Unfinished Music library business

[nospotify 184]

So it's all in one place for the Emby devs, here is a list of oft- and long-requested fixes and enhancements to how Emby handles Music libraries:

1. Ability to play/queue a single disc in a multi-disc album (one suggestion: make the "Disc [N]" clickable:)

2. Saved playlist cover images still just duplicate the first album cover 4 times, even after manually deleting and regenerating:

3. Replay gain:

Discussed and requested for years

4. Persistent queue, so device focus switch or shutdown or just memory limits don't lose latest play queue:

Ditto

Luke bridled at a comment in an earlier thread that the Music module doesn't seem to be a priority for the Emby dev team. Here's the chance to prove him right!

 

[user24 313]

While not wanting to prove Luke/Emby right or wrong (or anyone else for that matter) - here's a list of 20 not yet implemented music improvements that have been mentioned by myself and others previously. Its not in any specific order and its not an exhaustive list either...

General/Overall

• Dedicated music app (e.g. similar to Plexamp or Symphonium)

Music Playback

• Gapless Audio Playback
• Replay Gain
• Remember playlist position

Music Curation

• Improved Artist/Composer separation (some steps have been taken recently)
• Sub-genres category nested under Genres
• Genres Artist row - ability to change to Genres AlbumArtist
• Artist Country designation (I have my own workaround)
• Decades grouping/sorting/filtering (Genres/Tags/Collections/Playlists are workarounds)
• Group by Album Release Type sections on Artist Album pages
• Add field for Disc Subtitles on Album detail pages
• Import ROONALBUMTAG embedded metadata into Album Tag field (coming soonish?)
• Sort by Album Count or Song Count for AlbumArtists/Artists/Composers
• Record Label tab/section (similar to Studios for Movies)
• Ability to add Artist/Album/Song Internal Links in Overview section
• Related Artists section on Artist detail pages (e.g. a manual More Like This section/row)
• Import Sort Titles from embedded metadata
• Music album roll-up for Smart Collections (fingers crossed for this)
• Nested levels for Collections (e.g. Master Collection, Sub Collection)
• Ability to hide/reorder menu tabs

Based upon reading different forums (Emby, Roon, Plex, Reddit Musichoarder and others) there are 5 improvements that I think may give the most benefit for the most music fans and therefore the best 'bang for buck' for Emby...

Without these playback functions Emby will not be considered a serious music player by serious music listeners:

• Gapless Audio Playback
• Replay Gain

When music libraries start to become large, then having the ability to divide by further subsections is very useful. Many other music apps have this feature already, so ideally Emby needs it to remain competitive:

• Group by Album Release Type

For all those who use Emby for music, everyone wants to organize their own library differently! Therefore it's impossible for Emby to please everyone! Emby is very curatable using Collections/Playlists/Genres/Tags, so perhaps these two general functions will allow for more specific semi-auto customization, however anyone wishes to do it:

• Import ROONALBUMTAG embedded metadata into Album Tag field
• Music album roll-up for Smart Collections

These last 2 don't seem very interesting in themselves, but could be a way to create music collections for Labels, Decades, Countries, Sub-genres,  or potentially any other collection/playlist/group that someone wants to create???

What are your most wanted? Is there anything important that I have missed!

Edited December 13, 2025 by user24

[nospotify 184]

@user24That's a rich, wonderful list. I might separate it into UI/usability improvements, which almost every user would benefit from, and the cataloging improvements you and other sophisticated users would value. Regardless, I hope the devs take all these suggestions seriously and implement them all. 

[user24 313]

Sure! Feel free to add/subtract/rearrange as you would like to. I have more ideas as well, some not mentioned elsewhere before, but didn't want the post to be too long! I would love them all too - but knowing that it is probably unlikely, I do my best to find suitable workarounds with embedded/metadata/CSS/APIs - still learning...!!!

[Lessaj 467]

I've been using Emby for music a lot more lately and top of the list for me is playlist position or just some form of resume. If I pause my music and the mobile app is closed due to the OS deciding it was time to clean up, whatever I was listening to is gone when I reopen it, whereas PowerAmp is always right where I left it. Or if I want to switch from listening to music to watch an episode while I eat food, having a way to get back to my music queue would solve the problem of switching to my browser or another device/app to watch that episode so I don't interrupt my music queue.

[user24 313]

@nospotify  Here's another 10 for your list (again no particular order and all have been mentioned elsewhere before):

• Full read/write nfo files for audio (especially tags/fields that do not have embedded metadata (e.g. Artist Overview).
• Add field/import tag for Artist Type (i.e.  MusicBrainz: Person, Group, Orchestra, Choir, Character, Other)
• Multicast playback
• Ability to Merge/Split Artists and Albums (not sure this is a good idea as will be inconsistent with embedded metadata)
• “Thumbs down” to exclude songs from playback
• “5 star” rating system for Artists/Albums/Songs (I would probably not use this myself)
• Make “Appears On” selectable and expandable (like Albums and Songs)
• Bulk editing of tags as core function (applies to more than just music)
• Ability to hide/change order of sections on Artist detail pages (can be done with CSS, but would be nice as core function)
• Add “Mood” as a field/tag (another one I would not use myself)

[Guest]

On 12/13/2025 at 4:22 AM, user24 said:

 

• Dedicated music app (e.g. similar to Plexamp or Symphonium)
• Gapless Audio Playback

What are your most wanted? Is there anything important that I have missed!

Plexamp or Symphonium ?  I have tried these apps and prefer emby as is.  I don't think another app should be created.  

Emby standard android app already supports gapless audio.  

 

[Guest]

11 hours ago, user24 said:

• “Thumbs down” to exclude songs from playback
• “5 star” rating system for Artists/Albums/Songs

 

Why would anyone self hosting need a thumbs down?  Wouldn't you just remove the file in question from your collection? 

5 star rating system would add a lot of clutter and unnecessary info.  Music is either good or it's not.  I appreciate just having a favorites options without the 5 star rating system.

Edited December 14, 2025 by embaaa

[Luke 42077]

12 hours ago, embaaa said:

Why would anyone self hosting need a thumbs down?  Wouldn't you just remove the file in question from your collection? 

5 star rating system would add a lot of clutter and unnecessary info.  Music is either good or it's not.  I appreciate just having a favorites options without the 5 star rating system.

Tastes can change over time. Also you may have some songs you don't like but from a band you really like, so you still want to keep them.

[seanbuff 1313]

15 hours ago, embaaa said:

Why would anyone self hosting need a thumbs down?  Wouldn't you just remove the file in question from your collection? 

You're also assuming you're the only user on your server. Something you might not like, another user might so removing it entirely is not a solution.