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Audiobook Narrator Metadata


horstepipe

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horstepipe

Hello

As audio is going to be fully driven by tags in the upcoming Emby Server versions, I‘m wondering which  tag to choose for the reader(s) from audiobooks...? So which tag Emby is going to use when audiobooks section will be more polished and Emby will introduce a reader database field? Mp3tag doesn’t even provide a “reader” tag or similar, so I’m unsure. I want to make my files future proof for the upcoming releases of Emby server...

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horstepipe

Artist tag is for artists, title tag is for title. What tag WILL be used for the reader of an audiobook? I’m aware currently there’s no “proper” way in Emby, but for sure somewhen you will add a reader field so I’d like to prepare my files.

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ginjaninja

thought it might help to show how Picard tags an audio book

image.thumb.png.19f866b92b4d9ba09e7f97c298cf908d.png

looks like author and reader is stored in ALBUMARTISTS and ARTISTS, author first, readers 2nd +,

alternatively for extra detail looks like if present author (writer) is also  in WRITER and readers(performers) are also  in INVOLVEDPEOPLE along with their role (mbzids would have to be derived from [position in] ARTISTS tag still, if even possible)

PUBLISHER is akin to studio for movies/tv

Maybe if audiobooks and their libraries get a makeover at some point, they might show (as a suggestion) Author (Like Albumartist), Performers aka readers (Like Artists) ,Work (Like Album ), Publisher (Like Studio )

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horstepipe
4 hours ago, ginjaninja said:

Maybe if audiobooks and their libraries get a makeover at some point, they might show (as a suggestion) Author (Like Albumartist), Performers aka readers (Like Artists) ,Work (Like Album ), Publisher (Like Studio )

Yes, please!

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  • 2 months later...
markle88

I was reviewing my audiobook files today, and I couldn't find anywhere that the narrator was captured in the Metadata. I typically use the authors name as the "artist", but there isn't a place that displays the narrator. Am I missing it?

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Hi, we don't currently capture this, but it's possible for the future. thanks.

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  • 5 months later...
thealienamongus

@luke 

Are there plans to add support for this as a tab in Audiobook libraries? I suggest using the ID3tags Composer or either the Artist or Album Artist tag (using the other tag as the sole tag for author). I currently have the information stored in the composer tag but would retag if needed.

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Well we already capture both album and albumartist. I suppose there is composer, but I would want this to be something standardized with other audio book software rather than coming up with our own convention.

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Chyron
On 8/22/2021 at 11:37 AM, Luke said:

Well we already capture both album and albumartist. I suppose there is composer, but I would want this to be something standardized with other audio book software rather than coming up with our own convention.

If I download a file from Audible, the Narrator is listed in the downloaded file's Composer tag.

Edited by Chyron
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On 8/24/2021 at 3:37 PM, Chyron said:

If I download a file from Audible, the Narrator is listed in the downloaded file's Composer tag.

OK that sounds like it could work then.

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  • 1 month later...

I have embedded ID3 tags in my Audiobooks (no .NFO files) and it seems that Composer is not the only field with issues. Emby is not picking up the Sort title nor the Overview (comments?) nor the Genre (which should be "Audiobook").  All these are standard ID3 tags. Nor does the Emby metadata editor edit the embedded ID3 tags and it doesn't seem to create a .NFO file either so I am not sure where Emby is saving the "updated" metadata too.

Edited by Mick_K
clarification
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10 hours ago, Mick_K said:

I have embedded ID3 tags in my Audiobooks (no .NFO files) and it seems that Composer is not the only field with issues. Emby is not picking up the Sort title nor the Overview (comments?) nor the Genre (which should be "Audiobook").  All these are standard ID3 tags. Nor does the Emby metadata editor edit the embedded ID3 tags and it doesn't seem to create a .NFO file either so I am not sure where Emby is saving the "updated" metadata too.

HI, Emby does not save nfo files for audio files, so it reads from embedded metadata within the audio file and then goes into your emby server database.

Can you please go over an example of a track where you think the embedded information wasn't read? Thanks.

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2 hours ago, Luke said:

HI, Emby does not save nfo files for audio files, so it reads from embedded metadata within the audio file and then goes into your emby server database.

Can you please go over an example of a track where you think the embedded information wasn't read? Thanks.

As soon as I posted, I thought that may be the case.

As for the files, they are audiobook files (M4B) that have embedded metadata.  Specifically, they use the following tags in ID3:

 

Metadata
ID3 Tag Entry
Cover Art 600x600 jpg
Title Absolution Gap
Artist Alastair Reynolds
Album Artist Alastair Reynolds
Album Absolution Gap
Title Sort Absolution Gap
Artist Sort Alastair Reynolds
Album Artist Sort Alastair Reynolds
Album Sort Absolution Gap
Year 2003
Genre Audiobook
iTunesMediaType Audiobook
Comment The Inhibitors were designed to eliminate any life-form reach
Composer John Lee

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

As far as I can tell, Emby is picking up the following: Cover art, Title, Artist, Album Artist and Year. The important missing items are Genre, Comment and Composer.

 

787120121_Screenshot2021-10-11092331.thumb.png.e71e95fe7cd68238e30b8de329a47590.png257578690_Screenshot2021-10-11092737.png.1502ea58cd4f43263297c109369ef1c9.png

 

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I should also point out, even after using the Emby Metadata editor to manually fill in the Overview with the text from the ID3 Comments field, it is still not displayed in Emby. I have tried rescanning the library and replacing the Metadata but it still refuses to display the Overview.

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Tremas

Are you only looking in the folder view? Once you drill down into an album using folder view, it currently shows file information only. If you browse under the book/album, artist or genre headings you should see your overview and other Metadata you entered from the emby editor.

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1 hour ago, Tremas said:

Are you only looking in the folder view? Once you drill down into an album using folder view, it currently shows file information only. If you browse under the book/album, artist or genre headings you should see your overview and other Metadata you entered from the emby editor.

I tried by Books, Folders, Authors and Genre. Doesn't display Overview in any of them (not even Absolution Gap which I manually entered the Overview). All I see is what the picture above shows.

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adminExitium

Yep, can confirm this observation. As a reference, I have the Overview filled in 2 fields: Description & Comment (due to issues with Plex) but Emby is still not picking it up.

It is picking up the Genre however that's set in the Genre field.

It's also not picking up the Composer that's set in the Composer field.

I have attached the ffprobe output for the file and have also attached a screenshot showing the displayed data in the server.

Screenshot 2021-10-12 at 6.30.04 PM.png

Blair Howard - The Harry Starke Novels 13 - Apocalypse (2018).m4b.json

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Tremas

I know this stuff can be frustrating. I had some struggles getting my library setup after a recent move to a synology server, but I'm happy with my setup now that I've given it a little attention and embraced in-line collections for book series.

Anyhow, I'm happy to help but I'm not sure I follow what you're doing. Are you entering the metadata in the file tags only, because before it was mentioned that the overview data was being entered with the emby metadata editor? I don't believe emby will currently read the comment tags from the file and put it into the overview section. NFOs are also not read for albums/books, but that may be getting worked on for the future. So the only way I know that works for "overview" is the metadata editor.

If you are using the metadata editor, is it possible that you are adding the Overview info at the track level and not the album/book level? The album entity will display an overview but I don't believe track overviews are displayed anywhere. What worked for me was going to the album under "Books" and clicking on "edit metadata" or the pencil icon to enter the overview. Then it would show up for me.

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Junglejim

I can confirm what @Tremas is saying. The overview shows for me when added using the metadata editor. It would be nice if more info was picked up from tags or a scraper. Hopefully it will one day. 😉

 

Screenshot_20211013_095804.png

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3 hours ago, Junglejim said:

I can confirm what @Tremas is saying. The overview shows for me when added using the metadata editor. It would be nice if more info was picked up from tags or a scraper. Hopefully it will one day. 😉

After deleting my Audiobooks and reinstalling them I can confirm it does, yes. That said, it depends on how the audiobooks have been saved. If you save them like so:

  • Audiobooks
    • Author
      • Album
        • Title 1
        • Title 2

Then the Overview will only display for the Album and not the Titles. Not a bad thing but you don't get to see the Overview for the Titles unless you dig down via Folders (not Books or Authors) because Emby will play the audiobook rather than display the Title screen.

 

If the audiobooks have been saved like so:

  • Audiobooks
    • Author
      • Album - Title 1
      • Album - Title 2

Then the Overview will display for each Title. There won't be an Album Overview displayed unless you dig down via Author. For some reason, the Album Overview is not shown if you dig down via Folders (in fact, the Emby Metadata Editor seems to display a different Album Overview to the one displayed via Books).

 

Also, digging down via Authors, displays books as "Songs". I would much prefer if it was titled "Audiobooks".

 

2 hours ago, Happy2Play said:

@Lukeis id3 Comment tag mapped at all for overview?

 

Just be aware that the Comment tag is limited (by almost all) to 256 characters. There is an ID3 Description tag (supposedly unlimited size) but it's not commonly used as yet and some programs (like iTunes) limit it also to 256 characters. I have begun using the Emby Metadata editor which doesn't limit the size (that I know of).

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Tremas

The metadata editor is the way I have been setting up my library. If the album structure is set up correctly, emby can generate an NFO file with the info that you have manually entered into the overview. Currently though, it won't read NFOs for albums which is unfortunate as then you could use something like MediaMonkey to automatically generate an NFO with the overview data if you already had it in the comments. It would also have made it a lot easier when I transferred my media to to the new Synology server I'm using. There's a feature request out there for NFO reading on music and Audiobooks, so I hope it's coming soon.  

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