Are the files there if you look for them in Explorer?
Update Library in MC will fix some things.
The ! character is unusual and _could_ cause problems.
If you don't get the lame encoder switches right, that could create a problem. Try the default settings.
Answering your questions in order:
1. NO. I thought I had made that clear in my original post. The files could not be accessed in Windows Explorer or from within MC9's explorer tree view until a reboot was done, at which point XP performed an automatic check disk on drive M:\, recovered many orphaned files in the problem folder and pemitted me to finally access the "M:\!APE Soundtracks" folder. This folder and is subfolders and files were deleted.
2. I did not update the MC Library, because, as I mentioned, the "lost" folder and its associated subfolders and files were not in the MC Library to begin with. I, therefore, did not think that a library update would have any effect on folders and files not in the MC library.
3. As for the unusual "!" character. I use this to place the folder at the top of the file tree. I am not aware of any XP file system prohibition from using this character; although I do seem to remember (now that you mention it) that there is an ascii character that can make a drive (or folder ?) "invisible" when someone does a network scan for folders from another computer. Anyhow, I don't think this is the problem, as I have been using this type of filename in W2K and XP for over a year without problems until I started using "convert to" in MC9.1. To be on the safe side, I will now remove "!" from the folder name.
4. My Lame encoders switches are correct (--alt-preset extreme) The %IN and %OUT (which were there in the default setting for MC9) were left in but moved to the the end so that, as I mentioned before, the settings read: --alt-preset extreme %IN %OUT.
I am going to copy all 6500 of my APE soundtrack files back to this disk and try converting them with MC9.1. It should take me about 2 days to finish the conversions. If I have the same problem, I will report it.
I have two final questions:
1. What type of MP3 encoder is "MP3 encoder VBR" - included in the MC9.1 download? Is it LAME 3.93.1 or something else?
2. If you use MC9.1's built in "MP3 encoder VBR" on the best quality/high setting how does the resulting MP3 file compare with LAME 3.93.1's (--alt-preset extreme)?
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