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[livbarcs]

our windows media library files are in the following format:
C:\Users\olivia\Music\XL1B rip\Various Artists\Oldies But Goodies, Vol. 11\William DeVaughn_Oldies But Goodies, Vol. 11_09_Be Thankful for What You've Got_Soul and R&B.wav

this is C:\Users\olivia\Music\XL1B rip\[Album Artist]\[Album]\[File Name].wav

[File Name] incorporates \Track Artist_Album_Track #_Track title_Genre.

I'm new to J River Media Center and need guidance to understand how to import +- 20,000 tracks into your program.  I hate the sloppiness of windows media center and your program looks great if I could just get a handle on your import function and what it takes to auto generate the proper tags for them so I can catalog and play back. 
I've found your your "fill properties from file name menu" and your "rename files from properties" menus and I can see that these are probably where I should be looking but I think I'm missing the most basic concepts.  The files I imported ended up in fairly decent order but the Album name rarely was inserted in the tag. I'd like to split out genre and track # as well.

This forum looks wonderful for folks who are somewhat familiar with the product but where should a newbie start?  Thanks so much.  Olivia

[glynor]

Hello Olivia!  Welcome!

It can be sometimes a bit intimidating to get started.  MC is quite powerful, especially in it's organizing capacity, but that means there is a lot to learn.... Be sure to read through the help file and the Wiki (linked next to MC Home on every page on the Forum pages).  There are a lot of very knowledgeable users here though, and most of them are happy to help (especially if you ask nicely and have taken the time to search a bit first).

For your question... You'll definitely want to use the Fill Properties from Filename tool.  There isn't currently a way to automatically fill properties (tags) based on file name or path as you import the files (all in one step).  That'll probably come in a future version as it has been asked for a number of times.  When you import files into MC, it will import them using the ID3 tags (among other types) embedded in the files.  However, if you have a rigid file naming scheme (as you indicated) then it is easy to get them all imported and organized.

Simply import the files, then select the ones you want to "auto-tag" (do a few before you do them all) then open the Fill Properties from Filename tool.  I'll explain how to use it (it's easy once you get the idea).  We'll start with a simple example.

Say you have all of your files organized into folders like this:

C:\music\<ARTIST NAME>\<ALBUM NAME>\

and the files are called:

<TRACK #> - <SONG TITLE>.mp3 (or m4a or whatever).

So one of them might be:  c:\music\Armstrong, Louis and His All Stars\Satch Plays Fats\01 - Honeysuckle Rose.mp3

Then, you'd simply do the following in the Fill Properties dialog:

Code: [Select]

Directories (checked): [Artist]\[Album]
Filename (checked): [track #] - [Name]
And click okay.  It'll then extract the appropriate info from the filenames and insert it into the tags.  It reads the folder names in "reverse" order, so you can just ignore the c:\music\ part of the file path because it doesn't include any useful information.  The important thing is the separators you use to "delineate" where one tag ends and the next one starts.  For another example, say your files are like this:

c:\music\Bluegrass\Old Crow Medicine Show - Big Iron World\Old Crow Medicine Show_02_Cocaine Habit.mp3

In this case, you have a [Genre] folder, the Artist and Album name are both "inside" the folder name, and the [Artist] tag also appears twice (it's also part of the filename).  Also, instead of using " - " as the separator in the filename, you used just an underscore (with no spaces around it.  That's okay though!  You'd use this in the Fill Properties dialog:

Code: [Select]

Directories (checked): [Genre]\[Artist] - [Album]
Filename (checked): [Artist]_[track #]_[Name]
The only problem becomes when you accidentally (or otherwise) use one of your separators as part of a particular tag.  For example, say you had this:

C:\Music\coil - ELpH - Worship The Glitch\03 - Caged Birds.mp3

Now, in this case, the name of the band is supposed to be "coil - ELpH" and the album name is "Worship The Glitch".  Unfortunately, this is hard to get right, because there is no difference between the separator that's "part of" the artist name and the one that separates the album title.  If you put this:

Code: [Select]

Directories (checked): \[Artist] - [Album]
Filename (checked): [track #] - [Name]
I think in this case you'll end up with the Artist = "coil" and the Album = "ELpH - Worship the Glitch" (though I'm not sure without trying it).  For this reason, it is best not to use the same character you use as a separator as part of any tag.  Just use something else to represent dashes and whatnot inside tags.  That's also why I said do a few before you do a bunch.  If it goes badly, you can always choose Edit --> Undo and go back to where you were.  You only have one "level" of Undo though, so be careful!  There are other more advanced tricks, but this is a good way to get started!

Hope this helps.  Please feel free to ask questions and search here!

[jgreen]

Olivia--

As Glynor says, welcome!  From what I saw in your post, I think you have one directory layer unaccounted in your tag scheme.  Specifically, the folder "XL1B rip".  Here:

"C:\Users\olivia\Music\XL1B rip\ . . ."

Are you logging you rips and naming them?  Is this useful info?  because you can create a custom field in MC, "Rips", wherein you can store this info automatically after you import, in the same way that you are storing "artist" or whatnot. (See Glynor's post).

To create a custom field, go to "tools/options/library & folders/user library fields" and select the first item, "add field...".   You want to create an "audio" field, "string" type and "standard" editing. 

[livbarcs]

These Posts were extremely helpful.  I've created the XL1B Rip field, and inserted it as a column.  Is there anyway to batch add this info to the 3000+ tags and filenames that are in the existing XL1B Rip file?  Can I display all of these tracks outside of their individual folders and use find and replace? (then fill properties from file names, or vice versa?)  The main reason for the segregation of the XL1B rips in a sub-directory is that they come from the Sony XL1B auto ripper that does 200 at a time.  The file names are in Windows media center format (The only program that seems to control this Sony).  Is there a way to restructure future Windows Media Center file name structures to avoid the conversions that I am currently making Album by Album with the instructions given in your excellent posts? Thanks again.  Olivia

[jgreen]

Um, what?  Let me see if I can answer some of your questions. 

In your main audio view, you can display these tracks in your chosen sorting order.  To do so on the fly, click on the header bars at the top of each column, in ascending order (3rd, 2nd, 1st).  You can also set sorting preferences via "customize current view" and then look to the lower right.

So.  If I had just imported 3,000 tracks, and 2,000 needed appropriate XL1B info, I could click on that header, it would then force a sorting into haves and have-nots, drag-select the nots, and then do a fill properties from filename, which would need to be complete with all relevant info.

As for the "conversions", if I understand what you're doing, MC can only assign tag info by reading the existing tags (try looking at the files after they're imported), or by reading a meaningfully encrypted naming structure.  If you have settled on a consistent naming structure it gets easier, as MC will retain the last-configured structure.  But there is no industry-standard tag for "XL1B" info, AFAIK, so you need to put it either in the filename (with a separator), or in the directory structure.

Was any of this on point?