What Picard Plugins Do You Use?

MusicBrainz Picard
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One of the things being considered for a future release of Picard is a MAJOR upgrade to the plugin system. If this happens, it is expected that the existing plugins will need to be updated to work with the new system. That got me wondering what plugins people are actually using, which could also indicate some sort of priority for conversion to the new system (if and when it is implemented).

For example, in my case I use the following:

  • Additional Artists Variables: Installed and always enabled. Use it for every release processed.
  • Data Dumper: Installed but disabled. This is one of the custom plugins that I developed and is only used as required when developing a new plugin.
  • fanart.tv cover art: Installed and always enabled. Use it for every release processed.
  • Format Performer Tags: Installed and always enabled. Use it for every release processed.
  • Generate M3U Playlist: Installed and always enabled. Rarely used.
  • Paper CD Case: Installed and always enabled. Rarely used.
  • Performer Tag Replace: Installed and always enabled. Use it for every release processed.
  • Persistent Variables: Installed and always enabled. Rarely used.
  • Submit ISRC: Installed and always enabled. Used often.
  • View Script Variables: Installed and always enabled. Only used as required when developing a new plugin or tagger / renaming script.

So if you donā€™t mind sharing, what plugins do you have installed and how often are they used?

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Quite a few of your plugins. But I probably donā€™t need to specify them since you are active in keeping all of them them up-to-date?

Same as View Script Variables by Sophist. I am guessing that one is also safe from deterioration.

Classical Extras is a beauty that I use, and one I am getting the impression of that the developer has abandoned it.
So that worries me a bit.

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Classical Extras too
and Happi.dev lyrics

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  • Copy Cluster to Clipboard
  • No Release
  • Standardise Performers
  • Hyphen Unicode

Actually I have re-written and expanded Hyphen Unicode with my own version. Which means Iā€™ll wait for that one to be updated and I can then update my own unpublished version of the plugin.

All four are always enabled and in use.

Interestingā€¦ I look in my actual plugins folder and find items in there that are now not actually listed as enabledā€¦ oddā€¦ Used to use Release Type that seems to have disabled itself

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I use the following:
Add Cluster to Release
Copy Cluster to Clipboard
Release Type
Wikidata Genre

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In addition to plugins which have already been mentioned, I use the following:

  • Release tag aggregation functions
  • Tagger script functions $is_lossless() and $is_lossy() (unofficial)
  • ReplayGain 2.0

The first two are always enabled and used for my filenaming script, the last one is unused so far because I havenā€™t made my final decision whether I need ReplayGain tags.

P.S. And two plugins which I had written myself became obsolete with Picard 2.9, yay!

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  • Add cluster as release ā€“ frequent
  • Generate Cuesheet ā€“ didnā€™t work for me, but now thereā€™s an update so maybe Iā€™ll start? Use would be occasional.
  • Keep tags ā€“ always
  • No release ā€“ occasionally. I think itā€™s important since it doesnā€™t obligate one to tag rips of unknown origin as an arbitrary (and likely incorrect release). Should be a standard feature really.
  • Remove perfect albums ā€“ rather forgot about this one; unsure whether itā€™s useful to me or not
  • Work & movement ā€“ donā€™t recall ever using, but perhaps itā€™s automatic

Generate M3U Playlist seems very important indeed since Picard can rename files. Iā€™ve been using Kid3 for this, but I expect Picard would be more convenient.

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  • Copy Cluster to Clipboard
  • Submit Folksonomy Tags

Submit cluster as release is now built in, I believe? Or does the plugin do it differentlyā€¦

One thing to note is that you may be getting a biased selection from MB forum users, who tend to be advanced users, and MB editors. Thereā€™s a lot of plugins there that I would use if I wasnā€™t willing to edit the release instead (different cover art providers, Title Case, etc)

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Huh, it looks like Iā€™ve pruned my plugin use down quite a bit over the years. I remember having around 15 enabled when I first started, but it seems to be just 3 now. In order of personal importance:

  1. Additional Artists Variables: daily use
  2. Keep Tags: daily use
  3. View Script Variables: Iā€™m actually not sure if I have a need for this anymore :stuck_out_tongue:
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For development and testing purpose I have often various plugins installed. But the ones I actually do use all the time for tagging:

  • fanart.tv cover art
  • Format performer tags
  • Load as non-album track
  • ReplayGain 2.0
  • Submit ISRC
    (Iā€™d love to see this as part of Picard, maybe have some ā€œsubmissionā€ dialog that allows you to review and select what gets submitted, e.g. AcoustId fingerprints, ISRCs and genre tags)
  • Tagger script functions $is_lossless() and $is_lossy()
    (I guess this should finally be submitted to the official list)*
  • TheAudioDB cover art
  • View script variables
    (I think this functionality should become part of Picard itself in some way)
  • Work & Movement

Also I usually have those installed, but use them only seldom:

  • Copy Cluster to Clipboard
  • Decade function
  • Paper CD case
  • Remove perfect albums
  • Search engine lookup
  • Submit to ListenBrainz

Sadly that one does not exist anymore as the service is gone. So you can actually remove that plugin.

That plugin will be removed at some point as the functionality has been integrated into Picard itself. The builtin functionality should actually work better. One of the reasons why the functionality was integrated where issues with using the plugin in some modern browsers. If the plugin does something better than the built-in tool then this should be reported.

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@outsidecontext:
Sadly that one does not exist anymore as the service is gone. So you can actually remove that plugin.

Thanks for the tip. Done.

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Non-ASCII Equivalents

I added some other characters there, including Polish diacritics.

# Polish
    "Ą": "A",
    "ą": "a",
    "Ć": "C",
    "ć": "c",
    "Ę": "E",
    "ę": "e",
    "Ł": "L",
    "ł": "l",
    "Ń": "N",
    "ń": "n",
    "Ɠ": "O",
    "Ć³": "o",
    "Ś": "S",
    "ś": "s",
    "Ź": "Z",
    "Åŗ": "z",
    "Å»": "Z",
    "ż": "z",
    
    # My others
    "Ī¼": "u",
    "Ƶ": "o",
    "į»": "o",
    "ő": "o",
    "Ž": "Z",
    "Ć¾": "p",
    "ƞ": "P",
    "Ć°": "d",
    "č": "c",
    "Å”": "s",
    "ș": "s",
    "ā™„": "-",
    "Ć£": "a",
    "ŵ": "w",
    "ā†’": "-",
    "惻": "-",
    "ā˜†": "-",
    "ā˜…": "-",
    "/": ",",
    "*": ".",
    ":": "-",
    ">": "(",
    "<": ")",
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Hi there, the plugins I currently use frequently are

  • Fanart.tv
  • Performer replace
  • Format Performer tags
  • View script variables
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@outsidecontext,
I agree with you that the view script variables should/would be a great native addition to Picard. Possibly have a third section on the right hand side of the current main window open up when ā€œview script variablesā€ is selected in the context menu. This could remain open to allow viewing of a selected track, then refreshing the data as individual tracks are selected. If users prefer the floating window then an option for this could be included in the options menu.

Just an idea.
Regards Aaron

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The ones that I would miss most immediately are Standardize Performers / Format Performers, Standardize Feat, and Sort Multi-Value tags. Also Hyphen Unicode.

Iā€™ve tried most of the artwork plugins at one time or another, but since thereā€™s no way to make them work together I gave up on doing artwork in Picard. Iā€™ve also used most genre plugins but currently just getting genres from the database. (Genre has never worked well for me in terms of structure and organization anyway.)

(Edit: Oh, I thought this was a new post. Just noticed that it was from last year. Oh well.)