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[Rizlaw]

Now that this has happened twice with MC 9.1.249 and 9.1.250, I think it's time to see if J River has an answer.

The problem: After converting 1800 "APE" files to "MP3" in folder M:\MUSIC, using external encoder (LAME 3.93.1) with settings of "--alt-preset extreme %IN %OUT", I am no longer able to access the folder  "M:\MUSIC\!APE Soundtracks".  Every time I try to access the soundtracks folder with explorer I get the following error message:

"M:\!APE - soundtracks is not accessible. The file or directory is corrupt or unreadable."

Before I began the file converstions, I had no difficulty accessing the folder with over 6500 soundtrack files in it. The soundtracks folder was neither corrupt or unreadable. The soundtrack files are not even in the MC9 database yet; only the files in M:\Music are in the MC9 database, and these were the only files which I was converting to MP3 format.

I can no longer delete the inaccessible folder. Also when I rebooted, XP sensed there was something wrong with the file structure on the hard disk and began a check disk session. During this session, it indicated it was "recovering orphaned files". The "orphaned files were all soundtrack files in the inaccessible folder.

I have a backups of all the ape files, so I'm not worried about restoring them if need be, but I don't understand why, each time I use MC9's "Convert to" feature on my XP SP1 WD250GB SATA drive, I get this error. It has happened twice in a row. After the first time, I reformatted the drive and reinstalled all the Ape files on it for conversion. Now it has happened again. Since it appears to be repeatable on my computer, I think J River should look into it to see if it's a bug in "Convert to".

[JimH]

Are the files there if you look for them in Explorer?

Update Library in MC will fix some things.

The ! character is unusual and _could_ cause problems.

If you don't get the lame encoder switches right, that could create a problem.  Try the default settings.

[Rizlaw]

Are the files there if you look for them in Explorer?

Update Library in MC will fix some things.

The ! character is unusual and _could_ cause problems.

If you don't get the lame encoder switches right, that could create a problem.  Try the default settings.

Answering your questions in order:

1. NO. I thought I had made that clear in my original post. The files could not be accessed in Windows Explorer or from within MC9's explorer tree view until a reboot was done, at which point XP performed an automatic check disk on drive M:\, recovered many orphaned files in the problem folder and pemitted me to finally access the "M:\!APE Soundtracks"  folder. This folder and is subfolders and files were deleted.

2. I did not update the MC Library, because, as I mentioned, the "lost" folder and its associated subfolders and files were not in the MC Library to begin with. I, therefore, did not think that a library update would have any effect on folders and files not in the MC library.

3. As for the unusual "!" character. I use this to place the folder at the top of the file tree. I am not aware of any XP file system prohibition from using this character; although I do seem to remember (now that you mention it) that there is an ascii character that can make a drive (or folder ?) "invisible" when someone does a network scan for folders from another computer. Anyhow, I don't think this is the problem, as I have been using this type of filename in W2K and XP for over a year without problems until I started using "convert to" in MC9.1. To be on the safe side, I will now remove "!" from the folder name.

4. My Lame encoders switches are correct (--alt-preset extreme) The %IN and %OUT (which were there in the default setting for MC9) were left in but moved to the the end so that, as I mentioned before, the settings read: --alt-preset extreme %IN %OUT.

I am going to copy all 6500 of my APE soundtrack files back to this disk and try converting them with MC9.1. It should take me about 2 days to finish the conversions. If I have the same problem, I will report it.

I have two final questions:

1. What type of MP3 encoder is "MP3 encoder VBR" - included in the MC9.1 download? Is it LAME 3.93.1 or something else?

2. If you use MC9.1's built in "MP3 encoder VBR" on the best quality/high setting how does the resulting MP3 file compare with LAME 3.93.1's (--alt-preset extreme)?

?

[JimH]

When you convert, are you telling MC to delete the original?  It's one of the options.

We use the Lame encoder.  The version may be on the plugins web page.  We try to stay current with the latest known good version.

For fine points on encoding, please read some of the fine threads at hydrogenaudio.com.

[zevele10]

From my experience ,i would say you have a problem with your drive.
Try to rip any cds.
Do massive tags change -- no matter what ,change artists name ect ect- and move part of the folder to a new folder - on the same drive.

After that close your computer.- NOT a restart.
And see if you get again Windows scanning your drive and finding all kind of problems.

If yes ,you have a problem with your configuration-- even if all was fine before.

At this point ,i cannot help you.
Do not understand enought in computer. Someone fixed it for me.