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[duesy]

Playlist management in 8.0 is lacking. Look at RealOne for the proper way to handle PL creation, management, etc. Example: RO allows you to bring clips INTO a PL, not requiring you to scavange the full Media Library (though that feature has its purpose) and "Send To." Secondly, RO allows you to create Auto PL's, which can be customized to gather up clips based on prefernces each time tracks are imported to the Media Library. And finally, MJ does not seem to offer a convenient means to bring the isolated track or two into the Media Library without importing the entire folder and creating a dupe situation. Thanks for listening and good luck with the final release.

[JimH]

Have you tried the drop target (small bar at the top of the tree)?  You can drag a track or tracks onto it to get them in the playlist.

To import a few tracks, use the browse button after you've selected import to go to a specific folder.

You can also drag tracks from Windows Explorer into the content window to import them.

[Doof]

MJ won't import duplicates. If the file is already imported, it won't import it again.

And MJ DOES have Smart Lists that do what you mention. I have one at work that includes all tracks that aren't of the Comedy genre. Everytime I import tracks, that smartlist gets updated.

[duesy]

Thanks for the feedback, but the auto import function is simply not working, nor can I seem to use Browse to drill into a folder and manually import specific tracks. With regard to PL, I am referring to being INSIDE the PL window and pulling tracks from the Media Libray while remaining in the PL. This helps avoid bringing dupes or otherwise missing a track. RealOne offers a very simple but effective button: "Add Clips Now" while in the PL window... essential!

[rocketsauce]

but the auto import function is simply not working

Do you mean auto-import new tracks in to MJ (MJ does not  have this feature) or that a Smartlist isn't automatically updating itself once new tracks are imported into the library?

This helps avoid bringing dupes

Once a file has been imported to the MJ library (or added to a playlist) , it can't be imported (or added) again unless there are duplicates on your hardrive with different file names:

\Miss Kittin & The Hacker - Frank Sinatra
\Miss Kittin & The Hacker - First Album - 01 - Frank Sinatra

Rob

[duesy]

Rob:  Thanks for the additional input. Perhaps once I fix the auto-import function, I can come to terms with the PL importing, etc.  Any advice on fixing the former? I am currently involved in a marathon ripping session of my entire CD library to hard drive, using EAC with Lame. MJ will not import these files automatically at startup, so after each daily rip session, I sit with a stack of ripped CDs and manually import each one to ensure full coverage in the Media Library. The MJ setting for auto-import IS checked. (RealOne will auto-import these, by the way.) There's gotta be a better way.  What am I doing wrong??

[rocketsauce]

MJ will not import these files automatically at startup...The MJ setting for auto-import IS checked.

Is this a feature that has been added to newer versions of MC9?  I'm still using 9.0.88 and don't see an option for auto-import anywhere.

Rob

[MachineHead]

Not sure here, but the only time I've noticed MJ - MC auto-import is when a file is selected from Explorer. Then the files are automatically included into the library.

[duesy]

RE: MJ version 8.0.393. Settings > Options > Importing & Tagging, X the box marked "Automatically import files into Media Library." Does not work?!

[KingSparta]

From The Help File:

Automatically Import Files into Media Library. Whenever you play a file associated with Media Jukebox, that file will be imported (added to the "Recently Imported" Playlist and filed into the various folders, including Artist, Album, etc).

are you saying when you play a file and this option is checked it does not import the file into the library?

[Marko]

From The Help File:

Automatically Import Files into Media Library. Whenever you play a file associated with Media Jukebox, that file will be imported (added to the "Recently Imported" Playlist and filed into the various folders, including Artist, Album, etc).

are you saying when you play a file and this option is checked it does not import the file into the library?

Yes!!
I'm still using v9.0.88 here and this auto import feature has not worked for any of the v9 builds I've tried. It worked fine in v8.0.388, hope it can be fixed in v9.

[duesy]

RE: Help File. How can you play a file when it is not in the Media Library in the first place? After ripping tracks to My Music, the clips will not appear anywhere in MJ unless I manually import them via Import Media > Browse for Folders > Start Search. This very laborious and there must be a better way??

[KingSparta]

>> How can you play a file when it is not in the
>> Media Library in the first place?
thru Explorer, and i think thats what it is talking about

I am not sure if that includes Both the Built in file explorer and allso the Windows explorer but i think so.

Update:

if you take the song from explorer and drop it into the Target MC will add it to the lib. if you just play the file it does not add it.

it looks like a bug to me, per the help file directions.

[JimH]

You can also drag a file from Windows Explorer onto the player window (lower left corner) to play it.

[rocketsauce]

"Automatically import files into Media Library."

How can you play a file when it is not in the Media Library in the first place?

The name of this function is a little misleading.  It does not mean that MJ will automatically import files on start up.  What it does mean is that if you have MJ associated as the default player for MP3s in Windows and you double-click on the file in Windows Explorer, Windows will use MJ to play it.  If you have the Auto Import enabled, the file will also be imported to the library.  If you don't have Auto Import enabled, MJ will play the file without importing it.

Rob

[duesy]

Rob: This is starting to make sense, though you are right: the feature is indeed misleading. If relying on Windows Explorer to import, how would I import, say, 500 clips in batch rather than clicking on each one? As I have stated before: Surely there must be a better way? If MJ is configured as the default reader of all MP3 files, then any files associated with that configured path should automatically wind up in the ML under each category (artist, album, genre, clip name, and so on).

Quite frankly, for those of us compiling permanent music collections in MP3, the concept of a temporary "Playlist" is ineffective. A PL should be viewed as a powerful tool for users to create custom arrangements of Library content... EVERYTHING resides in the Media Library. The occassional CD or download file that one might play at the moment is another animal altogether.

I would rather have a program that does the core functions well rather than a bunch of things marginally. I like MJ... much more stable and faster than RealOne... and all business, where Winamp and MusicMatch are too cutesy for my taste. But I worry that a possible loss of focus is driving MJ away from the bullseye.

[Autoelph]

So duesy, are you saying that you think that MC is more focused on the database and less focused on playlisting? That's an interesting argument, really, I see your point. But then can MC become, somehow, more playlist focused without losing it's current strengths?

[rocketsauce]

how would I import, say, 500 clips in batch rather

Don't know.  Try selecting 5 or 10 files, right-click, select Play and see if all of them are imported.

from an earlier post:

MJ will not import these files automatically at startup, so after each daily rip session, I sit with a stack of ripped CDs and manually import each one to ensure full coverage in the Media Library.

So, you would trust it to import 500 files in one batch at startup, but when you import them using the Import Media button you do it one disc at a time to maker sure it isn't missing a file? ?

Surely there must be a better way?

I'm sure there are users who would like an auto import feature. I, personally, wouldn't use it because I don't generally like it when things happen automatically without my input. I mean, is clicking the Import Media button to start the import really that big of a problem?

for those of us compiling permanent music collections in MP3, the concept of a temporary "Playlist" is ineffective.

Not sure what you mean by temporary playlist.

RO allows you to create Auto PL's, which can be customized to gather up clips based on prefernces each time tracks are imported to the Media Library.

Also, as Doof mentioned in his post, MJs Smartlist do the samething.

Rob

[Autoelph]

1. I think what duesy is saying about a "temp Playlist" is the idea of selecting songs to go to playing now,which I suppose can be viewed as a temporary playlist.

2. Yes, smartlist creation is a strength of MC, as long as your files are imported and tagged correctly.

3. I don't understand the import problem that duesy describes, either. While I do find the import function to be clumsy, I have also found it to be quite effective in a "batch" situation. Why you would want to import just a few files is beyond me, and defeats the whole purpose of MC anyway. I don't use the auto import feature, as a matter of fact, until now, I couldn't have told you what it did. I don't have MC setup as my "one file " player. I let Winamp do that, it's much faster to start (rather than MC loading my whole library), uses a lot less resources and is generally more efficient in that situation.

4. But, I do understand the idea that the playlist can become more focused. Maybe I'm missing something (wouldn't be a first) but pulling into a playlist rather than sending to a playlist makes sense. Say the window your focused on IS the playlist, and you have a "get" function, leaving you the ability to see your PL and what's going in it, rather than blindly throwing things at it and having to check on it periodically. I don't know, I don't program, I am an audio guy, as in producer\engineer, but I like the idea. If MC can already do this, please, point it out to me (and apparently, duesy)

[duesy]

Autoelph's bullet #4 hits the nail on the head...thank you. Indeed, "pulling" clips while in the PL environment is key for all the reasons discussed. I hope V 9.0 will offer this.

[Doof]

Rob: This is starting to make sense, though you are right: the feature is indeed misleading. If relying on Windows Explorer to import, how would I import, say, 500 clips in batch rather than clicking on each one? As I have stated before: Surely there must be a better way? If MJ is configured as the default reader of all MP3 files, then any files associated with that configured path should automatically wind up in the ML under each category (artist, album, genre, clip name, and so on).

If you want to batch import a bunch of files (for instance your entire My Music folder and every subfolder within it), then all you have to do is open MJ, go to File->Library->Import Media... Click the "..." button to browse to your My Music folder and click "Start Search". If you want to choose what file types MJ will search for before doing this, click the "Advanced>>" button and check off which filetypes your interested in before you click the "Start Search" button.

Once you've done that, your media library will have all of your media files imported and the "temporary playlist" problem dissappears. Of course, you will have to do this everytime you rip new music to your computer (unless you use MJ to do the ripping), but Matt had mentioned adding in a feature that would watch certain folders and automatically import new media files that were placed in those folders. So hopefully we'll see that feature soon.

But as I said before, once a file is imported into MJ, it CANNOT be imported again. Not unless you move the file from within Explorer and then tell MJ to import again.

Also, once a file exists in a playlist, you cannot add that song to that playlist again. This is a feature that I and a couple of others want to see changed as we like having duplicate entries of some songs within a playlist.

[duesy]

Does MJ differentiate between Playlists and "Mixes?" If so, what rules apply to the latter, since I use the Mix files to create custom playlists.

[MachineHead]

duesy,

Could you elaborate on 'Mixes'? MJ-MC can key on just about anything in a file with a smartlist if you want it to.

Example: Click on Media Library so the search bar is above the 'List'. Type in 168 and see what you get. I've used this to create a smartlist based solely on this bitrate. Obviously it won't work if you encode everything at a constant bitrate that is lower or higher then this number.

You could make a playlist from that smartlist then if you wanted to. It isn't hard to come up with something unique with this program. I also use a smartlist based on CRC. Why? Because I really screwed up a while back and used MP3Gain on close to 1500 files. Duhhh... Anyway, the re-ripping that I'm doing now is with EAC. EAC can, and does, create a CRC checksum written in the comment tag. I use this smartlist then to see which files are done (again) and which ones are not.

So, MJ-MC can do just about anything you want. Except automatically import files.  

[rocketsauce]

MJ-MC can key on just about anything in a file with a smartlist if you want it to.

I agree. I think if you really get familiar with the Smartlist rules and how to use them, you can automatically build your playlists rather than spend time manually adding files to them. For me, the combination of either View Schemes or Smartlists has pretty much negated any reason to use a regular playlist.

Rob

[duesy]

I thought that Smartlists, as per MJ, were dynamic rules that only create temporary PL's that came and went at program launch. My interest in PL's and Mixes is to establish permanent (but changeable) paths of interest to stored Library content. If I could establish fixed rules that would prevail until modified, that would be terrific... comments?

Ditto for EAC. I use this program now exclusively for ripping, along with Lame 3.93 with encoding set at extreme. Gig space is cheap, so why compromise?

[Doof]

If you create a smartlist with criteria of Artist=Metallica, then you're going to get every file you have that has Metallica as the Artist. If you remove Metallica files from your library, the smartlist will update accordingly. Ditto if you add Metallica songs. With regards to that, the contents of that playlist are temporary, but provided your library doesn't change, neither will the Smartlist.

If you then use one of the modifiers that specify only 60 minutes or 600MB in conjunction with Artist=Metallica, then the contents of that smartlist will change each time you access it.

Play around with it. Try the wizard and play with the different options. You'll figure out how it works.

[MachineHead]

I thought that Smartlists, as per MJ, were dynamic rules that only create temporary PL's that came and went at program launch.

No. They can be setup as a sort of self updating playlist. Based on any rules you give them. Check out the help file for some that are created by users. You can, with enough time on your hands, create view schemes based on these smartlists as well. It takes a while...

[duesy]

Thanks to all of you for the very helpful input. I'll give it a go. My Library is 4,300 clips and counting, so effective management is life or death!

[rocketsauce]

I thought that Smartlists, as per MJ, were dynamic rules that only create temporary PL's that came and went at program launch.

They are dynamic in that the content of the list changes as files are added or removed from the library, but the Smartlist and it's rules are permanent until you change or delete them.

My interest in PL's and Mixes is to establish permanent (but changeable) paths of interest to stored Library content.

 ?

...along with Lame 3.93 with encoding set at extreme.

Just FYI, you might check out some of the LAME threads over at Hydrogen Audio. I think most people (including the LAME Devs) are still recommending using 3.92 or 3.90.2 when using the current --alt-presets since 3.93 code hasn't been fully tested to see if it works correctly with them.

Rob

[Markeau]

I vote for the ability to see both both the Media Library and a single Playlist contents at the same time, maybe like an optional horizontal split window.  I know this has come up before.