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Batch transfer tags to media files on Mac via MPL file created on Windows?
couchjr:
Wise ones,
We are trying to transfer tag values written into multichannel DSF files in MC 19 Windows to stereo DSF files of the same albums created on the Mac, where I have MC 19 for the Mac. We have successfully done this for individual albums by simply importing the m-c files on the Mac side, replacing them with stereo files in the same folder, and updating tags from library and then updating library from tags. This way the file path that MC sees doesn't change.
This would be a very slow and cumbersome method for large numbers of albums, not least because all the multichannel files would have to be copied onto the Mac (at ~6-7 gigs each).
After perusing Mr. C's heroic work on these threads:
http://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php?topic=82720.0
http://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php?topic=78971.0
we have been thinking that creating an MPL file of, say 100 albums' worth of tags at a time from the multichannel files, sending that to the Mac side, and importing that into the MC Mac library and updating the stereo files from that MPL file would be infinitely faster and easier. But given our current limited understanding of MC, we have one major puzzle to solve:
The paths that are shown in the "Filename" field in the MPL file are presumably in Windows notation and syntax (I haven't seen one yet) while the computer, the edition of MC and its library, and the drive where the stereo files will be stored are all Mac based, so (based on a test MPL I created on the Mac side) they use unix file system notation and syntax. So even if the source multichannel media files and the receiving stereo media files are located at the same level of an attached drive/volume on each system, we don't yet know whether MC Mac can find the receiving files to do an "Update file tags from library" operation without the update failing.
If it's just reading characters in the MPL field, how will it connect "/volumes/volumeName/directory" to "Z:/directory" or whatever Windows writes into the MPL field? Is there something in auto-import, or "Rename, Move, & Copy Files" that can help here for an entire batch? The actual filename (the part after the final slash) should already be an exact match, so that's not an issue. Just the path.
I also noticed that when exporting an MPL, there's an option to store the path relative to the location to which the MPL is exported. So would it work to always export the MPL to the same directory in which the media file folders are located? That shortens the path in the MPL field to just \albumName\filename (on the Mac side at least).
I'd prefer, if possible, not to have to edit the paths in the MPL file using search-and-replace to match the Mac syntax before importing. It would be tedious, and I'd worry about mistakes or typos screwing up something else in the filename.
If a script is needed, I see that OS X can run perl at the Terminal shell command line, though I have no experience with perl.
If MC is smart enough to translate the path it sees in the MPL field to find the files stored at the same level in the Mac file system and update the tags without further intervention, I'll be deliriously happy. I really hope the only hurdle here is my ignorance.
But if, as I suspect, there's more to it, I'd be very grateful for guidance. Has anybody done this kind of cross-platform update of, say, mp3 to FLAC versions of the same albums using MPL files?
Thanks in advance for all advice and experience. If anything's not clear I can supply examples, rephrasing, and/or libations to deities of your choice.
jlyness:
I have a broadly similar need, for a different situation. I have a lot of SACD ISOs in my MC library; the tags are stored in the library file, since they cannot be written to the ISO files. If I were extract these ISOs to DSF files, the tags could be written to the DSF files. But: a) to do that one album at a time, without having to manually recreate all my tags, I would need to use the "copy-paste tags" feature of MC, except it appears this feature is not yet enabled on the mac version of MC; and b) is there a way to do that for all at once, rather than one album at a time?
MrC:
@couchjr...
If you export your file's metadata as an MPL playlist on Windows, then you can import it on the Mac provided the following:
1. you convert the Windows paths to Mac OS X paths
2. the files exist at the corrected path specified in (1) above.
The path conversion might be as simple as converting backslash to forward slash, and replacing the drive letter with the appropriate root component, or it may be more complicated if the folder mappings are not otherwise identical on both OS'. If it is simple, a quick substitution in the Filename field for each MPL can do the work in one shot.
@jlyness...
The same principle should apply here, but you'd need a mapping from the ISO file path (which you can see in the MPL) to the individual DSF files. If you can show the basic algorithmic mapping from ISO to DSF, it shouldn't be too hard to create an importable MPL.
couchjr:
Thanks, MrC--If I understand you correctly, you're advising that for each batch of albums in a single MPL file (~100), I would do a global search-and-replace edit of the path portion of the filename field to make the Windows path notation match the OS X unix notation. Do I have that right?
That means I'll have to do this for at least thirty batches, and more as the DSD collection grows. It also has implications for collection/storage management. If we need to use MPL files to transfer corrections or add metadata fields later, we'd have to keep all the albums in the same directory on both systems, or figure out a way to sort and group all the albums in a given directory before making an MPL so the MPL will find all the correct files.
I was hoping there was a more automated way, but this is still far better than swapping individual album tags.
It may take some experimenting to get the Windows->Mac OS path translation right. To begin with, at least, I think we can store all the media files at the first user-definable directory level on attached storage on both systems, so that should help some.
Do you think using the "relative path" idea I mentioned earlier might simplify the translation?
Many thanks for your insights!
MrC:
First let me preface that I don't have any DSDs/DSFs and I don't know if MC handles writing tags to the files or via sidecar. So any "advice" i'm suggesting is along the lines of how something can be accomplished as opposed to perhaps some other, better way. IF MC is not writing tags or sidecars for your file types, then MPL is one way to import file properties into another MC library.
Having said that, yes, a global search/replace of the Filename fields inside the MPL is what you'd do.
I'm not clear on why you are doing batches, as opposed to the entire library all at once. But I'm sure you have your reasons.
Relative path appear to be supported. I'm embarrassed to say I've never tested them with an MPL. I know there was an issue with relative paths and other playlists types in MC Mac and I don't recall if it was resolved.
Ask if you need help with a quick script / command line to perform the translation. In another thread, I created an Automator scriptlet that converted paths in a playlist from Windows to Mac - this would be similar if that was easiest for you. Include some sample Before and After paths so I can see the translation pattern needed.
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