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[Bill Kearney]

I see where sync supports putting files in custom paths, like "Music\[Artist]\[Album]\"  but does it support renaming the files themselves? 

Mainly because what works for file storage on the computer might not necessarily be ideal when used in the car.  The wife's Mini Cooper (based on a BMW system) has a 2-line display that really doesn't work effectively with the long filenames I've got for tracks on the computer.

I don't see an option for a filename template.  Should I just add them to the "Audio Path:" field? 

I tried using "Music\[Artist]\[Album]\[Name].[File type]" but that only got me a directory labeled "Song name.mp3" and then the same long filename used on the computer.

In fact, when I typed it in I deliberately left off the trailing / character.  MC put the trailing slash on, as it appears that way when I got back to edit the field.

So, is it possible to have file renaming here, as part of the one-step sync process?

[Bill Kearney]

I ask this as part of the sync function because it's also useful to convert various formats of media into ones the radio understands how to play reliably.  While lossless might sound great on the home speakers, pushing any more than 192k VBR MP3 out the speakers in the convertible is often overkill.  Converting it during sync, and normalizing the volume, is fantastically convenient.

And before anyone suggests using "Tools->Library Tools->Rename, Move and Copy files"  know that you can't use that when you're connecting as a MC client to a MC server.  Yeah, tried it, doesn't work.

One of my goals is to allow the wife/kids to do their own music management without having them mangle the actual media tracks directly.  I'd hoped to use a MC client off a networked library.  That works for Handheld sync, but not for the Library Tool function.

[blgentry]

As far as I know, you can not rename the files themselves during handheld sync:  Only the target path.  RM&C will do it of course.  I didn't know about the client/server limitation, but that makes sense I guess.  You'd have to do the RM&C from the server.

I've found that high quality files in the car seem to make a big difference.  A few years ago I had a rather pricey aftermarket system in my car.  It was probably valued at $3000 to $4500 depending how you counted the custom work I had done.  I had some pretty nice JL Audio speakers, a sub, a good head unit, and several high quality amplifiers.  I did 99% of my listening from an ipod because that's where all my music was at the time.  It sounded good.  It impressed people.  But I honestly didn't get a lot of enjoyment from it.  It was really weird.  I had this great system, but I didn't really like listening to it much.

Fast forward several years:  That car and it's system is gone.  I have a different car with factory speakers and an aftermarket (Pioneer) head unit that has an AUX input.  My entire music collection is FLAC now.  I have a subset of that collection on an Android tablet that I use as a music player in the car.

The sound is extremely satisfying.  It's kind of amazing actually.  Amazing because it sounds so clean and punchy and pure. I love listening to it.  Yet it's just a 12 Watt/ch head unit driving factory speakers.  The source seems to make all the difference.

There is probably some level of lossy compression between no compression and high compression that still sounds great.  I'm unwilling to mess around trying to find that level. I'm certain that FLAC sounds WORLDS BETTER than my 128 kpbs AAC (which is what I had on my ipod).

Don't discount the source.

Good luck with your project.

Brian.

[Bill Kearney]

Some folks want to wander down the audiophile fetishist's rabbit hole.  I'll pass.  All kinds of subconscious bias issues creep into the mix... it just never results in a productive conversation. 

The fortunate part is MC allows for various encoding options, so to each their own.  So for anyone that perceives benefit from one encoding method vs any others it's a great tool.

I'd love to have filename control in the handheld sync functions.

[blgentry]

Ok.  I'll stop posting in this thread now.

Brian.

[Bill Kearney]

Ok.  I'll stop posting in this thread now.

Well, I don't want to scare anyone off, but I'm really not at all concerned about the content encoding, or changing head units.  I've got that covered, and MC already has some great features that already work for handling this should anyone else want it.