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Author Topic: trouble with initial import, albums and artists missing  (Read 3468 times)

danfl75

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trouble with initial import, albums and artists missing
« on: August 06, 2013, 10:59:20 pm »

Hi Noob here. This is my first real foray into digital music. MC 18.0.211 installed fine on my mac mini 2012 OX10.8.4, and it sounds good. I can't import my albums correctly from ITunes despite multiple attempts with different paths. The problem is that I can only see and play my itunes music files from the file entry on the tree. HDTracks music files also show up there. When I click on album or artist in the tree, I only see the few HDtracks sampler albums or artists. When in the /Users/dan/Music/ directory, I see directories for HDTracks and iTunes.

I tried many variations of this path to no avail:
/Users/dan/Music/ITunes/ITunes Media/Music

For example, I'm pretty sure I tried these:
/Users/dan/Music/
/Users/dan/Music/ITunes/

What am I missing?
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Matt

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Re: trouble with initial import, albums and artists missing
« Reply #1 on: August 07, 2013, 11:01:12 am »

Can you see your music in Finder under those paths?

What happens if you do Tools > Import in MC and point to that path?
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danfl75

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Re: trouble with initial import, albums and artists missing
« Reply #2 on: August 07, 2013, 07:35:44 pm »

Matt, yes, I can see files from those paths in Finder. If I try to play them from finder, it's still associated with itunes but I haven't tried to change that yet. When I try to import a single file from either path:

/Users/dan/Music - or
/Users/dan/Music/ITunes/ITunes Media/Music - I get this summary:

   Library now has 956 files. Search and update took 0:00.

   Imported 0 new files.

When I do Tools > import, it looks just like what I had been doing File > Library > Import. If I clear the library from under file, and then import again, I get 956 and it takes a couple minutes to import. tia
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Matt

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Re: trouble with initial import, albums and artists missing
« Reply #3 on: August 07, 2013, 08:25:58 pm »

What are the 956 files in MC?  Maybe that folder is already in the program.  Look under 'Audio' in the tree.
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danfl75

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Re: trouble with initial import, albums and artists missing
« Reply #4 on: August 08, 2013, 10:52:00 am »

Those files are all the music loaded into itunes. I originally ripped them from disk via itunes, and I can see all artists, albums and thumbnails in itunes. MC imports all the songs, but they can only be seen and played within MC from Audio > Files. Under Audio > Albums and Audio > Artists, I do not see them all. Wait, I just found them all under Unassigned, and I can play them there. So the only ones that show up with thumbnails and their own directories are the few that came with the HDTracks sampler download. Maybe having two directories under /Users/dan/Music/ is confusing the import process? I think it should still work, but I tried a few oddball tests.

Moved those HDTracks sampler files and directory to/Users/dan/Movies/, and also cleared library to do a fresh import:

   Library now has 946 files. Search and update took 0:35.

   Imported 946 new files.

Still no joy with thumbnails or directories for each album from itunes. The number dropped by 10 because that's the number of HDTracks files. I'm reminded now that those files show up in two directories, and can be played from either location in Finder. Not sure why, maybe I downloaded it twice and entered the other dir or HDTracks does it as back ups?

Next test, I tried changing the file extension association for .wav to MC 18. Same result on import. Thanks for your help.
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danfl75

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Re: trouble with initial import, albums and artists missing
« Reply #5 on: August 08, 2013, 11:06:29 am »

One more note that may clarify what I'm seeing. When I look in the tree under Albums, Artists, Genres, or even Panes, I can see all the itunes library music as files under Unassigned. They are all sorted by track number i.e. all track ones file name start with 01 etc.

If I drill down through /Users/dan/Music/ITunes/ITunes Media/Music, then and only then I can see all albums as directories. If I click on one of those, I can play through the whole album normally in MC. I still have no thumbnails. I tried another test where I moved a few of those directories to be under /Users/dan/Music/ and try import again. No real change other than where I found them when drilling down through File.

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danfl75

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Re: trouble with initial import, albums and artists missing
« Reply #6 on: September 10, 2013, 10:04:14 pm »

I'm still stuck  I installed MC on my macbook which has never seen hdtracks and it worked just as expected. I could see albums and artists when I did an import from Music that matched what itunes shows. I tried completely uninstalling MC18 with Mr C's kind help, but upon reinstall and import from Music, I only saw the HDtracks sampler artists and albums. So I moved those files and folders, completely uninstalled MC 18, and reinstalled MC 18 and no joy. All the same files under Music that were ripped via itunes still show up in MC 18 Albums and Artists as unassigned. They play fine, but I have no covers or groupings there. I can see album names as folders if I drill down into Files. The HDtrack sampler files, folders, albums and artists are gone, as expected.

I know little of computer audio, Mac OS, or files systems, and nothing about tagging. Please help, any direction on what to try or research next would be very appreciated. I also see I'm burning through my annual restore limit. Should I be concerned? I'm using MC 18.0.216, tia.
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MrC

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Re: trouble with initial import, albums and artists missing
« Reply #7 on: September 10, 2013, 10:50:56 pm »

You've been having a tough ride for the past month.  Would you like some remote help on this so we can cut to the quick?
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danfl75

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Re: trouble with initial import, albums and artists missing
« Reply #8 on: September 11, 2013, 07:30:34 am »

That would exceed my expectations, thank you! I'll be available to work with you this evening around 7:30 EDT.
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danfl75

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Re: trouble with initial import, albums and artists missing
« Reply #9 on: September 11, 2013, 07:54:22 am »

Or suggest another day and evening time of your choosing. I'm available on weekends too. :) My mac mini is pretty basic, do I need to install chat or RDP apps?

One other question, how do I find out if MC can control the volume on my Bel Canto uLink (usb convertor) via ST fiber to my Bel Canto DAC3.5? If that is not compatible, how about the Benckmark DAC2? Thanks again!
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MrC

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Re: trouble with initial import, albums and artists missing
« Reply #10 on: September 11, 2013, 12:11:30 pm »

That time should be fine.  Send me an email when you are ready.

Just so you're clear, I'm just a user like you and don't work for JRiver.  Generally folks don't think I'm too much of a rapscallion, so you stand a good chance of not having your system destroyed.

Let's keep this thread on a single topic.  Post your other question (re: Bel Canto) in another thread.
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danfl75

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Re: trouble with initial import, albums and artists missing
« Reply #11 on: September 11, 2013, 08:08:17 pm »

Thank you Mr C! The issue was that I ripped my music in itunes to WAV format, which has non-standard tagging. With expert help, my library was updated to albums and artists now show up. Expressions are very powerful and cryptic. He was able to build import rules in case I continue down this path, but I may try ripping to other formats. I'm an audiophile so I wanted something lossless and that would not require expanding it on the fly. I will need to experiment a lot.
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MrC

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Re: trouble with initial import, albums and artists missing
« Reply #12 on: September 11, 2013, 08:09:52 pm »

You're welcome.  For reference, here are the notes I posted in the build thread:

   http://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php?topic=83521.msg570253#msg570253
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