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[wordgasm]

Well, New to MC and new to tagging.

Started messing around (I've got about 230 CD's ripped so far)

and TOTALLY screwed my filenames/tags!

Tried all the options I can find, but ....... ?

Is their anyway to get the filenames back to the info generated by the CD so I can start from scratch?

Or should I bite the bullet and just delete these CD's and re-rip everything?

TIA

Jeff

[221bBS]

 ? Not sure what you mean ?

Could you explain a bit more and maybe give an example?

[wordgasm]

Thanks for replying

Here's a example of a filename I have now.

S:\Uncle Festive - That We Do Know\Unknown Artist - Unknown Album - 00 - Unknown Name (2).ape

(I've tried so many things this is actually a vast improvement from where I was.)

In my view (example) it shows:

Name   Artist   Album   Rating   Genre   Track #   Duration

Bitrate   File Type   Date (year)   Filename:

EXAMPLE:

Unknown Artist - Unknown Album - 00 - Unknown Name (19) (all info on this line is in the name field)

Artist - Album - Rating - Genre (Are blank)

         ?         2:48
603   ape   

S:\Uncle Festive - That We Do Know\Unknown Artist - Unknown Album - 00 - Unknown Name (2).ape



Thanks for any/all help

Jeff

[lee269]

Jeff

Theres a whole lot of options in MC, but its not totally clear how much you can retrieve.

It looks like you have a directory for each CD in the format [Artist] - [Album] (or vice versa). Your filenames look like [Artist] - [Album] - [Track#] - [Name]. Of course it seems that theres no useful info in the filenames.

1. Can you see any useful info in your library view? Select a song in MC and click on File Properties/Tag Info in the Action Window. Is there any useful artist/album/Track#/Name info in any of the tags on display in this window?

2. Your best tools in MC are Tools/Library Tools/Fill properties from filename and Rename files from properties. They complement each other. From what you posted you could fill properties from filename using the directory template above to at least get this info into your library. Without any song name info anywhere thats not going to be too much help though. If you can find name info in a tag somewhere you can use rename files from properties to get your filenames right.

3. Assuming you can get name info from somewhere in your tags (a longshot I admit) you can use Tools/Library Tools/Move Copy Fields to move them into the name field.

4. Track# data can be recreated by ordering your files in an MC view by drag and drop (one CD at a time), and choosing Tools/Library Tools/Fill track numbers from list order.

Using these tools in combination (plus Tools/Library Tools/Find and Replace) gives you lots of power to sort out your library files. But if the info isnt there in any form in the library or your filenames, you are in trouble. Given you have 230 CDs you might want to cut your losses anyway. Try with a small number of files and let us know how you get on.

[221bBS]

Are your tags labeled correctly?

If so it will be easy to rename your files...

select the files you want to rename....R-Click and select

Library Tools > Rename Files From Property...

Make sure the Directory check box is unchecked and the Filename Checkbox is checked

Depending on how you wanna name you file it might look different then what i will show...

In the Rules field u need to type what you want your file structure to say.

Example:

Artist = 3 Doors Down
Album = The Better Life
Track # = 5
Song Name =  Be Like That

The rule field would have this in it:

[Artist] - [Album] - ([Track #]) [Name]

This will have your files looking like this:

3 Doors Down - The Better Life - (05) Be Like That

Does this help??
Anywhere close to what ya want??

[wordgasm]

Thanks Guys!

But I think I've screwed the pooch on this one  

I'm gonna play around a bit, but I think I've already lost the file info for song names, using the library tools before my posts!

Ah, a learning experience (and I have many!)

In the end, I wont be happy till it's all perfect (and I "Feel" like it's perfect), so .............

Think I'll delete and re-rip, better now will only 200 some CD's than all of them!

On another note:

Lot's of trouble finding correct/any album art (admittedly I listen to some not popular/hard to find music, that was never mainstream), but out of my first 130 albums ripped, 30 didnt find coverart, lots were wrong, and thats after using the"loose search" .

Any alternate sites/methods available for MC for coverart ? (other options?)


Thanks Again

Jeff

[lee269]

Good luck with the ripping.

KingSparta has a well regarded cover art plugin. www.spartasoft.com I think, or just find one of his many posts and look in his signature.

[AnalogRoaming]

A shareware program called 'Tag&Rename" can actually be used to compare an album of mp3s to the FreeDB. It can then rename the songs from that.  MC has a feature similar to this, but Tag&Rename  uses a larger database, so it tends to tag better.  It's just a suggestion... I use this and MC to fix my tags.

[lee269]

A shareware program called 'Tag&Rename" can actually be used to compare an album of mp3s to the FreeDB

A good point - I should have thought of this. In MC its Tools/Library Tools/Lookup Track Info from YADB. Im not how well it works with anything other than mp3s, eg the ape files that Jeff seems to be using. Worth a try though.

[wordgasm]

Once again, Thanks Alot All!

Well I dl'd Tag&Rename, and it will work!

But ..............

Unless it can do some MAJOR BATCH WORK, that I havent quite figured out yet, I think I can do it almost/just as quick re-ripping the CD's. Plus on some albums, it still doesnt want to/cant find the song info. And I'll know all of them will be correct.

So I will keep Tag&ReName for future tweaking, but think I'll rerip
And take the time to really learn the tagging in the near future

Thanks Again

Jeff

[AnalogRoaming]

Yeah with T&R you can't do it per-file... you have to do it per album (You select the songs in the order they appear on the album.

Yeah it's cumbersome, but it works. I tagged about 400 albums with it. It didn't take too long, but I already had my stuff sorted into folders by album.

[wordgasm]

OK Guys, Im back!

Went ahead and dealed and started re-ripping

I have my filenames "tags" under MC options menu for ripping like this:

       [Artist] - [Album] - [Genre] - [Genre Sub] - [Genre Front] - [Track #] - [Name]

I've manually filled in my 2 custom tags as I rip the CD's.

Is this going to work?

When I look at my filenames in explorer, my custom tags say unknown on each file.

So after I rip um, I've put my custom tags in all my library views and I will use the option under library to "update file tags (frrom library)" correct?

Am I on the right track? Is this going to work?

TIA AGAIN!

Jeff

[CDvd]

When I look at my filenames in explorer, my custom tags say unknown on each file.

This is the normal behavior.
Standard tags (artist/Album/Genre....) are writen in corresponding standard file tags (ID3) but every custom tags are writen into private fields (that are not accessible from another program). You will not be able to see them when you look at your files from explorer because they are not standart ID3V1 or ID3V2 tags (and that's the only ones explorer could see).
Windows (or another program) will not understand them.

Futhermore you should not have to "update file tags (frrom library)" if you checked the "Save in file tags (when possible)" option when you created your custom tags. MC does it automaticly.

I hope it's clear...

[wordgasm]

Thanks Bunches CDvd

It's all very clear!

And I did tell MC to "Save in File Tags"

So I'm good to go!

Man I love forums!

Thanks Again

Jeff