This category contains the settings for how information for music is collected, stored, shown and navigated.
Creating Your Music Library
Have you arrived at this page by following the Music Library Creation Guide? If yes, then all you are required to do is check that your settings match the default settings of Section 4. The images show the default settings.
All
File:Settings media music all.JPG
These settings apply to both File View mode and when viewing the music library.
Track naming template
| Settings level:
|
Basic
|
| Description:
|
The track naming template is a format mask made up of certain mask characters that represent specific music data and simple format instructions like italic. The track naming template controls how names of songs are displayed in the UI when sorted by track number. In order to function properly in File View mode, this requires tag reading to be enabled. The default setting is [%N.]%A-%T
| Music Data
|
TrackNumber |
DiscNumber |
Artist |
Title |
Album |
Genre |
Year |
FileName |
Duration |
Date |
Rating |
File Size |
User Rating
|
| Mask Characters
|
%N
|
%S
|
%A
|
%T
|
%B
|
%G
|
%Y
|
%F
|
%D
|
%J
|
%R
|
%I
|
%r
|
| Format Characters
|
|
Usage Example
|
| Bold
|
[[B]...[/B]] |
|
Raw tag
|
[%N] [[I]%A[/I]] - %B : [[B]%T[/B]]
|
| Italic
|
[[I]...[/I]] |
|
Output
|
[track nr.] artist - album : title
|
|
Search for thumbs on remote shares
| Settings level:
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Advanced
|
| Description:
|
When this option is enabled, Kodi will search for thumbs on remote shares including DVD and CD. Due to the long seek/read times required to perform this function this will slow the listing of network folders quite dramatically (particularly if there are many items that have no thumbs). The default setting is enabled. The recommended setting is disabled
|
Files
File:Settings media music files.JPG
These settings apply to File View mode only.
Enable tag reading
| Settings level:
|
Standard
|
| Description:
|
When viewing music files in File View read the embedded tag information (for those files that have not already been scanned into the library). When enabled File View will be able to display the song name along with other details rather than just the file name. However reading tags from every music file in real time can make viewing them slow, especially for folders with a lot of music files or when accessed over a network. It is recommended that you can “Scan” your songs into the library by following the guide. Among many advantages this will allow File View to show additional song details without having to re-read tags everytime. The default setting is Enabled.
|
Library
File:SettingsMediaMusic-leia2.jpg
Show "All items" entry
| Settings level:
|
Advanced
|
| Description:
|
Show an "All items" entry on the music library screens, e. g. "All albums" or "All artists". The default setting is Enabled.
|
Show song and album artists
| Settings level:
|
Basic
|
| Description:
|
When enabled both song and album artists are shown. When disabled only album artists are shown, artists that appear only on songs on compliation albums or as guest artist on an album by another artist are excluded. This effects what artists are shown when browsing the default artists node. Use is a personal choice. The default setting is Enabled.
|
Use artist sortname when sorting by artist
| Settings level:
|
Standard
|
| Description:
|
When Enabled, this setting will change the order Artists are listed in from using the name to using the sortname (if one has been provided in tagging). So for example Taylor Swift with a sort name of Swift, Taylor will be see in the S not the T.
|
Prefer online information
| Settings level:
|
Standard
|
| Description:
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With this enabled some artist and album data in the library, which had been derived from music file tags, will be overwritten by information that is downloaded from the scraper site or from a NFO file. For a list of library fields and tags that will be overwritten see NFO_files/Music. To clarify, this will not modify the music file themselves in any way, only the library entries. However this option is being deprecated, only enable if you are absolutely sure you want to do it and understand the consequences. It can not be used compensate for bad tagging of music files. The default setting is disabled.
|
Fetch additional information during updates
| Settings level:
|
Advanced
|
| Description:
|
With this enabled album and artist information will be automatically fetched, via scrapers from remote sites or NFO files, as a final phase of library scanning. This can be a slow process if you have a large music collection. If this is the initial creation of your library, and you are unsure about the quality of your music file tagging, leave this setting disabled (rather than try to fetch extra data). The additional information can be fetched later from the Context Menu in the Artists and Albums listing. The default setting is Disabled.
|
Artist information folder
| Settings level:
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Standard
|
| Description:
|
Select the folder where artist nfo files and local artwork are located.
|
| See Also:
|
Artist information folder
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Prefer online album art
| Settings level:
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Standard
|
| Description:
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With this enabled, when no local album cover exists online art will be used. Any cover images embedded in music files will only be used where neither local art nor online art is available. This is useful if the covers embedded in music files are low resolution and the user would prefer the higher quality results fetched by the album information provider. The default setting is Disabled.
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| See Also:
|
Library Artwork Source Priority
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Default provider for album information
| Settings level:
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Standard
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| Description:
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Selects the default album information provider, see the add-ons manager for options. The default setting is the Universal Album Scraper.
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Default provider for artist information
| Settings level:
|
Standard
|
| Description:
|
Selects the default artist information provider. The default setting is the Universal Artist Scraper
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