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[JamieShanks]

Hi all,

I've decided to take the plunge and upgrade to MC13.  Ran the installer, had it offer to convert my library, everything's fine there.

Except, well...

As a couple of other threads have discussed, MC13 doesn't actually import your options settings.  Or your auto-import folders.  Or (at least on my system) the view pane settings.  So its not really an upgrade, not in the lazy-ass Windows user meaning of the word.  Its just a new install beside the old one.

If someone from the programming team has the time, would it be possible to get an authoritive word on what the best way to deal with this is?  I'm kind of reluctant to start copying registry settings over the top of each other unless this is probably going to be safe.  I'm also reluctant to open both options screens and do all the settings by hand, unless there's really not another way.  I'm also wondering - is it okay to import a MC12 backup file into MC13 without corruption etc, as someone here suggested?

Ideally - is there any chance a proper upgrade function could be added to a later version of MC13?  If that was the case I'd be happy just to wait - I'm really only upgrading now as I'm concerned about being left behind on an unsupported version.

Thanks for any help you can give,
Jamie

[Alex B]

It has been like that with all major version upgrades.

The options and features contain fundamental changes and the stored registry settings are not compatible. The library converter does what it can to restore the views, but also the view configurations will contain some resets (like the stored presets).

A similar thing happens with many well-known programs (Adobe, MS etc.).

I don't particularly like it, but it's the price of progress.


From time to time I have considered adding a line like "Laziness is a sin." to my signature 


EDIT

I'm also wondering - is it okay to import a MC12 backup file into MC13 without corruption etc, as someone here suggested?

If this wasn't clear, it's OK. You don't need to be afraid of media file corruption.

If you are just evaluating MC13 you might want to disable file tagging in "Options > General > Update tags when file info changes". MC13 doesn't corrupt the tags, but some tag field mappings have changed (in my opinion to better) and not all of the changed tags are compatible with MC12.

[hit_ny]

I'm kind of reluctant to start copying registry settings over the top of each other unless this is probably going to be safe.  I'm also reluctant to open both options screens and do all the settings by hand, unless there's really not another way. 

Its as safe as your confidence in editing the registry. You won't technically be overwriting anything as MC 13 has its own version tree in the registry seperate to MC 12.

Trust you have already seen this thread.

There is a way to transfer import folders or reg entries with CR/LFs as well but it requires little more expertise.

After having done so there are a few options which have to be set manually as they don't possess registry items so there is no way for MC 13 to know what they are.

One thing you will lose is custom column settings for *all* your viewschemes when moving to a major version. But these can be restored provided you have saved these settings as presets.

In a way this process forces you have make sure your viewschemes are not too different from each other as you have more work to do with the next version upgrade. It forces you to have only a few custom presets so they can be reapplied easily.

[JamieShanks]

Hi Alex B and hit_ny,

Thanks for your replies both of you.  That helps a lot - both the info and the reassurance nothing terrible will happen. 

hit_ny, yes I'd seen that thread - that was part of the confusion (the query down the bottom about whether - I assume - the backup and restore process would work). 

(Partly for anyone finding this thread later) - I've done the export-reimport registry settings thing, then the restore an old MC12 backup.  Nothing bad happened, and some settings seem to have copied across.  I'm running both copies at the moment (also with no problems - two sets of library files but both looking at the same actual music files), so I'll just open both versions' options screens and copy things over by hand. 

Looks like its just the auto-import folders (unfortunately a dozen or so, all with custom settings) and view columns to do, though, that this has speeded things up.

One thing I wondered though:

If you are just evaluating MC13 you might want to disable file tagging in "Options > General > Update tags when file info changes". MC13 doesn't corrupt the tags, but some tag field mappings have changed (in my opinion to better) and not all of the changed tags are compatible with MC12.

Do either of you know where I could find out about this?  I couldn't see anything searching the boards.  Or should I start a new thread and try and get someone official's attention - and yes, spot the obsessive person getting twitchy about libraries getting tampered with  

Thanks again for your help, it makes a difference knowing other people haven't had problems with this kind of thing.

Cheers
Jamie

[Alex B]

... Do either of you know where I could find out about this? ...

Most if not all of tagging changes are MP3/ID3v2 changes. The proprietary and user fields are now written to so called TXXX frames. Each custom tag gets an individually named "TXXX (name of the field)" ID3v2 frame. The old system used so called multi-lined COMM frames with descriptive headers. The change makes the custom fields more compatible with some other programs and also makes possible to create new user fields that can read data from existings foreign TXXX frames. In addition, from time to time, some other tag mappings were changed or added in order to make them more compatible with the recent development of devices and other SW.

In general, MC13 is compatible with tags that were created with MC12, but MC12 may not be able to read all MC13 tags. (the common basic tags should be fine).

If you use MP3 format and need backwards compatibility you can do a simple test. Create a new untagged MP3 file and tag it with MC13. Tag all fields you nornally use and check if MC12 can read the tags.

A link to the complete change log is in my signature.

EDIT

The only changed thing in other formats I can recall was a bug fix in the FLAC Date field. The fix does not break backwards compatibility.

[JamieShanks]

Hi again Alex (again as you answered another of my questions in a different thread).

Thanks for this answer too - and for all the detail.

Looks like I was concerned about nothing.  I can sacrifice MC12 compatibility once I've finished making the change over, no worries there, and can live with potential weird side-effects during.  My concern was losing data, rather than having it inaccessible in one program or another.  Thanks for the reassurance, though.  Its good to know there's no problem. 

I think I already have noticed this, actually, from what you describe - MC12 ignores custom fields with the correct names (but obviously somehow not the correct field) created as "extended tags" in mp3tag.  They just kind of get ignored, then get overwritten if you put anything into the tag with MC12.  This kind of thing has always just been a matter of knowing it will happen ahead of time

I'll do a test just to be safe though.

Many thanks for your help

Jamie