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[Peter1001]

I recently cleaned-up many of our 800+GB music files maintained on a Synology NAS. The changes were made on the music files and not through MC.  Most of my files are AIFF.    I had hoped that MC would automatically pick up the changes to align with the music files but no joy other than deleted files were deleted from the library.  On individual files, I also tried using Library Tools > Update Library (from tags).   

The changes that were not picked up were:
•   Artists that were first, last name moved to last, first name, and
•   Track titling I had changed  - both titles that had been missing  and track numbering (eg, 01 Had To Cry Today). 
•   Also, albums moved to be under artists have had their links to the library broken,

 I’m wondering whether I should just delete the MC library and start all over with a fresh scan or whether there are other library tools I should be using.  One approach I’m wondering about is using Library Tools > Update Tags (from library) and then doing a library delete and fresh scan.  The metadata  I care about are cover art, genre and year.   

 Not sure if it matters but I also recently updated from v20 to v25.  I’m not a sophisticated user so I’m hoping for simple guidance.

[Spike1000]

I too maintain (re-tag, delete etc) my audio files (mainly FLAC) outside MC. I just "run auto import now" and it brings MC into line with all the changes. . .

May not be the most efficient way of doing it but it has always worked for me.

Spike

[Peter1001]

Hi Spike,

I ran Auto Import Now and it didn’t update the track names.  I’ve been using JRiver for years but have to admit since initial set up, I’ve been on auto-pilot and have now started revisiting the set up.  I’m wondering if my updating problems are caused by my file settings.   My current file path is, eg, \\ELLENSPC\Black  47\Home of the Brave\ and it doesn’t include the track name.  If this is the problem, can I simply change the file path or will that cause new problems?

Any chance we can take this off line and you can guide me through troubleshooting?  I’m thinking my issues are probably fairly basic but will require some back and forth.

Peter

[Spike1000]

I'm not 100% sure what's not working for you.
I see two areas:
1) The names of the physical files.
I'm not sure from what you've said if you expect these to change as I'm a bit confused.
Personally I use MP3Tag for all my filename changes, auto renumbering, tag to filename updates etc and then just run an auto update in MC and it sorts it all out in MC's database.

2) File metadata (Tags)
I don't have any AIFF files so I'm not familiar with what metadata they can hold. I'm assuming it's as comprehensive as FLAC or MP3. . .
Now these should change (or at least can change) in MC if they are changed outside MC and an auto-import run. MCs settings control this.

Under media import I have:

Update for external changes ticked  and
Fix broken links Yes (protect files on missing drives) set.

Spike

[Peter1001]

Thanks for the response.   1) I’m expecting the library to change, not the physical music files on the NAS.  And, 2) I did not have clicked Update for external changes ticked and Fix broken links - Yes (protect files on missing drives) but do now.   AIFF is a fairly standard format, so I agree that I don’t think format is my problem.

I reviewed  ther very helpful videos you attached and made some other changes, such as  I didn’t have Build thumbnails and Analyze audio checked but do now (or at least the analyzing music is still running in the background).   Unfortunately, my library track names still have not updated from my NAS files and broken links not repaired.  Any other suggestions? 

My “throw up my hands” fix is probably to just to clear my library and rescan, but I’m afraid I would lose cover art, genre and year.  I have a lot of albums that I’ve done high resolution copies from LPs.  However, I’m at a loss for what is causing my problems.

[blgentry]

You say you've tried "update library from tags" on some of the files you changed outside of MC.  That means that MC does not see updated tags in those files.  Are you sure the tags have been changed?  Are you sure you are looking at the exact same files in MC that have had their tags changed?

Brian.

[Peter1001]

Yes, the tags in the music (NAS) files were changed.

After I made the changes to the music files, I upgraded from v20 to v25.  I'm not sure if I tried to "update library from tags"  before or after I made the upgrade.
 I think it was before.  I did back up the library before I made the upgrade.  Is there a way to check my settings to make sure I'm looking at the correct library version?


 

[Peter1001]

I checked in Playing Now and it is pointing to a v25 library and as I just upgraded, I don't see how this is the problem. 

[BryanC]

The problem here is likely the AIFF format. While there are standards compatible ways to add tags to the files, there isn't really a cross-compatible standard tag per se. So whatever external program you are using to modify the tags probably results in tags that cannot be read by MC.

So your two options would be to modify the tags within MC and then write them to the files OR (probably better) convert to FLAC. Possibly, the JRiver devs can look at some sample AIFF files that you have modified with your external program and try to add support for its tag format. They may decline on the premise of supporting bad behavior.

[Peter1001]

I'm simply going into my Synology NAS, pulling up files and changing names.  For example, I cut the album file out of the Bruce Springsteen directory and pasted it into Springsteen, Bruce.  In the Waterstons, I changed Track 01 to Wassail Song.

Are you saying that MC won't support these changes because I'm using AIFF?

[BryanC]

Something is not clear here. Are you expecting to be able to change the filenames and/or locations of files and have those changes reflected in the metadata? You stated in the post before mine that the "tags in the music files were changed."

Perhaps we need a clearer understanding of your workflow before we try to troubleshoot any further.

[Peter1001]

Sorry about the confusion.  I’m expecting the MC library to align with the changes I made to the physical files on my NAS. I checked and JRiver states they fully support AIFF

[BigSpider]

Hi,
I think you are confusing file locations and filenames with the idea of metadata. Metadata is a number of data items either stored in the actual files or in the MC library database. If you take some files and put them into a different folder, or change the actual filename of a track you will not be changing any of the metadata (apart from the Filepath details), you will simply be telling MC that the files are in a different place or have a different filename.

[Peter1001]

I guess that makes sense but is there a way to bring the musical file track names I’ve changed into the MC library?  For example bring them into the file path and then MC pull them out as the track names?

[BigSpider]

If you select those files in MC and type =filename(Name) into the name tag column, it will put the filename into the name metadata column. I would try one or two files first to get the hang of it and then if is ok then select all of the files you want to do this to and then click the F2 button on your keyboard to open the multiple file tagging feature of MC. If something doesn't work right as you are trying this then go to file undo to recover.

[Peter1001]

Thanks and I’ll give it a shot.

[MikeO]

I have used Library Tools Move Copy Tags

Copy file name ( path) to Comment , or a text tag you don’t use then Find &replace text then finally copy to Name , messy but woks,

I used it to extract CD# from directory names

[Spike1000]

I guess that makes sense but is there a way to bring the musical file track names I’ve changed into the MC library?  For example bring them into the file path and then MC pull them out as the track names?

There are a number of ways to do this, people have given you some examples already. I use MP3tag for my 99% of my tagging. It has the ability to build tags from 'fields' eg track number, filename, path etc etc as well as change the tag based of the filename or construct a filename based on tags; pad numbers etc etc. So a number of operations can be done at once. All my filenames are of this format:

$num(%track%,2) %artist% - %title%
01 Blue Nile, The - A Walk Across the Rooftops.flac

$num(%track%,3) %artist% - %title%
001 Blue Nile, The - A Walk Across the Rooftops.flac

It can auto renumber tracks (padding leading zeroes) and reset counters on a new directory so you can do entire directory 'tree' in one go.

I can extract tags from 'unconventional' filenames: eg %track% %dummy% - %title% - %artist%

You can even string these operations together in macros ('Actions') eg.

Case conversion
Grammartron - Smart Case and Grammar Restorer #1 - Tags
Grammartron - Smart Case and Grammar Restorer #2 - Filenames
Grammartron - Smart Case and Grammar Restorer #3 - Parent Directory
Title Case - Artist + Album +Title
Title Case - Filenames

The 'grid' layout gives a great overview of the tag status of your entire collection at once in a sortable table. (Sorting the table makes it easy to spot anomalies (eg tracks with cover art that's not '1').

Maybe I should do a video on MP3Tag. . . . I have thought of doing one on 'tagging/metadata' in the past. . . But as I'm on MC 24 and feel no motivation to upgrade there seems little point.

Spike

[MikeO]

PS MP3Tag is free ...

I also Find Tag&Rename very useful for sorting out funnies in Tags ($30 for life) I bought it originally as the only think I could find to standardise and resize Folder Art

[Peter1001]

Sorry for not responding earlier to everyone.  I've been traveling.  I've enough here to see what works for me.  Thanks everyone for your suggestions.

Peter

[Peter1001]

Thanks to everyone for your suggestions again.   As a reminder, I performed a major clean up and reorganization of my NAS-based 800+ GB physical music files and MC was not picking up the changes.  My files are all in the AIFF format and I’m on MC v25.  My goal has been to use the physical file Artist and Album directory names and file Track Names as tags in MC’s library.   JRiver is clearly a versatile platform but, for me, not very user friendly. There may be easier ways but this is what I ended up doing.

Backup MC Library
     •    Playing Now > Playing From Main Library > Main Library > Backup & Restore > (select) Backup Library > In dialogue select “Save”
     •   Verify backup was made in Windows:  C;|Users\<Username>\Documents\JRiver\Media Center 25\Library Backups

Cleared Library:  File > Library > Clear Library

Reset MC settings
   Set filepath : Tools > Options > File Location > Audio (CD Rips & Podcasts) >
     •   Select folder:  Z:\
     •   Folder rule:  [artist name]\[album]
     •   Filename Rule: [artist]\[album]\ [track #] \[name]

Enable MC to tag WAV & AIFF 
     •   Tools > Options > Audio > Advanced > Configure input plug in…. > Select JRiver WAV & AIFF Plugin > in dialogue box enable MC to accept changes by “Ok”
     •   Options > General > Import & Tagging > set “Update tags when file info changes

Configure Auto-Import:  my settings - 
     •   Set folder MC is to watch – in my case Z:\
     •   Set the following tasks (turned off Analyze Music to save time) and re-imported my library.
        o   Build Thumbnails
        o   Get cover art
        o   Ignore files previously removed from library
        o   Update from external changes – set as “Yes”

My NAS-based physical file organization:  (My track names are preceded by track #s.  In some instances I added them in during my reorganization to make the file formatting consistent.)
    •   Music Library (Z:\
        o   Artist (last, first name) (eg, Dylan, Bob)
                    Album name (Blood On The Tracks)
               •   Track Name (01 Tangled Up In Blue)

Create new file view and Fill Properties from Filename
      (I adapted from the guidance in the “Organizing My Media” posting in the Interact Forum started on 2/14/2013)
Audio > File – At top of bar by file type, right click and in dialogue box click “Customize View.”  Enter and then click "ok" after each selection to create new panes
     •   Location (all locations)
     •   Artist
     •   Album (finish).  Dialogue box will ask to save in new view, click Yes – will create a new view in the tree – “File Copy”

Options > Library Tools > Fill Properties from File Name
     •   Click Template
     •   Click Directories and type in [location]\[artist]\[album]
     •   Click File Name and type in [name]

To test, I selected a single album to be changed, clicked on one track and then “Control a” for entire album.  As you work through getting the new view and properties correct, you can undo with “Control z”).  Once you get it where you want it, “Control a” all the location files and run it under Fill Properties from File Name.  After you make the change, MC asks if you want to save, select "Yes" and then MC takes a goodly amount of time to carry out the save.

I still have more clean-up work to do on some individual files to get the MC library where I want it and I’ll be investigating 3rd party tagging apps.