Report Panel

The Report Panel allows the user to view reports that are generated by jMusicMetaManager. The left side of the Report Panel displays a list of all available reports, and the right side displays the currently selected report. Clicking on a report on the left side will cause the corresponding report to be displayed on the right side.

Note that all reports generated by jMusicMetaManager are HTML-based and are saved to disk, so the user may view them using any web browsing software at any time. In fact, such browsing software is generally better optimized for rendering HTML than the Core Java libraries, so it may be desirable to use such browsing software rather than the Report Panel when viewing very large reports.

Note that only those reports that were selected to be generated in the Options Panel reports section will be available on the Report Panel.

Figure 1: A screenshot of the Report Panel, showing a sample Probable errors in artist field report.

Figure 2: A screenshot of a sample Summary report, as displayed via a web browser.

Reports That Can be Generated

  1. MP3 files found that could not be parsed:. This report lists all files with an MP3 extension that were found in the directory specified in the Browse MP3 Directory text field of the Options Panel (or its subdirectories) whose ID3 tags could not be parsed. It should be noted that jMusicMetaManager skips all such files during later processing.
  2. Non-MP3 files found: This report lists all files in the directory specified in the Browse MP3 Directory text field of the Options Panel (or its subdirectories) that do not have an MP3 extension. The case of the extension is ignored. It should be noted that these files do not have any effect on processing, as they are ignored by jMusicMetaManager other than for the purpose of this report. Only the extension of the file is considered when generating this report, not actual file content.
  3. All recordings parsed (before merge): This report lists the path, title and artist of all recordings for which metadata was extracted, before any processing is performed. Two separate lists are produced, one for the recordings extracted from ID3 tags and one for recordings extracted from an iTunes XML file.
  4. Files in iTunes XML but not at specified path: This report lists each recording that is parsed from the iTunes XML file for which there is no valid readable file at the specified path. No verification is performed during the generation of this particular report of whether files that are present are in fact valid MP3 files, as this information is available in other reports. Unlike the Recordings in one source but not the other report, this report may be generated even if the Use MP3s option of the Options Panel is not selected.
  5. Recordings in one source but not the other: This report lists any recordings that were found in the iTunes XML file but for which corresponding MP3 files were not found, and vice versa.
  6. Fields that do not correspond between sources: This report lists any differences in significant fields in the metadata for each recording parsed from the iTunes XML file and its corresponding MP3 file. It may be appropriate to review this metadata to ensure that it is consistent. jMusicMetaManager uses the metadata extracted from the iTunes file by default when there is such a disagreement.
  7. All post-iTunes and ID3 merge metadata: This report lists all available metadata for each recording immediately after the metadata extracted from the iTunes file and/or the MP3 files has been combined. If an entry in the iTunes file contains a reference to a file with a path that is also found during ID3 parsing, then the metadata from these two sources is combined into a single recording. jMusicMetaManager uses the metadata extracted from the iTunes file by default when there is a disagreement between the fields of any two recordings from different sources with the same path.
  8. All recordings post-sorting: This report gives all available metadata for each recording. This report is similar to the All post-iTunes and ID3 merge metadata report, except that the recordings are sorted by title.
  9. Artist breakdown: This report lists the unique names of all artists found, as well as the number of recordings and the percentage of total recordings corresponding to each artist. The number of unique composers, albums and genres that have at least one recording corresponding to each artist is also reported. The tallies listed do not include counts for unknown composers, genres and albums.
  10. Composer breakdown: This report lists the unique names of all composers found, as well as the number of recordings and the percentage of total recordings corresponding to each composer. The number of unique artists, albums and genres that have at least one recording corresponding to each composer is also reported. The tallies listed do not include counts for unknown artists, genres and albums.
  11. Genre breakdown: This report lists the unique names of all genres found, as well as the number of recordings and the percentage of total recordings belonging to each genre. The number of unique artists, composers and albums that have at least one recording belonging to each genre is also reported. The tallies listed do not include counts for unknown artists, composers and albums.
  12. Comment statistics: This report lists all unique file comments found, as well as the number of recordings and the percentage of total recordings corresponding to each comment. The number of unique artists, composers, albums and genres that have at least one recording corresponding to each comment is also reported. The tallies listed do not include counts for unknown artists, composers, genres and albums.
  13. Artists listed by genre: This report alphabetically lists all unique genres. Artists are listed under a given genre if they have at least one recording belonging to the genre. Artists also have the number of recordings they have belonging to the given genre listed beside their entries, along with the percentage of the total number of recordings in the genre that they represent.
  14. Composers listed by genre: This report alphabetically lists all unique genres. Composers are listed under a given genre if they have at least one recording belonging to the genre. Composers also have the number of recordings they have belonging to the given genre listed beside their entries, along with the percentage of the total number of recordings in the genre that they represent.
  15. Recordings missing key metadata: This report lists all metadata for those recordings that have empty title, artist, composer, album and/or genre fields. A separate table is produced for each of these fields.
  16. Artists and composers with few recordings: This report alphabetically lists artists with fewer recordings than the number specified in the corresponding Cutoff (2-90) text box. Artists with fewer than half this number of recordings are listed in bold. A similar table many then be listed immediately after, but based on the composer field instead of the artist field. Note that only one of these options may be present, based on the settings on the right side of the Options Panel.
  17. Exactly identical recording titles: This report lists all recordings that have exactly the same title (before any processing). This is useful in seeing how many versions of the same piece exist in the music database. These duplicates may be identical copies of the same recording occurring in different places, or they may be different versions of the same piece. The Probable duplicates of the same recording report can be consulted to detect which of these recordings are likely multiple copies of the same recording. The Exactly identical recording titles report begins with several overall statistics, followed by a list of all titles for which there is more than one recording with the same name. Finally, the details of all such recordings in each identical title cluster are reported.
  18. Fields starting with a space: This report separately lists all titles, artists, composers, albums and genres that start with a space. Each such field is only listed once when multiple fields are identical. This report is useful in immediately highlighting this particularly common error.
  19. Albums listed by artist: This report alphabetically lists each unique artist present. All albums present that have at least one recording by each given artist are listed under that artist's entry. Note is also made of how many tracks by each given artist belonging to the given album are present in the music collection, how many total tracks the album is marked as containing (cumulative for mult-disc sets, if annotated), what percentage of the total tracks are by the given artist (marked in bold if not equal to 100%) and whether each album is marked as a compilation.
  20. Albums listed by composer: This report alphabetically lists each unique composer present. All albums present that have at least one recording by each given composer are listed under that composer's entry. Note is also made of how many tracks by each given composer belonging to the given album are present in the music collection, how many total tracks the album is marked as containing (cumulative for mult-disc sets, if annotated), what percentage of the total tracks are by the given composer (marked in bold if not equal to 100%) and whether each album is marked as a compilation.
  21. Incomplete albums: This report consists of an alphabetical list of all albums that are missing tracks, followed by a list of all albums with an unknown number of tracks. In the case of multi-album sets, the total number of tracks includes all tracks from all component albums, as long as they all have the same name. Albums that include less than the percentage specified in the % Tracks Present (1-100) text boxon on the right side of the Options Panel of the total number of tracks that the album is marked as containing are listed in bold.
  22. Albums with duplicate or unknown track numbers: This report consists of an alphabetical list of all albums with the same name that contain more than one recording with the same track number or that contain one or more recordings that do not have a track number specified. Note that some albums may be inappropriately listed here in cases where two different albums have exactly the same name.
  23. Albums with unspecified year: This report lists all albums that have one or more recordings missing year metadata.
  24. Report on compilation albums: This report alphabetically lists all unique albums that contain at least one recording marked as a compilation or with an unknown compilation status. Albums where some recordings are marked as compilations and others are not are written in bold, since all tracks in an album should have the same compilation marking. An album should be marked as a compilation if and only if not all of its component recordings have the same value for their artist fields. A separate list is therefore also included of all albums that are incorrectly not marked as compilations but contain multiple artists (note that some entirely different albums sometimes have an identical name, which will result in incorrect inclusion here). Another list of albums that are incorrectly marked as compilations but contain only one artist is also generated (some of these may in fact be compilation albums that are missing all tracks by all but one artists).
  25. Fields differing only in case: Entries listed in this report indicate field values where otherwise identical (before any other find/replace, reordered word subset or edit distance processing has been performed) title, artist, composer, genre and album fields differ in case. One list is produced for each of these fields. It will likely be appropriate to correct metadata so that all fields that are otherwise identical also have the same case. Only one sample value is listed for each cluster of results. For example, field values of "Reggae" and "reggae" will result in a singe value of "reggae" reported here.
  26. Detailed replacements made: Entries in this report indicate all changes that were made during all find/replace operations. These operations were performed after lowercase conversion (if requested) and before edit distance operations. The reported changes are cumulative. These find/replace operations were also performed before any requested reordered word subset operations, except for space removals, which were performed after.
  27. Newly identical fields after find and replace: Entries listed in this report indicate all title, artist, composer, album and genre fields that were made newly identical after the find/replace operations were performed. Any such occurrences are probably due to errors in the metadata and should be corrected. The Detailed replacements made report can be consulted for more information. These operations were performed after lowercase conversion (if requested) and before edit distance operations. These find/replace operations were also performed before any requested reordered word subset operations, except for space removals, which were performed after. Only one sample value is listed for each cluster of results, and it reflects all selected processing performed up until the time that this report was generated. For example, field values of "Dr. John" and "Dr John" would result in a singe value of "dr john" reported here if the appropriate processing preferences were set.
  28. Fields with scrambled word orderings: This report lists all title, artist, composer, album and genre fields that contain identical words, but in any order, and where sometimes the words in one field are a subset of the words in the other. For example, occurrences of both "Duke Ellington" and "Ellington Duke" might be reported here. In order to be listed here, two field values must have at least the percentage of identical words specified next to the Check word ordering option on the left side of the Options Panel (the words may occur in any order). The percentage is calculated based on the field with the higher number of words, and is calculated after all selected find/replace operations have been performed (except the removal of spaces), but before any edit distance calculations have been performed. Only one sample value is listed for each cluster of results, and it reflects all selected processing performed up until the time that this report was generated. For example, field values of "Jackson, Mahalia" and "Mahalia Jackson" might result in a singe value of "mahalia jackson" reported here. Processing for titles, artists, composers, albums and genres are each only performed and reported if each corresponding Probable Errors report is set to be generated.
  29. Fields whose words are subsets of another: This report lists all title, artist, composer, album and genre fields that contain similar words, usually where the words in one are a subset of the words in the other, and where the words may be in any order. For example, occurrences of both "The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra" and "The Royal Philharmonic" might be reported here. In order to be listed here, the two fields must have at least the percentage of the same words that is specified next to the Check word subsets preference on the left side of the Options Panel (the words may occur in any order). The percentage is calculated based on the field with the lower number of words, and is calculated after all selected find/replace operations have been performed (except the removal of spaces), but before any edit distance calculations have been performed. Note that items that might have otherwise been listed here may be included in the Fields with scrambled word orderings report instead if this report is also set to be generated. Only one sample value is listed for each cluster of results, and it reflects all selected processing performed up until the time that this report was generated. For example, field values of "Duke Ellington and His Orchestra" and "Duke Ellington" will result in a singe value of "duke ellington" reported here. Processing for titles, artists, composers, albums and genres are each only performed and reported if each corresponding Probable Errors report is set to be generated.
  30. Edit distances: This report lists the edit distances between all pairs of values in each of the title, artist, composer, album and genre fields. One table is generated for each type of field. Each cell in a table contains up to three values, depending on the preferences selected by the user on the left side of the Options Panel. These are (in the following order): absolute edit distance, proportional edit distance and subset edit distance. Absolute edit distance is the basic Levenshtein distance. Proportional edit distance is the absolute edit distance divided by the length of the longer string, expressed as a percentage. Subset edit distance is the absolute edit distance minus the difference in lengths of the strings, all divided by the length of the shorter string and expressed as a percentage. Distances in bold on the table fall below the thresholds set by the user in the preferences. Entries consisting of a hyphen indicate one or both of the field values are unknown, so the edit distance cannot be calculated. All edit distance calculations are performed on fields after any selected find/replace and/or reordered word subset operations have been performed and any resulting merging of fields has occurred. Processing for titles, artists, composers, albums and genres are each only performed and reported if each corresponding Probable Errors report is set to be generated.
  31. Filtered candidate duplicate recordings: This report lists all recordings that were found to have similar titles, but were rejected as being duplicates of other recordings because of the selected filters (similar duration, identical artist, identical composer, one or more identical genres and/or different albums). The similarity of titles is assessed after all selected find/replace, reordered word subset and/or edit distance operations are performed, but no such operations are applied to any other fields for the purposes of this report. Each cluster of similar titles where one or more candidate duplicates were filtered out is listed, and each such listing includes either one or two tables. The first table, which is always present, lists recordings that were not found to be duplicates of any other recordings in the cluster. The second table lists all recordings in the cluster, if any, that were in fact found to be duplicates of one or more other recordings in the cluster.
  32. Probable duplicates of the same recording: This report lists recordings that are likely to be redundant duplicates of the same recording. First, all recordings whose title fields are judged to be similar after any selected find/replace, reordered word subset and edit distance processing are grouped together into clusters. Then the filters selected in the Duplicate Recording Detection Settings section of the left side of the Options Panel are applied to each such cluster. Specifically, recordings are filtered out of each cluster unless they have similar durations, have the same value for their artist fields, have the same value for their composer fields, share at least one genre and/or have different values for their album fields. Note that no processing is performed on artist, composer, genre or album fields as far as the generation of this report itself is concerned. Each cluster may be broken into further clusters during this processing, if appropriate. Each cluster with more than one surviving recording is then reported. It may be appropriate to delete some of these multiples for the sake of removing redundancy in the music collection. Note that some false errors may be reported here, as the system is biased under the default settings towards catching all true errors. Large clusters of false errors sometimes form when processing extremely large collections. Such clusters may be ignored by the user, or he or she may wish to change the extraction parameters on the left side of the Options Panel.
  33. Probable errors in title field: This report lists probable errors in the title field of the input music database's metadata. Each cluster listed indicates a set of several differing yet similar values for the title field that are found in the music database. The values found in each cluster should likely, in reality, be the same. These possible errors should be reviewed and, if appropriate, the metadata should be corrected accordingly. Some clusters may have one or more entries that should not in fact be the same as the others. This is a result of processing that generally errs on the side of reporting false errors rather than missing true errors. Some of the possible transformations that could make them the same are also listed. Only a subset of the necessary find/replace operations may be listed. Additional metadata for each recording in each cluster is also listed. Probable errors reported here were all discovered as a result of the find/replace, reordered word subset and/or edit distance processing that was selected and performed. Note that some false errors may be reported here, as the system is biased under the default settings towards catching all true errors. Large clusters of false errors sometimes form when processing extremely large collections. Such clusters may be ignored by the user, or he or she may wish to change the extraction parameters on the left side of the Options Panel.
  34. Probable errors in artist field: This report lists probable errors in the artist field of the input music database's metadata. Each table listed indicates a cluster of several differing yet similar values for the artist field that are found in the music database. The values found in each cluster should likely, in reality, be the same. These possible errors should be reviewed and, if appropriate, the metadata should be corrected accordingly. Some clusters may have one or more entries that should not in fact be the same as the others. This is a result of processing that generally errs on the side of reporting false errors rather than missing true errors. Some of the possible transformations that could make them the same are also listed. Only a subset of the necessary find/replace operations may be listed. Probable errors reported here were all discovered as a result of the find/replace, reordered word subset and/or edit distance processing that was selected and performed. Note that some false errors may be reported here, as the system is biased under the default settings towards catching all true errors. Large clusters of false errors sometimes form when processing extremely large collections. Such clusters may be ignored by the user, or he or she may wish to change the extraction parameters on the left side of the Options Panel.
  35. Probable errors in composer field: This report lists probable errors in the composer field of the input music database's metadata. Each table listed indicates a cluster of several differing yet similar values for the composer field that are found in the music database. The values found in each cluster should likely, in reality, be the same. These possible errors should be reviewed and, if appropriate, the metadata should be corrected accordingly. Some clusters may have one or more entries that should not in fact be the same as the others. This is a result of processing that generally errs on the side of reporting false errors rather than missing true errors. Some of the possible transformations that could make them the same are also listed. Only a subset of the necessary find/replace operations may be listed. Probable errors reported here were all discovered as a result of the find/replace, reordered word subset and/or edit distance processing that was selected and performed. Note that some false errors may be reported here, as the system is biased under the default settings towards catching all true errors. Large clusters of false errors sometimes form when processing extremely large collections. Such clusters may be ignored by the user, or he or she may wish to change the extraction parameters on the left side of the Options Panel.
  36. Probable errors in album field: This report lists probable errors in the album field of the input music database's metadata. Each table listed indicates a cluster of several differing yet similar values for the album field that are found in the music database. The values found in each cluster should likely, in reality, be the same. These possible errors should be reviewed and, if appropriate, the metadata should be corrected accordingly. Some clusters may have one or more entries that should not in fact be the same as the others. This is a result of processing that generally errs on the side of reporting false errors rather than missing true errors. Some of the possible transformations that could make them the same are also listed. Only a subset of the necessary find/replace operations may be listed. Probable errors reported here were all discovered as a result of the find/replace, reordered word subset and/or edit distance processing that was selected and performed. Note that some false errors may be reported here, as the system is biased under the default settings towards catching all true errors. Large clusters of false errors sometimes form when processing extremely large collections. Such clusters may be ignored by the user, or he or she may wish to change the extraction parameters on the left side of the Options Panel.
  37. Probable errors in genre field: This report lists probable errors in the genre field of the input music database's metadata. Each table listed indicates a cluster of several differing yet similar values for the genre field that are found in the music database. The values found in each cluster should likely, in reality, be the same. These possible errors should be reviewed and, if appropriate, the metadata should be corrected accordingly. Some clusters may have one or more entries that should not in fact be the same as the others. This is a result of processing that generally errs on the side of reporting false errors rather than missing true errors. Some of the reported clusters may include some genres that may in fact not be part of the cluster. This is due to a minor processing anomaly when there are multiple genres. Some of the possible transformations that could make them the same are also listed. Only a subset of the necessary find/replace operations may be listed. Probable errors reported here were all discovered as a result of the find/replace, reordered word subset and/or edit distance processing that was selected and performed. Note that some false errors may be reported here, as the system is biased under the default settings towards catching all true errors. Large clusters of false errors sometimes form when processing extremely large collections. Such clusters may be ignored by the user, or he or she may wish to change the extraction parameters in the Options Panel. Note that some false errors may be reported here, as the system is biased under the default settings towards catching all true errors. Large clusters of false errors sometimes form when processing extremely large collections. Such clusters may be ignored by the user, or he or she may wish to change the extraction parameters on the left side of the Options Panel.
  38. Options selected: This report indicates the preferences set by the user in the Options Panel. These preferences determine which reports are generated and control the parameters of the processing that affects the contents of the reports generated.
  39. Processing time log: This report indicates how long each processing task took.

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