Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[park]

Not sure when this could have happened, but I've been looking through my library today and playing with smartlists. This gave me the chance to look at my music in "List view" (not normally a way I browse) and all of my [Number Plays] data is empty from yesterday (25th March) onwards. I've been installing all the builds this week, and listening to music every day for the last few years through MC.

I've done a "Update tags from library" (to make sure all my tagged stuff got put in the files) and then a "Update library from files" to see if the [Number Plays] info came back (since its calculated data, I figured it'd still be in the files even after running the previous tool). But nothing. Years of listening data gone. Hope it's just me.

[marko]

by default, [number plays] is a database only field, meaning that there won't be any info stored 'fileside' unless you went into options and set it that way.

1st of all, make absolutely sure there were no other filters in action (search bar?) when you discovered the missing data, then, if [number plays] really has gotten corrupted, all you can do really is try restoring from a library backup.

I wish you luck...

[park]

Thanks Marko.
I'm just re-reading my post now and it reads like everything after the 25th has disapeared. But actually, it's the last 4 years worth of playing now data that has vanished. The number of plays starts from March 25th.
I'll try restoring a couple of older libraries when I get home later.
Thanks for the info.

[park]

I restored a library from about 5 or 6 days ago, and got all my number of plays info back. Thanks for the advice again Marko.

It's strange though. I had [Number Plays] set to "Store in file tags", but doing the "Update library from tags" never retrieved that info. Doesnt fill me with confidence. I'll just keep doing regular backups i guess.

[park]

This has happened again to me. Could be due to any number of things.
I've just noticed it after doing an import of my music folder. Could be related to the import tool.
I've had any number of crashes in the last few weeks, so force closing the program could be another possibility.
The library sits on a network drive and is accessed from 2 different pcs. Wonder if that could be a factor.

Anyway, 5 years playing now info gone again, and I'm wondering if I really want to restore and old library and re-do all my tagging and viewscheme changes for the last few weeks. Neither inspire me with joy.

Any way of getting this info from the files?

[marko]

Try selecting a file in MC, open the tag window and click on 'Format' (if it's not there to click on, right click > also show > select format)

If the info is there, but not in the library, try an 'update library from tags' on the file. Is the info imported?
You're expecting the tag to be saved in the file. If the files are on a network share too, are you 100% certain you have permision to alter the files?

-marko.

[Alex B]

I create a new library backup file always before and after any major changes. This has saved my data a couple of times when something went wrong. I too have statistics starting from the year 2002.

The library sits on a network drive and is accessed from 2 different pcs. Wonder if that could be a factor.

I hope you are not using the PCs simultaneusly. I wonder if you noticed this reply over a year ago when we discussed about sharing the database files:

I have noticed that the library and especially the thumbnails folder need fast drive access to work smoothly. The best place is a fast internal HD or if the drive is external it should be connected with Firewire or USB2. A network drive or shared folder has always a lot slower access time and data transfer speed even on a fast wired LAN.

A running standalone MC needs always database write access. Running two or more concurrent MCs safely is not possible when sharing a common database and thumbnail folder. At least the dynamically built thumbnails would get conflicting internal thumbnail references and possibly the other automatic changes (like the playcount and cache systems) would cause severe library corruption even the visible fields are not edited.

The system park mentioned is safe if he runs only one copy of MC at the same time.

[marko]

The library sharing comments had me a little worried too. I figured that Park must be using MC12's new library sharing features, which is an area I've yet to explore.

[Alex B]

The library sharing comments had me a little worried too. I figured that Park must be using MC12's new library sharing features, which is an area I've yet to explore.

Actually, I was wrong. Somehow I remembered my old answer, which is not valid for MC12. The new library sharing system makes simultaneous sharing of the database files safe because only the first MC instance gets write access. The other instances use a temporary copy of the database.

However, each simultaneus MC instance much use a separate thumbnail folder location. (This should not be a problem because MC normally uses a local folder. The location can be changed by editing the Windows registry, but that is unsupported and not recommended by JRiver.)

[park]

I'm using default directories for thumbnails. I have shared the library a couple of times (had it running on 2 pcs's at the same time) with no problems or crashes. I'm 100% that I have write access to my files.

In the "format" part of the tag window I cant find any info that relates to either number of plays or last played. "Store in tags" is definitely checked for both fields and has been ever since I can remember.

I've tried a "Write info to tags" and then a "Update library from tags" but it didnt make any difference.

[glynor]

I'm reasonably sure that MC doesn't support writing the Number of Plays tag to the files, regardless of what you check in the options.  The option is called "Store in File Tags (when possible)" after all...

[Alex B]

MC can write the "Number Playes" and also the "Last Played" field values to the file tags (I tried this with mp3 files). If the "Store in File Tags (when possible)" option is enabled for these fields MC updates the file tags after the played file is released.

However, I wouldn't recommend that. MC would constantly rewrite the played disk files.

Also, I don't know how well the "Update for external changes" auto-import option would work with this.

[park]

Thanks for the info alex.
I have had those options ticked for the last few years and never experienced any loss of data, or negative side effects till recently. If you've definitely seen it write that info to the tags, then it's very strange that an "Update from tags" didnt restore that info.

Any comment from the developers about whether things are working by design or not, before I start restoring old libraries again?

[Alex B]

This is what the format info displays when the write options are enabled:

MPEG-1 Layer 3
184 Kbit VBR
44.1 Khz Joint stereo

Copyrighted: Yes
Original: Yes
Protected by CRC: No
Encoder: LAME3.97b
Gapless: Yes (576 start, 1355 end)

ID3v1 Tag: (128 bytes)
   Name: track 7
   Artist: tester
   Album: test album
   Year: 1995
   Comment:
   Track #: 7
   Genre: undefined (255)

ID3v2.3 Tag: (909 bytes)
  TYER (Year): 1995
  TIT2 (Title): track 7
  TRCK (Track number): 7
  TBPM (BPM (beats per min..): 146
  TPE1 (Lead performer(s)): tester
  TALB (Album): test album
  COMM (Comments):
  COMM (Tool Name): Media Center
  COMM (Tool Version): 12.0.251
  COMM (Date): 34700
  COMM (Peak Level): 0.99997
  COMM (Number Plays): 15
  COMM (Replay Gain): -10.75905
  COMM (Intensity): 2
  COMM (Last Played): 1181048422

The "Update Library (from tags)" tool can correctly update these fields from the file tags.

I tried this a few years ago (possibly with MC9) and now. I have no idea if this has worked in the meanwhile, but I would suppose so.

In any case, I don't know if this is related to your problem.

As a workaround you could try what happens if you replace the "field (number plays).jmd" file in your library folder. Unzip the latest library backup file which has correct playcount info and replace only this file in the library folder (backup the current library and close MC before proceeding).

[park]

Thanks again Alex,
I've found a library that has all my last played and number of plays data. It is from May 30th, so only a few days old. The only thing I can think that I've done to cause all this trouble is an "Import folder..." on "my music".

Anyway, I tried copying those fields from my may 30th library backup into my current library folder. It overwrote the current files (the may 30th ones were bigger than the present ones). But no change when opening media center. It still shows everything as being unplayed.

Anything else I might try???

[gappie]

ive done the same as alex suggested for an other field though, a while back. do you have autoimport enabled? or update tags when fileinfo changes? if so, put those of first and try again.

[park]

Sorry to bump this thread up, but I just wanted to say that I fixed the issue by copying those fields from a library backup over the top of my current library files as suggested. It didnt work the first time for me because I copied the files to the wrong library folder. Just letting you know that it all worked out ok.

Still strange that that data isnt stored in the files tags though. The only info that I really care about retaining, apart from the obvious artsit/album/track number, is the number and last played data. I'd feel better knowing it was in the files for other programs to see too.