Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[macdonjh]

I tried ripping a CD tonight and got this message:
"The output directory could not be created for one or more files. Please double check the output directory in the ripping options."

I went to Tools -> Options -> File Location and found:

Audio (CD rips and podcasts):
   /Volumes/5TBLibrary/Music (which is correct)
   Folder rule: [Artist]\[Album]/ (which is incorrect, notice the back slash...)
   Filename rule: [Artis] - [Name] (which is what I want)

I tried changing the Folder rule to Custom: [Artist]/[Album]/, but was then told that the folders could not be read only.  Then I tried [Artist]/[Album], and was told the folder could not be read only. 

So then I checked the Get Info for /Volumes/5TBLibrary in Finder and found that I can read and write to the USB drive. 

I then opened my original library and tried without luck to rip the CD.  I checked the file locations and MC was trying to rip the CD to /Volumes/5TBLibrary/Music, which is not there my original library stores its audio files.  Shouldn't MC switch ripping directories when different libraries are opened?

Then I closed MC, shut down my computer, restarted everything but had the same problem.

Can someone tell me what's going on?

[macdonjh]

Oh, music and video files play normally.  It's just that suddenly I can't rip CDs.  I haven't tried ripping a DVD (no new DVDs to rip).

[blgentry]

I would guess that you have something odd going on with either the permissions on that folder, or with the drive itself.  You're not using NTFS on that drive are you?  Mac will not natively write to NTFS; it needs a funky driver.

Either way, it might be instructive to change the rip folder to be on your local drive in your user folder.  Something like Music/rips/ or similar.  That would prove if MC can rip and write to any disks.

MC is not capable of ripping DVDs in the Mac version.  Just CDs.

Brian.

[Awesome Donkey]

Mac will not natively write to NTFS

Well, it *can*, but it's experimental (and potentially VERY buggy) and has to be manually enabled using fstab.

[macdonjh]

blgentry,

No, my external USB drive is formatted in exFAT, not NTSF.  It was working just fine a couple of days ago, and suddenly stopped allowing me to write to the drive through MC.  I did not try creating a new folder on either my internal or USB drive and then ripping to that.  I'll try that and see what happens.  Any idea what might have happened to the drive that was working so well just on Sunday? 

I checked the drive set-up using "get info" in Finder and it says I have read/ write permission to the drive. 

Oops, I PLAY video files using MC, but I RIP DVDs using MakeMKV.  My bad.

[macdonjh]

Tonight, using the Finder, I manually created a folder: /Volumes/5TBLibrary/Music/[Artist]/[Album].

Then I went to Tools -> Options -> File Locations and changed the basic folder to the one shown above.  I then changed the Folder Rule to [] (you know, "blank").  I left the Filename Rule as [Artist] - [Name].

The CD then ripped normally and retrieved cover art.  So I apparently am unable to create new folders on any of my drives through MC, but am able to write files to existing folders using MC.  I guess I'll create a RIPPED folder and then use Rename, Move & Copy to put any recently ripped files where I really want them.  All that at least until I figure out what's going on.

Weird.

[blgentry]

Sounds like a permissions problem on your Music folder.  Check the permissions on the drive, then the next folder down, and then the next until you get to an album.  If you find that your userid does not have write permission at any of these levels, it might explain it.

I've never had this issue, but I actually do NOT rip CDs with MC.  I use a third party tool.

Brian.

[macdonjh]

OK, so that begs two questions:
Why don't you use MC for ripping CDs?
Which 3rd party program do you use?

[macdonjh]

I opened the Finder again and started looking.
/Volumes/5TBLibrary - I have permission to read/ write
/Music - I have permission to read/ write
/Schneider, Bob - I have permission to read/ write (this is the folder where I wanted to store the newly ripped files)
/King Kong - I have permission to read/ write (this is the folder for the new album)
/King Kong Volume 3 - I have permission to read/ write (this is another album in the Schnieder, Bob folder

So I have permission to read/ write in every folder all the way down the folder tree, but MC still wouldn't create a new folder during the ripping process.  It would; however, rip to an existing folder.

[blgentry]

Hmm, well I guess we can rule out permissions problems.  I'm unsure of how to troubleshoot from here... at least at the moment.

I do not use MC to rip CDs because I had some early (3 years ago) problems with it.  I have since tested and did not have the same problems.  Jim is very proud of the MC ripping engine and has said they spent a ton of money developing a world class ripping facility.

I've been using XLD to rip since I started doing FLAC rips of my CDs and have continued to do so.  I continue to use it because it works well and I know how it works; there are no surprises.  If I were to switch to MC, there would be a small learning curve and I don't perceive any benefits of switching.  So I'm staying with what I know for now.

I'll post if I have a good idea of how to troubleshoot this further.  So far it's got me stumped.

Brian.

[macdonjh]

That is exactly where I am: stumped.  At least I have a work-a-round, clunky as it is.

Thank you for your help with everything.

[macdonjh]

Update: I'm still stumped, but I just ripped two CDs the old fashioned way, directly to the folders I wanted where I store my media files: /Volumes/5TBLibrary/Music/[Artist]/[Album].  So I guess my external hard drive is read-only Monday through Friday and read/ write on the weekend?

But, when I used MR&C to put the new files in the folders I wanted (to maintain my naming convention), neither disc went where I asked it to go.  When the discs ripped, they ripped to:
/Volumes/5TBLibrary/Music/[Artist (first name last name)]/[Album]. 

First I selected all the tracks on the CD.  Then I double checked that MC had retrieved the best cover art from the internet.  I filled in missing tag information ([Date], [Genre] typically).  Then I <rename> the [Artist] tag from (first name last name) to (last name, first name).

I tried to use MR&C to rename and move the audio files to:
/Volumes/5TBLibrary/Music/[Artist (last name, first name)]/[Album]. 

When I did that I got this error message about tagging errors and check to see that my files existed, were not read only and were not in use by another program.  When I acknowledged the error, the files all reverted back to their original file path.  That had happened before and the fix is to use Finder to move the audio files manually, let MC recognize the new files, then delete the duplicate files in the old folder manually.  So MR&C isn't working the way it should for me.

Then I thought the trouble might me that I didn't use this rule:
/Volumes/5TBLibrary/Music/[Album Artist (auto)]/[Album]
But I tried that with a couple of individual tracks and got the same error message.

So I have a few albums that do not have an [Album Artist] in the tag information.  Is that a problem?  What part of MC won't work properly if there is no [Album Artist]?

Weird.

[blgentry]

It almost sounds like you have MC open in read only mode somehow.  I've never personally seen that happen, but I've read that it happens when you have MC open twice.  It's hard to do that in the Mac version though.  I think you said you've rebooted since this started, so it shouldn't be that.  Something is odd that's for sure.

Brian.

[macdonjh]

Yes, I know I shut down and restarted last night.  How can I check to see if MC is in read only mode?

[blgentry]

I think, over in the left hand navigation area, where is says "playing from Main library" it will have "read only" in parenthesis.  I think.

I also think that all tagging changes will fail.

Brian.