
One suggestion: instead of “prefer local metadata” or in addition to this, why not an option: “use only local metadata”? Before you tell me this exists (and that I should just toggle my agent), read my first paragraph and keep in mind I’ve tried this numerous times. As a plex pass customer, happy to get on a web meeting and have someone look at my screen if they think it’s user error.
I share your frustration with the process. I’m not a Plex employee etc. But I can share what finally worked for me wrt my library.
I used mp3tag to go through all my metadata. I made sure that Artist and Album Artist fields were the same. This is key. It’s tedious yes.
Check that the Genre is correct and populated.
For Unknowns, in Plex, double click on the album cover or track to see the metadata associated with that track or album. This shows you what you missing. Trust it. If your metadata is wrong…it’s wrong. Plex will only read what is there.
Having said all this, my library is less than 4000 tracks. I had to correct the metadata for about 100 albums. This may be small in comparison to yours. As I said, it is tedious.
I can also tell you that the CD’s that I ripped with Windows Media Player were a mess. I switched to dBPowerAmp.
Good luck.
Thank you for your response and sharing your experience.
My issue unlike yours (as I understand it) is not missing albums or artists-- it’s Plex labelling and organizing Artists and/or Albums for me inconsistent from my underlying artist/album tags. I am reading you had to edit items after the fact in Plex. While I understand this is purely Plex’s metadata and is separate from my underlying tags, for me it makes Plex unusable for my music lib because I only want to manage my metadata in one place: the tags on the files themselves.
I also use dbPowerAmp/mp3tag and match album artists with artists where it makes sense (which is the vast majority of the time) and while these are great tools feel this is somewhat beside the point.
There are other library managers out there. Maybe another one will suit your needs.
If you are certain that your metadata is clean, that may be an option for you.
Sure. Plex already has me as i’m a lifetime pass person so I might not be the person they would listen to. For sure there are other alternatives that are purported to be better for music. I’m about to trial one expensive one.
Everyone seems to agree Plex is the best for video and for consuming media when you’re outside of your home network. Makes it all the more frustrating for me that I have the perception that there’s this hole in what they offer. It seems like they are moving towards filling some gaps w/ PlexAmp and the like. I hope they keep up the good work and improvements. This one, however, is puzzling to me. They can offer all of the bells and whistles with MusicBrainz integration-- just let me reliably shut it off and use my tags is all I ask. (Then if I’m still refining my library by editing tags, recognize that when I refresh metadata.)
