Metadata fetch publisher preference?

[adolson]

Is there currently a way to specify one or more publishers to prefer over others when bulk-fetching metadata?

I ask because I find that it fetches somewhat randomly. For example, even though I had the author and title correctly entered manually, fetching metadata would sometimes auto-select, for example, an audiobook version, stuffing a narrator into the author field as well, or it would select compilation titles rather than the single book.

If this feature isn't currently available, I could add a feature request ticket, if that is how we go about this (and anyone else thinks it's a good idea).

[kovidgoyal]

No there's no way. If you are using the met info dialog it will give you a choice of matches, and you can select the one you like the best.

[adolson]

Originally Posted by kovidgoyal

No there's no way. If you are using the met info dialog it will give you a choice of matches, and you can select the one you like the best.

Thanks for your reply. I did figure this out, but going through 30+ books individually is tedious. I can manage, however.

If I knew python or had time to learn it, I would hack this in myself. Maybe someday.

Your program is wonderful, btw.

[Starson17]

Originally Posted by adolson

I ask because I find that it fetches somewhat randomly. For example, even though I had the author and title correctly entered manually, fetching metadata would sometimes auto-select, for example, an audiobook version, stuffing a narrator into the author field as well, or it would select compilation titles rather than the single book.

I hated the fact that metadata fetching changed my author and title after I'd worked to get it correct. It made me very reluctant to automatically do a bulk fetch of metadata. I'm not sure if you're aware of its existence, but I wrote a feature that lets you prevent the automatic overwrite of author/title metadata. The setting is on Preferences | General | Overwrite author and title by default. Just turn off that checkbox. That checkbox sets your default for automatic metadata fetches. You can override your default setting on the single metadata screen when doing a manual fetch.

It won't fix your default publisher issue, but at least you won't lose your correct author/title

[adolson]

Originally Posted by Starson17

I hated the fact that metadata fetching changed my author and title after I'd worked to get it correct. It made me very reluctant to automatically do a bulk fetch of metadata. I'm not sure if you're aware of its existence, but I wrote a feature that lets you prevent the automatic overwrite of author/title metadata. The setting is on Preferences | General | Overwrite author and title by default. Just turn off that checkbox. That checkbox sets your default for automatic metadata fetches. You can override your default setting on the single metadata screen when doing a manual fetch.

It won't fix your default publisher issue, but at least you won't lose your correct author/title

Thank you! I hadn't noticed that, despite being on that page many times. I am still learning the software, and trying to work out where all the tweakability resides. (Ex: I had been typing up a post and was about to submit it, but then I discovered where to disable importing tags from the metadata download.)

I ended up going through manually for a good chunk of my books any hand-picking the metadata sources. I wish it was easier to preview the cover art for each one, as that's my main concern, really. It's tough, mostly trial and error, to get a matching set... And when you're talking a single series of over 30 books, it is sometimes fruitless. But it's all good.