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[nickharambee]

hi

in a recent sync with my ipod, the new ratings that i had set on my IPOD did update the MC library, but the tags weren't written to the files themselves because the external drive was locked by another program i think.  what is the simplest way of getting these tags updated?  i don't want to update tags for all the songs in my library, but if this is the only way is there a way of just updating ratings?  or will MC somehow update these tags automatically at a later date (i have set the ratings field to be stored in the file).  is there a way of generating a playlist of recently altered files, so that i can run 'update tags from library' on just these files?

thanks

nick.

[glynor]

Select the files --> Right Click --> Library Tools --> Update Tags from Library

If you don't know which ones, just select all of the ones that you know are tagged properly in MC.  It won't take terribly long (as long as the media isn't all on a network or slow drive).  I don't think it does the ones that are already correct...

[Alex B]

... but the tags weren't written to the files themselves because the external drive was locked by another program i think...

This sounds a bit odd. What program you suspect?
I assume that you have the general option "Update tags when file info changes" enabled, but have you checked the library field specific options? Is the Rating field set to "Store in file tags (when possible)"?

Also, what is the file format? MC cannot alter physical tags in m4a/mp4/m4p AAC files. MP3 tagging should work normally.

...is there a way of generating a playlist of recently altered files, so that i can run 'update tags from library' on just these files?

The library has a field for the file modification date (Date Modified), but it may not help if the new field data is only in the library and the disk files are not changed.

[nickharambee]

in order to get the ratings across i would need to update 10,000 tracks or so (i would need to update all tracks that have ratings), and i am not worried about the time it would take, just that i would end up with some tracks getting the wrong tags because the tags on the files are more up to date than MC, which shouldn't be the case, but just in case.  that is why i was asking if i can just update the ratings for these 10,000 or so tracks, to minimise any problems.  i am presuming from the replies that it is only possible to update all of the tags at once.  is this right?

nick

[glynor]

No.

The first step in my instructions was to select the files.  By that I mean you want to select each individual file that you want to update (highlight them using the normal control-click, shift-click tricks), and none of the ones you don't, then go to right-click --> etc.  You can do 1, 10, 50, 1000, or 1 million at a time if you want.

[bspachman]

Sorry to get in the middle, but I think the confusion is that Nick wants to only update the "Rating" tag on his 10,000 files (or subset thereof) and not any of the other meta-data.

I don't think you can do this with the iPod...it's all the tags, or none of them.

Best,
brad

[glynor]

Ahhhh... Perhaps.  Don't be sorry, you could very well be right!!

And to confirm.... Brad is correct.  This is not possible.

EDIT: After re-reading the original posts, it seems likely that you are indeed correct Brad.  Sometimes when you read something wrong the first time, it's impossible to re-read it with "fresh eyes" until someone smacks you.  Thanks for the smack.

[Alex B]

The new ratings are already in his MC library and he wants to update the rating tags in the PC files. (This was not clear before Nick's last reply.)

Nick,

Have you tried to disable tag writing in all other fields and leave it enabled only in the Rating field options? That should do the trick. (Try it with some test files first.)

[glynor]

As far as your "recently altered files" question, Nick, this is simple.  Create a Smartlist, and add this as the search criteria (you can of course add other criteria to limit the results to just music files, or just a certain genre, or whatever)...

Code: [Select]

[Date Modified]=<=90d
Where the 90d is 90 days.  This one would limit the results of the smartlist to those files modified in the past 90 days.  You could change this to 180d, or whatever other timeframe you'd like.

You can also use [Date Imported] instead of [Date Modified] to list those files based on when they were ingested into MC's database, rather than when they were last modified.

As an example, I have a View Scheme (I use them instead of Smartlists, but they work the same), with the following search:

Code: [Select]

[Media Type]=[Audio] [Date Modified]=<=60d ~sort=[Date Modified]-d
This will show all the Audio files in my library which were modified within the last 60 days, and it arranges them in order by the date they were modified with the most recently modified files on top.

[glynor]

Have you tried to disable tag writing in all other fields and leave it enabled only in the Rating field options? That should do the trick. (Try it with some test files first.)

In MC12 you can't change the "Store In file tags (when possible)" setting for standard library fields (the whole section is greyed out), so this won't work. 

Nevermind.  It's only greyed out when storage isn't possible I guess.  I just checked a few other tags and that one option is lit up.

[Alex B]

As far as your "recently altered files" question, Nick, this is simple.  Create a Smartlist, and add this as the search criteria (you can of course add other criteria to limit the results to just music files, or just a certain genre, or whatever)...

Code: [Select]

[Date Modified]=<=90d
Where the 90d is 90 days.  This one would limit the results of the smartlist to those files modified in the past 90 days.  You could change this to 180d, or whatever other timeframe you'd like.

You can also use [Date Imported] instead of [Date Modified] to list those files based on when they were ingested into MC's database, rather than when they were last modified.

As an example, I have a View Scheme (I use them instead of Smartlists, but they work the same), with the following search:

Code: [Select]

[Media Type]=[Audio] [Date Modified]=<=60d ~sort=[Date Modified]-d
This will show all the Audio files in my library which were modified within the last 60 days, and it arranges them in order by the date they were modified with the most recently modified files on top.

This is good info, but as I said earlier it may not help in this case. Nick mentioned that the disk files are not changed. MC uses only the physical file modification date. For example, if tag writing is disabled in general options tagging does change the Date Modified value.

If the "enable/disable library field writing" trick works then Nick can simply select all files that have ratings and update the file tags.

After that he can do "Update Library (from tags)" and everything should be in sync again.

[glynor]

This is good info, but as I said earlier it may not help in this case.

I agree it may not help, but I'm not sure why he asked how to do that, so I answered the question asked.

Could be that he wants to know which files were recently modified by MC, in which case my solution might not help.  However, it could be he is looking for all of his recent downloads (because he knows that he made a change in procedure 75 days or so ago, and all the files he acquired after said date will not have proper ratings "attached").  In this case, my suggestion would work.

I use my "Date Modified" View Scheme as a sort of "date acquired" listing.  The date created, especially for large files downloaded via Bittorrent (legal stuff only, of course, as always), is not always the same as the date acquired.  Date Imported is useful, but not always fully relevant (because sometimes I end up re-importing large blocks of files when they're moved).  Of course, Date Modified doesn't always work well either but you know... Nothing's perfect!