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Author Topic: Keeping text files as part of an album  (Read 2737 times)

Frobozz

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Keeping text files as part of an album
« on: November 30, 2011, 12:21:15 pm »

I'm adding some etree music to my library that has various text files along with the music.  I need to keep the text files with the music files.  So if I do something like a rename and move of the album I want the text files to be moved as well.  How to best achieve this in MC?  A bonus wold be the ability to view those text files within MC17 as well.
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MrC

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Re: Keeping text files as part of an album
« Reply #1 on: November 30, 2011, 12:28:44 pm »

Create a view that includes the file types and databases you want used.

Eg:

  [Media Type]=[Audio],[Data] ~sort=[Media Type]-d,[Disc #],[Track #]

Deselect "Use parent scheme rules for file display".
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Lasse_Lus

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Re: Keeping text files as part of an album
« Reply #2 on: November 30, 2011, 12:34:25 pm »

Quote from: Frobozz
..A bonus wold be the ability to view those text files within MC17 as well.

you can view textfiles in the internal browser  file:////[filename]
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MT5FR

Frobozz

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Re: Keeping text files as part of an album
« Reply #3 on: November 30, 2011, 01:12:16 pm »

I'm experimenting.  I have to confess that I've never used MC to manage any sort of data file.  I've used it only for standard audio files and some video files.  So this is new territory for me.

Is it possible to add new data file types?  Some of the data files I want to manage with the album are things like *.md5 and other odd sorts of text files.
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Lasse_Lus

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Re: Keeping text files as part of an album
« Reply #4 on: November 30, 2011, 01:29:23 pm »

Is it possible to add new data file types?  Some of the data files I want to manage with the album are things like *.md5 and other odd sorts of text files.

you can add any type of file, check this thread http://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php?topic=61899.msg415034#msg415034
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Frobozz

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Re: Keeping text files as part of an album
« Reply #5 on: November 30, 2011, 01:39:57 pm »

Ah, thanks.  I had looked through the wiki for info on adding file types and didn't see that (it's hidden under Books).

I think this is gonna work.  What fun.  Doing more with MC.  :)
I'll find out this evening when I have time to dig in.
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Sauzee

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Re: Keeping text files as part of an album
« Reply #6 on: November 30, 2011, 03:01:46 pm »

I had the same issue with concert recordings. Now I just copy the concert info from the text file to a notes tag in the flac file.
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Steef_V.

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Re: Keeping text files as part of an album
« Reply #7 on: November 30, 2011, 04:53:10 pm »

I need to keep the text files with the music files.  So if I do something like a rename and move of the album I want the text files to be moved as well.  How to best achieve this in MC? 

This item caught my attention because, for years, I've been wishing to do the same with my cover art JPG's which I've stored in the album folders.

I've never experimented much with MC, most of the time I'm happy with the things I CAN do.
Now, I have created a view scheme including audio and image files. Hoping to accomplish what I want (keeping cover art with my music, when moving the music files within MC). In the view, I can now see the albums and cover art, but NOT ALWAYS! Some albums show their JPG's, some DON'T.... For albums where I don't see them, I tried re-importing, but without result....

I must be doing something wrong, but I fail to see what.... Any help?

Thanks in advance, Steef Verhoef

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MrC

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Re: Keeping text files as part of an album
« Reply #8 on: November 30, 2011, 05:06:10 pm »

Might it be that the ones that don't show are embedded?

See also the excellent post: http://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php?topic=67871.0
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Steef_V.

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Re: Keeping text files as part of an album
« Reply #9 on: November 30, 2011, 05:23:54 pm »

Thanks for your quick reaction, but I'm afraid they're NOT embedded...
I can see the JPG's separately in the correct folder under the "Explorer" within MC. I even see them under "Images view", but these same JPG's are NOT in the "All media" view that I created myself...

I will investigate your link to the "Cover maintenance" post tomorrow.... Looks useful, and maybe there's even a hint in it to solve my issue.
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MrC

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Re: Keeping text files as part of an album
« Reply #10 on: November 30, 2011, 05:31:34 pm »

I've found that when a view contains audio files of different file types (eg. FLAC and CDA), and the sort order allows random sorting of file types (eg. sometimes FLAC sorts before .CDA, other times not), and some files don't have cover art, then cover art images may not always appear.

Since an album has only one cover art file specified (in [Image File]), when some tracks have cover art and some don't, the view may show no cover art.  Specifically defining a sort order to files that always (should) have cover art solves this.

Maybe this helps.
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rick.ca

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Re: Keeping text files as part of an album
« Reply #11 on: November 30, 2011, 08:17:41 pm »

I can see the JPG's separately in the correct folder under the "Explorer" within MC. I even see them under "Images view", but these same JPG's are NOT in the "All media" view that I created myself...

Maybe what you're looking at in both views are thumbnails of the image, made when it was in a previous location. If the image was subsequently moved (outside MC) to it's current location, but not imported, then it wouldn't appear in the "all media" view. Try importing images from your audio files directory. If you're sure the image has been imported, and yet doesn't appear in the view, it must be because of that view's Rules for file display.

I also wonder about the situation where an album thumbnail has been created, the image is not embedded, and then the image is moved or deleted. Will Save cover art to external location specified in options save the large thumbnail as an image file? (I'm not sure because my covers are embedded.) If so, using that command would be an easy fix to any situation where there is a thumbnail, but the original image cannot be found. The image created, of course, is not going to be the same resolution or quality as the original.
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Frobozz

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Re: Keeping text files as part of an album
« Reply #12 on: December 01, 2011, 12:26:34 pm »

Cool!  I got it working.   ;D  8)

I have a view that allows me to see both the Audio and Data files for an album.  I'm able to tag the text files with Artist and Album so the text files stay with the album when I do a move/rename.  The result is a bit more complicated or messy than I would prefer and sort of goes against my KISS principles.  Seems manageable though.  I'll play with things some more and see what I can do to simplify and KISS.

I did notice that sidecar files are only for Video.  No sidecars for Data files.  Since I'm tagging text files now it might be handy to have the sidecar files to backup the tags, but not essential.

Would also be nice to have a place in the Options dialog to add custom file extensions.  Seems kinda "wrong" to be manually editing resource files to add custom file associations.
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Steef_V.

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Re: Keeping text files as part of an album
« Reply #13 on: December 01, 2011, 03:43:14 pm »

Same here! My problem is solved as well....

(SORRY for borrowing your item Frobozz, but my problem was related to yours.... Only my issue was not with text files but with cover art jpg's)

I just read Frobozz's last post and it's nice to see that we both came to the same conclusion independently: TAGGING the JPG files with the correct ARTIST and ALBUM  did the trick. Apparently I had used 2 methods of getting the cover art in the right directory, one WITH artist & album fields tagged correctly, and one WITHOUT.... The ones with the fields properly filled DID show up in the View scheme I created, the others didn't.

Anyway - thanks to MrC. and Rick.ca for thinking with me....

Cheers, Steef.
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Frobozz

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Re: Keeping text files as part of an album
« Reply #14 on: December 01, 2011, 05:07:01 pm »

No problem there Steef.  We got some good help from the gang here.

Getting this figured out has been on my todo list for a looong time.  Just never got a round tuit.

Next experiment might be to add my cover art and scans as an image gallery.  It'll be a way to try out the smart tagging on import to see if MC can extract artist and album from the pathname.  I'll have to find another round tuit to get motivated on that project.
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