How to both migrate music folders and merge libraries

[Lowlander]

Because my tags got messed up and now the tracks have the song's name under the "artist" field instead of the real Artist; seems to me that applying a new mask wouldn't work, because MM would read the "artist" field with the wrong information in it, so unless I fix the tags, masking won't help. Am I correct?

No, the mask is used in Auto-Tag from Filename. However often different masks are needed.

Files with:
Artist - Track# - Title
Track#. Artist - Title
Track# - Title - Artist

would all need separate masks for MediaMonkey to get the correct information into the correct tags.

[veroK]

What I'm doing right now is doing a search for a given artist (i.e. Beach Boys). Then, using the folder path, I can identify which "1-song albums" belong to one particular album in my library. I select them all and manually change the properties in the "Artist"; "Album Artist" and "album" fields for the whole bunch. That seems to be working! The album gets restored to the library as a single album w/the correct Artist tags.

"The Clash" still appears in the file path, which is how MM can still find the track when you search on it.
You can easily pull that information from the file path into the relevant fields using "Auto-tag from filename". But do so carefully, so you don't screw up again. Pay careful attention to the preview before making any changes.

OK. I understand now that MM gets the correct "artist" info from the file path. That's interesting. Until I get the proper tag masking procedure through my thick skull:

For the messed up tracks that I have already "fixed" manually by changing the properties as I described above; now back into a single album (w/the correct artist): Would that method have other negative consequences that I need to take care of, or is manually changing the properties ok (other than being tedious & error-prone, that is)?

[Lowlander]

There is no issue with manually editing the tags, it's just more labor intensive, but often gets more accurate results.

[veroK]

That's a relief. Thanks.