Hi folks,

This is my first post here and I am trying to configure Foobar. I have a couple of questions.

First, I use the Directory structure FLAC/Artist/Year - Album/Track - Title
Foobar seems to label some of my songs "Artist" column by the year and others by the actual artist. There is no rhyme or reason to this as all songs are archived with the same directory and file name structure. Any suggestions?

Second, I have added several .dll files to the components folder including "foo_uie_explorer.dll". However, I can't seem to get any of them to work other than the column program. They show up in the preferences, but I can't switch to them.

Third, same thing with skins. I have a few installed in the skins folder but I don't know how to switch to them.

Thanks,

Mike

Well, first off, I'm pretty much a noob too, but I'm gonna try to help out here.

(Second)
If you have Columns_UI installed, try right clicking anything and seeing if you can get the window (I assume) to appear. Right clicking on things always is a place to start. Also, when you go to preferences (ctrl + p), there is a window that says what's installed. If it's installed, there's got to be a way to find it. I guess being able to customize the program has its downfalls osmetimes.

(Third)
Go to preferences. Display-> Columns UI. There should be a button that says "Import." Find the .fcs file and open it

I hope that helps in some way.

About UI columns:
http://eolindel.free.fr/foobar0.9/UIcolumns.shtml

especially the layout, Use parts may interest you

For the column, I'm not sure of your problem, but if it is in UI columns, you may have a .fcs which gives the artist, the year and other information in the album column like here:
http://eolindel.free.fr/foobar0.9/pic5.gif

(Got owned )

The column value is populated from your file's tags, not the file path. I.e.: your directory structure is irrelevant; this is a tagging issue.

Maybe you could look at the properties of some of these files and see what the tags are saying. It sounds like the date is stored in an ARTIST tag for some files, but that just sounds so unlikely. It could also be some sort of bug in the display code for that column. (?)

[/quote]The column value is populated from your file's tags, not the file path. I.e.: your directory structure is irrelevant; this is a tagging issue.

OK, This makes sense. However, (I am going to expose my ignorance here) how do I change the file tags? I right click on the file and select properties and there is nothing there to help me change the tags. However, some files that I downloaded (as opposed to ripped) are already tagged properly but I still can't seem to find how they were tagged. Does it require XP Prof? Or maybe some type of folder option?

Thanks for the help folks!

Sorry, when I mentioned "properties" I meant in foobar, not Explorer. Apologies for not being more clear.

Unless you are Masstagging (tagging en masse), i.e.: if you are setting individual tags for a file, or just want to view a file's tags, you would use the "Properties" dialogue in foobar, which can be viewed by selecting a file or number of files and selecting "Properties..." from the context (right-click) menu.

NB: I believe the properties dialogue will show some ID3 tag info for MP3s in Explorer in XP...

OK. I have made a bit of progress with configuring Foobar, but I still have a few more questions:

I have Album Art Panel installed, but I don't know how to set up my display to show album covers. I have pretty pop up and it works fine.

I also have UIE Explorer, but I don't know how to set it up so that my display has separate panels like windows explorer where only one album is shown at a time.

Is there a version of Track Info that works with foobar 0.9.x?

Thanks Again!

Since Pretty Popup works fine, I'm guessing that your covers aren't all named "folder.jpg"? Try using this as a source:


This will search for any image file in the same directory as the track, which I believe is what Pretty Popup does if it can't find any of the images in its "Filenames" list.

You can also read about the sources list at this wiki article.

As for Track Info, the updated version is available here.