More > JRiver Media Center 23 for Mac
Fixing Paths and Filenames with special characters (Accents, etc.) Mac/PC
tangolovers:
WOW... ONE MORE AH-HA MOMENT!
As I study each song, one-by-one in Explorer, I discovered that many of them have (1) appended to the name. I am thoroughly embarrassed that I didn't catch these before, although it's probably only a few hundred. I know a lot about Windows, but no idea how to remove these in mass. OR, maybe this can be on on the MAC then recopy all the music to the PC!!
As for he rest, they seem to have variations - such as a special character in the "Name", but not in the "Filename" (in Explorer), so I now realize that the mass rename may have changed some of the "Filenames" inappropriately.
For example - looking at one record in Explorer/Finder (on MAC): Name=Jirón Porteño while Filename=05 - Jirón Porteno.mp3.
Update To Post:
Regarding the Filenames ending in (1) in Explorer but not in MC: I used RM&CM to change one filename in MC and it played. If I can Isolate all the one's that I know end in (1) & use MC to add the (1) to the names, is there way to then used MC to mass remove the (1) such that it will update the actual filename in Explorer removing all the (1)'s everywhere? Otherwise, I'm hoping there's a way to do this in Windows, but not too hopeful.
I see how Rename updated the Filename and now the special "n" character appears in both Name/Filename in MC (on PC). Explaining, why it still not-playable and path is normal. Looks like I did not always use the same naming scheme.
Unfortunately, I'm doing this on the dinosaur PC, making that much hard to fix. Then, I think I'll have to port it back to the MAC so I'm not working with 2 different libraries. Unless you tell me otherwise, I will continue this work on the PC.
RoderickGI:
--- Quote from: Galaxy Quest (The movie) ---Never give up! Never surrender!
--- End quote ---
I like solving problems. I learn more doing that than just using the software. Of course, sometimes I know just enough to be very dangerous. ;D
On the forum issues:
Good that you found the Preview buttons.
There is a "handle" in the middle button of the typing window, which looks like two additional horizontal lines. Hover over that with the mouse and you will see that the cursor change to a double-ended vertical arrow. While that shows, click and drag the bottom of the window down to make it bigger.
There is no way to just quote a portion of a reply directly. The "Quote" button (top right corner of a post) always quotes the full text. What I do is keep the original thread open on one browser tab, so that I can read it and still see attached images. Then I have another Reply tab open that I am typing in. In fact, as I have a large high-resolution screen, I often have two windows open side by side, one with the original post and one with the reply window I am typing in.
Then if I want to quote a small portion of a large post, I Ctrl+left-click on the "Quote" button in the original thread, which opens another tab with the full text of the post quoted. Then I edit that quoted text down to what I want, copy it, and paste it into the window where I am typing my reply. I have some other tricks, but I would need to make a video to show those rather than try to explain them.
Try the above ideas though. You will find them much easier than using Word to edit quotes, and a larger reply window makes a world of difference.
=================================================================
Now, on to this issue.
I should have thought that yes, you will need to also correct file paths which have special characters. When I said it was only the file name that has issues with special characters, I meant in comparison to the other tags in the file, such as the [Name], [Artist] and [Album] fields. I was just working with your sample files, so forgot to think about the paths you use.
It looks like your "Base Path" is now "D:\Music\My Music\" on the Windows 7 PC, and that your directory rule should be:
[Album Artist (auto)]\[Album]\
You may have just used [Artist] or [Album Artist] as the first part of that expression in the past, but [Album Artist (auto)] is better and prevents Albums being broken up in MC due to multiple Artists on one or more tracks. But this comes down to the accuracy of the metadata in your Library. I did notice that for the track named "El Huracán"
[Artist] is "Alfredo De Angelis"
[Album Artist] is "El Húracan"
[Album Artist (auto)] is "El Húracan", since it follows [Album Artist] when it exists. I think that is wrong, and the track should be under Artist "Alfredo De Angelis".
If that is so, and your library is set up that way for most music, you might want to use the expression:
[Artist]\[Album]\
Whichever way you go, test with small numbers of files, and check the Preview before committing the change.
Again, taking into account the comments above for the directory structure you use for all music, you can use the RM&CF function to move the files to a new directory with a path that works. I can't test this, as I don't have your broken paths. Any path I create works fine.
The files reverting to unplayable a short time after you did the file name change may not be an issue. What I expect happened there is that MC did the file name change, marked the track as playable because it had just updated the file, and then checked it again and noted the issue with the file path, so marked it unplayable again.
Once you fix both the path and file name, with a sample on files, refresh the View and then check that the files remain playable. Also, check using the "Locate > On Disk (external)" function for a few files to confirm that the files are found correctly.
Be careful not to process all the file at once without testing first, as your Library could become a real mess if files are moved to paths they should be in.
Give the above a go, and report back.
PS: The renaming of the files using the expression above should remove the " (1)" suffix from files. It will only be a problem if a duplicate file without the suffix exists. So, this will be fixed in MC. You could run the same process on the Mac, within MC, to fix them there.
PPS: I see you have worked out the Jirón Porteño file issue. I noticed at least one issue of that type in one of your earlier screenshots.
We are working on the Windows 7 PC currently, and not the Mac. Right? What is happening in Finder doesn't matter, except for comparison of changes you have made to the original files.
PPPS: When this is fixed on the Windows 7 PC, I would Backup and Restore a Library from W7 to W10, and copy the files from W7 to W10. Alternately, you could run the same fixes on W10. From what you have said, W10 is the primary computer, the Mac is the secondary, and the W7 will be retired. Stick to the plan to fix W10 after testing/learning on W7.
PPPPS: It is a bit of a worry if after the rename files in Windows Explorer have a " (1)" suffix, but in MC they do not. However, once all other issues are fixed, only those files should remain unplayable, so we can easily add the " (1)" suffix back in only in MC using the "Update database to point to new location" mode of RM&CF, and then the Explorer and MC should match, and then you could rename them to remove the suffix in MC and on Windows. Simple, huh?
Carry on!
tangolovers:
...
tangolovers:
Thank you for all the Interact tips!! What a difference the big reply window makes and using multiple screens!! Wow!
--- Quote from: RoderickGI on December 03, 2019, 09:56:16 pm ---It looks like your "Base Path" is now "D:\Music\My Music\" on the Windows 7 PC, and that your directory rule should be:
[Album Artist (auto)]\[Album]\
You may have just used [Artist] or [Album Artist] as the first part of that expression in the past, but [Album Artist (auto)] is better and prevents Albums being broken up in MC due to multiple Artists on one or more tracks. But this comes down to the accuracy of the metadata in your Library. I did notice that for the track named "El Huracán"
[Artist] is "Alfredo De Angelis"
[Album Artist] is "El Húracan"
[Album Artist (auto)] is "El Húracan", since it follows [Album Artist] when it exists. I think that is wrong, and the track should be under Artist "Alfredo De Angelis".
If that is so, and your library is set up that way for most music, you might want to use the expression:
[Artist]\[Album]\
--- End quote ---
I verified, my Audio Folder rule is currently set to the MC default of [Artist]\[Album]\. I think you're suggesting I change this... in either case, I don't understand how this will fix the paths with special characters, if they do can you please clarify?
When you say "directory rule" are you referring to Options > File Locations > Audio > Folder rule? If so, I think it's always been set to the MC defaults. It never occurred to me to change them. Will changing the directory/folder rule to "[Album Artist (auto)]\[Album]\" help cleanup the folder structure in the case of multiple artists on multiple tracks? Don't these only apply when Ripping a CD?
I'm a bit confused by your above comment regarding El Huracan. First of all, where do you see the Album Artist (auto) and the other fields you talk about? From what I can see in MC El Huracan IS under the Artist "Alfredo.... ". Although I do have 10 different versions of El Huracan from different Albums, different orchestras etc., each using different naming conventions for Album, Album Artist etc... it's a mess!! My guess it this is a long term project of manual fixing as I go. No hurry on this. Just need library & playlists to work again, then I can clean up.
One of the reasons for this mess is because very often nothing populated as the CD's were Ripped, requiring me to manually fill in fields w/no set rules. I don't know if artist should be the composer (which I rarely know), the orchestra playing it, or the singer? in some cases, I just didn't like how it populated and I wanted to change it to something more meaningful in those fields. Unfortunately, with no methodology it gradually became a mess. So, how do I resolve all of these possibilities for artist, album etc when I have to enter it myself manually?
--- Quote from: RoderickGI on December 03, 2019, 09:56:16 pm ---
PPS: I see you have worked out the Jirón Porteño file issue. I noticed at least one issue of that type in one of your earlier screenshots.
We are working on the Windows 7 PC currently, and not the Mac. Right? What is happening in Finder doesn't matter, except for comparison of changes you have made to the original files.
--- End quote ---
Yes, only Working with Windows7 right now. Although I did a factory reset on the new Windows10 to reset everything in MC - probably overkill, but it's done. Music has been recopied over there from same external HD used to copy to Windows7. I wish I wasn't doing all the Library modifications there, because it's such a pain. But I guess I'm already halfway committed.
--- Quote from: RoderickGI on December 03, 2019, 09:56:16 pm ---PPPPS: It is a bit of a worry if after the rename files in Windows Explorer have a " (1)" suffix, but in MC they do not. However, once all other issues are fixed, only those files should remain unplayable, so we can easily add the " (1)" suffix back in only in MC using the "Update database to point to new location" mode of RM&CF, and then the Explorer and MC should match, and then you could rename them to remove the suffix in MC and on Windows. Simple, huh?
--- End quote ---
Sorry if I confused things. The (1) suffix was already in Finder on the MAC. So it was also there in Explorer. What happened is when I accidentally did the Rename "[Track #] - [Name]" to clean up the special characters, neither of us realized that it would remove the (1) from MC making those files unreadable. I feel like it might be better to start with a new restore, but I'm afraid I might forget exactly how I got to this point.... what do you think? At least then, I could more easily isolate the files that have (1) and change this in mass. That would be a huge help!! I suspect the last rename might have resulted in more, Perhaps it's better to start fresh with a new restore? Although I can't recall all the steps I took to get where I am. :o ?
tangolovers:
I think I was able to undo my Rename that removed the (1) suffix from the filenames in MC. And I was able to remove the (1) from MC & Explorer simultaneously. Now I need to do a mass rename - preferably on everything, including the one's that no longer have a suffix (some contained special characters as well). I didn't understand how to go about this...
In looking at the final 679 non-playing files, Every single one appears to have special characters in the file path. There is still one file that rename did not work on because both "Name" & "Filename" have the same special character that appears like a space in rename, so rename has no effect. I've tried everything and can't figure out how to do these in mass. Please tell me you have the secret!!!
I also figured out that our latest Rename "[Track #] - [Name]" broke a lot of my files because I recall manually changing the "Names" to my liking w/o changing the Filename. Another bad behavior. Ouch!! I've been manually fixing these Album by Album. I'm going to Explorer to copy/paste the path of that album, then I rename the path for an entire album. Painful, but working. 469 to go unless you come up with something easier...
BTW, Should I have Auto-Import turned back ON?
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