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[Cla55clown]

Hi all, I've managed to screw things up regarding how my cover art files are saved and I don't know how to undo it. When I hover over an album cover and click 'File', I am now seeing three different file entries for each track. Two of the 3 files have 'cover art' somewhere in the file name and the third file is the track itself (.flac). How do I get rid of these duplicate files without deleting all of my cover art?

[MrC]

It sounds like you configured auto-import to include Image file types from the import directory (or directories).

You can just disable the Image types from your Audio folder imports.

Then, in MC, select all the files that are Media Type = Image (or that "have 'cover art' somewhere in the file name").  Sort by Filename if necessary, or Media Type so that you can select the files easily (or use Search to filter all but Image files).

Once selected, press Delete (and select the first option to only remove from the Library).

[Cla55clown]

Thanks for the reply. I'm new to this extensive software so bear with me. Starting with this phrase: "You can just disable the Image types from your Audio folder imports"; where do I need to go specifically to do this. I'm guessing Tools>Options> and not sure what to change from there.

[MrC]

I was speculating given the limited information, so let's get the details straight first.

When you click on File to open the file list, do the following:

Select the files in question, and use File > Export Playlist.  Select:

   Format: Text File (CSV delimited)
   Included Fields: All Fields
   Output Range: Selection

Save it to the Desktop, zip it, and attach it in a reply here.  I'll take a look and we'll go from there.

[Cla55clown]

Ok, here is the zip file. I just selected the files of one random album.

[Cla55clown]

This all started when I went to Tools>Options>File location>Cover Art and made some changes there. Not sure what I did...should've just left well enough alone. If I could take a screen shot you might be able to better see what I'm seeing. Not sure if that is allowed on these forums.

[MrC]

So it appears you actually have two versions of each file.  For example:

    F:\Music\Moby\Play\01. Honey.flac
    F:\Music\Cover Art\Moby\Play\01. Honey.flac

The first imported and created on Apr 29, the other on Jun 25.  Somehow, you made a copy of your albums and stored them in F:\Music\Cover Art.

The export only shows two of each file, so this sample isn't representative of the items where you see three of each.

It is not clear how the copy was made.  And it is not clear how many albums you have where there are copies.  You may be able to delete everything under F:\Music\Cover Art, but that might be a problem if this is indeed your Cover Art folder and images exist there.  Or you could use MC to select the duplicates, sorting by filename (path) to group the files, and Delete (permanently) the copies.  Or select all Media Type=Audio with a Filename (path) starting with F:\Music\Cover Art.  But be sure these are your duplicates.

[Cla55clown]

I've attached an example of an album where there are 3 files for each track. I also did as you suggested prior to this correspondence and tried to delete the contents of the F:/music/cover art folder and MC proceeded to repopulate/rebuild the cover art folder with files and numerous "errors tagging" windows kept popping up while it was doing this...if that makes any sense. Is there a way to just start over from scratch, upgrade to MC 18 and then everything will be as before?

[MrC]

In this case, you have three different copies:

    F:\Music\Beats Antique\Collide\beats antique - Collide - 01 Beauty Beats.flac
    F:\Music\Cover Art\Cover Art\Beats Antique\Collide\beats antique - Collide - 01 Beauty Beats.flac
    F:\Music\Cover Art\Beats Antique\Collide\beats antique - Collide - 01 Beauty Beats.flac

Sure, you can start over if you want.  But first...

Probably it is not a good idea to have your Cover Art folder within the Music folder.  It would be better to have:

    F:\Music
    F:\Cover Art

or

    F:\Music\Audio
    F:\Music\Cover Art

so that you can separate your audio files and your cover art files paths (MC already knows about cover art, due to the Cover Art path setting in Options > File Location > Cover Art).

So try this first:

1. Remove from Tools > Import > Configure Auto-Import... and path that specifically references F:\Music\Cover Art
2. Quit MC
3. Move your Cover Art folder as mentioned above
4. Change the folder listed in Options > File Location > Cover Art to match the new location
5. Open MC, go to the Audio > Files view, and and enter into Search:

    [filename (path)]=[F:\Music\Cover Art"

You should now be able to select all the files there and hit Delete.

[Cla55clown]

Okay, we're making some progress. I've separated the Music and Cover Art folders into two different directories in drive F like you suggested. I now no longer see 2 or three file names for each track in album file view. Woohoo!

The problem I am running into is step #4. When I change the setting to F:\Cover Art it gives me the spinning wheel and "moving cover art" dialog but eventually it locks up and says MC is not responding and I have to force close the program. Furthermore, the F:\Cover Art folder now has a duplicate of most tracks and is sized at 19GB in properties. Why is it wanting to make copies of everything? I feel like I am missing a key setting or option somewhere...

[MrC]

I'm not certain, as there is a bit of a chicken and egg problem here.  Would you consider some quick remote help, so I can see the data quickly?

[Cla55clown]

I'm not certain, as there is a bit of a chicken and egg problem here.  Would you consider some quick remote help, so I can see the data quickly?

PM sent

[MrC]

Ok, Matt.  I'm baffled by this problem that Cla55clown is facing.  Here are the facts:

1. MC17.
2. Music location: F:\Music
3. Cover Art location: F:\Music  (unfortunately - this is what we're trying to change/resolve)
4. There are .cue and .flac files in F:\Music albums

Any attempts at changing the Cover Art location, from F:\Music\Cover Art to somewhere outside F:\Cover Art causes MC to COPY all the audio and Cue files from M:\Music to M:\Cover Art as soon as you OK out of the Options dialog to change the cover art location.

I've removed permanently all references to .cue files from MC, tried invalidating file paths (by changing their names temporary in MC's database), and cleaned up the recurring copied files each trial.

At first I thought the FLACs or CUE contained references to the F:\Music directory.  Upon reflection, I'm thinking this isn't the issue, but instead I'm thinking MC copies the entire Cover Art directory when the setting is changed.  And since it did unfortunately contain the audio files too, the result is a mess.

How can this be worked around (i.e. change the cover art directory and have MC *not* perform the entire folder tree copy)?

[JimH]

That sounds like a problem at the OS level with drive mapping.

[Cla55clown]

That sounds like a problem at the OS level with drive mapping.

And what might be a logical solution to that? I'm running Win7 home premium 64-bit if that helps any. Mr C spent and extensive amount of time with me last night helping to sort out the problem and we only partially fixed things. I am grateful for his time and effort. It's not a super huge deal though. I still have access to all of my albums and .flac files. Might ultimately be fixed by upgrading to MC18?

[JimH]

It is almost certainly not an MC problem.   I've never heard of anything similar.  You might try copying files in Explorer to see what happens.  I don't know the answer.  Upgrading would probably not solve the problem.

[MrC]

Folder or drive mapping is possible, as are Junctions.  I was able to delete *.(flac|ogg|cue) from F:\Music\Cover Art, and it did not affect F:\Music.  And I looked at Windows' Library configurations for Music.  But I don't recall that I noticed Junctions (reparse points) for F:\Music.

Is there any way to change MC's Cover Art location outside of MC?  I didn't find the value in the registry.

Cla55clown - can you download:

    http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/bb896768.aspx

and unzip it to your Desktop.  Open a command shell (cmd.exe) and issue the following commands:

   cd Desktop
   .\junction.exe -s F:\
   mountvol

and share the results here.

[MrC]

I tested out doing what Cla55clown might have done, and tested it in MC18.

MC does misbehave, and badly.

All it takes is for a user to set the Cover Art folder to the same as the Music folder location.  When you try to then change the Cover Art folder to elsewhere, MC moves the entire contents of the currently configured Cover Art folder into the new Cover Art location.  All file links are then broken in MC.

MC should not allow setting the Cover Art folder within any folder locations for any of its known Media, and more importantly, it should never allow placing the Cover Art folder within any system folders.  It should probably force creating and using a new folder always, for safety.  I didn't test this, but I'm sure it would wipe out Windows should I have configured my Cover Art folder to C:\Windows, or Program Files, or an entire drive if configured to store in the root of the drive.

I am entirely surprised to discover that MC doesn't just move what it manages, but moves everything.