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[Day Radebaugh]

I want to try JRiver, but the download I'm sent can't be opened:

“MediaCenter300018-Universal (1).dmg” is damaged and can’t be opened. You should move it to the Trash.

Can't make it work under either Chrome or Safari on a Mac.

Any ideas?

[Awesome Donkey]

Try the build here: https://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php/topic,134290.0.html

[Day Radebaugh]

Same story:

“MediaCenter300025-Universal.dmg” is damaged and can’t be opened. You should move it to the Trash.

Problem on my end?

[Awesome Donkey]

Yeah, it sure sounds like something is preventing it from downloading correctly on your end. I just downloaded it on Windows and opened the DMG in 7-Zip (which you can to verify if the app is inside) and it's there so I can tell the app downloaded correctly.

How big is the file you download? The DMG should be around 93MB in size. Maybe using something like a download manager app or something may help?

[Day Radebaugh]

Definitely on my end.  Had to use the Terminal command on Mac to remove a "quarantine flag".  Now it opens.

Is there a trial period with JRiver?

Thanks

[JimH]

Did MacOS do that?  Or are you running other "security" software?

[blgentry]

Just as another data point:

I just downloaded MC30.0.25 from the link above.  It downloaded and installed as normal.  Nothing strange and no "quarantine".  I'm running MacOS 12.6 (Monterey).

Brian.

[Day Radebaugh]

Did MacOS do that?  Or are you running other "security" software?

Long, sad story.  I use a computer provided by the university where I teach.  They are worried about unauthorized access to student records.  Their attitude toward security is that the best security is a system no one can access.  There is no telling how they've rigged this Mac, so it's clearly my problem.

I have it running now!  Some questions:

I'm currently an Audirvana user, and enjoy their huge selection of Internet radio stations.  JRiver's selection is quite limited.  Is there a way to expand this selection?

Second, can Tidal be integrated in any straightforward and reliable way?

Finally, I've spent countless hours retagging 600 GB of music, but find that the files need to be tweaked and retagged, mostly in modest ways, but ways that render the presentation of the music much more accessible.  How are JRiver's tagging features?

Thanks

Second

[Awesome Donkey]

Second, can Tidal be integrated in any straightforward and reliable way?

Unfortunately Tidal isn't supported and integration isn't possible (and since it's non-Windows you can't use the WDM driver with the Tidal app). Might want to do a search of the forums why it (and other streaming services) aren't supported/integrated.

[blgentry]

Finally, I've spent countless hours retagging 600 GB of music, but find that the files need to be tweaked and retagged, mostly in modest ways, but ways that render the presentation of the music much more accessible.  How are JRiver's tagging features?

When I first got MC I was using KID3 or something else I can't remember to do tagging.  I used my external tagger for a few months because that's what I always used and MC's tagger seemed... too basic?  Didn't have enough flash?  In short, it looked like it didn't really do much.

Then someone showed me how to do something with the MC tagger and I couldn't believe what I had been missing.  MC's tagger is quite good.  It understands the full range of the JRiver Expression Language.  It can act on multiple files at once.  One file, 12 files, or 12,000 files.  It can do them all at the same time, as long as what you are changing can be expressed in a way that it works across all.

A good example would be something like:

Changing all albums by "The Beastie Boys" to just "Beastie Boys".  Highlight all the albums, open the Tag Pane, and then change the Artist field.  Done.

What if you wanted to change the Name field of 30 tracks so that the Name (song title) uses Title Case instead of lower case?  Very similar procedure:

Highlight all of the relevant albums or tracks.  Then type this into the Name field:

Code: [Select]

=FixCase([Name],0)
Done.  Now all of the Name fields will have Title Case (uppercase first letter  of each word).

Any expression can be used like this on any number of tracks.

In case you are interested, here's the documentation of the Expression Language, specifically the FixCase() function:  https://wiki.jriver.com/index.php/String_Manipulation_Functions#FixCase

As a general tagger I find it very convenient and easy.  It's right there any time I need it.  The fields it shows, the order, the grouping, etc are all configurable so you can put your commonly changed fields together in one place.  Also, there's a nice hot key to open the Tagging Window any time you need it:  Alt-enter (Option and Alt are the same key on the Mac).

I hope this gives you some information and ideas.

Brian.

[Day Radebaugh]

Brian:

Yes, and thank you.  I just discovered the tagging pane, and liked its comprehensiveness and presentation.  Was unaware of how you could do batch tagging, but that is clearly very powerful.

[Day Radebaugh]

Unfortunately Tidal isn't supported and integration isn't possible (and since it's non-Windows you can't use the WDM driver with the Tidal app). Might want to do a search of the forums why it (and other streaming services) aren't supported/integrated.

Can live without Tidal, but what about radio stations?

[JimH]

Have you looked at Cloudplay?

[Day Radebaugh]

I looked at it, but did not see how I could integrate this with MC.

I did not have a lot of luck adding new radio stations to MC.  Is there a simple way to do so?

Thanks

[JimH]

https://wiki.jriver.com/index.php/Cloudplay

https://wiki.jriver.com/index.php/Connected_Media

[HaWi]

\How are JRiver's tagging features?

Tagging in MC is amazingly powerful. Basically, there is nothing you cannot do if you learn how to do it. It's a tough learning curve but it's definitely worth it. MC is THE BEST music/video/picture/TV solution there is, no doubt about it.

[Day Radebaugh]

The radio business did not work for me.  For example, I selected Soma FM, and got the attached screen.  The Soma gif used up the screen, and that was the effective end of my MC session, since the buttons were covered up.

Am I wrong in thinking that the list of steaming sites are simply url's that take you to the website of the radio station?

[JimH]

That's a web page.  You can probably resize it with Ctrl + and Ctrl -.  Sorry, Command ...

[Day Radebaugh]

I believe I've found a solution I can live with.  In the streaming section, I simply add the website of the radio station of interest.  It seems to pop up, and then I go to the screen and press on the listen live button, and it seems to work. 

It looks as if one could populate that list with all the stations that you'd want to listen to, and all would be good.

[Day Radebaugh]

Tagging in MC is amazingly powerful. Basically, there is nothing you cannot do if you learn how to do it. It's a tough learning curve but it's definitely worth it. MC is THE BEST music/video/picture/TV solution there is, no doubt about it.

Tried tagging multiple appearance of essentially the same artist, and must say I'm very impressed.  I did observe that there was no way to immediately save the new tags.  It turned out that i just closed the tagging window, and a few minutes (maybe 3 minutes) the tags took effect.

Is this about right, or is there an immediate SAVE button for tags?

[Day Radebaugh]

To be more precise in my question, what is the protocol for changing tags, saving them, and then refreshing MC screen to check results?

Thanks

[blgentry]

Generally speaking, once you click out of a field where you made a change, or press enter, the tags are "set".  These fields are saved in the MC database essentially instantly.  The tags that are inside the files can optionally be written also.  You can set this to be done automatically (I think that's the default) at:

Tools > Options > General > Importing & Tagging > update tags when file info changes.

You can make this happen manually by selecting one or more files and then:  <right click> > Library Tools > Update Tags (from Library)

I've never done a lot of checking to see that the tags are written.  When I do it manually it shows in the bottom status area.  If you want to check the tags INSIDE the file from the Tag window, scroll down to the Tag Dump area and open it up.  Then find the tag you are interested in.  In my experiment just now, the Tag Dump (inside the file tag) was updated by the time I was able to scroll and click. 

As I said, I believe that tags are written to the files fairly quickly if not instantly.

Brian.

[Day Radebaugh]

These fields are saved in the MC database essentially instantly.  The tags that are inside the files can optionally be written also...did you mean to say to the original music database? 
[/b]
As I read your explanation, I get the sense that there are two places the tags live: a) inside my music file or b) to the MC database.

If this is correct, how are they related?  Does MC import your music file, the derive from it a database of its own that it uses as tagging information?

I have another question please.  Which of the tagging fields controls the display of the Artist screen?  That is, I have a number of albums of related music.  i would like to collect them under one item in the Artist screen, since they are (more or less) from one Artist.  Which field does that? 

Appreciate your help.

[blgentry]

As I read your explanation, I get the sense that there are two places the tags live: a) inside my music file or b) to the MC database.

Correct.  The contents of the MC database are what you see reflected in all of the views of your music in MC.

If this is correct, how are they related?  Does MC import your music file, the derive from it a database of its own that it uses as tagging information?

I think you've got the right idea.  When you have a brand new empty MC library, there's no data in the database.  As soon as you import one or more files, MC reads the tags from the files and populates the database with their values for Artist, Album, song Name, etc. 

You can edit these fields, and they are stored back in the database.  Writing those same values back to the original music files is optional.  There are some customers that never, ever, ever want MC to write values to their files.

The MC database can also store arbitrary fields that may not be supported by the music files themselves.  For example you could import a bunch of WAV files, which have extremely limited tag support, and then edit lots of data about those files (Artist, Album, and lots more).  MC knows that this data goes with these files.  But it doesn't necessarily have to write it back to the files.  MC only uses it's database to show you information about your files.

Which of the tagging fields controls the display of the Artist screen?  That is, I have a number of albums of related music.  i would like to collect them under one item in the Artist screen, since they are (more or less) from one Artist.

Tricky question.  Let's start with this:
The Artist "screen" is a database view.  You can look at what fields it uses and other details by doing Customize View on it.  You can make your own views!  You can edit existing views.  Though most of the basic views are locked and will warn you that they are locked.  You can change them anyway, but you'll get a warning before you do.

How to solve your "related artists" thing is kind of up to you.  It might make sense to establish a new field, or fields, for related artists.  Or it might make sense to set them all to the same [Artist] field value.  You also might use the [Album Artist (auto)] field for this.  It really depends on the specifics.

I have a small number of artists like this.  For example:
D'Angelo
D'Angelo and the Village Vanguard

For these two "artists" which are practically the same thing, I have the [Artist] field set to appropriate Artist name above.  Some are the first one.  Some are the second one.  But for ALL OF THEM, I have the [Album Artist (auto)] field set to "D'Angelo". 

I just checked my Artists view and it is grouping by [Album Artist (auto)] so this does what I want it to.  That might work for you.  If you want to check yours, go to the artists view and then pull down the little arrow next to the word Artists and select "Customize view".  Cancel out of it after you look around a bit.

I think that's probably enough information for now.

Best of luck to you.

Brian.

[Day Radebaugh]

You can edit these fields, and they are stored back in the database.  Writing those same values back to the original music files is optional.  There are some customers that never, ever, ever want MC to write values to their files.

I am among such users; believe that I would not want to write these changed tags back into the original music file, so I have disabled the default as you specified to not update tags when file info changes.
. I think, in terms of integrity, that it makes better sense to modify the tagging information that is unique and associated with MC, but to preserve the original music file intact. 

For the second question, your example was spot on.  i will follow your example, and distinguish among related artists (such as D'Angelo vs. D'Angelo and the Village Vanguard)
in the Artist field, but use the Album Artist to group them.

A final question: what is the Name field, and what does it do?

A final final question that is a bit off-track.  I'm using a package called Amvidia Tag Editor to manage the tags in my 600 GB music file or database.  I've massaged these tags endlessly over the past several weeks to get the results I desire.  I submit this re-tagged file to Audirvana, which is my current library manager, and find that they don't give me the results I want.  So i further tweak the tags inside Audirvana, sometimes to good effect, sometimes not.  Would it be reasonable to assume that the tag tweaking I do in Audirvana is similarly just held in a database that Audirvana keeps locally (that is, for their own use only) and not written back to my original file?  I am not aware of any parameter inside Audirvana that controls whether such tags are or are not written back into the original music file.

Thank you again.  This is enormously helpful.

[HaWi]

You can edit these fields, and they are stored back in the database.  Writing those same values back to the original music files is optional.  There are some customers that never, ever, ever want MC to write values to their files.

I am among such users; believe that I would not want to write these changed tags back into the original music file, so I have disabled the default as you specified to not update tags when file info changes.
. I think, in terms of integrity, that it makes better sense to modify the tagging information that is unique and associated with MC, but to preserve the original music file intact. 

For the second question, your example was spot on.  i will follow your example, and distinguish among related artists (such as D'Angelo vs. D'Angelo and the Village Vanguard)
in the Artist field, but use the Album Artist to group them.

A final question: what is the Name field, and what does it do?

A final final question that is a bit off-track.  I'm using a package called Amvidia Tag Editor to manage the tags in my 600 GB music file or database.  I've massaged these tags endlessly over the past several weeks to get the results I desire.  I submit this re-tagged file to Audirvana, which is my current library manager, and find that they don't give me the results I want.  So i further tweak the tags inside Audirvana, sometimes to good effect, sometimes not.  Would it be reasonable to assume that the tag tweaking I do in Audirvana is similarly just held in a database that Audirvana keeps locally (that is, for their own use only) and not written back to my original file?  I am not aware of any parameter inside Audirvana that controls whether such tags are or are not written back into the original music file.

Thank you again.  This is enormously helpful.

Hi, I hope you don't mind if I chime in.
Regarding writing tags, i.e. changing the actual media file with MC is no different from doing so in Tag Editor (which is what I use) or Audirvana. If you want those changes to be incorporated into the MC database you first need to create fields in the MC database that have the exact same name as the ones in the tag editor of your choice (unless, of course they already exist, such as Name, Album, Artist, Album Artist, etc). My philosophy is different in that I want to store as much information as possible in the media file (for which I have multiple back-ups). That way, even if I use the media in another player or management software, I still have all the information I need available but I can understand that some folks don't want to do that.
Regarding the [Name] field, this corresponds to the name of a track, e.g 'Rolling in the Deep' (this is a track from the Album '21' by Adele).
Hope this helps
Hans

[Day Radebaugh]

Does help, indeed.  My situation at the moment is that I'm an Audirvana user, and am having a huge amount of trouble getting it to recognize the tagging changes I make, and to present the albums and artists in a way that makes sense to me.  My experience to date is that MC does a much better job at this, and so far I like what I've seen in the tagging department.

With respect to writing the tags back into the music file itself, I see these modified tags as somehow reflecting the idiosyncrasies of the streaming software you're using, in this case MC.    If you change streamers, your tags might not conform to the new system's conventions. 

The one feature that I wish MC had was the wealth of well-organized Internet radio stations that Audirvana has.  I love to explore radio stations world-wide; each one is sort of a surprise and offers a different menu of news and music.

However, based on my experience so far, I can add these radio website url's  to Mc, and that should give me the next best thing.  The ideal here would be to add the streaming url itself to the Web Media section, but each internet radio station has a different setup for their streaming url, and many, if not most, are quite difficult to find and copy.  I think it is frankly just not worth the trouble.

So, all in all, I like what i see here so far.  And the help and advice I've gotten has been has been very helpful.

[blgentry]

I have very little knowledge of Audirvana.  I would guess that changes made there write back to the source files, but I don't actually know.  Just guessing.

When I make tag changes in MC, I normally want to alter the music files.  Why?  Because most of the time I'm correcting things that I know I want to look a certain way.  An example would be songs that have "featured artists" on them.  An example:

Santana's Album Supernatural.  Nearly every song has a featured artist, who is not Santana.  There are several ways of showing this: 

1.  Have the song title include something like:  Put Your Lights On (feat. Everlast)
2.  Keep the song title without any "feat", but have the Artist field contain Everlast, or Santana feat. Everlast

I generally prefer method #1.  Occasionally when I rip a CD, the automatically filled information will be in form #2 above.  Then I need to edit song names and Artist fields.   Sometimes I can do that with expressions.  Other times I can't.  Either way, I want those changes to be permanent and not just "stuck in MC".

I use my music files with other systems (not MC) and they generally work quite well with those other systems.  When I find things that don't work, I generally go back to MC, make the changes I want and then transport the files back to the other system.  MC is the center of my music universe.  All tags and values are maintained and stored in MC.

I understand the idea that you might feel like you need to do odd tweaks in other systems.  In MC I do not believe that to be the case.  Because MC has Views and you can alter the views.  You can also add additional fields to MC which might be used by these views.  Those fields don't need to go back to the files and other players probably wouldn't see, or care, about these brand new fields you made up.  An example of a made up field might be a "Artist Grouping" field that helped you put together nearly identical artists (as we previously discussed).  Other players wouldn't know what to do with those tags if they read them. But MC would if you built views based on using that tag.

I've said it before and I'll say it again:  MC helps make you the digital librarian of your own collection.  You define the organizational structures.  You decide what the values are.  You have complete control.  My digital music collection is very satisfyingly curated.

Brian.

[Day Radebaugh]

Brian:

You make a very persuasive case.  I can see your point of view.  I will keep this in mind and make a decision as this issue clarifies.

On a related issue, you say

An example of a made up field might be a "Artist Grouping" field that helped you put together nearly identical artists (as we previously discussed).  Other players wouldn't know what to do with those tags if they read them. But MC would if you built views based on using that tag.

Can you tell me how I would build a view around an extra field I introduced such as Artist Grouping?  I fooled with the tags of a particular CD, and managed to find the attached screen  but got lost fast, in the dividers and such.  Essentially, how would I add a field, and then build a view around it?

This is powerful indeed.

Thanks

[blgentry]

The dialog you have open is the Customize tool for the Tag Window.  The purpose of that tool is so you can rearrange how Tags appear in the Tag Action Window (tag editor).  You might, for example, put track # and Disc # right next to each other if they are something you look at, and or edit, often.  Or you might really want to have Artist be the very first thing in the Tag Window, so you put it at the top.  This is can be helpful for some editing tasks.

To add, remove, or edit a Library field, you go here:
Tools > Options > Library & Folders > Manage Library Fields

You should probably read through this wiki page to answer some questions and to get familiar with the different types of Library Fields and things like that:

https://wiki.jriver.com/index.php/Library_Fields

To use your new field in a View, you just add it as either a Category or a Pane.  Category views are like the Artist view where you start with one thing (Artist) and then when you double click on one, you drill down further.  In the case of the Artist view when you click an artist, it drills down to Album. 

You can build your own category views that start with anything and drill to anything else.  You might start with Genre and drill down to Artist then Album.  Or start with Year and drill down to Albums alphabetically.  Or any other logical way you can think of.

Panes views present the fields you want to work with as scrollable lists and you select things by making list selections and drilling from left to right.  Panes views are especially powerful, but aren't as pretty as Category views.

Marko, the Views *master* has written an amazing tutorial about it.  This tutorial is rather comprehensive and might make your head explode if you try to digest all of it at once.  I recommend skimming over it and trying to learn a little bit.  Then go back to it later when you know more and you'll learn more.  This tutorial is really incredible.

https://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php?topic=68960.0

If you want to get started quickly, make a copy of the Artists view.  Then do Customize View on it and play around. Don't be afraid to mess it up.  It's a copy.  You can do some experiments and learn a lot quickly.  Customizing views is fun and it's really not all that hard.  It can get very detailed and that's where the tutorial comes in.

I just realized that copying a view isn't exactly intuitive, so I should tell you the strange method that makes it easy.  Go to the Tree on the left and find the view you want (like Artists).  Click and hold on that view and drag it up to the parent in the Tree that says "Audio".  When you are hovering over audio, release the mouse.  You'll get a menu asking for "move or copy".  Choose copy and it will make a copy for you and put a (1) after it.  You can then rename that copy, edit it, completely change it, etc.

I know this is a lot of info.  MC's a big program and it's very capable.  Just take it a step at a time and you can learn as much as you want or need. 

Brian.

[Day Radebaugh]

Thanks very much.  I will report that, so far at least, and based on our earlier conversations, I'm able to find an entry in the Artists screen, look at the tags, and add a "grouping parameter" in the Album Artist field and it collects those albums that really belong together.  I may be able to do what I need to do with this field alone.

I'm impressed. 

Thanks

[Day Radebaugh]

Brian:

Using your instructions, I've successfully changed MC tags to render a presentation of Artists that is entirely satisfactory.  And it was straightforward and reliable.  I think I will stop here.  However, I have archived this thread to guide me in the future if I were to try to incorporate a new tag and view.

Couple of questions: I've decided to incorporate these tags in the original music file.  I disable this parameter.  Would changing it back to update tags when file info changes accomplish this, for all my previous changes?

As I stated earlier with respect to radio stations, does this approach seem reasonable and viable?

The one feature that I wish MC had was the wealth of well-organized Internet radio stations that Audirvana has.  I love to explore radio stations world-wide; each one is sort of a surprise and offers a different menu of news and music.

However, based on my experience so far, I can add these radio website url's  to Mc, and that should give me the next best thing.  The ideal here would be to add the streaming url itself to the Web Media section, but each internet radio station has a different setup for their streaming url, and many, if not most, are quite difficult to find and copy.  I think it is frankly just not worth the trouble.

Thanks for your help.

[blgentry]

Using your instructions, I've successfully changed MC tags to render a presentation of Artists that is entirely satisfactory.  And it was straightforward and reliable.

Awesome. 

Couple of questions: I've decided to incorporate these tags in the original music file.  I disable this parameter.  Would changing it back to update tags when file info changes accomplish this, for all my previous changes?

Moving forward from the second that you enable it, yes.  Meaning that, if you make changes, they will be saved to the files from THEN ON.  But for changes that were made while it was disabled:  No.  But it's easy to fix that.  Find some files that you want to make sure have all of the relevant tags.  Highlight them.  Now do <right click> Library Tools > Update Tags (from library).  This will write all tags from MC into the files.  For any non-standard fields, you need to do more work here.  But for normal tags (Album, Artist, Track, etc) they should save to the file.

As I stated earlier with respect to radio stations, does this approach seem reasonable and viable?

I don't use that feature and have almost zero experience with it.  Perhaps someone else will have something wise to say.

Take care,
Brian.

[Day Radebaugh]

Brian:

Was able to copy the tags to the file successfully.  In fact, selected huge portions of the file and just waited for it to finish.  It went well.

Getting gradually drawn into the functionality and reliability of this package. 

How did you assemble such encyclopedic knowledge of MC?  Do you work for them?

Thanks

[blgentry]

I started with MC20 for Mac back in 2015.  I was drawn to the configurability and gradually figured out that it was the best thought out player and library system I had ever seen or heard of.  It was really interesting for me for a while to learn about it because it has so many different features and functions.

The expression language.
Rename, Move, and Copy Tool.
Database Backup and Restore.
Library Views that can be highly customized, almost like database software.

The list goes on.

I don't consider myself encyclopedic about MC.  But I know the basics quite well.  I enjoy working with MC, so I often come to the forums to try to help and to exercise my MC knowledge a bit.

I have no affiliation with JRiver.  I'm a customer like you.  Though I have been using the software for quite a while now!

Here's hoping that you find it to be a really great library manager and player.

Take care,
Brian.

[Day Radebaugh]

Interesting, and thanks Brian.  This has been most helpful, and I'm very satisfied with the results you've helped me to achieve.

Going to move on to the radio stations issue.  I believe I shall post a new thread on this topic.  Haven't had a lot of luck even with the native steaming options in MC, let alone those I've tried to add.  This Cloudplay option looks very complex and requires yet another subscription. 

Thanks

[Day Radebaugh]

Finally getting around to listening to music, in this case just to my laptop.  I have two DLNA devices on my network: an Ayre QX-5 Twenty Digital Hub, and a Weiss 501 DAC.  I could not see a way to display these devices, and to select among the outputs from MC to go to one or the other.  There was no button/parameter I could see.

[JimH]

Please take a look at the wiki topics on media network and DLNA.  You can find the destination zones under playing now and drag files to them.

[blgentry]

I don't use DLNA for various reasons, so I don't have tons of experience with it.

MC's presentation of DNLA renderers is a bit unusual.  They just magically appear under Playing Now in the left hand Tree Navigation area.  Open Playing Now (with the arrow beside it) if it's not open.  You should see your DLNA devices there.  Click on one to see what it has queued up to play (which should be nothing).  Then just queue up music as normal and it will play to that device/zone.  You can switch between devices (local and DLNA) just by clicking on the appropriate device/zone to display what it is playing and has queued to play.

You can access various options (including DNLA options) by right clicking the name of your DNLA device.

Best of luck.
Brian.

[Day Radebaugh]

Got it.

Many thanks. 

[Day Radebaugh]

Brian:

I'm introducing bulk tagging changes using a Tag Editor.  Does File/Library/Sync Library incorporate these changes?  If so, can this Sync be done automatically?

Thanks

[Day Radebaugh]

Figured it out.  You have to select filenames, then Update Library From Tags. 

Thanks

[blgentry]

You have the correct answer.  There's a setting that can automate this as well.  MC will try to detect changes and re-read the files to find those changes.  I personally don't like this setting.  But you can find it here:

Tools > Options > Library & Folders > configure auto import > tasks > Update for external changes > (checked)

The "sync" option you found has to do with using MC in a client/server mode where one computer runs MC as a server and another computer runs MC as a client.  I have no experience with this setup or feature, but that's what it is for.

Brian.

[Day Radebaugh]

Brian:

Thanks.  Have made enormous progress sorting this mess out, and remain impressed with MC tagging.

I'm now at the point where I'm discovering files/folders that are missing in my music file.  So I'm copying these files into the music database.

How can I include these folders manually?  You mentioned you didn't like

Tools > Options > Library & Folders > configure auto import > tasks > Update for external changes > (checked)

Curious why not?  In fact, I have just a few to add--odds and ends that didn't get loaded, and could easily do them one at a time.

Thanks

[Day Radebaugh]

Never mind, bud.  Found it in File/Library/Import...

Does all I need. 

Thanks

[blgentry]

You mentioned you didn't like

Tools > Options > Library & Folders > configure auto import > tasks > Update for external changes > (checked)

Curious why not?

The general idea is that I want MC to only do what I tell it to do.  That's why I have auto import turned off.  I have a button for "run auto import now", in the top tool bar area.  Auto import only runs when I press the button (or use the menu).  No truly automatic importing.

The reason for not using "update for external changes":  I have occasionally used other tagging systems outside of MC.  One of these was weird and would sometimes write tags when I didn't want it to.  When that happened, what I really wanted to do, was to open MC and then tell MC to write tags back into those files, using the values that are inside of MC's database.

But with "update for external changes" turned on (and auto import), MC would catch those changes VERY quickly after being started.  If MC was running *when* the tags were changed (externally), then it would pick them up almost *instantly*.  This sucked a little a couple of times and I decided that there was almost no reason for me to allow MC to grab external changes.  If I was making those changes, I knew it and I knew that MC needed to be told.

It again goes back to having full control and not wanting any automatic changes from MC.  I initiate almost all of MC's actions which suits my workflow and style well.

Brian.

[Day Radebaugh]

Fully agree, and that was what I expected to hear.  As I keep working on the tagging, I have come to trust MC tagger more than the package I was using.

I have one folder I just can't save.  How can I delete this folder in my database, RIP it and reload it, and start over again?

Thanks

[Day Radebaugh]

Highlight the tags, delete them, RIP CD and load, then tag it?

[Day Radebaugh]

Better yet, delete album and start over.  Painful, but gets it done.

IMHO there's some impressive database management tools here.  I've seen a good deal worse.

[JimH]

MC has a re-rip function.