Option for lyrics from metadata
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I wish there was a way to force the Context pane to use lyrics from metadata on a per song basis. Sometimes none of the sources get the correct lyrics. Although this is rare, it does happen, and it would be great to override the internet sources and provide custom lyrics through metadata.
I'll give an example. On the Tom Petty song, "You Don't Know How It Feels", AudD wants to display lyrics for Bob Dylan's "Like A Rolling Stone". If I uncheck AudD, nothing. (Side note: I am aware that there is some litigation in progress regarding Tom Petty lyrics use. However, AudD seems to be able to retrieve many other Tom Petty song lyrics, and I am happy for that.)
But rather than struggle with lyrics sources, if there could be a feature where Strawberry would first look to see if there are lyrics in the metadata, and display those lyrics -- overriding the other sources -- that would be useful to me.
Strawberry's own tag editor has a section for lyrics. But where are these lyrics supposed to be displayed? There isn't even a checkbox for lyrics in the contextual menu for column headers.
Would it be possible to provide an option under Lyrics Providers in Settings, that would say something like, "Use lyrics from metadata, if present"?
This would also be useful for my many songs from obscure artists, whose lyrics have not found their way onto the internet databases. Music from local bands, for example.
Most of the time AudD is pretty awesome, but it's not perfect, and there seems to be no way of contacting AudD to submit corrections. (Unless I am missing something.)
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It is preferring lyrics from metadata, if that's found then it won't search for lyrics, but if the lyrics in the metadata is empty then it will search. So you should be able to just paste in the lyrics in the tag editor and the next play it should use those.
Unless you are using an older version it should work. I just tested it here now. Make sure you use the latest version 0.6.13 (or a newer development build).
btw: I'm a huge Tom Petty fan. -
I had tried what you said, but was unsuccessful. I tried with Strawberry's tag editor and also Kid3-qt, but whatever I pasted in the lyrics field did not stick.
Upon some further experimentation I discovered that my files, being m4a (aac), apparently were not accepting changes to the lyrics metadata. Strangely, other info, such as artist or title can be edited, however.
I converted a copy of that Tom Petty song to mp3 and then I was able to edit the lyrics; and the Context display behaved exactly as you said it would, displaying the lyrics from my metadata edit. I tried another random mp3 and that worked as well.
So is it something to do with m4a (aac)? And if so, can you recommend some way to embed lyrics in such files. I started with a Mac, which I still use for music, and have amassed a huge collection of m4a files. I have lossless rips in storage as well, and someday I hope to use FLAC or ALAC or AIFF for my main collection on a home stereo system. But for portable use, the m4a files have worked pretty well.
I know Strawberry is audiophile oriented, so don't be too hard on me for using lossy files. I understand good sound and enjoy my big Vandersteen speakers, but I'm practical where I need to be, and you can fit a lot of lossy files on an iPod or laptop!
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That's right. Both reading and writing lyrics and performer isn't implemented for MP4/AAC. Think it would be easy to fix though. I'm not very familiar with MP4 so I don't know what programs support them. I mostly use FLAC myself.
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I've fixed both reading and writing lyrics for MP4 tags now.
You can download a development build from https://builds.strawberrymusicplayer.org/ when it's finished building.
Build status: https://buildbot.strawberrymusicplayer.org/#/consoleI suggest to backup your files before saving to tags just in case.
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Wow! That's what I call service! Thank you!
Just tested lyrics with m4a files and the tag editing now works!
I also tested with an ALAC (Apple Lossless) file, which, confusingly (to me, anyway!) is also m4a. It works on that also!This is great news. For what it's worth, I think that full compatibility with Apple sourced files is important if you want to develop Strawberry for the Mac platform. While I don't have any real evidence, I think a lot of audiophiles own Macs. I used to read Stereophile magazine, and they were always mentioning their Macs when the subject of computers in audio came up.
To this day, iTunes will not play FLAC files, so Mac users that use iTunes will most likely use ALAC, or lossy AAC. iTunes default decoding is 256 kbps AAC, and that is also what you get if you purchase music from Apple.
On a side note, there is a lot of dissatisfaction with Apple these days, even with long time users. I love my iMac, but I am using Linux more and more. It is wonderful that my iTunes collection works well with a player like Strawberry. For Mac expatriates moving to Linux, Strawberry could be a good fit. It could also be a nice alternative to iTunes on the Mac platform.
Cheers
