Batch Converting

[paul44birch]

Hi

I have a large FLAC music collection converted via dbPoweramp. I would now like to convert this collection to something like MP3 (and retain album art) to allow me to play music in the car.

However having looked through your site I am unable to locate the batch converter facility (your instructions states: Batch Converter is found in Start >> Programs >> dBpoweramp Music Converter >> dBpoweramp Batch Converter I only have the option to open dBpoweramp Music Converter.

Also if successful in locating Batch converter are there any guides/instructions to achieving my objectives?

Thanks

Paul

[BrodyBoy]

Re: Batch Converting

Hi

I have a large FLAC music collection converted via dbPoweramp. I would now like to convert this collection to something like MP3 (and retain album art) to allow me to play music in the car.

However having looked through your site I am unable to locate the batch converter facility (your instructions states: Batch Converter is found in Start >> Programs >> dBpoweramp Music Converter >> dBpoweramp Batch Converter I only have the option to open dBpoweramp Music Converter.

Also if successful in locating Batch converter are there any guides/instructions to achieving my objectives?

Thanks

Paul

Hit Start, then type "DMCFileSelector" into the search box. If it's on your computer, that'll locate it. If not, re-install.

[garym]

Re: Batch Converting

Hit Start, then type "DMCFileSelector" into the search box. If it's on your computer, that'll locate it. If not, re-install.

also, depending on how your album art is stored in FLACs, there are some settings you'll need to adjust to keep that in the mp3 files. For example, I have "cover.jpg" within each album subdirectory but when converting to mp3, I have this art embedded within each mp3 file.

[paul44birch]

Re: Batch Converting

Hi garym. Good to hear from you (you have helped me in the past when I first installed dbPoweramp). I will try your suggestion when I get home from work. Is your suggestion to reinstall dbPoweramp if I can't locate Batch converter?

Also I have tested a few FLAC files and converted to mp3. When I play them via SD card in my Garmin sat Nav all artwork is there, so that's good news.

[Spoon]

Re: Batch Converting

Reinstall should put the menu icon back yes.

[garym]

Re: Batch Converting

Hi garym. Good to hear from you (you have helped me in the past when I first installed dbPoweramp). I will try your suggestion when I get home from work. Is your suggestion to reinstall dbPoweramp if I can't locate Batch converter?

Also I have tested a few FLAC files and converted to mp3. When I play them via SD card in my Garmin sat Nav all artwork is there, so that's good news.

Good to hear all has worked out. You probably don't need to reinstall dbpa (but you certainly can without issues). In windows, click the start button, then "all programs", then you should see a folder called dbpoweramp music converter (or something similiar). Inside this, you should see dbpoweramp music converter, dbpoweramp batch converter, etc. Right click on any of these and select "send to" and send to desktop. Then you should have the icon. dbpoweramp batch converter is what you want to use....
p.s. in my own case, I convert the FLAC files to mp3 using dbpa and mp3(lame) at "V2".

[paul44birch]

Re: Batch Converting

Thanks. However I only get the option to open dbpoweramp music converter via all programms. There are no other options visible. So if I read this right, I only have a choice to reinstall dbpa (and then reset all original rip settings etc)?

[Spoon]

Re: Batch Converting

Reinstall will not reset any program settings, only menu icons.

[paul44birch]

Re: Batch Converting

Thanks Spoon. How do I reistall without loosing program settings? I assume I would have to remove the original dbPoweramp programme and then download from fresh from your site. Am I missing something (probably!)

[garym]

Re: Batch Converting

Thanks Spoon. How do I reistall without loosing program settings? I assume I would have to remove the original dbPoweramp programme and then download from fresh from your site. Am I missing something (probably!)

just reinstall on top of your existing program (don't uninstall old version). Settings will be saved. I've done this with no issues....

[paul44birch]

Re: Batch Converting

Thanks garym and Spoon. Will reinstall tonight and look forward to some serious batch converting !!

[paul44birch]

Re: Batch Converting

Ok, so reinstalled dbpoweramp and can now access batch converter.

However I converted a large amount of albums to mp3 (lame) but none of the folder structure has remained. For example all my Beatles albums have appeared as a long list of songs (with all correct data) but I have to re-input all album folders and move songs back into the folders! Its a slow process. How to I maintain folder structures when converting?

[garym]

Re: Batch Converting

Ok, so reinstalled dbpoweramp and can now access batch converter.

However I converted a large amount of albums to mp3 (lame) but none of the folder structure has remained. For example all my Beatles albums have appeared as a long list of songs (with all correct data) but I have to re-input all album folders and move songs back into the folders! Its a slow process. How to I maintain folder structures when converting?

Ooops, you didn't use "dynamic naming" when you converted. In the conversion popup screen (where it shows lame, etc. at the top), in the middle there is "output location". Click on the button next to "dynamic" then "SET" to the right of this and enter something like this:

[TRIMFIRSTFOLDER][TRIMFIRSTFOLDER][origpath]\[origfilename][][]

In the "folder" just above dynamic row enter the location where you want this to be put. So, for example, in my case I have files arranged like this:

c:\All Music Files\FLAC\Artist\Album\Tracks...

If I want to create an mp3 mirror contained in C:\MP3COPY directory, I'd enter in the "FOLDER" space: C:\MP3COPY
Then in the dynamic naming I set the following:
[TRIMFIRSTFOLDER][TRIMFIRSTFOLDER][origpath]\[origfilename][][]

The resulting files end up with same directory structure, but in
C:\MP3COPY\ARTIST\ALBUM\TRACKS....

You can use as many of the [TRIMFIRSTFOLDER] codes as you need. I needed two (to get rid of "All Music Files" and "FLAC". Note that you need a "[]" at the end of the string for every one of these "[TRIMFIRSTFOLDER]" codes that you use.

[paul44birch]

Re: Batch Converting

Wow!! this looks complicated and may be beyond my understanding. I will take some time to try and understand what you are describing. I notice when I open Set there is an example already in naming: [artist]\[artist] - [title] Do I remove this first and enter your suggestion?

[garym]

Re: Batch Converting

not as complicated as it looks. 2 minutes to set up! when you click on "set" delete what's there and copy and paste in my version from the earlier message. Then type in your equivalent to my "C:\mp3copy" in the location just above that row. Then do a batch convert, but just pick a couple of artists at first to confirm it is doing what you expect. But once working, you can convert all your files and retain the structure with a couple of clicks.