Picard 2.1 release

MusicBrainz Picard 2.1 is finally here. This version includes a lot of fixes and improvements over previous stable version (2.0.4). It is recommended to upgrade of course.

Most notably, it includes following changes:

• support for MusicBrainz genres
• new convenient script functions: $title and $delete
• new command line option (-P, --no-plugins) allowing to skip plugin loading, which may help when a plugin is crashing Picard at start and to identify if an issue is due to a plugin or the main program
• improve tags support, better compatibility with other applications, wider range of audio files supported
• better stability and performance

I’d like to thank all developers, translators, testers and users who contributed to this version, kudos to Philip Wolfer (phw).

Binary packages from OSx and Windows are available from Picard Github releases page and from Picard website.

Here is the complete change log:

• [PICARD-105] – Picard won’t load non-album tracks from fingerprints
• [PICARD-421] – Releases in private collections are not shown as being in them
• [PICARD-518] – Sliders without labels in “Options – Metadata – Preferred Releases”
• [PICARD-637] – $matchedtracks is broken
• [PICARD-875] – AIFF does not support any of the compatid3 tags
• [PICARD-949] – Track can be placed in the incorrect spot on the release after using Scan
• [PICARD-1013] – False file save error in specific circumstances
• [PICARD-1060] – Collections menu not displayed correctly anymore
• [PICARD-1112] – Cannot save tags that were previously deleted from file
• [PICARD-1133] – Plugins list doesn’t load automatically after setting proxy
• [PICARD-1162] – Solo vocals are tagged wrong
• [PICARD-1219] – Picard creating empty ID3 TIPL / TMCL / IPLS frames
• [PICARD-1245] – Set field “Grouping” doesn’t work as expected
• [PICARD-1275] – After uninstalling a plugin Picard needs to be restarted for it to be reinstalled
• [PICARD-1281] – Picard has wrong version string on macOS
• [PICARD-1320] – Black text on a dark theme
• [PICARD-1332] – Deleted tags for matched files stay deleted
• [PICARD-1336] – MP4 reports “bpm” as unsupported tag
• [PICARD-1339] – Removing unclustered files can be very slow
• [PICARD-1340] – File info doesn’t display Mono / Stereo in Channels field anymore
• [PICARD-1341] – Cluster track order misinterprets disc/track numbers
• [PICARD-1346] – Move additional files fails if multiple patterns match
• [PICARD-1348] – Keyboard shortcuts broken due to localization
• [PICARD-1350] – Drag and drop on cover image box does not always work as expected
• [PICARD-1355] – Setting or unsetting album for non-album tracks does not work
• [PICARD-1359] – Crash with tagger integration when using DuckDuckGo Privacy Essentials
• [PICARD-1364] – picard.exe has no version tag
• [PICARD-1368] – Info messages are not shown on logging level Info
• [PICARD-1369] – Crash on Python 3.7.0 opening URLs
• [PICARD-1370] – Windows installer to add “Quick Launch” icon no longer supported on Win10
• [PICARD-1371] – Windows installer does not warn when installing on 32 bit system
• [PICARD-1373] – Source distributions are unusable
• [PICARD-1374] – Picard crashes while typing a regular expression in some cases
• [PICARD-1375] – Metadata sanitation before move-script execution fails
• [PICARD-1376] – Error saving Ape files with tag marked for deletion that does not exist
• [PICARD-1381] – Test results depend on execution order of tests
• [PICARD-1397] – Do not save tags marked as unsupported
• [PICARD-1398] – Snap package is missing locale files
• [PICARD-1405] – Pasting formatted text into scripting window shows formatting
• [PICARD-1410] – Loading Vorbis file with invalid rating value fails
• [PICARD-1412] – Deleting tag counts not as important metadata change
• [PICARD-1414] – Image errors lead to crash in info dialog
• [PICARD-1415] – Open Containing Folder and Open with MusicPlayer does nothing for UNC paths
• [PICARD-1418] – Display localized default dialogs and keyboard shortcut hints
• [PICARD-1420] – Can not save wma file. TypeError: sequence item 0
• [PICARD-1428] – Removing tags which are only in original file metadata not possible
• [PICARD-1430] – “Authentication required” dialog does not trigger authentication
• [PICARD-1431] – Some ID3 frames gets deleted even if the corresponding tags are shown as unchanged
• [PICARD-1434] – Tag acoustid_id can not be removed or deleted in script
• [PICARD-1436] – Text extraction of “title” and “label” for translation.
• [PICARD-1437] – After reload file is being shown as changed
• [PICARD-1438] – Message box buttons Yes/No aren’t translated
• [PICARD-1439] – Newline character in cover art naming script causes exception on saving

New Feature

• [PICARD-490] – Allow tagging AAC/ADTS files with APEv2 tags
• [PICARD-1043] – Support reading & writing iTunes Classical tags
• [PICARD-1045] – Check for new version
• [PICARD-1268] – Support concertmaster recording relationships as performer:concertmaster
• [PICARD-1273] – Add an option to exclude new cover art type “Raw / Unedited”
• [PICARD-1319] – Provide cover art metadata to cover image naming script
• [PICARD-1344] – Add $delete function
• [PICARD-1352] – Add a command-line option to skip plugin loading
• [PICARD-1354] – Allow using vocals and instruments as credited
• [PICARD-1367] – Allow opening searches in browser when using search dialogs
• [PICARD-1384] – Add AppStream data
• [PICARD-1386] – Add $title function
• [PICARD-1395] – Support genres from MusicBrainz
• [PICARD-1440] – Support loading and renaming Standard MIDI Files (SMF)

Task

• [PICARD-1333] – Run CI tests agaist oldest supported mutagen
• [PICARD-1347] – Refactor script.py to avoid code duplication
• [PICARD-1365] – Allow building with PyQt 5.11 or later
• [PICARD-1442] – Support new Audio Play secondary type

Sub-task

• [PICARD-1407] – Save originalalbum / originalartist to ASF/WMA
• [PICARD-1408] – Save originalalbum / originalartist to APE

Improvement

• [PICARD-664] – When dragging a recording, show the actual file name instead of the path
• [PICARD-792] – Package a start menu tile for Windows 10 on the windows version
• [PICARD-1039] – Use forward delete instead of delete button on macOS
• [PICARD-1049] – Picard should use TXXX:WORK rather than TXXX:Work
• [PICARD-1068] – Picard should use MP4 ©wrk for Work rather than generic text field
• [PICARD-1244] – Refresh list of plugins after uninstalling or installing a local plugin
• [PICARD-1285] – There is no Close menu item in Picard 2.0 on macOS
• [PICARD-1313] – Refactor plugin UI
• [PICARD-1325] – Allow disabling new version update checking for packagers
• [PICARD-1338] – Picard should be more resilient if it gets invalid responses from servers
• [PICARD-1358] – Use macOS style widgets in the user interface of the macOS version of Picard
• [PICARD-1363] – AcoustId submission for matched files is impossible when musicbrainz_recordingid is unset
• [PICARD-1366] – Show Python version in about
• [PICARD-1379] – Port astrcmp to new Python C Unicode API
• [PICARD-1383] – Use MCN / barcode read from disc to improve DiscId lookup
• [PICARD-1393] – Change the application ID
• [PICARD-1416] – Should store ID3 Artists field as TXXX:ARTISTS not TXXX:Artists
• [PICARD-1417] – Only show plugins with compatible API version
• [PICARD-1424] – Translate AppStream data
• [PICARD-1425] – Support all movement tags for APE, Vorbis and MP3
• [PICARD-1426] – Map musicbrainz_originalalbumid and musicbrainz_originalartistid to MP4 and WMA
• [PICARD-1443] – Sort secondary release types in UI alphabetically