INTERACT FORUM

Please login or register.

Login with username, password and session length
Advanced search  
Pages: [1]   Go Down

Author Topic: Library Issues  (Read 3683 times)

mpruner

  • Member
  • *
  • Posts: 3
Library Issues
« on: December 09, 2016, 12:50:39 am »

If this has been answered somewhere before, please forgive me, I could not locate it.
I keep all of my music on my data drive of my computer (it is backed-up every night). My main audio library are all of my MP3 files and I have added an additional library for FLAC files. However, every time I close MC or switch to the main library I lose all of the content in the FLAC library.
It still shows the FLAC library in the library tree, but I have to re-import the files every time I open it.
Any suggestions would be appreciated!

Thank you,
Mike
Logged

CountryBumkin

  • Citizen of the Universe
  • *****
  • Posts: 3352
Re: Library Issues
« Reply #1 on: December 09, 2016, 05:02:30 am »

It is unusual to have a separate library for different audio formats.

Typically you have all of your media saved to your hard drive(s) or NAS or wherever, but you have one MC library located on the root drive of your computer. Then you can sort by audio format (mp3, flac, etc.) and show or not show what you want.
If you have two libraries then you creating more work for yourself.

Perhaps I am not understanding your setup. Can you explain further?

Also there is a setting at Tools>Options>Library & Folders under ...Configure Auto Import >Tasks called "Fix Broken Links" do you have this set "Yes:(protect files on missing drives)" or something else?
Logged

AndrewFG

  • MC Beta Team
  • Citizen of the Universe
  • *****
  • Posts: 3392
Re: Library Issues
« Reply #2 on: December 09, 2016, 08:31:15 am »


To be more precise, you should only have one "Library" in MC. The MC library is a kind of "index" which cross references all the meta data of the tracks (name, album, genre, etc.) to the actual tracks themselves. These actual tracks can be located in different folders or sub-folders. So it is perfectly Ok to have say MP3s tracks in one folder, and Flac tracks, or Videoe, or Pictures, other quite different folder(s). (Or even on different drives). But all of those folders are referenced by the same library..

Logged
Author of Whitebear Digital Media Renderer Analyser - http://www.whitebear.ch/dmra.htm
Author of Whitebear - http://www.whitebear.ch/mediaserver.htm

mpruner

  • Member
  • *
  • Posts: 3
Re: Library Issues
« Reply #3 on: December 09, 2016, 08:06:22 pm »

AndrewFG and CountryBumkin,
You both were very helpful. I have rethought how I am setting up my medial library and what you say makes more sense than the approach I was taking.
Thank you for taking the time to reply.

Best,
Mike
Logged

skifastbadly

  • Junior Woodchuck
  • **
  • Posts: 98
Re: Library Issues
« Reply #4 on: December 10, 2016, 05:10:13 pm »

Arrgh now I'm confused.   Perhaps somebody can walk me through this.  I have currently two music collections, one consisting of FLAC files which I use to play through my home audio, the other consisting of a variety of lossy formats:  mp3, AAC, etc.  I've been using two libraries to switch between.  The reasons for the lossy library are historic, since I started in iTunes with iPods. I still sync the iPods with the lossy libraries.

If there's a way to have everything in one library and be able to switch from FLAC to non-FLAC, I'm unable to figure that out.  Bit of guidance would be most appreciated.

Thanks
Logged

JimH

  • Administrator
  • Citizen of the Universe
  • *****
  • Posts: 72438
  • Where did I put my teeth?
Re: Library Issues
« Reply #5 on: December 10, 2016, 06:08:51 pm »

You can use one library and set up custom views.
or
A very simple way to see non FLAC files is to select your music and then enter -flac in the search window in the upper right corner.
Logged

221bBS

  • Regular Member
  • Citizen of the Universe
  • *****
  • Posts: 703
Re: Library Issues
« Reply #6 on: December 10, 2016, 06:29:16 pm »

In your Library, import all your music.

I've attached images to help create the views. These are very simple but should do what you need.
Step 1. click View > Add View > Add Library View...
Step 2. In the Add Library View window, pick the type of view you want (I've picked Panes (grenre, artist, album)) and enter a title in the Name field you want for your FLAC files. I've picked "Flac". Make the Location to Audio. Press OK.
Step 3. In the tree view, right-click the newly created Flac view and pick Customize View...
Step 4. In the Customize View, click ...Set rules for file display...
Step 5a. In the Edit Search window, set the rule to: File Type is flac. Press OK.

You've now created a view that will only show flac files.

Now create a view for all the other audio file types. Repeat Steps 1-4, in step 2 name it something different like "Other" or "Lossy"
Step 5b. In the Edit Search window, set the rule to: File Type is not flac. Press OK.


You now have two library views, one that shows only flac files. and the other will show the rest.
Logged

skifastbadly

  • Junior Woodchuck
  • **
  • Posts: 98
Re: Library Issues
« Reply #7 on: December 10, 2016, 06:47:28 pm »

That is exactly what I was looking for. Thank you very much.  Now, does the view I'm in control what's sync'ed with the iPod?
Logged

221bBS

  • Regular Member
  • Citizen of the Universe
  • *****
  • Posts: 703
Re: Library Issues
« Reply #8 on: December 10, 2016, 07:01:35 pm »

Do you sync all your non-flac files to your iPod? If so, you can create a Smartlist playlist and sync the playlist to the iPod.

Press F9, set the rules to Media Type is Audio & File Type is not flac.

In Options (CTRL+O) select Handheld and pick your iPod from the list. pick the playlist you created from the list. Press OK.
Logged
Pages: [1]   Go Up