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[hvdh]

Sirs,

I would very much like you to add a topic under "More basic information is available here:" in your F A Q section,
explaining how to use MC as a player exclusively.

I have found quite a few options in MC with which you can control overwriting tags, deleting files, moving files, changing JPG's etc etc etc. I think I found them all, and I have turned all of them off.

I really do not want to be able to change my files from within MC, my collection is organised as I want it to be, and I use a very simple piece of software to make shure that all tags and files are exactly as I want them to be.

So I would very much like you to publish a shortlist of all options in MC that can be used to modify files, I keep wondering if I missed any of them, so that files are inadvertently changed without me noticing (until it is too late)

Can you do that please?

Henk

[JimH]

Please post here, and allow others to comment.  Thanks.

[marcob]

Sirs,

I would very much like you to add a topic under "More basic information is available here:" in your F A Q section,
explaining how to use MC as a player exclusively.

I have found quite a few options in MC with which you can control overwriting tags, deleting files, moving files, changing JPG's etc etc etc. I think I found them all, and I have turned all of them off.

I really do not want to be able to change my files from within MC, my collection is organised as I want it to be, and I use a very simple piece of software to make shure that all tags and files are exactly as I want them to be.

So I would very much like you to publish a shortlist of all options in MC that can be used to modify files, I keep wondering if I missed any of them, so that files are inadvertently changed without me noticing (until it is too late)

Can you do that please?

Henk

+1

[Arindelle]

Options=>Library & Folders=>set  to Show All Fields

Go to each field, and make sure the box Save in File tags (when possible) is NOT checked. And no, there is no toggle to uncheck all as few people would want what you are looking for (although I'd like the opposite to make sure everything is checked)

You should alos look at your autoimport configuration carefully and make sure there is nothing that you don't want -- basically uncheck everything, unless you want your external changes to be taken into account, which I presume you do. Shouldn't be an issue, unless you added process yourself, however.

There will be some field information written to the library but not to your physical files. (last played, date imported etc.)

If you don't purposely use tools like rename, you rip with an external program and all you don't mess with any tools,  automatic processes like sync will only affect the library on not the physical files. Audio analysis will write to the files, just don't run it if you don't want it. Can't think of anything that write to disk, if you have prevented all the fields to save to the file.

You can also uncheck run autoimport in the background under Options=>Library & Folders=> Autoimport. That way if you are in the process of tagging or ripping outside of JRiver, it won't add the music to the library. You must of course run Autoimport manually. Embedded tagging will be added then to the library.

If you are really paranoid. Take off all write permissions from the directories.

[Listener]

The /LibraryReadOnly commandline switch will prevent any changes to the library database or to tags.  Of course, MC won't store last played or other info but you asked for a drastic measure.

Add this after "C:\Program Files (x86)\J River\Media Center 20\Media Center 20.exe" in the shortcut you use to run MC 20.

I'd suggest that you leave the normal MC shortcut in place for times when you want to import files or make changes of some sort. Right-click on that shortcut and choose copy.  Then paste to the desktop or where you have shortcut icons for frequently executed programs.  Right click on the copied shortcut and choose propertiers.  Click on the "Shortcut" tab and add a space and "LibraryReadOnly" after "C:\Program Files (x86)\J River\Media Center 20\Media Center 20.exe".

wiki reference: http://wiki.jriver.com/index.php/The_Command_Line

[kstuart]

It occurred to me that to 90% of people "MC as a Player Only" means that the guy with the microphone is not interested in long term relationships.   Could even be a hip-hop song title.

Back to MediaCenter, be sure that the following option is never checked:

Edit->"Update Tags When File Info Changes"

[hvdh]

I guess I wasn't clear enough in my initial post.

I simply want to prevent MC from deleting files, change tags etc.

I'm quite happy with the ways that MC organises the library fields, no gripes there whatsoever. I have plenty of library back-ups so the worst that can happen here is that I go back to a previous version and I need to rate some music again an/or analyse audio etc, that's no biggy.
I've limited auto-import to one directory anyway, nice and clean. I can listen or view anything not in the library just fine by double-clicking the file, which is a great way of using stuff of which I'm not shure if I want to keep it or not.

Ive turned off:
- Update Tags when File Info Changes.
- also store image in the file's tag.

Am I missing any more important options?

All my files are tagged correctly, including the image, which is also in all my files:)

But I don't know for instance how to prevent deletion of a file from within MC (right-click an album in the standard view and I get 2 instances of "delete" from which I can choose. And I would much rather not have this option at all!

I realise it comes across as somewhat anal , but I've put a lot of effort in building a rather large music collection, with very few mistakes/errors in the names and tags, and I would hate to lose files because of some mishap during a party or whatever... I simply have no way of checking afterward to see if I am missing files, so not having to worry would be nice:)

[JimH]

I realise it comes across as somewhat anal ...

I would have said paranoid, but anal isn't far off.

[krmasson]

I have the same concern (about 1500 CDs, ripped day after day during 3 months): I chose to just configure my NAS (where my soundtracks are stored) as Read/Only for the regular user of my player PC. If I unintentionnaly try to modify a file, MC is just stuck, and I just have to stop it and restart it.

I usually rip/tag my music on another desktop PC, and I send the result to the NAS through FTP: source and destination clearly displayed, always located left and right, no confusing similar Windows Explorer windows, (almost) impossible to make a mistake.

It sometimes happens that I want to fix some small mistakes on the player PC: for such cases, I log myself on the player PC, as SuperUser user, password-protected against woman and kids (in that order), which has a write access to the NAS. And in that case, I am very cautious. There is an imageful French expression, but I miss the vocabulary to translate it :-)

An since I too am p-anal-oid, I have a backup of the whole libray on a portable drive at work, which I keep regularly updated.

[Vincent Kars]

1 - Update Tags when File Info Changes.
2 - also store image in the file's tag.

3- I would hate to lose files because of some mishap during a party

Ad 1: this means that edit made with your external tagger won't pop-up if the track is in the library
Ad 2: JRiver will only do if you invoke the cover art option
Ad 3: try View > Party mode

[JimH]

I think you're being overly careful.  If MC was doing any harm to files, JRiver wouldn't be in business any more.

[krmasson]

Maybe.
It is not MC, that I do not trust: it is myself, the Windows Explorer interface, my woman, my kids, my cat. Is is so easy to press the "Del" key with the wrong window having the focus...

[hvdh]

I think you're being overly careful.  If MC was doing any harm to files, JRiver wouldn't be in business any more.

I never meant to imply that it was

I just want to make shure that I understand all the options that are built into MC that can do harm to files...
That's really all I wanted. And I do believe that a brief addition to the FAQ could get me there quite easily.

Or even better: 1 simple option within MC which prevents MC from modifiying files. That would be perfect.

[hvdh]

Ad 1: this means that edit made with your external tagger won't pop-up if the track is in the library
Ad 2: JRiver will only do if you invoke the cover art option
Ad 3: try View > Party mode

At 1: that's weird, because they do:) No question about it. If I find anything wrong with my files, and I fix that, it will be noticed by MC, and the library is updated.

Now this could of course be because ALL my tags are based on file name and file path. So all I do is fix the file path and name, run my little program to get this new information into the tags, and I'm done. And of course MC will notice, because it will regard the changed file as a new file, and import, because it is in the auto-import folder. Only disadvantage sofar is that I lose file ratings, because they are in the library, not the tags.

Works for me:)

At 2: I've been using Album Art Downloader for ages now, I love that little program:)

at 3: I have no idea what that is. Just tried to find it (http://wiki.jriver.com/index.php/Party_Mode says it should be under View > Party Mode, but I can't find that option, and Access Control is deprecated, so I guess I'll have to do some more digging... Thanks for the hint.

[Vincent Kars]

"Update tags when file info changes"
My mistake, it means any changes in fields in the interface are written to the tags as well.

In my case it is view > party mode
It is supposed to disable any changes (edit/delete, etc) using the interface

[Listener]

My comments in bold.

At 1: that's weird, because they do:) No question about it. If I find anything wrong with my files, and I fix that, it will be noticed by MC, and the library is updated.

Now this could of course be because ALL my tags are based on file name and file path. So all I do is fix the file path and name, run my little program to get this new information into the tags, and I'm done. And of course MC will notice, because it will regard the changed file as a new file, and import, because it is in the auto-import folder. Only disadvantage sofar is that I lose file ratings, because they are in the library, not the tags.

Works for me:)

Or maybe not. You'll have to remove the library entries for the files as they used to be named.


at 3: I have no idea what that is. Just tried to find it (http://wiki.jriver.com/index.php/Party_Mode says it should be under View > Party Mode, but I can't find that option, and Access Control is deprecated, so I guess I'll have to do some more digging... Thanks for the hint.

User accounts is the new way of controlling access. See

http://wiki.jriver.com/index.php/Users

In an earlier post, the /LibraryReadOnly command line option is called Party Mode.  Another way to prevent changes.

[Arindelle]

If you can't see the Party Mode Option, you have to check the box in Options=>Features