Show all versions in Discography

Feedback
1

So, I ripped all of my CDs to my local library (A mini-pc running Roon Core).
Different versions of my CDs are hidden under the VERSIONS tab in the Artist’s discography page, which is rubbish. RUBBISH.
Somehow for some CDs I managed to make them show as separate entities side-by-side with their respective cover art, which is awesome. (see pics)
For most, I didn’t manage to do it, which is nerve breaking.
Action
Soft
Sylvie
The Bad

What on earth? Can please ROON stop messing with my files?
Anyone know the work around for this issue?

3

Welcome to the community.

Yes Roon can. You just need to tell it do do so. :smiley:

4

Hi. I read the article but all my settings are as recommended and still I see VERSIONS. I don’t care to see different entities in the albums tab, among hundreds of other albums. I’d like to see separate entities of my ripped CDs in the discography page of an artist. From the article I understand that ROON will use VERSIONS whenever it can to "streamline’ the experience.
The thing is there is a very erratic behavior when importing CDs, especially singles with the same name but different songs in them.
Sometimes it gets them as separate entities presented side-by-side, which is cool.
Sometimes it presents them in the dreaded VERSIONS tab.
Sometimes it presents them as one entity with two or three discs playing sequentially, which is crazy.
And I can’t understand what causes this behavior so I can bypass it somehow, probably with tweaking the metadata.
All this results in a very MESSY discography presentation and is infuriating.

5

@Konstantinos_Kirkou, for my ripped CDs and purchased files with multiple versions, typically I have a marker of some sort in the title (e.g., for the 2009 Beatles remasters, I include either [2009 Stereo Remaster] or [2009 Mono Remaster], and for some of the recent remixed versions, a different marker such as [2018 Remix]). This also may include notes about the type of file, such as [ALAC] or [AAC] when necessary. Roon accepts these as distinct albums that then are displayed individually, but also appear in Versions when I select an album with different versions.

Can you note anything unique to the different versions of the Saint Etienne albums you displayed above and place that in the title?

6

The article is not only about Roon settings. It also explains how you can either combine albums into versions when Roon did not do this, or how you can split albums that Roon has combined into versions.

Editing

When you open an album with multiple versions, Roon will display the primary copy, which defaults to the highest quality copy available. From the Versions tab, you can pick a different primary copy by pressing Make Primary Version. Inside your library, you can remove an album from the set by selecting the options icon and selecting Remove from duplicates.

7

Unfortunately, this only works if the albums are all in your library. I can’t combine albums to versions that I haven’t added to the library. According to my memory this was different in the past.

8

Which should not be an issue for the OP who said:

9

This was just to point out that the article you quoted is (in my opinion) imprecise at this point. The OP has not written a word that he has only local files. No offense intended.

10

None taken :smiley:. I apologize if the brevity of my previous response came across in the wrong way.

Your remark about not being able combine albums that are not in your library is of course correct.

11

Hi all, thanks for the responses. I have a Tidal subscription but for my beloved artists I’d like to listen to my ripped old CDs as TIDAL has the latest remastered versions (whenever there are any) and usually I don’t like them.

I’d like to see my ripped CDs (albums and singles) in my local library side by side because …hey.

So…
In the ARTIST page, in OVERVIEW, all (and I mean ALL) the different albums and versions are shown side-by-side which I love, as many of them have different tracklisting and artwork (e.g. Tiger Bay).

Overview
Overview1680×1050 387 KB

Also, the singles are shown in a 3x5 strip which is limiting.
In the DISCOGRAPHY page comes the dreaded VERSIONS thing, which keeps in front whichever version thinks is best and I have to chose a primary one.
discography
discography1680×1050 342 KB
.
Go figure. This is erratic behavior by design. Why can I see all album versions in OVERVIEW, but not in DISCOGRAPHY?
Anyways…
Now, for the singles. I noticed that in DISCOGRAPHY some were displayed in all their versions side-by-side but others were hidden under the VERSIONS tab, without me understanding why. I tried renaming their tags using MP3tag, for example “The Bad Photographer (1st CD)” and “The Bad Photographer (2nd CD” to no avail. Still the two were shown as one with two versions.

Removed them from Hard Disc library, deleted tracks in Roon library. Tried “The Bad Photographer” and “IKhvIGUYGJHJHVB”, re-imported them, still same result. One single, two versions.

Removed them again from Hard Disc library, deleted tracks in Roon library. Tried “The Bad Photographer” and “Up your mum’s”, re-imported them, still same result. One single, two versions.

Removed them again from Hard Disc library, deleted tracks in Roon library. Tried “The Bad Photographer CD1” and “The Bad Photographer CD2”, re-imported them first the CD1 and afterwards the CD2 and … presto.

CD1 went to the singles category, CD2 went to the main albums category. I don’t know why.
Edited CD2 in Roon as a single, and then it went to the singles category, side-by-side with CD1.
Happy camper here.
The Bad
Now all my albums are displayed as I like in OVERVIEW tab and all my singles are displayed as I like in DISCOGRAPHY tab.
Go figuuuuure!

Anyway, I spent quite some time playing with this sh%t instead of enjoying music. Importing and presenting my own ripped CDs on my HDD should be more straight forward and easy to modulate, and should resemble my CD shelf where all the CDs are there side-by-side with no VERSIONS hiding things. Sometimes Roon is too clever with the metadata for its own good. Let me choose if I want to see versions of my own CDs or not.
Peace.