Topic: Moving To MC28 From An Older Version (Read 8791 times)

JimH · « **on:** June 24, 2021, 06:12:18 pm »

How To Upgrade
Please read these instructions.

Download and Install The New Version
Download Page

Find Your License and Restore it
Please read Restoring a License

Moving Your Data and MC Database On Windows
When you install MC28 for Windows, it will find your old database, copy it and use it. It should just work when you run it.

On Mac or Linux
You will need to restore a backup from your previous version. MC makes them automatically. Search for files ending in .zip.

Backup and Restore
https://wiki.jriver.com/index.php/Library_Backup
https://wiki.jriver.com/index.php/Restore_a_library

Backups can now contain settings and thumbnails.

What About Your Old Version?
Keep it as long as you want. Uninstall it when you're happy with your new version. Uninstalling doesn't affect the new version or your data.

keithsonic · « **Reply #1 on:** June 25, 2021, 11:26:22 am »

I have followed the instructions to upgrade from MC28 and all went fine except that I have lost all my settings/views/skins etc. More problematic, after enabling DLNA and shell integration in settings and loading my library, I can only see links to my NAS as IP addresses and not direct links to the actual files as physical addresses. The only way I can see around this is to reimport all 100k plus files, which takes hours. Where did I go wrong?

JimH · « **Reply #2 on:** June 25, 2021, 11:38:14 am »

Try restoring a backup from a previous version.

What OS?

keithsonic · « **Reply #3 on:** June 26, 2021, 04:00:35 am »

OS is Windows 10 (latest version)
Backup only seems to work for a local library and not a DLNA library on a NAS.
When I copy a new music file to the NAS with WE and then import it to MC I see an actual physical address in the filename path.
When I load the MC28 library from the NAS all files have an HTTP IP address and all settings are lost including 'Recent Albums' which it is important that I retain.
Thanks for your help.

JimH · « **Reply #4 on:** June 26, 2021, 07:09:47 am »

With a NAS, import the files directly into MC. Don't use the DLNA Server to serve them to MC.

michael123 · « **Reply #5 on:** June 26, 2021, 07:15:16 am »

Hello

Curious question - why MC does not perform proper in-place upgrade?
In the end of the installation, we have the old instance and the version of MC.

Afterwards we need then manually to disable auto-start of the previous version.
And if we uninstall the previous version (why do we need both??), we can corrupt the current one

.. that's from my experience

keithsonic · « **Reply #6 on:** June 30, 2021, 03:59:14 am »

I imported my library as suggested though this took a couple of days with crashes etc. and still had to update all my views, display settings etc. I agree with Michael that a simple upgrade once you have purchased a new licence would be preferable - just like every other piece of software on the planet.

Awesome Donkey · « **Reply #7 on:** June 30, 2021, 04:11:51 am »

Do a library backup in your older Media Center, restore that backup in Media Center 28. It should work fine.

ferrarabrainpan · « **Reply #8 on:** December 27, 2021, 07:46:46 pm »

Once again I am debating with myself whether to upgrade to the latest version from my much older MC24 version. I always seem to shrink from the task for fear of how much I am going to have to configure things from scratch. Perhaps you can tell me what settings are saved from my current version and what ones I am going to have to manually configure. I think that the library views and playlists are copied from the old to the new, yes? What about under-the-hood settings like in audio tools: device settings, different zones and zone switch rules, etc? Column views? Custom keywords? Will my play history be completely deleted so I'm starting from zero plays on all files with the new version? I imagine there are a lot of other things I would like to keep from the old version and I can't even think of them all right now...

I spent so many hours tweaking everything to my liking when I first got MC24 back in 2018, so that playback is optimally configured to work with my two hardware DACs depending on the file formats etc, it seems like it might be a needless chore to upgrade, given there are probably a lot of new features I don't even care about using. MC24 has been performing well with no bugs for all my purposes for three+ years, so why would I want to fix what ain't broke, besides the worthy cause of supporting JRiver, an excellent program that I use for over 90% of my PC-based digital music listening (I have the old Audirvana which I just use for streaming Qobuz but all my local library is catalogued and played with MC24). I don't suppose JRiver is ever going to be upgraded to integrate with streaming services like Qobuz or Tidal, which is the one persuasive upgrade I would likely feel compelled to pay for.

JimH · « **Reply #9 on:** December 28, 2021, 08:07:37 am »

You can test it. Just download MC28 and install it.

Have you looked at Cloudplay?

ferrarabrainpan · « **Reply #10 on:** December 28, 2021, 08:24:15 am »

Quote from: JimH on December 28, 2021, 08:07:37 am

You can test it. Just download MC28 and install it.

Have you looked at Cloudplay?

Thanks, I am going to give it a go. Still it would be good to know what settings are maintained from my older version and what custom configurations I'm going to need to reset from scratch. I am going to use this upgrade as an opportunity to modify and simplify my music folder organization, do some file format conversion in dBpoweramp and other modifications to my current setup, etc so my library and playback options will be more streamlined. One thing I know is that somewhere down the road I am going to be forced to upgrade when I take the plunge and buy a new PC and/or move from Windows 10 to 11, since MC24 is not going to be compatible with the new OS. Might as well upgrade to MC28 now.

Is there a link/page where the procedure of installing a new version is described? Since it has been over three years since I installed and set up MC24 I've forgotten how do do things. First question, when I have installed MC28 and launch it for the first time, how do I abort the automatic locate and import music files function, so I can do that later on, creating rules for what drives and folders my music files are located in that I want to be included in my library? I know this and other basic questions are answered somewhere so please point me to the page where I can read all of it. Thanks again.

JimH · « **Reply #11 on:** December 28, 2021, 10:42:57 am »

Just follow the instructions in the first post of this thread.

ferrarabrainpan · « **Reply #12 on:** December 28, 2021, 11:06:30 am »

Quote from: JimH on December 28, 2021, 10:42:57 am

Just follow the instructions in the first post of this thread.

D'oh!

ferrarabrainpan · « **Reply #13 on:** December 29, 2021, 05:44:30 pm »

I purchased and downloaded the file to install MC28. I understand I will be able to keep my current version MC24 and use it until I want to leave it behind and use MC28 as my default media player. Will I be able to launch and run both versions simultaneously? I am guessing there are some settings that won't be copied from the old library and it might be helpful to have both open to look at various tool windows to copy these settings to the new version, compare them side by side to make sure I've got the audio device settings, DSP and output format correctly selected for each playback zone, etc. I'm committed to moving forward with this upgrade though I am still nervous about how smoothly it will go. I know I can come to this forum for help when I need it.

I agree with Michael123 and keithsonic that a simple "proper in-place upgrade" would be so much simpler for me. Like this week I paid for a major upgrade of dBpoweramp and I upgraded in the usual fashion with the new version simply replacing the older one. I suppose by keeping the old version it does give the user something to fall back on if there are bugs in the new one that will need to be fixed. What do I know, I'm not a software developer...

ferrarabrainpan · « **Reply #14 on:** December 29, 2021, 06:59:20 pm »

I followed the procedure to upgrade for my Windows version and downloaded the file "Media Center28 Windows-541572.mjr" and when I double click I get a popup saying "your license file is for a different product"

ferrarabrainpan · « **Reply #15 on:** December 29, 2021, 07:26:53 pm »

I want to move the JRiver folder where the library backups are stored to a different location. I want it in my Documents folder. How do I change the default location so it doesn't keep recreating the folder every time I launch the program?

ferrarabrainpan · « **Reply #16 on:** December 29, 2021, 08:11:32 pm »

I found a skin I like and the basic organization of the library views and playlists looks identical. Lots more work to do here under the hood but there is a whole lot RIGHT about this upgrade so far, so thanks for that to the developers.

I feel I am going to be posting a lot more in this thread so please bear with me and I will try to be calm and agreeable in my communications.

JimH · « **Reply #17 on:** December 29, 2021, 08:43:34 pm »

Quote from: ferrarabrainpan on December 29, 2021, 06:59:20 pm

I followed the procedure to upgrade for my Windows version and downloaded the file "Media Center28 Windows-541572.mjr" and when I double click I get a popup saying "your license file is for a different product"

Download and install MC28 first. I think that's in the instructions in the first post.

ferrarabrainpan · « **Reply #18 on:** December 29, 2021, 10:52:18 pm »

Pleased to report that it seems that most settings were copied perfectly from MC24: libraries and library views, column views, zones and zone switch rules, even play history. There is something screwy about the 2nd library I created in MC24 not working properly but I think I did something wrong in setting my that library. I need to look at the wiki page for instructions on adding a new library to make sure I'm doing this right.
In particular, in both MC24 and MC28, I was not seeing certain vitally necessary sort criteria when trying to enter the sorting scheme for the library view: missing the Artist Name Sort option that I use to keep artists organized alphabetically by last name (it is there in my main library but missing from the available sort options in the new alternate library). Got to play around with it some more and see what I can find...

dtc · « **Reply #19 on:** December 30, 2021, 08:14:40 am »

Sorting Artist by last name is not a standard MC feature, due to the vagaries of determining the last name in some instances, like The Beatles or Jon Bob Jovi. Along the way, you probably added new library fields to allow your own determination of last name. Look at Tools - Options - Library & Folders and Manage Library Fields. There are probably fields you added, which you can identify since they are user fields with appropriate definitions. Standard fields will be grayed out. Compare the fields from your old and new libraries and add the ones that are missing in your new library. Those fields you defined should carry over from 24 to 28, but they have to be defined in your new MC 24 library. Make sure you check Save in File Tags so that the values are stored both in the library and in the file. That allows you to move them to a new library, since they are in the files themselves.

ferrarabrainpan · « **Reply #20 on:** January 01, 2022, 04:48:17 pm »

I am happy to report that I have successfully moved from MC24 to MC28 and removed the older version. It was a breeze once I figured out how to install and run it with the registration code, I think every one of my settings was preserved from the older version. I did spend several hours yesterday retagging album artist names with custom keywords which was probably my own fault for not having the tags saved in the file itself when I moved them to another folder in the process of simplifying and organizing my library. I can't say I've discovered any of the new features or noticed any improvement in performance, but I'm glad I made the switch and it was an inexpensive no-brainer (for a halfwit like myself) to go for the upgrade. $22 for the current version beats subscribing to the new Audirvana Studio for whatever it is, $70 a year (not interested, thanks).

I apologize for all of my alarmist whining and desperate pleas for help.

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Author Topic: Moving To MC28 From An Older Version (Read 8791 times)