Category: Updates

Picard 3 beta 7 released

Today, we have released MusicBrainz Picard 3 beta 7. This new versions brings several fixes over the last beta 5 (yes, we have skipped a beta number again), but also improvements and some new features. Among the highlights are:

  • Option profiles can now be exported and imported as TOML files. This makes sharing options much easier. We are excited to see how this will be used by you all.
  • Artist name standardization can now be set to one of three values: no standardization, standardizing only variations of the artist name (“Beatles” vs. “The Beatles”) or standardizing also actual artist name changes (“Diddy”, who previously performed under the names “P. Diddy” and “Puff Daddy”). Standardizing name variations is the new default setting. See also the documentation.
  • Plugins can now implement custom CD ripper log file support, and there is built-in support for Cyanrip log files.
  • Picard can now much better handles wrongly or differently encoded filenames when loading files.
  • The setup wizard got some improvements, allowing users to configure their update notification settings for the app and plugins. Also the setup wizard can now be started again from the help menu. This is not yet the final version of the wizard, but it’s getting closer.
  • The User Guide was updated to document the latest changes.

Download links and a detailed list of changes since Picard 3 beta 5 are available below. For a more detailed overview of what is new in Picard 3 please see the previous blog post Picard 3 Alpha Release.

While we have all the major features implemented and with the latest bug fixes we are confident in the current code, this is still a pre-release and there might be bugs. If you use this, do so with care, backup your files and please report any issues you encounter.

Some of the changes are also backward incompatible, hence we recommend you make a backup of your Picard.ini config file before trying the beta version. You can do so in Picard’s Options under Advanced > Maintenance.

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Picard 3 beta 5 released

Today, we’re making available the fifth beta version for the upcoming MusicBrainz Picard 3. This new versions brings some important changes:

  • The Options menu was reworked with generalized quick settings and easier access to scripts and options.
  • Handling of the Options dialog and the File Naming Script Editor was streamlined. Editing file naming scripts is now available in the menu in Options > File naming scripts > Edit scripts… or via Ctrl+Shift+S.
  • Option profiles can now be used with plugin settings, the “Attached option profiles” dialog allows changing selected options.
  • Plugins can be installed from a local directory without git, which simplifies local development and plugins created just for personal use.

Download links and a detailed list of changes since Picard 3 beta 4 are available below. For a more detailed overview of what is new in Picard 3 please see the previous blog post Picard 3 Alpha Release.

While we have all the major features implemented and with the latest bug fixes we are confident in the current code, this is still a pre-release and there might be bugs. If you use this, do so with care, backup your files and please report any issues you encounter.

Some of the changes are also backward incompatible, hence we recommend you make a backup of your Picard.ini config file before trying the beta version. You can do so in Picard’s Options under Advanced > Maintenance.

Continue reading “Picard 3 beta 5 released”

Upcoming changes to user accounts and authentication

We are in the process of moving  user accounts, authentication and OAuth applications from the MusicBrainz website to the MetaBrainz website.
This centralizes our account management between all the *Brainz projects, along with some security improvements.

Historically, all accounts were managed on the MusicBrainz website simply because it existed before the MetaBrainz Foundation itself. However, creating a MusicBrainz account just to use ListenBrainz or our other sister projects doesn’t make much sense.
We are changing this legacy setup to improve the user experience and bring better cohesion to the entire MetaBrainz ecosystem.

New MetaBrainz login page

Here is what you need to know about how this transition affects you:

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Picard 3 beta 4 fixes startup issues on macOS

We have released Picard 3 beta 4. The recently released beta 3 did crash on macOS and when running the picard-plugins command line tool, both has been fixed in this. In addition beta 4 fixes display issues in the new log view.

Download links and a detailed list of changes since Picard 3 beta 3 are available below. For a more detailed overview of what is new in Picard 3 please see the previous blog post Picard 3 Alpha Release.

While we have all the major features implemented and with the latest bug fixes we are confident in the current code, this is still a pre-release and there might be bugs. If you use this, do so with care, backup your files and please report any issues you encounter.

Some of the changes are also backward incompatible, hence we recommend you make a backup of your Picard.ini config file before trying the beta version. You can do so in Picard’s Options under Advanced > Maintenance.

Continue reading “Picard 3 beta 4 fixes startup issues on macOS”

Picard 3 beta 3 released

Today, we’re making available another pre-release version for the upcoming MusicBrainz Picard 3. This beta release offers various bugfixes and improvements over the last beta. Most notably the release lookup and matching was improved, several cover art related issues were fixed, the UI got more responsive during file load and the log view became faster and allows better filtering.

Download links and a detailed list of changes since Picard 3 beta 1 are available below. For a more detailed overview of what is new in Picard 3 please see the previous blog post Picard 3 Alpha Release.

While we have all the major features implemented and with the latest bug fixes we are confident in the current code, this is still a pre-release and there might be bugs. If you use this, do so with care, backup your files and please report any issues you encounter.

Some of the changes are also backward incompatible, hence we recommend you make a backup of your Picard.ini config file before trying the beta version. You can do so in Picard’s Options under Advanced > Maintenance.

Continue reading “Picard 3 beta 3 released”

MusicBrainz database schema change release, 2026-05-11 (with upgrade instructions)

We’re happy to announce the release of our May 2026 database schema change now! Thanks to all who were patient during Monday’s downtime as we released everything to our production servers.

This is a fairly small database schema change release which mostly improves things behind the scenes. Of the schema change tickets, the only one that affects users directly is you are most likely to notice while you browse and edit in MusicBrainz is MBS-14092 (which allows adding series of series, for example for award series for podcasts).

Thanks to chaban, UltimateRiff and yyb987 for having reported bugs and suggested improvements, and thanks to jmrr83, salo.rock and wileyfoxyx for updating the translations.

A new release of MusicBrainz Docker is also available that matches this update of MusicBrainz Server. See the (amended) release notes for update instructions.

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MusicBrainz Server update, 2026-04-27

This release mostly consists of a very substantial rewrite of the external links editor code, to make that section of our editors more efficient. While doing that we also fixed a few long-standing links editor bugs. While we kept this code in beta for quite a while so the community could help us catch most new bugs, do not hesitate to report any issues you might find.

A new release of MusicBrainz Docker is also available that matches this update of MusicBrainz Server. See the release notes for update instructions.

Thanks to rinsuki for having contributed to the code. Thanks to fabe56, HibiscusKazeneko and Lioncat6 for having reported bugs and suggested improvements. Thanks to Besnik, DenilsonSama, Khaled Salama, Marc Riera, ShimiDoki, Vaclovas Intas, cerberuzzz, coldified_, dddrnzv, dulijuong_artist, imgradeone, karpuzikov, mfmeulenbelt, salo.rock, smreo1590, syntariavoxmortem, wileyfoxyx and yyb987 for updating the translations. And thanks to all others who tested the beta version!

The git tag is v-2026-04-27.0.

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Picard 3 beta 1 released

Today, we’re making available another pre-release version for the upcoming MusicBrainz Picard 3. Beta 1 focuses on fixing issues that were found in the previous releases as well as some minor improvements and updated translations.

Download links and a list of changes since Picard 3 alpha 4 are available below. For a more detailed overview of what is new in Picard 3 please see the previous blog post Picard 3 Alpha Release.

While we have all the major features implemented and with the latest bug fixes we are confident in the current code, this is still a pre-release and there might be bugs. If you use this, do so with care, backup your files and please report any issues you encounter.

Some of the changes are also backward incompatible, hence we recommend you make a backup of your Picard.ini config file before trying the beta version. You can do so in Picard’s Options under Advanced > Maintenance.

Continue reading “Picard 3 beta 1 released”

python-discid 1.4.0

A new version of python-discid, a Python wrapper library for libdiscid, is now available. Version 1.4.0 focuses on modernizing the code base and updating the documentation.

The public API is now fully type-hinted and the type hints are also used in the documentation. A Disc.pregap property was added for convenient access to the first track’s pregap. For the full list of changes see the changelog in the documentation.

The new version is available on PyPI. See also the install instructions for more options. Please note that the new minimal Python version supported is now Python 3.10.

Picard 3 alpha 4 released

Today, we’re making available another pre-release version for the upcoming MusicBrainz Picard 3. Alpha 4 focuses on fixing issues that were found in the previous releases as well as some minor improvements and updated translations.

Download links and a list of changes since Picard 3 alpha 3 are available below. For a more detailed overview of what is new in Picard 3 please see the previous blog post Picard 3 Alpha Release.

While we have all the major features implemented and with the latest bug fixes we are confident in the current code, this is still a pre-release and there might be bugs. If you use this, do so with care, backup your files and please report any issues you encounter.

Some of the changes are also backward incompatible, hence we recommend you make a backup of your Picard.ini config file before trying the alpha version. You can do so in Picard’s Options under Advanced > Maintenance.

Continue reading “Picard 3 alpha 4 released”