README.md

@@ -246,10 +246,26 @@ from `--max-path` to get what a mirror-relative path may spend.
 Over-budget paths are shortened from the **deepest component outward**: the
 track name carries the least navigational value and the artist directory the
 most, so the filename goes first and the artist is touched only if nothing else
-will do. A shortened component keeps its extension and gains four hex digits of
-the original name — two long names sharing a prefix would otherwise cut to the
-same string, and a silent collision between two tracks is worse than an ugly
-filename.
+will do.
+
+A component is cut **from the middle**, not the end, because of how these names
+are built. Lidarr writes `Artist - Album - 07 - Flamethrower.mp3` inside a
+directory already named for that artist and album, so a long album title
+appears three times in one path and the informative part — the track number and
+title — is at the very end. Cutting from the end throws exactly that away:
+
+```
+before  King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard - PetroDragonic Apocalypse; or, Dawn of Eternal
+        Night - An Annihilation of Planet Earth and the Beginning of Merciless
+        Damnation - 07 - Flamethrower.mp3
+after   King Gizzard & the Lizard~c526~ginning of Merciless Damnation - 07 - Flamethrower.mp3
+```
+
+Two thirds of the remaining room goes to the tail, since the head is usually a
+restatement of the directory it sits in. A shortened component gains four hex
+digits of the original name: two names sharing both a head and a tail would
+otherwise produce the same string, and a silent collision between two tracks is
+worse than an ugly filename.
 
 The result is stable: the same source always produces the same shortened name,
 so a pass does not rename what the previous pass wrote. A path too deeply

music_mirror.py

@@ -168,20 +168,35 @@ def fat32_safe(component):
 
 
 def shorten_component(component, budget):
-    """Return a component of at most `budget` characters, marked as shortened.
+    """Return a component of at most `budget` characters, cut from the middle.
 
-    The mark is four hex digits of the original name. Two different long names
-    would otherwise cut down to the same string, and a silent collision between
-    two tracks is worse than an ugly filename.
+    From the middle, not the end, because of how these names are built. Lidarr
+    writes "Artist - Album - 07 - Flamethrower.mp3" inside a directory already
+    named for that artist and album, so the informative part -- the track
+    number and title -- is at the very end. Cutting from the end discards it
+    and leaves every track on the record with the same name.
+
+    The four hex digits are of the original component. Two names sharing both a
+    head and a tail would otherwise produce the same string, and a silent
+    collision between two tracks is worse than an ugly filename.
     """
     stem, dot, extension = component.rpartition(".")
     if not dot or len(extension) > 4:
         stem, extension = component, ""
     else:
         extension = dot + extension
+
     digest = hashlib.blake2s(component.encode("utf-8"), digest_size=2).hexdigest()
-    tail = f"~{digest}{extension}"
-    return stem[: max(1, budget - len(tail))].rstrip(". ") + tail
+    marker = f"~{digest}~"
+    room = max(2, budget - len(extension) - len(marker))
+    if room >= len(stem):
+        return stem + extension
+
+    # Two thirds to the tail: the head is usually a restatement of the
+    # directory it sits in, and the tail is what tells two tracks apart.
+    keep_end = min(len(stem), room * 2 // 3)
+    keep_start = max(1, room - keep_end)
+    return stem[:keep_start].rstrip(". ") + marker + stem[len(stem) - keep_end :] + extension
 
 
 def fit_path(relative, budget):

tests/test_music_mirror.py

@@ -705,3 +705,62 @@ def test_a_path_that_cannot_be_made_to_fit_is_reported(tmp_path, make_flac, capl
         run(source, mirror, "--fat32-safe", "--max-path", "80")
 
     assert "too" in caplog.text and "nested" in caplog.text
+
+
+# Lidarr writes "Artist - Album - NN - Title.mp3" inside a directory already
+# named for that artist and album, so a long album title appears three times in
+# one path. These are real paths from a real library.
+GIZZARD_ALBUM = (
+    "PetroDragonic Apocalypse; or, Dawn of Eternal Night - An Annihilation of"
+    " Planet Earth and the Beginning of Merciless Damnation"
+)
+GIZZARD_TRACKS = (
+    "01 - Motor Spirit",
+    "02 - Supercell",
+    "03 - Converge",
+    "04 - Witchcraft",
+    "05 - Gila Monster",
+    "06 - Dragon",
+    "07 - Flamethrower",
+)
+
+
+def gizzard_path(track):
+    return Path(
+        "King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard",
+        f"{GIZZARD_ALBUM} (2023)",
+        f"King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard - {GIZZARD_ALBUM} - {track}.mp3",
+    )
+
+
+def test_shortening_keeps_the_part_that_tells_tracks_apart():
+    """Cutting from the end discards the track number and title, which is all
+    that distinguishes one track on the record from another."""
+    for track in GIZZARD_TRACKS:
+        fitted = music_mirror.fit_path(gizzard_path(track), 253)
+        assert len(str(fitted)) <= 253
+        assert fitted.name.endswith(f"{track}.mp3"), fitted.name
+
+
+def test_every_track_on_a_long_album_keeps_a_distinct_name():
+    fitted = {music_mirror.fit_path(gizzard_path(t), 253).name for t in GIZZARD_TRACKS}
+
+    assert len(fitted) == len(GIZZARD_TRACKS)
+
+
+def test_a_long_title_keeps_both_ends():
+    """The Beatles' 'The Long One' is one track whose title is the long part."""
+    path = Path(
+        "The Beatles",
+        "Abbey Road (1969)",
+        "Digital Media 03",
+        "The Beatles - Abbey Road - 09 - The Long One - You Never Give Me Your Money"
+        " + Sun King + Mean Mr Mustard + Her Majesty + Polythene Pam + She Came In"
+        " Through the Bathroom Window+ Golden Slumbers + Carry That Weight + The End.mp3",
+    )
+
+    fitted = music_mirror.fit_path(path, 253)
+
+    assert len(str(fitted)) <= 253
+    assert fitted.name.startswith("The Beatles - Abbey Road - 09 - The Long One")
+    assert fitted.name.endswith("The End.mp3")