Couldn't a release which combines former releases retain the original release date?

MusicBrainz Picard
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For example, Release group “The Complete Remastered Recordings on Black Saint & Soul Note” by Dave Douglas - MusicBrainz contains several older releases, but the original release date is set as the date of the new publication in each case. Is there an option to copy the original release date from the earlier releases?

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Beyond the “release group included in release group” relationship, there is no way to copy Release Dates from one release to the other.

You are asking for a custom tagging relationship that personally I end up doing manually. There is no current way to do this automatically in Picard.

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Thanks for your reply!
Am I right in understanding that, in the case of a release group included within another release group, there is no option to set the original release dates in the MusicBrainz database (and that, in this case, you tag the tracks in your collection manually)? Or is there just no way to copy the value automatically, but you could set it in the db manually ?

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I don’t know enough scripting, but pretty sure relationships like this can’t be accessed by Picard (yet). Personally when I have a boxset I do my own thing.

I playback with KODI in the house and Yatse in the car. KODI keeps improving how it handles box sets, but sometimes it is just simpler to fake it.

First I tag the boxset as a boxset so I still have a record of the thing I purchased. Using the disc subtitles to name the separate disks.

Second I manually make a duplicate of the folders on my hard disk. Now I go into full on fake mode. I match to the five original LPs (or CDs) and tag that way to give me original dates. I add a comment in the comment field that it is all faked.

This means I use up twice the file space, but a bit of disc space used for a clearer library is a good thing.

I have also split a compilation album before that is made up of multiple singles on one CD. For my own clarity of music playback.

Note when I do fake matches like this I make sure not to upload AcoustIDs.

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5

No, not in the database. My approach is based on information which I put into the files.

  1. I keep comments (option “Preserve these tags from being cleared or overwritten with MusicBrainz data:”)
  2. I add a script (automatically executed): $set(originaldate,if2($rsearch(%comment%,OD{\(.*\)}),%originaldate%))
  3. I manually add a line to the comment tags of the files that I want to have a user defined original date, e.g OD{1977} if I want to set the original date to 1977
  4. Save and refresh (to make Picard aware of the new information)

You only have to do this once. As long as you use the script, you can re-tag the files at any time and the original release date you defined will remain unchanged.

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Thank you very much for your detailed explanation!
I get the impression you’re putting a lot of effort into this.
I was hoping MusicBrainz had implemented an option for the lazy among us.

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I see MusicBrainz and Picard as just some of the tools in my toolbox. No script can do what I want to do with my collection. By spending time and effort over it I get what I want it to do. I also have more excuse to listen to the music and read the booklets while I work through the collection.

Automation is not the answer for me. Automation leads to errors and a generic “one solution that fits all” is just not how my music and needs work. Far too often there are examples of people in this forum who try and get a script to “fix” a collection of thousands of tracks and just end up with a huge mess… I work on one or two albums at a time.

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8

I found https://tickets.metabrainz.org/browse/PICARD-204, where Philipp Wolfer explains that there are scripting variables %_recording_firstreleasedate% and %_releasegroup_firstreleasedate% and how these can be used to override the (incorrect) default value of the original releasedate. As an example script, he gives:
$set(originaldate,%_recording_firstreleasedate%).

I have also discovered the very helpful Picard plugin GitHub - avh4/picard-recordingdate: MusicBrainz Picard plugin for recording date metadata · GitHub , which can be used to tag tracks with the original recording date.

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