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Author Topic: How do I purge my library and start again?  (Read 4977 times)

mjm6

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How do I purge my library and start again?
« on: February 03, 2014, 12:39:37 pm »

Using MC17...

I have a bunch of files that I have updated with different metadata and album art in my NAS, but MC17 doesn't appear to have picked up the updates.  It is set to monitor the folder on the mapped drive from the NAS.

If I go to library management and then clear, does that eliminate the library and start from scratch?  It doesn't appear that it did, because it looks like it still had incorrect metadata in the library.

Any help on how to solve this?

Thanks,

---Michael
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MrC

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Re: How do I purge my library and start again?
« Reply #1 on: February 03, 2014, 12:45:11 pm »

You can use Library Tools > Update Library (from tags) to pull the updates.

The Clear library command will entirely clear the library.  So if you are getting the old data when re-importing, I'd suggest your file tags have the old data.  So before pulling the updates as mentioned above, do a quick comparison of what MC has and what the file tags have (use the Tag Dump feature in the Tag Action Window - select a file, open Tag Action Window, and click the first line in the TAW.)
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mjm6

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Re: How do I purge my library and start again?
« Reply #2 on: February 03, 2014, 04:44:59 pm »

Thanks MrC...

I am not quite sure... when you say tags, do you mean the metadata in the file, or is there another tag that MC creates and attaches (or associates) with the FLAC files?

The reason I ask is that I have used Yate to correct a bunch of metadata information on my main machine, deleted the files from the NAS and re-upped the files with corrected metadata.  That's the information that is now not showing up correctly in MC on my audio machine.

I'll try what you suggest tonight.

Thanks,

---Michael

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MrC

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Re: How do I purge my library and start again?
« Reply #3 on: February 03, 2014, 04:47:25 pm »

MC maintains an internal database of your metadata from each file's (tags).  The files themselves typically have their own metadata stored in the file in a well-defined format.  When you change values in MC, MC by default writes these values back out to the files.  These are generally called tags.  I've tried to describe this better here:

   http://wiki.jriver.com/index.php/File_Properties_%28tags%29#General
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mjm6

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Re: How do I purge my library and start again?
« Reply #4 on: February 03, 2014, 04:57:01 pm »

Ok, thanks for the info.

I'll see what I can do tonight.


---Michael
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mjm6

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Re: How do I purge my library and start again?
« Reply #5 on: February 06, 2014, 10:17:27 pm »

MrC,

So, it doesn't see to have solved the problem that I am having.

I re-upped the files to my NAS from my main HD on the main computer.

Then, I cleared teh library, and then pointed for auto monitor, and it brought in the majority of the files, but a handful were not for one reason or another, and a few weren't because of long file names, I believe.

However, it also appears to have written new tags to about 120 files (I have no idea which ones, as the log does not indicate those).

What is it doing such that it would be updating tags on the library?  Is there a setting to keep it from doing that?

Lastly, ad this may be related to the tag writing, but I have confirmed that the genre tag on a handful of files is not matching the actual files, and this is driving me crazy.  How do I get it to not be overriding the genre tags in the files?  Is it pulling info from the internet somehow?


---Michael
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MrC

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Re: How do I purge my library and start again?
« Reply #6 on: February 06, 2014, 10:48:20 pm »

By default, tagging is disabled for Auto-Import activities.  If you enabled it, and are using Auto-Import, then these could cause tag writes:

   - Audio Analysis
   - Cover Art
   - Get movie and TV info

Tagging in MC is enabled by default for manual changes you make in MC.  Disable it with Edit > Update Tags When File Info Changes, which is the same option presented under Tools > Options > General > Importing & Tagging.

Regarding the Genre tag issue, select one of those files, and open the Tag Action Window.  Click the first line, which will expand and show a physical tag dump.  What values to you see there related to genre, and how do they compare with what MC shows in the Genre field?
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mjm6

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Re: How do I purge my library and start again?
« Reply #7 on: February 07, 2014, 09:57:37 am »

MrC,

OK , checked the files...

Some are in a Cranberries album, which I have tagged with the genre "Irish Rock".  I did this globally for the album when I ripped, or possibly in Yate later for all the Cranberries albums.

Most of the songs show up with "Irish Rock".

A few show up with "Punk & Alternative".

I checked the tags as you describe, and the individual genre tag for the song is "Irish Rock" in the tag dump, but the display to the right shows "Punk & Alternative".

What's going on?

Thanks,



---Michael
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MrC

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Re: How do I purge my library and start again?
« Reply #8 on: February 07, 2014, 12:11:03 pm »

For one of the affected Cranberries albums...

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. 
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mjm6

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Re: How do I purge my library and start again?
« Reply #9 on: February 11, 2014, 08:26:10 pm »

OK, here is the file...

In MC, tracks 1, 7, and 12 are displayed as Alternate&Punk and are categorized that way in the Genres selection area under Audio.

Also in there are tracks from Jim Croce?!, Midnight Oil, REM, Sara McLachlan?!, and The Sundays.

It's possible that some of those were categorized as that when I ripped the CD, but I know it wasn't for the Cranberries CD because I specifically tried to fix those as a result of this problem.


---Michael
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MrC

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Re: How do I purge my library and start again?
« Reply #10 on: February 11, 2014, 08:36:35 pm »

I don't see any of the other artists you refer to in the CSV file, so I'm not sure what we're talking about.

There's one more thing that we need to examine.  For track 1, Hollywood, The Cranberries, To The Faithful Departed, go to the tag dump window and copy the contents and paste it here.  Copy to Clipboard is available in the little pull-down after the dump window is open.
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mjm6

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Re: How do I purge my library and start again?
« Reply #11 on: February 11, 2014, 11:06:05 pm »

They aren't in the file, but in the Genre category, they are clearly mis-categorized, so the same problem is occurring in those files as well probably.

I'll post the dump for that file in another post.
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mjm6

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Re: How do I purge my library and start again?
« Reply #12 on: February 12, 2014, 10:54:17 pm »

OK, here is the info for the first file in the album:

Free Lossless Audio Codec (FLAC)
  44.1 kHz Sample Rate
  16 Bits Per Sample
  2 Channels

  Min Block Size = 4096
  Max Block Size = 4096
  Min Frame Size = 14
  Max Frame Size = 14085
  Padding Block = 4038 bytes

# of Pictures = 1
  Type 3 (32580 bytes)

SeekTable Block (558 bytes):
  # of points = 31

Vorbis Comment Block (887 bytes):
  Vendor String =
  TITLE = Hollywood
  ARTIST = The Cranberries
  ALBUMARTIST = The Cranberries
  ALBUM = To The Faithful Departed
  TRACKNUMBER = 1
  TRACKTOTAL = 19
  DISCNUMBER = 1
  DISCTOTAL = 1
  DATE = 1996
  COMPOSER = Dolores O'Riordan
  GENRE = Irish Rock
  ISRC = USIR29600115
  RATING = 0
  COMMENT =
  LYRICS =
  ENCODER = X Lossless Decoder 20111214
  TOTALTRACKS = 19
  TOTALDISCS = 1
  MCN = 0731458671022
  ITUNES_CDDB_1 = <Too Long To Display>
  MUSICBRAINZ_TRACKID = f25defa7-0828-426b-afdb-92048fe95223
  MUSICBRAINZ_ALBUMID = 33357ab0-bbd8-49a6-adfe-43d97ddee711
  MUSICBRAINZ_ARTISTID = c98d40fd-f6cf-4b26-883e-eaa515ee2851
  MUSICBRAINZ_ALBUMARTISTID = c98d40fd-f6cf-4b26-883e-eaa515ee2851
  MUSICBRAINZ_DISCID = VwjuwSXFHREMrcJvI_ah8qTMPww-


If the tag window is set up to "show default tags" or "show all tags", it shows "Alternate and Punk", but the tag dump and the clipboard paste show "irish rock".

---Michael
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MrC

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Re: How do I purge my library and start again?
« Reply #13 on: February 12, 2014, 11:29:17 pm »

Well, its not clear to me what has gone wrong.  Here are the possibilities as I see them:

  1. user accidental field change
  2. corrupted MC library
  3. corrupted file system

It will be probably impossible to prove 1, and 2 could be investigated, but that's not likely going to happen for a while.  3 is a possibility, so it would be worth exploring that avenue.

Since you're on MC17, and help from JRiver will likely require you to test out how your import works in MC19.  I'm not saying there's an MC17 issue, but that nobody at JRiver will spend much (if any) time investigating issues with MC17.

I wish I had a more definitive answer for you.  Your thread was about purging the library, so maybe you might be best to start from scratch, with a new, clean library.  You mentioned in your earlier post that MC had imported "the majority of the files..." and this may or may not be something for clarification.  If the files were all good, MC should have imported all of those you configured it to import.  So why didn't it?
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mjm6

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Re: How do I purge my library and start again?
« Reply #14 on: February 12, 2014, 11:47:50 pm »

Thanks MrC...

I suspect it is pulling info from the file metadata about the author and/or album and for some reason arbitrarily making changes to the metadata, or at least it's internal tags.

It then may be sending those edits to the files themselves, but I may have a way to resolve that.

---Michael
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MrC

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Re: How do I purge my library and start again?
« Reply #15 on: February 13, 2014, 12:19:22 am »

... and for some reason arbitrarily making changes to the metadata, or at least it's internal tags.

I don't understand what the "it" is (MC?), nor have much faith in this guess.  MC's database operations have proven themselves solid and reliable.  MC will also not update tags if you disable tag writing as mentioned above.
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