Topic: Problems importing my music library (Read 3916 times)

larryo108 · « **on:** March 05, 2009, 09:59:49 pm »

I have a rather large music library. I have imported it into Media Center. However, not all of them have been imported. The program has imported about 20,000 of my 23,000 songs. I know this is not much information, but are there any ideas, why this may be happening. Any help or ideas would be greatly appreciated. Thank you in advance.

JimH · « **Reply #1 on:** March 06, 2009, 06:54:46 am »

Welcome to the forum.

You could double check your import settings. Click the advanced button to make sure you've got the right filetypes checked. Also check the directories.

A specific example might help.

larryo108 · « **Reply #2 on:** March 10, 2009, 12:27:16 pm »

Thanks for the help. I was able to finally import my entire library by transferring it from my Ipod. Now I have another annoying issue. I spent ALOT of time tagging all of my 20K+ files with genre, artist, coverart, the whole bit. Now after the import, everything is there. My files are there. I have all of my genres and albums and everything. The one small and frustrating problem is that the genre for about 10,000 of the files got changed to Blues.

I thought I was screwed, so I installed iTunes and imported my files back into there. Everything is as it should be. Any help would be greatly appreciated. I like Media Center and would like to continue using it, but this could be a deal breaker for me. I have all of my music setup in smartlists based on Genre.

Matt · « **Reply #3 on:** March 10, 2009, 12:37:46 pm »

Quote from: larryo108 on March 10, 2009, 12:27:16 pm

The one small and frustrating problem is that the genre for about 10,000 of the files got changed to Blues.

What format are the files? You mentioned iTunes, and some proprietary Apple formats have limited tagging support in Media Center. We recommend MP3, APE, or some other less proprietary format.

You might try also try a right-click Library Tools > Update Files (from tags) to see if rereading the tags inside Media Center helps.

Thanks.

JimH · « **Reply #4 on:** March 10, 2009, 12:41:43 pm »

Quote from: larryo108 on March 10, 2009, 12:27:16 pm

Thanks for the help. I was able to finally import my entire library by transferring it from my Ipod. Now I have another annoying issue. I spent ALOT of time tagging all of my 20K+ files with genre, artist, coverart, the whole bit. Now after the import, everything is there. My files are there. I have all of my genres and albums and everything. The one small and frustrating problem is that the genre for about 10,000 of the files got changed to Blues.

I believe that means that the genre is blank. Try a google search for more info.

larryo108 · « **Reply #5 on:** March 10, 2009, 01:08:19 pm »

Quote from: Matt on March 10, 2009, 12:37:46 pm

What format are the files? You mentioned iTunes, and some proprietary Apple formats have limited tagging support in Media Center. We recommend MP3, APE, or some other less proprietary format.

You might try also try a right-click Library Tools > Update Files (from tags) to see if rereading the tags inside Media Center helps.

Thanks.

I will try that. ALL of my files are MP3. Anything that I have gotten that is not MP3 is quickly converted to MP3. As far as the genre being blank, when I look at it in iTunes, the genre is blank on none of the files.

Matt · « **Reply #6 on:** March 10, 2009, 01:45:26 pm »

Quote from: larryo108 on March 10, 2009, 01:08:19 pm

I will try that. ALL of my files are MP3. Anything that I have gotten that is not MP3 is quickly converted to MP3. As far as the genre being blank, when I look at it in iTunes, the genre is blank on none of the files.

If you believe you have an MP3 where Media Center is not reading the genre tag, please provide a copy of the file to matt at jriver dot com.

Thanks.

larryo108 · « **Reply #7 on:** March 10, 2009, 01:54:51 pm »

E-mail sent.

Matt · « **Reply #8 on:** March 10, 2009, 02:21:06 pm »

Thanks for the file.

It correctly shows as Country using the latest Media Center 13, at least for me. Both the ID3v2 and ID3v1 tag have the genre set to "2" which is Country.

Please make sure you're running the latest Media Center 13, which is available at the top of this board.

You'll probably need to do Update Library (from tags) on the files after updating Media Center.

larryo108 · « **Reply #9 on:** March 10, 2009, 02:23:27 pm »

i will try that and report back.

larryo108 · « **Reply #10 on:** March 10, 2009, 03:47:27 pm »

Okay. I tried it. I thought it had worked, but then I realized it hadn't. The other night, I started out to try to reorganize everything and retag it all and just got overwhelmed. I don't know how the hell I ever had the patience to do it in the first place. I will try to update the Library from the Tags and report back.

larryo108 · « **Reply #11 on:** March 10, 2009, 04:32:56 pm »

Also tried to update library from tags. That again did not work. Any other suggestions? Besides retagging everything myself, because that would SUCK.

Matt · « **Reply #12 on:** March 10, 2009, 04:35:56 pm »

Quote from: larryo108 on March 10, 2009, 04:32:56 pm

Also tried to update library from tags. That again did not work. Any other suggestions? Besides retagging everything myself, because that would SUCK.

Pick a file. Then in the Action Window, click Tag. Then click the top line (tooltip: Click for detailed format information).

What does it list for Genre in the tags? Look at ID3v1 and ID3v2. The file you sent me shows Country.

larryo108 · « **Reply #13 on:** March 10, 2009, 08:33:38 pm »

I checked another file. There is no ID3v1 tag and the ID3v2 tag instead of showing TCON (genre) it shows TCO?. Although it does show up as 2 which as you said is Country. It seems as though the ID3v2 tag headings have been cut short. I do not know why or how to fix it. And there are still some files, like the first that I sent that do have the headings, yet the genre is not shown correctly.

Matt · « **Reply #14 on:** March 11, 2009, 10:39:21 am »

Thanks for the additional file. It has an old ID3v2.2 tag, and we weren't reading genre from these tags.

In a coming build of Media Center:
Changed: Added support for ID3v2.2 TCO (genre) and TPA (disc number) frames.

Thanks again.

larryo108 · « **Reply #15 on:** March 12, 2009, 07:23:20 am »

Cool. I will wait for the new build. Hopefully it is released before my trial expires.

That being said, I still have some files that have the ID3v2 tags that are not being read correctly. Any ideas for those?

larryo108 · « **Reply #16 on:** March 12, 2009, 07:59:01 am »

Do I have to "Analyze Audio" when importing my library in order for the tags to be shown correctly?

Alex B · « **Reply #17 on:** March 12, 2009, 08:06:50 am »

If you wish you can convert the tag format from ID3v2.2 to ID3v2.3 with iTunes. It has the option somewhere in the menus. I have never understood why iTunes uses the obsolete 2.2 version by default.

Matt,

Did you also check if the PIC frame is read correctly? ID3v2.2 uses it instead of APIC.

Alex B · « **Reply #18 on:** March 12, 2009, 08:09:54 am »

Quote from: larryo108 on March 12, 2009, 07:59:01 am

Do I have to "Analyze Audio" when importing my library in order for the tags to be shown correctly?

The "Analyze Audio" option has nothing to do with tag reading.

It measures the files for Replay Gain and BPM.

larryo108 · « **Reply #19 on:** March 12, 2009, 08:34:56 am »

Thanks. Converting all of my tags to ID3v2.4 now. Will report back if it works.

Alex B · « **Reply #20 on:** March 12, 2009, 09:12:56 am »

I think MC supports ID3v2.4 fully, but keep in mind that some programs and especially hardware player devices may prefer the version 2.3.

After you have converted the tags you can use the "Update Library (from tags)" tool inside MC for rereading tag info. Alternatively you can let the Auto-Import feature detect the externally changed files and update the library, but that may not be immediate because it works as a low priority task in the background.

(EDIT fixed a small, but embarrassing typo...)

larryo108 · « **Reply #21 on:** March 12, 2009, 09:28:34 am »

Do iPods support ID3v2.4? If they do, then I am golden.

Alex B · « **Reply #22 on:** March 12, 2009, 09:35:27 am »

iPods do not read file tags at all. They get all metadata from the iPod database file. The program that is used for syncing the files maintains the database.

I have noticed that devices like stand-alone CD/DVD players, car MP3 CD players, small flash memory players/phones (other than Apple), etc may have problems with reading ID3v2.4 tags. Some old devices can read only the basic ID3v1 tags and if the device has ID3v2 support the version may be limited to 2.3.

larryo108 · « **Reply #23 on:** March 12, 2009, 01:14:57 pm »

Thank you all for your help. That worked. I used iTunes to convert all of the tags to ID3v2.3. I then updated the Library from the tags and all is as it should be now. Thanks again for all of the help.

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