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[neiljenkins]

Hi everyone,

I'm a brand new user of JRiver.  I've been playing about with the trial download for a few days and this morning bought my Master Licence so that I can ensure that I'll be a long-term user.

As a long-term project, I'm ripping all my CDs into FLAC format (decided to stick with the default -6 compression level after a bit of reading around).  The JRiver database isn't as good as others at recognising my more obscure collection, so I'm finding I'm spending a lot of time entering track info., or correcting erroneous/lazy existing entries, and scanning cover art.  But that's OK as JRiver seems easier to use for that than other software that's out there.  In the longer term I'll also burn my vinyl, but that plan is WAY off yet!

Anyway, my question:  My plan is to rip my media using my big workhorse laptop (I'm already 80+ CDs into that project) then transfer everything to a smaller Windows 8 machine with touch screen (and no CD drive) that I can connect to my NAD D3020 digital amp via USB.  However, transferring the FLAC files is straight-forward, but what about other stuff, such as cover art?  Is there some export/import/transfer process I should follow to assemble an archive on one machine and play it on another?

I searched the FAQs and other posts but didn't see anything to directly answer my query, so I apologise if there's something sitting there in plain sight!

Best wishes to all,
Neil

[JimH]

Welcome to the forum.

The wiki has a topic called "Moving Files".  It should get you started.

Cover art can be embedded in the file's tag or you can move your cover art to the new machine manually.  If it's in the same directory name, it might just work.  If not,  you can do a "quick find".  It's an option for cover art.  Start by right clicking a file.

[neiljenkins]

Thanks, Jim.  I saw the moving files page but it wasn't immediately obvious that that was what I needed (it might be!).

I know that the FLAC files themselves and the file structure will be pretty much everything I need except for the cover art, but I couldn't work out where the cover art was stored.  (I've already spent a lot of time scanning unfound cover art, so I don't want to have to go through all that again on another machine!  :-/ )

Just tried the quick find (Quick Search in my MC v20) but that just searches within the displayed albums.

HOWEVER, I did notice that under Tools>Options>File Location I can see the path of my cover art files.  For me, they're under: C:\Users\[myname]\AppData\Roaming\J River\Media Center 20\Cover Art\.  So, is it too simplistic to assume that to perfectly transfer my media to another machine "as is", it's sufficient for me to copy the two areas 'C:\Users\[myname]\Music\...' and 'C:\Users\[myname]\AppData\Roaming\J River\Media Center 20\...' to the new machine and simply run MC and start a media scan?

Neil

[ferday]

Using two PC's, you might think about using a client/server setup and then you only need one copy of the library

If you want another copy on the second PC (don't want the server PC on all the time) select your entire library and "save images to file".  This way the cover art will be part of the file and you don't need to have a folder.jpg go with it

The other option is to make sure the folder.jpg is inside the album folder, then it will just move when you copy it all. 

[neiljenkins]

Thanks ferday.  :-)

> ... you might think about using a client/server setup and then you only need one copy of the library

Good suggestion!  But I will anyway want to have the whole thing backed up somewhere (I can't imagine how I would feel spending months, or years, of my life setting up this media library and then have a disc crash! :-/ ).  So, I thought having the library on two PCs would meet that need as a minimum.  Then I can have one machine to do the ripping and cover art scanning and another machine as a pure media player.

> ... select your entire library and "save images to file".

I couldn't find that.  Once the entire library is selected, how do I find the "save images to file" option?

> The other option is to make sure the folder.jpg is inside the album folder, then it will just move when you copy it all.

Do I have to do that manually each time I scan cover art or is there some way I can get MC to do this systematically?

Kind regards,
Neil

[ferday]

sorry i was rushing my reply

go to Tools>options>file location

scroll down to cover art and make sure the "also store image in file tag" box is checked
also i would personally check the "audio mode: in the same folder as the file (as folder.jpg)"  this will save the cover art to the album folder.  having all the covers in one folder is asking for trouble IMO

to be honest i'm not sure if that change effects only new imports or the whole library that's already there, but i can say once that box is checked it will save the image to file for every new import forever without you doing anything else

if you are going to have two libraries, make sure the folder structure are EXACTLY copied over to the new PC.  this makes any updates etc. much, much easier to do!

[Listener]

Neil,

You found the key setting in File location

I agree with ferday.  You need to change that setting to store cover art in the same folder as the music files.  That will make moving the files easier as you rip more CDs.

You have a separate problem for the CDs you have already ripped.  You'll need to do something to connect the cover art files to the music files.  In your shoes, I'd do one of two labor intensive fixes:

1. Re-rip the 60 CDs with the location for cover art set to place folder.jpg in the folder with the music files.

2. Find the cover art file for each of the 60CDs and copy it to the corresponding folder.

The advantage of these methods is that all your cover art with be in the folders with the music files.  You can import the folders on your smaller PC and you can move to another PC in the future.

Some advice:  if you are using MC on one PC in a straightforward way, you can usually just plunge in without getting into much trouble.  If you are doing something more complicated, you should learn about the way MC works in this context before starting an action that is destructive or labor intensive.

[dtc]

I would suggest keeping the cover art in the flac file. That way it will always be available when you copy the file from system to system. First in Tool - Options- File Location check the box in Cover Art to include image in the file's tag.  To see if the image is in the file look at the tag Image File. It will have the location of the file, either on a disk or Inside File. I have a Smart List that finds all files that do not have the cover art inside the file. Smartlists are under Playlists and you can easily create one (right click on Smartlists) with a rule to select files that the tag Image File is not  Inside File. If the image is not inside the file you can select all the tracks in an album and right click, select Cover Art and then Copy to Clipboard. Then select Paste to Clipboard. This will copy the cover art into the individual flac files. I use the smart list approach since no matter what I do, it seems like not all the cover art ends up in the file tag automatically.

[neiljenkins]

Excellent advice, everyone!  :-)  I'll be doing some tweaks this evening on the basis of it!

Appreciative regards,
Neil

[RoderickGI]

Personally I use;

Tools>Options>File Location>Cover Art>"Audio mode: In the same folder as the file"

That way any cover art that cannot be stored in a tag because the file type doesn't support it, gets a meaningful file name, i.e.: [Artist] - [Album].jpg

Having a whole heap of files called "folder.jpg" just doesn't seem like a good idea to me.