Adding a new disk to the same music collection possible?

[al-zoir]

Re: Adding a new disk to the same music collection possible?

Now I saw that you actually answered my question, admitting in a way that there has beeb a slight change influencing the appearence of the popups. That is why I wrote it, for a future version, maybe? I really liked it, but of course I am doing my job rightclicking also. Thanks.

[donny]

Re: Adding a new disk to the same music collection possible?

The popup in the MMC can sometimes be a bit weird. I know sometimes it doesn't appear for me either. Try hovering over the icons column, the first one on the left. I think Spoon made some changes to the behaviour so that the popus don't appear too often.
You can also see the data about a song by right clicking on it, then selecting "Edit Id Tag" and selecting the second tab. This could also help a bit I think.

Not sure about backuping. I think you should put the MMC file with the complete music along with the music backup.

Not sure about the misfunction of the player. I had a loss of the music collection once, and some of my friends also experienced it, that is why it is usefull to have backups of the mmc files.
But your problem was maybe related to the operating system or maybe even somekind of hardware problems.

[al-zoir]

Re: Adding a new disk to the same music collection possible?

Thought I was clear, but, indeed it seems very very difficult. So, my definition is that I am talking about the MMC itself. Before I change it to the new version, just as I approached the mouse's arrow to each song title I had a flash id tag, where I could easily read what I needed. Now I have lost that possibility. In order to see the id tag, I have to press the mouse on the song title. I don't know if I made myself clear this time, because maybe the difference is slightly small.

Also, given the opportunity I want to ask you if it's ok that I save all my songs (63.000) in the same file in the HD, or if it should be better to have various and different files (according to the genre, for instance). What is best for the best possible function of the player?

I should add that twice so far I had a misfunction of the player, showed something like if it lost all the data from the HD, but after I unplugged it from the current and plugged it again, it regained the whole file of the songs from the HD and started to function all over again, without loosing any of the data (which is my primary care)

Hope I don't annoy you with too many details, but this whole project is very important to me. I do not proceed to further new versions of the dmc, because I think it will be too complicated for me and my needs.

[donny]

Re: Adding a new disk to the same music collection possible?

just let's get this clear - what id tag window? in the player, or in windows explorer? if it is the other thing, then there is a setting in dMC for that.

Arranging the collection to the new disk could be a good idea. It should be fast enough. Backup is as you said. Copy all the files, copy the mmc file next to them, then if need copy all back.

id tag data can be refreshed from file in the mmc. you right click on a song, then select advanced, "refresh from ID tag".
there is also the option to rewrite the tags with the new data that you have been adding in the mmc. I think it just adds tags, so for instance if genre is empty in mmc, it won't overwrite an genre tag in the file. I think.
experiment with it on a few files.

note that mmc will not write multi genres to the file - only the first genre alphabetically. that is because there is no standard on writing multi genres in ID3 tags.

[al-zoir]

Re: Adding a new disk to the same music collection possible?

Done it twice. I do loose the IDtag window, the one that opens automatically just by getting the arrow on the song title. Of course, when I click right, I have the window, but the first one was too easy for me to take a look. Now I lost it, but it is more stable, any way. Only in the next version, Spoon can take care of the, say, automatically opened id window...

I had to buy a 2terabyte HD to furfill my needs for now, since I did not find a way to do whatever I did with the two discs. Still working on arranging the whole situation. By the way which is the best way to transfer a whole music collection in a different disc? By arranging the collection to the new disc? I am trying it now.

How do you avoid the losses in idtag data (fe missing song title or genre or year from the collection, but still existing in the idtag). These give me a pain in the ass. Too much work to make them well.

Also, which is the best way to keep a back up of the collection in a different hard disc, just in case...Transferring the files to the other disc? And how again can you make safe the full transportation of the whole bunch of the id data?

[donny]

Re: Adding a new disk to the same music collection possible?

not sure how you lost the idtag window, it should be there.

maybe try reinstalling, I think there are no settings for that. is an old version of dMC installed in the same folder as dAP?

on another note, I would like to repeat the conclusion about skins and support for local characters (non english latin).
if the system is setup to use local chars (control panel, regional settings, advanced, languna for non-unicode programs), then labels on a skin that have generic fonts will use this option. Generic are "MS Sans Serif", "MS Serif" etc. But specific fonts like "Arial", "Times New Roman" etc, will just use the default english latin.
At least that is what these experiments showed. If someone finds out different, please let me know.
So if a skin doesn't support local chars, it has to be opened with Skin Designer, and the appropriate fonts need to be changed.

[al-zoir]

Re: Adding a new disk to the same music collection possible?

I will add that I am using the r3 beta 6 version of dAP (from the Beta section of this forum), not the r2 "standard" version from the Products page. I would urge you to upgrade to the r3 beta version. It is more stable and powerful than the r2 version.

I hope this helps.

Best wishes,
Bill

I really have the best estimation for r3 beta 6 of dAP both for being stable and powerful, and maybe that was my excuse for not complaining so far for something that comes secondary and that I was not certain of. But is it common to everybody that using this version one looses the pop up idtag window possibility (approaching the song titles) which I did enjoy with my previous state and I seem to have lost now? Is there a remedy for gaining it back?

[al-zoir]

Re: Adding a new disk to the same music collection possible?

For MMC, it goes like I want, only that each time I want to 'arrange' things I will have to load again each MMC separately. Of course, it is a pain in the ass, but I do not have any other solution.

The skin very nice, and indeed in it's mini version, I can read greek characters, but only there. So I come back to my favourite, which is the original, but in it's gold version.

[donny]

Re: Adding a new disk to the same music collection possible?

not sure I understood everything you said about the mmcs and you usage, but I can say a few things for sure
1. I tested the combine function already (see post #17) and I am not sure it works as you would like it... it just writes all data from mmc2 to the currently loaded mmc. as xoas explained this is a list of all the songs and the data you can see in the column. something like a spreadsheet with links to the music files, is that a good methaphor?
so if you combine an old collection with a new one on another drive, when you use the arrange function it will move all your files from the old drive to the new one.
test this on two small collections to see how it goes.

if you want to use the arrange function and have all the music in the same collection you have to keep it all in one drive. I am pretty sure of this.

2. if I understood right what you said about how you add and compare music to the collection, then I think I can't propose any new good solutions.

3. about the skins - here try the skin I uploaded with this post and tell me if it display right in the OnScreenControl, and wrong on the main skin.
activate the OSC by pressing the "corner" display on the main amp (top left button), and then when the "corner" part appears click on it's top third button.
but as said, dap doesn't supprot unicode, I think this just happens because you system is set up to handle unrecognized signs as greek, and some fonts don't (and can't) use the system settings.

[al-zoir]

Re: Adding a new disk to the same music collection possible?

I definitively did it. Transfered all my Christmas titles to the new driver, and can hear them also in my primary collection in combination with the new collection!! Wonderful, so I have solved the problem for now. Because, I'm thinking that you can combine only two collections at one time, and I'm afraid not with three. So this cannot be done with a third driver two. Tell me what you think, my friends.

[al-zoir]

Re: Adding a new disk to the same music collection possible?

Gentlemen,

After I did some tests, I am positive that this is, indeed, the solution to my problem, exactly the thing, you, xoas proposed in the beginning of this correspondance. Make a new music collection in the new disc and then combine my original collection to this new collection with the 'combine' option our master mind (Spoons, I think) has already provided for our needs, thank him for that. For the massive transfer of the files, I already told you the way. Maybe this is where I will do some searching to find a better way to make cds by the genre. Thanks anyway for the precious assistance. You have been great m8s.

[al-zoir]

Re: Adding a new disk to the same music collection possible?

Answer for Donny (thanking for the compassion for my pain, it's almost over)

1. I did not know that in your country you use the latin alphabet in everyday use, hope you'll work a little bit on the subject and find a solution for me and our friends from China, Lapan, Arabic countries, Israel etc...
2. The way I do it is easier because I empty the folder with my new recordings to the MMC and my doudle recordings do not pass to MMC bt stay in the folder. So I come back to the folder and pass the remaining songs one-by-one to the MMC, where pressing on the track tub I bring the new and the already existing tracks together and compare them (even see the difference in length). If I use your way what should I compare? How could I remember which songs did I add recently? We're talking about 60000 songs and a job that I do every day (recording and adding new tracks). I am crazy, I tell you.
2a. Of course this is the way I am using the dap. But my problem is not playing back by genre, but making CDs or enriching ipod collections or even making playlists. You cannot easily find your latest 'New Hits' recordings, as an example since you are using the explorer, where you find the recordings arranged by the artists. The way I do it, and I think it takes too much time is to listen to 2008 new hits' recordings, and take a note of the titles, so later I can find them in the explorer. There is no way, or so I know, to make a playlist directly in the MMC. I tried, I couldn't.
3. No, I never use the enque function. I already told you I love the'random' mode.

Answer to xoas

Decided to make a new 'xmas and jazz' collection in the new drive and see what happens next. Think I know the way for massive transfer of files with the pressing of both 'ctrl' and 'arrow up' at the same time, which permits the grouping of files to delete (that I have already done) and transfer (I hope) using the dMC (arrange option).

Trying to find out where do I begin the construction of the new MMC, found out that I begin through the existing MMC, selectioning 'Collection'/'New'. I am afraid that if I do that each time I want to playback one MMC, I will have to 'load' the MMC in question, to playback it. Which means in and outs, so I am afraid I will loose details of the ID tags again. I know of course that I should do some backup first. But still, I am afraid.

But I also saw that there is also an option to 'Combine' Collections. I wonder, could that be the solution to my problem, according to your first 'schema', which you are not sure anymore of? I don't know when will I begin the experiments, one-by-one, little by little... I see you have no similar experiences, and I wonder some fellow I met last Easter that told me he had 100.000 songs in his which program was he using, unless he just had them saved not in a 'collection' like in our case. Anyway, the future calls... The solution is there..

[donny]

Re: Adding a new disk to the same music collection possible?

backtooth operation is one of the modern lifes "beauties". I had one, though it all went almost as good as it could have. though it was a pretty big tooth they say.

on topic:
1. the fonts
It seems it has to do with the selection of the fonts in the skin. so for instance where it is "MS Sans Serif" it works correctly, and where it is "Arial" (practicaly the same looking, if not the same!) it shows weird signs. So maybe some skins could be rebuilt or something...
1a. my usage of national signs - as you may know in Serbia we use both cyrillic and latin letters, so songs tend to be written in latin letters, and most of the special signs tend to be written in their "regular" latin counter part (i.e. ć -> c), so that is the status of many of my songs. There are also nicely tagged songs, but it shows that some of the signs display correctly anyway, such as "š", while just some (and may I say fortunately rarer) have problems ("č").

2. mmc
if your main problem is comparing song versions, then I think you could just probably add both versions to the mmc, no matter where they are, they should appear one next to the other if they are same "artist - title". If they are same by some other tag, then use the sorting options in mmc (click on a column name).

2a. about selecting songs for players etc
do you use "Selective play"? see the help files, and play with it a bit if you don't know what it does. and then see the option in mmc: click on the Collection button on top, and select "Random selector". it can select a bunch of random songs based on the criteria in "selective play". the amount of songs can be limited by the joined length.

3.QueMaster - it should be explained in the help files (availabel both online and local when installed). Do you use the "Enque" function? When you enque several files you can reorder them in QueMaster. There are some more functions to it, but this is the main.

end post
anyway glad we can help. as far as I remeber this forum has been always a welcoming place for newbie users, and there were always people willing to help.

[al-zoir]

Re: Adding a new disk to the same music collection possible?

Grosso modo, I agree that it's a brillant idea. Only give me time to read it carefully and understand it well some other time and not today, cause I already have a fever because of the operation I have had yesterday getting one backtooth out. Now, it's all blurred to me. Thanks for your help.

[xoas]

Re: Adding a new disk to the same music collection possible?

There are at least 2 things that occur to me that would help what you are trying to do.

The new idea is this:
Since your new drive is so large, it should easily hold all of your music tracks. So take MMC and use the Arrange Music feature to transfer ALL of your music files (the ones that have been added to MMC) to your new drive. dAP and MMC will continue to be on your C:/ drive but the music files thrmselves will be all organized and moved to a new home. This has the advantage of freeing up space on the drives that are short of space.

I would like to point out, however, that when I experimented with using the Arrange Music feature to move tracks this morning (my time), that some or all of your files may be duplicated (with one copy in the original location and one copy in the new location) and ALL of the older folder structure will be left behind (most should be empty). You will want to: 1. go back and remove the empty folders; 2. where you find files remaining in their original location you will want to check to make sure that a copy exists in your new location (you can do this in MMC where you will see both copies), and 3. you will want to remove the duplicated files from their original location and also to remove those duplicated tracks from MMC (you can streamline this by finding the File Name column within MMC and clicking on this, this will organize tracks by file name beginning with the drive, so any tracks remaining say on your C:/ drive will be grouped together simplifying the task of selecting them and right-click deleting from disc (instead of right-click and choose Remove-which simply removes the track from MMC, go Right-click, Advanced, Felete ** File(s) From Disc**-this will remove the selected files from MMC and from your computer at the same time-but be sure the file(s) in question have been copied to the new location before trying this as once the track has been deleted from the disc there is no way to get it back if it is the only copy).

And I did check, and you are right in assuming that you cannot select just a portion of MMC and use Arrange Music to move and organize just those tracks-it is going to move the whole thing. But if you are using MMC Arrange Music to move and organize your files, you could create a custom file structure that would create a folder structure based first on genre and then on variables such as album, artist, and/or track.


The other option would be to keep your curent tracks where they are and to add new tracks to your new drive. Use Music Converter to arrange your files and then add them to MMC. So long as MMC knows where the files are located it can and will access them even if they are on a different drive than the one MMC is physically located in. Then you can set Music Converter to add tracks to your new drive as you convert them, there is also an option within Music Converter (it may be a Power Pack feature or not) that would have Music Converter automatically add new tracks to your MMC (I believe the option is Add to dAP). You can also set MMC to automatically look for and add new music files to MMC from your new target drive and root folder therein (to avoid having it add tracks in process or any back-up or duplicated audio files). This is less potentially messy than the first option in the sense that you don't have to worry about confirming that all tracks have been moved before deleting those files that were left in the original location. From this standpoint, I believe that this option should work better for you.

This second method does have one drawback and that has to do with the difficulties you may encounter with trying to keep track of the various files that you have. Within MMC everything will be orderly but it may be difficult to distinguish between your recorded files, the files that are in the process of being split into separate tracks and having tag information added, the files you have added to MMC, backups of the files that you have added to MMC, and finished new duplicate tracks that you want to compare with the versions in MMC. But I am sure you already have some type of system in place that can be tweaked to accomplish this.

So there are at least 2 "solutions", each with their own advantages and drawbacks.

Best wishes,
Bill