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[Zhillsguy]

Okay....first of all, I have been using JRiver now for about a year and a half....and love it. The first thing that brought me in was the extensive DSP, particularly hp filters, which I use for sub protection. I am still a novice user, but recently have embarked on updating my small-medium (?) size music library (200+ gig). Until I really started checking, I didn't realize how many old low res MP3's I had in my collection (some going back to 1999), incomplete or inconsistently tagged files, etc. etc. When I started downloading back then hard drive space was premium, and everyone thought that 128 kb was "CD Quality". Amazing how much I managed to get over a dedicated dial-up, and how much times have changed.

My apologies if the questions below are answered somewhere in the Wiki....I have only managed to inconsistently get useful information there.

Using MC 19.117 now....

Auto-Import and Tagging:

For Analyze Audio and Video Files - My understanding is that MC skips over files that already have the R128 tags or sidecar files. If it needs to analyze files, and tagging is not selected, does it hold the analyzed info in the library (database) unless the files are changed, even after reboot? I assume since the sidecar .xml file is not a "tag" it remains unless manually deleted.

Do Build thumbnails, Get cover art, and Get movie & TV info work exclusively from the existing file tags, from the internet database, or both? Which one is higher priority (will good existing tags get changed in the library if the internet database is different)?

Ignore files previously removed from library - Does MC only ignore files that are identical to those being ignored (exact time/date/size/tags, etc)?

Update for external changes - MC is very good at this, but cannot think of a case where it would not be needed, maybe something unusual.

Write file tags when analyzing audio, etc. - I assume if this item is not checked, MC will never change any files or related data tags, only the library will be changed?

Is it possible to set up MC to have the various options above selectable by folder? It appears that all "watched" folders must have the same options.

Find and Replace:

When doing Find and Replace, are there variables that can be used for specific tasks? For example, I wanted to change all artists named "Eagles" to "The Eagles". Seemed easy enough, but if the field was already "The Eagles" I ended up with "The The Eagles". Do I need to use the "%", "*", or some other way of replacing the whole or partial string in one swoop?

Thanks for such great software and support....I was telling a co-worker recently about JRiver and how proactive and responsive the developers are....almost unheard of in any field. There is very little software that I would even consider paying for, but this is truly a bargain, FUN to use, and now I look forward to the next update and version upgrade to see what improvements there are. What is more fun than listening to music or watching your favorite video with the highest quality possible?

[MrC]

There are many questions here, and I'll suggest that so many will overwhelm folks who help, since nobody likes to leave some stone unturned.

But I will leave some stones unturned, and suggest more individual questions in their own threads.

Here's an over-arching response that should cover several of your questions.  When you import into MC, its database is what you are working with first and foremost.  You can pull tags into MC from files with Update Library (from tags), and you can push MC's data out to files (Update Tags (from library).  Any analysis, field modifications, etc. happen in the database.  Pushing out to files happens after that.

[HiFiTubes]

glad you are enjoying your foray, as your needs grow and new ideas about your collection come up, MC is flexible enough to make it happen.

Regarding your Find and Replace question, it sounds like you had too many files selected, by that I mean some had:

The Eagles
Eagles

So when you replaced "eagles" with "The Eagles" it just applied that to all, and became redundant on some files. Maybe you were selecting by an Album Artist or Album Artist (auto) files when in fact the Artist field may have varied for them. Not sure.

There is an option to ignore articles in Settings, but you will also want to learn the basic Expressions. Things like append/prepend characters are useful.

[Zhillsguy]

There are many questions here, and I'll suggest that so many will overwhelm folks who help, since nobody likes to leave some stone unturned.

Thanks MrC, I agree there are many questions, and the Find and Replace question is not related to the others.

But I will leave some stones unturned, and suggest more individual questions in their own threads.

I appreciate any answers, and if needed I will separate them out in other posts.

Here's an over-arching response that should cover several of your questions.  When you import into MC, its database is what you are working with first and foremost.  You can pull tags into MC from files with Update Library (from tags), and you can push MC's data out to files (Update Tags (from library).  Any analysis, field modifications, etc. happen in the database.  Pushing out to files happens after that.

OK...so the only time MC goes to the internet for info or writes tags to modify the file(s) in any way is when directed to, either by a current command or by checking the "Write tags..." option. All data for the database is gathered from the file tags unless otherwise directed. That makes perfect sense. I was running into problems with my laptop (I have all music files synced from my desktop, the master tagger). It is more of an issue with Windows ownership/permissions (Win 7) as discussed in other threads. If my laptop tagged any files the file folder(s) containing them could become read-only on the network. I could delete the folder and contents from the laptop directly and then re-write the folder over the network, otherwise no changes were possible to those folders.

[MrC]

MC goes to the Internet when:

   - Auto-Import is set to Get Cover art, or Get movie & TV info
   - CDs are inserted the first time (for metadata look-up)
   - CDs are ripped and Options > General > CD Ripping >  Rip Complete Options > Get cover art from internet after ripping is set
   - CD metadata or Cover Art is sent back to YADB via Submit to Internet

MC updates tags to files if:

   - Edit > Update Tags When File Info Changes is enabled

and any of:

   - Auto-Import is set to Write file tags when analyzing files, getting cover art and applying folder-based tags is set
   - Manual run of Library Tools > Update Tags (from library)

If you want no tagging, period, disable writing tags in Auto-Import and unset Edit > Update Tags When File Info Changes.

MC always reads file (or sidecar) tags when imported, or you run Update Library (from tags).  MC will, as soon as possible, read tags when files have changed externally and the files are in an auto-import folder.

[Zhillsguy]

Thank you sir.....that clarifies a whole bunch for me.....didn't even know the edit/update tags option was there.