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[mprh39]

I am having trouble finding an answer to my problem, I hope you will help a novice out.
I created a music playlist, dragged and dropped my songs in the order I want to be on an external usb drive.
After I highlighted all files in my playlist I dropped all the files into my external usb drive.
Here is the problem: When I open the playlist on the external drive the order of the files are listed by artist and not the order I created for the playlist.
How do I keep my order of songs?

Also, how do I remove duplicate audio files from my library?

Thank you so much for your help, and I look forward to your reply.

Marie Hanerkam

[MrC]

Hi Marie,

You'll probably want to remove your email address from your post so that it doesn't become a spam target.

Since the files are going to some external disk, it is the operating system that controls the sort order.  MC has no connection here.  So you can do either:

1. export the playlist file itself also, and use it to control the playback order
2. use the Rename, Move & Copy tool in Copy mode to Copy the files to the external disk, but include at the beginning of the Filename rule, the expression CustomData(#).  This will number the files in the same way they are sequenced in the playlist, so that Windows Explorer (or other OS) can order the files numerically/alphabetically.  You might want to use the Filename rule:

    CustomData(#) - [Track #] [Name]

You can probably figure out the Directory settings.   The preview will help you out.

Can you define "duplicate files" better?

[mprh39]

I have a large music library and when I do a search to add my songs from different hard drives to jriver I encounter many duplicate songs.
Is there a way to eliminate duplicate songs without having to manually remove each song.?
Is there a 3rd party program that will work with jriver to remove the duplicate songs,  and burn my playlist to my USB drive in the order I created?
I must admit I am confused with your direction on the playlist question.
Thank you again for your support,
Marie

[MrC]

Duplicate support in MC is entirely based on tag values.   For example, if two tracks have exactly the same Name, then MC can detect these as duplicates.  Or perhaps it is Track # - Name that should be used as value to test for duplicates.  So, this is what I mean when I ask what defines a duplicate for you.  Since MC can't tell if a track is a duplicate of some other in any other way, you'll have to decide what properties (tags) are usable so that they may be compared.

You say "burn" a playlist to a USB drive.  Is this a CD or DVD drive?  I assumed it was an HD, and so "burn" doesn't make sense here.

[mprh39]

duplicate files to me means : the same song/artist from various hard drives. So when I import my songs to MC I sometimes have a copy of the same song from different hard drives. I do so,  not to miss songs that appear only on one drive.
 
I wish to copy all my songs to an external usb drive to use in my car., but I want the songs to be shuffled. example: I do not want all songs by frank sinatra to play back together.

I hope this explanation helps, I really am a novice when it comes to this stuff. Thank you again for your help and patience.

Marie

[MrC]

Ok, let's shoot for the duplicates challenge first.  MC can show you a list with no duplicates, or it can show you a list of all duplicates.  It can't directly show you all but one duplicate, but let's start with creating a smartlist that will show you all the duplicates, and you can sort them by Filename to select those you might want to delete.  This will likely be an iterative process for you as you discover how good (or bad) your tags are for the files.

Create a Smartlist.  You can  use F9, or right click on Playlists in the Tree and select Add Smartlist.

Define the smartlist as shown in the attached screenshot.  You can sort by clicking on the file list columns in the smartlist's file list.  Examine the Filename column for your duplicates.  Perhaps you'll select those from one drive, but not another.  Sorting on Filename can help you make large selections.

To create a smartlist that will show you all but one duplicate, you need to create three smartlists for this:

  1) shows all duplicates of a given criteria
  2) shows no duplicates of the same criteria
  3) contains two rules: Playlists is any Playlist 1 above and Playlists is not any of Playlist 2 above

Smartlist 3 is the one you'll use to give you the files you'd want to delete.

PS. Here's some discussion about why duplicate detection is difficult:

   http://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php?topic=81444.0

[Notrevo]

If I may ask a related question. Does MC 19 have logic built in that will notify me when I insert a CD to rip that is already in the library?  As an example, let's say today I rip Anita Baker's Rapture CD and then forget and try to do so again in three weeks?  What will MC 19 do?  Will it simply overwrite the existing copy or will it notify me that I have already rip'd/imported this CD?  I am hoping the latter is the case.

Thanks.

PS. As far as the duplicate files/song/tracks go, I just cannot be bothered with trying to remove duplicates...so I sometimes end up with two or even three instances of the same song.  Sigh...bless you mprh39.

[MrC]

You can manage this several ways:

   1. MC maintains a databases entries for every CD it sees.  So long as you've tagged the CD reasonably before ripping, you can construct a view that will show you which CDs have rips and which ones don't.  Thus, you don't even need to insert the disc, but can quickly look to see if it exists in the view (physical and ripped).

   2. When you rip, fill in a tag value unique to the CD, such as the UPC or your own ID.  This identifier will be stored not only in the physical CD's reference in the MC CD database, but will also carry forth to the the ripped tracks as well.  You can setup a view that will show you both the physical disc and the ripped tracks, based on this identifier (I use a CD reference ID, one of my early learning experiences regarding MC and its capabilities).

   3. So long as your ripped tracks are stored in a location that is derived from tags such as Album, Artist, Track #, Name, etc. (which either come from online look-ups, or worst case, you enter them before rip the CD) you can use these tags to construct a view that shows both the physical CD entry as well as the entry for the ripped tracks (and you may have several formats).

All of these techniques allow you to see in a view both the physical CD's database entry, and the ripped tracks, so you can quickly determine what is ripped and what is not.

[nickeaston]

Why isn't anyone suggesting to Marie that there are alternative methods outside of MC to identify dupes; for example, sampling the audio content of files.  Check out DoubleKiller.