Topic: Convert Format: Where is the feature to 'skip duplicates'?? :( (Read 1895 times)

tjobbins · « **on:** June 03, 2004, 05:51:37 am »

Hey guys,

I guess this must have been dropped in a recent release - there is no option to 'Skip Duplicates' when using the Library Tools -> Convert Format option. Update: I just read another thread saying that this is replaced with 'skip files of same type'.. this does not help me at all

This is a huge pain for me, I really need this feature back.

90% of my library is in lossless APE format, the other 10% is MP3. I like to stream my music across the net, which is not possible with music in APE format (I wish Media Server would convert-on-the-fly for non Tivo users!). Therefore I keep a copy of all my APE files, in MP3 format - I use View Schemes with filters to give me two trees, 'All music', and 'All MP3 Music'

I need skip duplicates so that I can easily convert any new APE tracks I add - previously I was able to simply select all my APEs, and run a convert on them all, knowing any that I had already converted would be skipped. This no longer happens - I now need to painstakingly work out what's been added and just convert that.

This is doubly annoying because I just re-converted all my files (I had to delete my first MP3 conversion due to lack of space), and for some reason MC did not convert 100 tracks. So now I have 100 less MP3s than I have APEs, and I have no idea which 100 files are missing!

Please please could you re-add the skip duplicates feature!

Thanks

Tom

PS. I would also love another option under 'Move to Location', called 'Maintain original subdirectory structure'. E.g., if I am converting files in M:\Music, moving them to M:\Mp3music, I want the directory structure of the latter to mirror the former; m:\music\soundtracks\kill bill\* converts to m:\mp3music\soundtracks\kill bill\* . I currently use the 'create artist/album subdirectories' option, which is ok for most songs, but gives a weird structure for compilations/mix albums/etc

tjobbins · « **Reply #1 on:** June 03, 2004, 06:17:51 am »

Just one more note.. I've tried creating a smartlist which can find the files that are left to convert, with no luck. I was basing this on Steve's note in the 10.0.143 release thread (http://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php?board=3;action=display;threadid=21718;start=msg151453#msg151453)

Quote

TxGary,

There is not a built in way to do this anymore. You could try creating a smartlist with a rule something like this....

~nodup=[Name],[Artist],[Album],[Genre] [File Type]=[mp3]

In other words, create a smartlist with no duplicates (to rule out files which already are converted based on name, artist, album, genre, etc.) with an additional rule to filter only mp3 files. I hope this gets you close.

Steve

I can not get this to work at all. My smartlist filter is:
~nodup=[Name],[Artist],[Album],[Track #] [File Type]=ape

This simply selects all the APE files that I have. If I change File Type to MP3, it selects all the MP3 files I have. I can't find any clause that says 'show me all the APEs that do not have a matching MP3 in this directory <...>'

SteveG · « **Reply #2 on:** June 03, 2004, 12:42:49 pm »

tjobbins,

How about this.....

1) Create a smartlist for all files with duplicates [Name],[Artist],[Album],etc.
2) Create another smartlist with a rule to add files not in the smartlist created in step 1 and of filetype ape.

The result is that you should have a list of all ape files which are not already converted which I think is what you are after.

Steve

gbdesai · « **Reply #3 on:** June 06, 2004, 09:02:58 pm »

That idea works great. What would be nice is having the convert files option allowing you to update the library in a way that keeps the original file and also imports the newly converted file (without having to do it manually).

The second thing is that when using the move to option and when you check the create directory structure option, it looses the Assorted option that the rest of the library uses.

tjobbins · « **Reply #4 on:** June 07, 2004, 04:18:20 am »

Thanks very much Steve, that worked great

And gbdesai has said everything I was going to! Yeah it would be really handy to have an auto-import (but not update the original files) option, plus it'd be great if 'create artist/album' option handled multiple-artist albums better.

Thanks again

gbdesai · « **Reply #5 on:** June 07, 2004, 03:57:19 pm »

Thanks for saying what I wanted to say, but in English. I guess I was dozing off while typing.

gbdesai · « **Reply #6 on:** June 08, 2004, 11:26:15 am »

Actually one other thing would be cool as a new feature. The ability to modify the contents of a tag in the converted file. This way I could have a master set of files that consists of lossless APL (files that I rip from my CDs), and lossless or high quality MPC or APE or MP3 or AAC (that I buy from online music stores) and a converted version of my library in High/Normal quality MP3. The tag would identify converted files are such so you could easily distiguish duplicates. I know you can do this by converting to a different directory structure and looking at file location, but this may be a more elegant solution.

Today I don't have the problem as I don't have any MP3's other than converted ones, but I may in the future, or I may want to convert everything to a format I already use in some of my master files. Just a thought.

INTERACT FORUM

Author Topic: Convert Format: Where is the feature to 'skip duplicates'?? :( (Read 1895 times)

tjobbins

Convert Format: Where is the feature to 'skip duplicates'?? :(

tjobbins

Re:Convert Format: Where is the feature to 'skip duplicates'?? :(

SteveG

Re:Convert Format: Where is the feature to 'skip duplicates'?? :(

gbdesai

Re:Convert Format: Where is the feature to 'skip duplicates'?? :(

tjobbins

Re:Convert Format: Where is the feature to 'skip duplicates'?? :(

gbdesai

Re:Convert Format: Where is the feature to 'skip duplicates'?? :(

gbdesai

Re:Convert Format: Where is the feature to 'skip duplicates'?? :(