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Author Topic: Finally got .cue files to play, but....  (Read 1363 times)

dNj

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Finally got .cue files to play, but....
« on: July 26, 2005, 11:32:53 am »

I have finally figured out how to get my cue files to play in MC11, but my process is long and tedious.  I am hoping to find automated process to speed things up since I have over 100 .cue files that need to be fixed.

Below are the steps I take to fix cue files so they will play in MC11

(1) Open the .cue file in notepad

(2) Change the "file" 
**When I used the "clean file properties" in MC, it eliminated the underscores and space (which i wanted), but MC did not update the .txt part of the .cue file. Basically, it unlinked the mp3 and cue file. This is the reason my cue files did not play in MC and I suspect it might be the same problem for other users.  The filenames have to be identical matches not only in the .txt file but also in the windows explorer folder.

(3) Change "title" this is the album field that shows up in MC for those tracks in the cue file
(4) Fix any capitalization etc for the track names and artists since this is what shows up in MC fields for those tracks.
(5) Save .txt file
(6) drop/test cue file in MC

However, I am stuck not being able to make any edits to tags unless I edit via notepad and those are only basic edits (Name, Artist & Track #).  I know if I convert to .mp3’s then I can make all the field changes I want.  But, I am hesitant to convert the .cue files to mp3’s because of the loss of audio quality. 

If anyone has worked with dropping the .cue file in notepad here is a question.  Is there a way to add the genre or any other custom field to that .txt file? I would love to be able to rate and name the genre of these cue tracks.

Does anyone know of some automated process/program that will fix the .txt part of the .cue file?

Alex B

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Re: Finally got .cue files to play, but....
« Reply #1 on: July 26, 2005, 12:19:34 pm »

I have written a lot about CUE support in MC. The whole thing is a bit complicated as you have already discovered. I am not going to write everything here again.

For getting that information, please search this Media Center forum. Search for: CUE , by user: Alex B , message age: between 0 and 400 days. That search will return you two pages of posts & links.

I'll be happy to try to answer if you have questions that are not already answered in those threads.
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hit_ny

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Re: Finally got .cue files to play, but....
« Reply #3 on: July 26, 2005, 06:58:49 pm »

(2) Change the "file" 
**When I used the "clean file properties" in MC, it eliminated the underscores and space (which i wanted), but MC did not update the .txt part of the .cue file. Basically, it unlinked the mp3 and cue file. This is the reason my cue files did not play in MC and I suspect it might be the same problem for other users.  The filenames have to be identical matches not only in the .txt file but also in the windows explorer folder.

Cue files are read only once during the import, once done MC does not touch the cue file again. It's been requested many times that MC save back to the cue file some of the generic tags. This can be done for the tags that CUE supports, but the remainder would need to be placed inside REM or comment tags in the cue files. Thats is if we want to stick to the CUE std.

In the CUE file
FILE "filename.mp3" MP3

must match the actual filename it points to. Otherwise no cue-capable player will see it. The syntax of the cue file must also be complete. There is no alternative currently to automate this. You will figure out with a bit of experience.



(4) Fix any capitalization etc for the track names and artists since this is what shows up in MC fields for those tracks.
(5) Save .txt file
(6) drop/test cue file in MC

You can make all those changes to the cue files once they are imported into MC, however they will not be written back. They might introduce this in 11.1, if we shout loud enough for it.


However, I am stuck not being able to make any edits to tags unless I edit via notepad and those are only basic edits (Name, Artist & Track #).  I know if I convert to .mp3?s then I can make all the field changes I want.  But, I am hesitant to convert the .cue files to mp3?s because of the loss of audio quality. 

If anyone has worked with dropping the .cue file in notepad here is a question.  Is there a way to add the genre or any other custom field to that .txt file? I would love to be able to rate and name the genre of these cue tracks.

Does anyone know of some automated process/program that will fix the .txt part of the .cue file?

You will have to make a choice at this point whether it's necessary to have all punctuation in the cue file be correct, or do it once its in MC. Knowing there will be a mismatch between what MC has for track names and what is in the cue file.

Don't split your files, they are ripped that way for a reason namely gapless play. MC can play them fine.

There is a gotcha in the cue file implementation with MC, and that is regarding moving directories that contain cue files. You might want to experiment with a cpl of directories. Import them, then try rating a few tracks and maybe do some audio analysis. Then try to move the directory, you will notice that all items pertaining to the album will move fine but the cue files will still have the previous path.

There is a workaround to it

1. Drag n Drop folder to destination.

2. Now Cue files remain, Add a filename (path) column, replace the old path with new path in the filename (path) column. You can copy the path of the big mp3, then select the cue files and paste into them.

If you notice the end of the cue files is different from ;1 ;2 ;3...and becomes (1).mp3, (2).mp3...etc *IT DID NOT TAKE PROPERLY and cue files will not be found by MC*, do an undo (CTRL-Z)

Try closing and restarting MC then try the above change again. For some reason the re-start fixes the path with the proper ;1, ;2,;3 extn instead of (1).mp3, (2).mp3...etc

IF successful your cue files will retain whatever extra information was added to them, rating, AA, comments etc.  Else all these changes will have to be re-entered.

THis is an ongoing bug, that desperately needs to be fixed.

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