Playing music from multiple libraries

[vfast 5]

Hi all - logn time user and rarely need to lean on the community. Feeling a bit silly asking this BUT....

I organise my library by media format for music. eg

"mp3" -> \music\mp3

"flac" -> \music\flac

I have an extensive mp3 library and am slowly creating the flac. So I am duplicating some albums in multiple formats. I retain the MP3 in case I need play in the car or such.

The problem I'm noticing is when I browse the flac library and choose to listen to a newly added album, if that album also exists in the mp3 library, I get the album tracks duplicated in the playlist. One for each media type.

Am I missing a setting or config item to only ensure I get the album I'm playing from that library?

Thanks for any help

[user24 313]

Hi there, I've seen this issue mentioned before and (AFAIK) Emby looks at the ALBUM and MUSICBRAINZ ALBUM ID fields for determining a unique Album, across all libraries combined. Therefore you may need to change one of these fields/tags to be unique in order to get two separate Album listings for your Mp3 and Flac versions. Eg. add a suffix to the Album Title:

• Album Title (mp3) - use this for the Mp3 version
• Album Title - use this for the Flac version

or something similar that you prefer. I'd suggest that changing the Album Title is simpler than messing with the MusicBrainz IDs.

With the example above you could batch rename all your Mp3 Albums from "Album Title" to "Album Title (mp3)" using the Mp3tag program. There is no need for it to be a hugh manual task. Just create an Action similar to below and run it on your whole relevant library:

(If you want to try this, perhaps experiment with a small test run first.)

Then you should end up with Emby showing two separate versions (Mp3 and Flac) of the same Albums for which you have duplicates.

A downside may be the two versions are still shown and the duplicates will give doubles for things ike whole library shuffle play? (I'd need to experiment a bit more to go through all the possibilities.) But you can go into Songs and Filter by Mp3 or Flac:

Other forum members may be able to add further suggestions? Good luck with getting it sorted out!

Edited August 31, 2024 by user24

[vfast 5]

Thanks for the suggestion user24

I would also think it should be easy for devs to perhaps adjust the experience and permit media from outside the Library? I get it if it was a search from the home screen...

[Luke 42077]

On 8/31/2024 at 4:02 AM, vfast said:

 

The problem I'm noticing is when I browse the flac library and choose to listen to a newly added album, if that album also exists in the mp3 library, I get the album tracks duplicated in the playlist. One for each media type.

Hi,, yes this is on our list for review for future updates. Thanks.

[vfast 5]

On 9/11/2024 at 6:17 AM, Luke said:

Hi,, yes this is on our list for review for future updates. Thanks.

Any progress on this one @Luke?

[Luke 42077]

On 1/10/2025 at 2:30 PM, vfast said:

Any progress on this one @Luke?

Hi, not yet. On the to do list.

[vfast 5]

Any progress on that list ? :D

[Luke 42077]

On 12/20/2025 at 9:51 PM, vfast said:

Any progress on that list ?

Hi, not yet, sorry. It is still something we plan to update. Thanks.