Through my last 2 posts on the subject, it seemed that some of us (me included) wished for the feature to exist while not having found any (quick and/or dirty) way to achieve the same goal:
re-rip tracks (update file) without changing database fields, except those related to file type and bitrate.
Eventually, I found a (very dirty) method:
0. (optional) Update the tracks your want to re-rip with a "RERIP" comment so as to easily locate the tracks you're working on.
1. Delete the
file(s) you want to re-rip from your hard disk (this way, it will be easy to recognize those in the Media Library, since MC will show the tracks with the "unavailable" red cross)
2. Use a dummy re-rip library3. (Auto-)Rip your files in your preferred format, using your usual path; turn-off audio analyze feature to lighten your CPU burden since all tags will be removed in next step
4. Remove all tags from the re-ripped file(s)5. Switch back to your usual library6. (optional) Update (replace) filename from previous format (e.g. "mp3") to your new format (e.g. "ape")
checkpoint: at this point, your tracks should show as "available" again in the Media Library; if not so, it means the Artist / Album / Track info used while re-ripping differ from your actual Media Library info. Easy to correct: locate the file on your HD and move/rename it to the proper location/value
warning: if you changed the file format, you will not yet be able to play the tracks
7. Update Library (
from tags -- if change detected); since all tags were removed from the re-ripped file (see
4.),
only the "file type", "bitrate" and "name" fields will be updated (as far as I can tell)8. Fill properties from filename, in order to correct the "name" field update triggered in
7.9. Update Tags (from library), so as to fill file tags with the Media Library data (which hopefully have been preserved through the entire process !)
That's it ! Hope it will help some of you (at least, writing it down clearly helps
me; I can now go into re-ripping my 200-odd CDs
)