File Selector Improvements

[cjudge]

I can't find any requests like these so here they are:

1. Allow a little more control of directory naming - In my example, I have a directory of my lossless/hq audio files called "M:\Tracks" when I use File Selector to convert to MP3 I'd like the files to go into "M:\MP3" and the rest of the directory structure should mimic what is in "M:\Tracks" what it actually does it creates "M:\MP3\Tracks" and the correct directory structure after that. There are 2 reasons I'd like the ability to do what I said, one is that I add music to my lossless stuff all the time, and I'd like to be able to have it just convert new stuff (this would work if I left the M:\MP3\Tracks directory structure, but I don't want to do that because of my second reason). Second, some of my file names are quite long and even the slight extension to the directory names makes file names too long for some programs that read the files.

2. Some type of log file - A running log of what happens during conversion (failures to decode and such). I was converting 11,000 songs while I was away and the computer froze at around 8,500, I could therefore not see if certain files had failed during conversion, something impossible to do manually...

3. Ability to select multiple items with shift-click or ctrl-click. I like to do ranges of directories across 2 computers so that I can encode my large batches more quickly. But I have to check 350 directories off on each computer (since I have a total of 700 or so album directories).

Thanks for the great app!

[Cartoon]

Re: File Selector Improvements

I second your number 1 request. I have exactly the same issue and it is a showstopper for my use. Any plans to implement it? Or can it be done in some way? I assume that the Music Converter will not overwrite existing files (so I can sync my lossless tree to my lossy tree).

I would assume this is a common use of MC and that we are not the only two people that want this? Maybe we're missing something?

I have FLAC files in C:\Music\FLAC, with subdirs Artist\Album\Track and I want all converted file sto be in C:\Music\Vorbis and C:\Music\MP3 with subdirs Artist\Album\Track. Then when I add music to C:\Music\FLAC (e.g I buy new music CDs that I rip) I want to convert just the new files.

Edit: Just wanted to say how I would want this implemented... as a suggestion.

When some files have been selected for conversion, they have at some point a common upper folder. That upper folder could be the root directory, but more likely it is some subdirectory. That lowest common folder could be used as a reference. Then, when specifying the target directory, the last (rightmost) part if the target replaces common upper folder.

Let's say I select a folder C:\Music\FLAC with all contents and subfolders, the common upper folder of the source is FLAC. When giving the target C:\Music\MP3, all files in C:\Music\FLAC will go do C:\Music\MP3 and the subdirectories from C:\Music\FLAC will go in C:\Music\MP3 as well.

If I select C:\Music\FLAC\Beatles\1 and C:\Music\FLAC\Nazareth\Razamanaz, the common parent folder is yet again C:\Music\FLAC and with a target of C:\Music\MP3, the files from the first selection goes to C:\Music\MP3\Beatles\1.

If I select C:\Music\FLAC\Beatles\1 and C:\Music\FLAC\Beatles\Revolver, the common folder is C:\Music\FLAC\Beatles, and I would select C:\Music\MP3\Beatles as target.

If I went crazy and selected files all over the place, you could potentially end up with a deep path, with targets as C:\Music\MP3\Music\FLAC and C:\Music\MP3\Documents and Settings\Myself\My Music and whatnot. But this metology would give some control over the result and the worst case scenario is no worse than today. Just my 2c...

[Cartoon]

Re: File Selector Improvements

No one else missing this feature? Maybe there's another app that can do this for batch conversion of formats?

[LtData]

Re: File Selector Improvements

I'm not sure about another app doing batch conversion, but I do know that I would like this feature too.