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[Prunus]

Hello, I have noticed that when I play Flac files with JRiver, the date of the original Flac file in the file folder on the D: drive is changed to the date and time of playback.

I found this out because I mirrored the drive with an external drive as a backup.... The tracks being played were ready to be mirrored because a change had been made according to the Filesync program.

What could this be and does it affect the Flac file?

Does JRiver write anything extra to the metadata, is the Flac file changed?
In any case, no album art is retrieved via the net.

In the meantime I have ripped about 500/600 CDs with accuraterip, I hope that I am not ruining the bit correctness in some way.

Then all the effort will have been for nothing.

Greetings Ron from the Netherlands

[markf2748]

Most likely:  MC is writing one or more fields to the music file each time it plays, which causes the file date to be updated by the operating system due to the write.

To see which fields appear as tags in the file, select a file and then expand the section Tag Dump, listed in the left pane Tag window.  The tags appear a little differently, depending on the type of music file.  For example, in a flac file they appear in the Vorbis Comment Block.  Look for tags that contain date last played, number of plays, etc. that change with each play.

Once you identify the tag(s) that change, find the corresponding field in Options > Library & Folders > Manage library fields... and uncheck the box [ ] Save in file tags (when possible).

[Note:  You can get a list of all fields which MC has marked for saving in tags, but it probably includes many fields which you are not using and hence do not actually get written as tags:  Options > Library & Folders > Manage library fields > Show only fields saved in tags]

Alternatively, use your favorite binary file compare utility and examine the file contents of the old and new files side by side to explicitly see the differences.  All tags appear in the "header" section, preceding any embedded images and music data.

FYI, my favorite compare utility is Beyond Compare.  Its new Version 5 includes a media compare mode (in addition to hex compare), which has a metadata section that beautifully lists the tags in two flac files side by side (either all or just differences), fully human readable.  The metadata list even compares hex content of embedded pictures!

[Prunus]

Thank you for your detailed answer.
I'm going to check that.
I can assume it is a metadata issue ?.

I really hope that the bit correctness of the Flac itself is not adjusted. 

Greetings Ron ....

[markf2748]

I can assume it is a metadata issue ?

Yes, for starters.

I really hope that the bit correctness of the Flac itself is not adjusted.

Highly likely the music data is unchanged.
For a 100% check, use a file compare utility to do a hex compare of every music data byte between old and new files.  If confirmed unchanged for a few tracks in different albums, I would assume all the rest are ok.

[craigmcg]

This is a guess but it could be as simple as Media Center saving the cover art in the file's tag (check for setting in Cover Art section on Tools - Options - File Location). I use DBPoweramp for my ripping too and have had no issues with FLAC quality after either import or playback in Media Center.