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[tangolovers]

I'm using MacOC & MC26...

I need help isolating several hundred files (from 8124) that won't play.  They all have "-" next to them and I know the reason they won't play is a special character issue I'm resigned to fixing manually, however it would save a lot of time if I could isolate them and fix them all at once using RM*CF.     

I've done this before by typing [=ismissing([filename])]=1 into the search bar, but for some strange reason it's not working this time!     Are there any other options for quickly isolating these files rather then having to find & select them one-by-one to add to a temporary playlist?

[bob]

Can you help us understand what you are seeing?
Is the filename actually empty?
Can you include a screenshot of what it looks like in the library listing?
What does it look like on disk?

[tangolovers]

Hi Bob -- thank you for responding... I've posted an attachment for the visual.   

This morning I started doing a lot of digging and what I'm actually finding is that the files are absolutely on the HD, which I knew all along, however they are not displaying when I view them in Mac Finder (so a screenshot will who like the files aren't there).  But, I know the files are there because when I move the drive to my 2 PC's everything plays perfectly and I can see then in File Explorer on the PC.  So there's definitely something up with how Mac is seeing them.  I will be calling Apple shortly to see what they say. 

That said, I would still think that MC would allow me to isolate all files with "-" like I've done before, but this time its not working.

[bob]

Hi Bob -- thank you for responding... I've posted an attachment for the visual.   

This morning I started doing a lot of digging and what I'm actually finding is that the files are absolutely on the HD, which I knew all along, however they are not displaying when I view them in Mac Finder (so a screenshot will who like the files aren't there).  But, I know the files are there because when I move the drive to my 2 PC's everything plays perfectly and I can see then in File Explorer on the PC.  So there's definitely something up with how Mac is seeing them.  I will be calling Apple shortly to see what they say. 

That said, I would still think that MC would allow me to isolate all files with "-" like I've done before, but this time its not working.

Try clicking on the header just to the left of  name and it should sort all of the - ones together.

It sounds like your files on the HD either have characters in the filename/path that the Mac can't handle or they have some permission or hidden attribute issue.

[tangolovers]

I tried clicking on the header for the thumbnails (same column as "-") and the arrow reverses direction, but it has no effect. 

If the issue is the latter (permissions or attribute) I'm puzzled how certain files in an album are affected but not others and what actually caused this to happen.  I will continue to search and I have Apple looking into it right now, but I'm not very hopeful.  I will keep you informed.

[bob]

I tried clicking on the header for the thumbnails (same column as "-") and the arrow reverses direction, but it has no effect. 

If the issue is the latter (permissions or attribute) I'm puzzled how certain files in an album are affected but not others and what actually caused this to happen.  I will continue to search and I have Apple looking into it right now, but I'm not very hopeful.  I will keep you informed.

The column for the minus is one to the right of the thumbnail column on a stock list.

When you compare the filename for the file in MC vs what it looks like on disk, are there any differences you can see?
For just one file would you copy/paste the pathname here for us to see?

[tangolovers]

Not sure I understand what you mean by "stock list", I've never heard of this and don't know where to find it.  I assumed you were referring to the “Images(small thumbnail)” column, which is what I clicked on to sort, but nothing happened. 

Yes, there is a difference how they appear in MC (only in Rename) vs on Disk.  In Rename, the special character is represented with an extra space next to it (on both Mac & PC).  In Mac Finder these files are not even visible, yet they are definitely on the HD & when I connect it to the PC, Filename(name) looks exactly the same as it does in MC (normal view - not in Rename).  Secondly, there is a slight difference how these special characters are displayed in MC Rename on Mac vs PC (see below).

Here’s What I See:

On Mac (see 1st attachment)
Filename(name):  "16 - Garúa.flac" but Rename displays it as "16 - Garu a.flac".
Filename:            "/Volumes/E/Music/My Music/Assorted/40 Tangos Para Bailar/40 Tangos Para Bailar - Vol 2/16 - Garúa.flac" (had to type because it’s invisible).
These files do not play and all have “-” next to them!   
Tools > Locate > On Disk(external) says file does not exist because it is looking for "/Volumes/E/Music/…/16 - Garúa.flac" (without the extra space).   

On Windows - when connected to same HD "E"  (see last 2 attachments)
Filename(name):  "16 - Garúa.flac" but Rename displays it as  "16 - Garu´a.flac".
Filename:             "E:\Music\My Music\Assorted\40 Tangos Para Bailar\40 Tangos Para Bailar - Vol 2\16 - Garúa.flac"
All files play perfectly, with the anomaly that Locate(on Disk) points to My documents instead of the actual file.
Tools > Locate > On Disk(external) points to My Documents when it should point to "/Volumes/E/Music/…/01 - Gólgota.mp3". 

As soon as you exit Rename, everything looks normal - you would never guess there was a problem.  Why they play fine on Windows and not on Mac is a mystery. 

It sure seems like there's something funky about these particular files with special characters.  I have thousands of others with special characters that play perfectly. 

[HaWi]

I have had very similar issues on my Mac as well. Invisible characters, MC not finding the file, etc.
While I haven't been able to figure out why this is happening, I did experiment quite a bit and this is what I found. But beware, it may be different in your case.

1) This issue arises mostly (maybe even always) when a filename contains a special character and that file originates from "outside", e.g. ripped from a CD or downloaded from a media provider (HD Tracks or Qobuz etc.)

2) If I manually rename the special character on my Mac to the same special character, the problem goes away. In this case I may have to manually change the [filename (name)] or [file name (path)], depending on where the character occurs.
My Directories rule is [Album Artist]/[Album]/ and my Filename rule is [Disk #]-[Track #] [Name], so if there is a special character in any of ([Album], [Album Artist], [Name] I have to manually correct it.
I suspect, but have no concrete evidence, that this is due to the fact that special characters can be encoded in different ways resulting in the same "look" but actually being seen as different by the file/operating system.
For example, - and - look exactly the same but when I use the former in MC it creates a problem and the file containing this character in the [filename (name)] is not found if you search for it with the second dash in the search term. So they are definitely different. I do not know exactly what that difference is or how to describe it otherwise but I guess it must be the way the file/operating system encodes them.

3) The same is true for other special characters, such as á, ô, ë, ñ, etc., where there exist(s) (a) "version(s)"  that are not recognized correctly by MC and probably MacOS and Linux. Invariably, when I replace such a problematic character manually or by search/replace, the problem goes away.

4) Originally, I thought this was a problem with my NAS and its file/operating system not being able to recognize some special characters. However, after extensive experimentation, I determined that the issue lies with the characters themselves and  if I use one that is recognized properly by MC it also works perfectly on the NAS and MacOS (MacOS is much closer to Linux, which is the basis for the OS of the NAS).

In summary, the only solution I came up with, so far, is to first replace all special characters in MC with the appropriate one (I went through >20000 tracks and this is tedious!).
Then, before I import new media, I perform the character replacing right away on the file or names themselves (they will also sometimes show spaces instead of the character and I have to either guess or look up the name at the provider).
Then, if the [Album] or [Album Artist] contain special characters after importing, I correct those in MC before I "F6" save them to the media files.
This is also tedious but less so than posthoc, on a large library. To be safe, I do this on every special character, regardless of whether it looks fine or not.

This is far from optimal and if the MC developers can find a better solution to this issue that would be a stellar advance.

Cheers,
Hans

[tangolovers]

Hello HaWi -- thanks for your input.  The problem exists on both Mac & PC, but is displayed different in each and behaves different on each.  Before I had a huge problem with this on the PC and thought I fixed it. 

Everything was originally ripped from CD's, either on Mac or PC, but there's no explanation why some songs in an album would cause problems and others not, when they all contain special characters. 

know I can fix it manually as I have done in the past.  The problem now is I haven't been able to easily search and isolate them like I did before.  It's not working.  I was able to isolate all non-playing or problematic files, put them in a temporary playlist and basically do a mass rename for most because the actual Name was not affected and I used that to Rename  Filename(name). 

Anyhow, not being able to isolate them means I have to first find them in a huge library and correct them one-by-one.   So, while the cause may not yet be known, I'd like to at least be able to isolate these files.  Searching on  [=ismissing([filename])]=1 worked when I did it on the PC last year, but now it doesn't work on the Mac.  I'm not sure what's different. 

[HaWi]

Are you searching in the search field or are you using a smart playlist to find missing files? I am using a smart playlist with [=IsMissing()]=1 as a custom rule (I believe this playlist is a Stock list in MC). It works perfectly.

[tangolovers]

Okay... I will try... but now for the bigger problem...   I can see which files don't play on the Mac, but I can't perform the edits there.  I need to do all edits from my PC, however all files play just fine there.  Uggg... this is going to be harder than I thought!   

So, I guess I'll make the playlist on the Mac and print it out so I can do the edits on the PC...  going to be a long process...

I've never created a rule before so I don't understand how to enter it.  the first line says Media is Audio, but how do I enter the search on [=IsMissing()]=1 rule?   Is it under Rules or Modify Results?  Under Rules, I don't see the option to cut and paste [=IsMissing()]=1.

[HaWi]

Okay... I will try... but now for the bigger problem...   I can see which files don't play on the Mac, but I can't perform the edits there.  I need to do all edits from my PC, however all files play just fine there.  Uggg... this is going to be harder than I thought!   

So, I guess I'll make the playlist on the Mac and print it out so I can do the edits on the PC...  going to be a long process...

I've never created a rule before so I don't understand how to enter it.  the first line says Media is Audio, but how do I enter the search on [=IsMissing()]=1 rule?   Is it under Rules or Modify Results?  Under Rules, I don't see the option to cut and paste [=IsMissing()]=1.

In Standard view, on the left most frame, under Playlists/Smartlists, there should be a smartlist with the name "Audio -- Task -- Missing files". That's the one I use to detect missing files that I ned to fix. If you don't see it you can create it by Right Clicking on Smartlists, selecting Add Smartlist. Then, in the newly popped up smartlist window name it at the top and under Rules click Add Rule, then in the left box choose "Custom" and in the right box enter [=IsMissing()]=1. Then click Apply and OK and that should have created the smartlist to find missing files.

[tangolovers]

OMG!!!  THAT WORKED!!!   

There was not a Smartest with the name you described so I created it as you instructed and they showed up!!  That's so amazing...  thank you!!

Now, for tedious part...   I was able to copy everything from my custom Smartest to a regular playlist.  I then exported the playlist and re-imported on the PC.  Now I am on the PC going through them one by one and I will make the edits there.  I plan to do like I'd did in the past and select small batches of audio files > RM&CF > Rename Filename to "[Track#] - [Name]", which should overwrite the problematic Filename with the actual Name eliminating the special character issue.  As far as I know only Filename has the special character issue in all or most of these cases.

I will keep you posted.

Thank you!  Thank you!  Thank you!!   

[tangolovers]

SUCCESS!!!  ALL SPECIAL CHARACTERS FIXED!! Everything plays now on both PC & MAC. 

Time for a backup! 

I will keep working with it for a few days to make sure I didn't miss anything.  Although I still don't really know the ins-and-outs of Smartlists, I sure see the power.

Thank you again HaWi for walking me through this and for the very handy trick. 

[HaWi]

YAY! I am so happy you got it to work. I know both, the sinking feeling when things go haywire, and the exhilaration when you fix them and all works again.
Time for some serious Piazzollla (I just made a smart playlist with 30 random Piazzolla tracks from my collection). Thought you might appreciate that ...