wrong track numbering when disc has HTOA

[the-confessor]

#1571 # Problem

When importing a release where the first track was originally an HTOA track on a CD, beets wants to identify the HTOA track as track 1 and every subsequent track as the actual track number + 1.

I have most often seen the HTOA track referred to as "track 0".

Is beets intentionally handling these differently, or is this a bug?

Some examples:

$ beet import ./Mates\ of\ State\ -\ Bring\ It\ Back/

/media/music/ripped-cds/Mates of State - Bring It Back (11 items)
Tagging:
    Mates of State - Bring It Back
URL:
    https://musicbrainz.org/release/4f549a4c-c26b-47b5-8332-931d09702735
(Similarity: 99.7%) (tracks) (CD, 2006, US, Barsuk Records, bark50)
 * How Hard (#0) (2:09)      -> How Hard (#1) (1:51) (length)
 * Think Long (#1)           -> Think Long (#2)
 * Fraud in the ’80s (#2)    -> Fraud in the ’80s (#3)
 * Like U Crazy (#3)         -> Like U Crazy (#4)
 * Beautiful Dreamer (#4)    -> Beautiful Dreamer (#5)
 * What It Means (#5)        -> What It Means (#6)
 * For the Actor (#6)        -> For the Actor (#7)
 * Nature and the Wreck (#7) -> Nature and the Wreck (#8)
 * So Many Ways (#8)         -> So Many Ways (#9)
 * Punchlines (#9)           -> Punchlines (#10)
 * Running Out (#10)         -> Running Out (#11)

$ beet import ./Bloc\ Party\ -\ Silent\ Alarm/

/media/music/ripped-cds/Bloc Party - Silent Alarm (14 items)
Tagging:
    Bloc Party - Silent Alarm
URL:
    https://musicbrainz.org/release/00897556-cb7a-3417-97aa-756b3fdc77c9
(Similarity: 99.9%) (tracks) (CD, 2005, GB, Wichita, WEBB075CD)
 * Every Time Is the Last Time (#0) (3:22) -> Every Time Is the Last Time (#1) (3:10) (length)
 * Like Eating Glass (#1)                  -> Like Eating Glass (#2)
 * Helicopter (#2)                         -> Helicopter (#3)
 * Positive Tension (#3)                   -> Positive Tension (#4)
 * Banquet (#4)                            -> Banquet (#5)
 * Blue Light (#5)                         -> Blue Light (#6)
 * She’s Hearing Voices (#6)               -> She’s Hearing Voices (#7)
 * This Modern Love (#7)                   -> This Modern Love (#8)
 * The Pioneers (#8)                       -> The Pioneers (#9)
 * Price of Gasoline (#9)                  -> Price of Gasoline (#10)
 * So Here We Are (#10)                    -> So Here We Are (#11)
 * Luno (#11)                              -> Luno (#12)
 * Plans (#12)                             -> Plans (#13)
 * Compliments (#13)                       -> Compliments (#14)

Setup

• OS: linux-5.6.3-gentoo
• Python version: 3.7.8
• beets version: 1.4.9
• Turning off plugins made problem go away (yes/no): no

My configuration (output of beet config) is:

lyrics:
    bing_lang_from: []
    auto: yes
    bing_client_secret: REDACTED
    bing_lang_to:
    google_API_key: REDACTED
    google_engine_ID: REDACTED
    genius_api_key: REDACTED
    fallback:
    force: no
    local: no
    sources:
    - google
    - lyricwiki
    - musixmatch
    - genius
directory: /media/music/purchased
library: /media/music/musiclibrary.db

import:
    move: no
    copy: yes
    write: yes
    log: beetslog.txt
art_filename: cover

plugins: fetchart lyrics

paths:
    default: $albumartist - $album%aunique{}/$albumartist - $album%aunique{} - $track - $title
    singleton: $artist/$artist - $title
    comp: $album%aunique{}/$album%aunique{} - $track - $artist - $title

ui:
    color: yes
discogs:
    user_token: yNecVYGMOtfMoIiiyeuKYjUEXFsrpYJcBkjyisSd
fetchart:
    auto: yes
    minwidth: 0
    maxwidth: 0
    enforce_ratio: no
    cautious: no
    cover_names:
    - cover
    - front
    - art
    - album
    - folder
    sources:
    - filesystem
    - coverart
    - itunes
    - amazon
    - albumart
    google_key: REDACTED
    google_engine: 001442825323518660753:hrh5ch1gjzm
    fanarttv_key: REDACTED
    store_source: no

[sampsyo]

It's true; tracks are always numbered beginning at 1. To see where this behavior came from, it might be worth reading up on #1493 and the discussion that led up to it.

[stale]

Is this still relevant? If so, what is blocking it? Is there anything you can do to help move it forward?

This issue has been automatically marked as stale because it has not had recent activity. It will be closed if no further activity occurs. Thank you for your contributions.

[the-confessor]

Thanks for the reference.

I did not realize that beets uses the track number to document the index in the release. For ripped CDs I have always seen tracks indexed per disc.

I feel that indexing HTOA as track 1 obscures the original context a little. If I look at a list of digital files and see a track 0 then I know that, while it was technically the first track of the release, and my media player may treat it as such, it wasn't intended to be presented as the opening track.

I do think that beets could still index HTOA of the first disc on a release as track 0. I understand there wouldn't be a means of identifying any later track as originating from an HTOA, but the track numbering beets uses for discs beyond the first is already deviating from the track numbering on the original format, and I wonder how often HTOA on later discs even occurs. (I know of one example - Muse's Hullabaloo Soundtrack.).

It seems like the rationale was: since we can't always identify an HTOA track, let's never identify it.

[the-confessor]

Aaaaand I just discovered the per_disc_numbering configuration option. Which explains everything I figured out via this issue thread. RTFM.

[stale]

Is this still relevant? If so, what is blocking it? Is there anything you can do to help move it forward?

This issue has been automatically marked as stale because it has not had recent activity. It will be closed if no further activity occurs. Thank you for your contributions.