Okay....first of all, I have been using JRiver now for about a year and a half....and love it. The first thing that brought me in was the extensive DSP, particularly hp filters, which I use for sub protection. I am still a novice user, but recently have embarked on updating my small-medium (?) size music library (200+ gig). Until I really started checking, I didn't realize how many old low res MP3's I had in my collection (some going back to 1999), incomplete or inconsistently tagged files, etc. etc. When I started downloading back then hard drive space was premium, and everyone thought that 128 kb was "CD Quality". Amazing how much I managed to get over a dedicated dial-up, and how much times have changed.
My apologies if the questions below are answered somewhere in the Wiki....I have only managed to inconsistently get useful information there.
Using MC 19.117 now....
Auto-Import and Tagging:
For Analyze Audio and Video Files - My understanding is that MC skips over files that already have the R128 tags or sidecar files. If it needs to analyze files, and tagging is not selected, does it hold the analyzed info in the library (database) unless the files are changed, even after reboot? I assume since the sidecar .xml file is not a "tag" it remains unless manually deleted.
Do Build thumbnails, Get cover art, and Get movie & TV info work exclusively from the existing file tags, from the internet database, or both? Which one is higher priority (will good existing tags get changed in the library if the internet database is different)?
Ignore files previously removed from library - Does MC only ignore files that are identical to those being ignored (exact time/date/size/tags, etc)?
Update for external changes - MC is very good at this, but cannot think of a case where it would not be needed, maybe something unusual.
Write file tags when analyzing audio, etc. - I assume if this item is not checked, MC will never change any files or related data tags, only the library will be changed?
Is it possible to set up MC to have the various options above selectable by folder? It appears that all "watched" folders must have the same options.
Find and Replace:
When doing Find and Replace, are there variables that can be used for specific tasks? For example, I wanted to change all artists named "Eagles" to "The Eagles". Seemed easy enough, but if the field was already "The Eagles" I ended up with "The The Eagles". Do I need to use the "%", "*", or some other way of replacing the whole or partial string in one swoop?
Thanks for such great software and support....I was telling a co-worker recently about JRiver and how proactive and responsive the developers are....almost unheard of in any field. There is very little software that I would even consider paying for, but this is truly a bargain, FUN to use, and now I look forward to the next update and version upgrade to see what improvements there are. What is more fun than listening to music or watching your favorite video with the highest quality possible?