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[K1lted]

I have today updated from MC11 to MC16 (yes, I know it's taken me a while, but I work on the premise "if it ain't broke, don't fix it"!)

Unfortunately, it is now "broke"!

After the import of my library and a "re-import" of current file locations, some of my playlists (which were automatically changed to "smartlists") included files that had changed locations since the library backup, so the lists wouldn't play.

"No problem", thinks I, I'll do the old "update broken links" thingy from the import, but lo and behold the option is no longer there!

OK, I thought, let's do a "find and replace" on the drive letter within the play list itself.

Fantastic - this worked splendidly . . . . except that all my files were still showing as unavailable? It was then that I noticed that every file in the playlist had been appended with a number in parentheses at the end of its location, e.g. "e:\Music\Unsorted\Gary Numan - Cars.mp3" became "e:\Music\Unsorted\Gary Numan - Cars (1).mp3"

Consequently, none of the affected files will play and the only way to fix it seems to be to manually edit every file in every playlist.

Now, is it just me, but is this behaviour bizarre? MC used to handle changed file locations just fine, but now seems to be incapable of doing so.

[Alex B]

In my opinion MC16 handles file locations just fine. Some file handling features are actually quite a bit better than the similar features in MC11 (namely the new Rename, Move, & Copy Files tool). Also the import features have changed since MC11. The Auto-Import feature includes the "fix broken links" functionality, but I wouldn't recommend trying to use it in this case. It would not preserve the old files in playlists because it would first remove the missing files and then import the files from the different locations as new library entries.

Regarding your problem, did you tell us everything? I mean, is the same library perfectly fine in MC11? Did you change anything (e.g. file locations) before restoring the library in MC16?

Instead of trying to figure out what went wrong, could you just go back to square one?

- Verify that your MC11 library points to the files correctly, if not, fix the problem in MC11.
- Create a new library backup file in MC11.
- Restore the library in MC16.

If the library still does not show up correctly, stay calm and don't try to fix anything. Post a report with more details here.

EDIT

After the import of my library and a "re-import" of current file locations, some of my playlists (which were automatically changed to "smartlists, grrrr") included files that had changed locations since the library backup, so the lists wouldn't play.

Do you mean that also the MC11 library contains broken links (i.e. a new backup file would not be more useful)? If yes, then it would be better to fix the links in MC16. I.e. first restore to get the MC11 library in as it was before any fix attempts and then fix it in MC16. However, don't try to fix it before posting exact details about the changed paths.

[K1lted]

Thanks for the reply Alex

Am not sure what you meant by:

Instead of trying to figure out what went wrong, could you just go back to square one?

Square one for me would be a clean install and I simply wouldn't bother - the only advantage I see in MC is the ability to create my various play lists which I did many moons ago and have no desire in having to recreate from scratch again - it took long enough the first time and I expect reiterations of the same product to be backwards compatible. It is simply too cumbersome and memory intensive to use as my default media player, for which I use VLC.

I did however take a step back and try to figure out what happened after reading your post. I then created a backup of the new MC16 library before clearing it completely and then reimported the original MC11 one.

This showed the wrong file locations as before but NOT the wrong filenames, which appear to have been changes by MC16 earlier.

I then performed the same global drive letter change (caused by a migration from XP to Win 7) WITHOUT importing anything and hey-presto nothing got screwed up and everything (so far) appears to work.

It would therefore appear that the issue was caused by duplicate filenames, which MC16 seems to unilaterally decide it can change without asking (as it does in several other annoying ways) if the same filename already exists. However, in recognising the tracks as identical it is not smart enough to update its playlists to reflect this, so damned if you do, damned if you don't would seem to be an accurate reflection.

Had MC11 not got increasingly flaky of late, I would not have bothered, but at least now I can test 16 with my existing database and see if it is improved.

Thanks again for your reply
K

[Alex B]

By "back to square one" I meant only the library. When a library is restored the current library will be replaced completely.

You actually went back to that square:

then reimported the original MC11 one.

This showed the wrong file locations as before but NOT the wrong filenames, which appear to have been changes by MC16 earlier.

And then fixed the paths without any further help:

I then performed the same global drive letter change (caused by a migration from XP to Win 7) WITHOUT importing anything and hey-presto nothing got screwed up and everything (so far) appears to work.

So apparently something went wrong during the first attempt, but as long as you have a library backup file you can always "go back to square one" and retry. The situation would have been more problematic if the actual filenames on the disk would have changed because of some inadvertent mistake.

[Alex B]

if you need to fix similar issues in the future you might want to use the "Rename, Move, & Copy Files" tool . I have posted some instructions:

... If the old files are not anymore in the library, load your latest library backup file and fix the video files' base path with the Rename, Move, & Copy Files tool (I'll search for the instructions I once posted and add a link soon.) If you have not created library backup files manually you can find automatically created files from:
C:\Documents and Settings\[your user name]\Application Data\J River\Media Center 14\Library Backups (XP)
or
C:\Users\[your user name]\AppData\Roaming\J River\Media Center 14\Library Backups (Vista and Windows 7).

Disable the the "fix broken links" setting in Auto-Import options (do this before loading the backup file and immediately after loading it check that the setting stayed disabled).

EDIT

The instructions (a quick search found six threads):
http://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php?topic=55224.msg375699#msg375699
http://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php?topic=55547.msg377589#msg377589
http://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php?topic=52086.msg356211#msg356211
http://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php?topic=51635.msg352515#msg352515
http://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php?topic=49835.msg341255#msg341255
http://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php?topic=46894.msg321403#msg321403

EDIT2 (one more link)
http://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php?topic=55707.msg384102#msg384102