Tagging needs to be supported natively by MediaMonkey. This means that even though playback support can be added for additionally file formats you can't edit the tags on these files. I assume that this also applies to MP3pro.

Hello.

I like the solution with modified mp3pro encoder but i've noticed that after modifying dll tags are not written into mp3pro files.
Anybody has a solution for this problem?

Regards.

What I want is the mp3pro plugin to only read mp3pro extensions. Then I can use MM's own mp3 plugin. But it's OK to use the MAD plugin.

I really appreciate the help i've been recieving from you. It's nice when poeple share their knowledge so gladly as you do!

Many thanks!

And yes it's indeed a nice day. I wish you a nice one as well!

You're right. Thompson plugin will also read regular mp3 if the MAD plugin is disabled. But isn't it what you want? To enable MM mp3 input plugin, both MAD and Thompson must be disabled.

I'll take a further look into Thompson's plugin to see if it's possible to disable .mp3 playing.

Nice day, isn't it?

Eyal

It seems that you need to have the MAD plugin installed to get this to work. I cant get MM to use its own mp3 plugin when the modified mp3pro plugin is installed.

Disable your MAD plugin and see for yourself.

Could the reason for this be that MAD plugin comes before the mp3pro plugin in the list while MM's own mp3 plugin comes after?

[quote="Bex"]I change the dll file as you describe. I get MM to play mp3pro extentions with the mp3pro-plugin but it uses the very same plugin to play regular mp3 files as well.[/quote]

That cannot be. Since you change it, the plugin can only play .mp3pro files, not .mp3.

First make sure that the .mpr3pro extension appears MM associations list [Tools->Options->General->File Types].

[img]http://www3.sympatico.ca/techniko/eyal/mm_file_types.JPG[/img]

Maybe you have another plugin that plays .mp3 before the Thompson. For me it's working fine. Here's the list of my input plugins you can compare with:

[img]http://www3.sympatico.ca/techniko/eyal/my_mm_plugins.JPG[/img]

To really know witch plugin is playing a file, play each different file type, and as it playing, right-click on the Player and select "Configure current input plug-in".

[img]http://www3.sympatico.ca/techniko/eyal/mm_cnfg_in_plgn.JPG[/img]

This should help you track the source of the problem.

Have a nice night!

Eyal

Thanks for your reply!

I've ripped a few album, wich i no longer have, into mp3pro using musicmatch (before i discovered MM) so i have quit a few of them files.

And yes i know that the mp3pro-plugin reads all mp3 files. But i dont want that. I want to use the MAD or MM's own mp3-plugin on regular mp3 files. Because it sounds better. But at the same time i want to use the mp3pro on mp3pro files. So I was very happy when i read your solution!

I easily found all my mp3pro files by using musicmatch (first use in 1.5 year). I just dragged & dropped all my files with 96 kbps and lower from MM into musicmatch and sorted on file type.

Now to the sad part. I cannot get your solution to work properly. I change the dll file as you describe. I get MM to play mp3pro extentions with the mp3pro-plugin but it uses the very same plugin to play regular mp3 files as well.

What todo?

Hi Bex

As far as I know, there is no way to know if a file is mp3PRO or a regular mp3 since both have the same .MP3 filename extension. Anyways I don't think you have any mp3Pro files on your disk, unless you specifically convert them to that format, or you saved mp3Pro broadcast streams.

By the way, you are not forced to rename the files, an easy way is to install the Mp3Pro Decoder Plugin and disable any other plugin preceding it (in the MM Input plug-ins list) that reads .mp3 (like MAD plugin), the mp3Pro Decoder will read/play all .mp3 and will detect whenever it's a MP3 or MP3PRO. Any other other MP3 decoder will still be able to read/play Mp3Pro, but will not take advantage of the sound enhancement embeded into the file, resulting in a worse listening quality. But if you prefer to have MAD (for its better quality) to decode your MP3s, and Thompson to decode your Mp3Pros, you have no choice of renaming them and change the file association as I did.

Typically, any tagging software see a Mp3Pro file as having half it Sample Rate. So, by example, a 64kbps/44.1Khz Mp3Pro is seen like a 64kbps/22.05Khz file. By using this information, it's easier in MediaMonkey to identify if a file is Pro or not. Just right-click on any details view column header, and enable [b]Bitrate[/b] and [b]Sample Rate[/b].

There's a few ways you can use to rename files in batch. You can use a software like Flash Renamer with which you can enjoy the ease of a window interface. Personally I prefer to do it manually in a Command Prompt using this command in each folder containing my Mp3Pro files:
[list]Ren *.mp3 *.mp3pro[/list]

I use HexWorkShop32, a small old binary editor that I have since 1995. You may find the latest version at http://www.hexworkshop.com/ (shareware).
Maybe you'd like a free one: HexEdit 2.0 (free version) http://www.expertcomsoft.com/download.htm . I have test it and it is working fine for the purpose.
Here's another free one: XVI32 http://www.chmaas.handshake.de/delphi/freeware/xvi32/xvi32.htm , a good freeware Hex Editor that supposedly even people at Microsoft do use!

This is a bit technical. After installing the plugin, using the Hex Editor, edit the in_mp3PRO.dll (C:\Program Files\MediaMonkey\Plugins), do an ASCII search to find the string "mp3" until you reach on the screen "mp3.MPEG Layer-3 Audio File (*.mp3)". This should be at offset [000410F8]. After the "mp3" string, add "pro" followed by a binary 00 (this is important). You must switch to the hex data part to be able to enter hex data (it should be TAB key). Do not care of the rest of the string, just overwrite it.

[img]http://www3.sympatico.ca/techniko/eyal/mp3pro_hexedit.JPG[/img]

As a result you should have "mp3pro" surrounded by two 00 on each side.
So in the data part you should have at offset [000410F0]:
[list][000410F0] 0000 0000 0000 00[b][color=darkred]00 6D70 3370 726F 00[/color][/b]47 ........mp3pro.[/list]

That's it!

Find, convert or download a Mp3Pro file, rename its extension to .mp3pro and it should sound good.

Have a nice day (or night, depends)

Eyal

Ok, I need help!

I've been tested several programs that claims they can read/view/change dll files but they just cant find the 'string definition "mp3" (surounded by 00s)'.

What program should i use?

[quote="Eyal"]I did it!

I found a way to add the [b].mp3pro[/b] extension:

I install the Thompson Mp3Pro Input Plugin (available on the MM Add-ons Input/Output Plug-ins web page). But this plugin was designed to read only [b].mp3[/b] files, so it it did not resolve my problem. Since there is no options in that plugin to change the file type, I edited the [b]in_mp3PRO.dll[/b] file with my binary editor, found the string definition "mp3" (surounded by 00s) and change it to "mp3pro".

And there you go!

The plugin loads fine in MM, even adding the .MP3PRO to MediaMonkey file types. Even better, the mp3PRO plugin won't read regular MP3 files, so if I use MM internal player, it wont interfere with other plug-ins.

Now I can scan my folders with all my Mp3Pro files, and don't bother or ask myself with type they are (MP3 or Mp3Pro).

Have a nice day everyone

Eyal[/quote]

This is so cool and a nice workaround to force MM to use mp3PRO plugin to only read mp3PRO files. Many thanks to you Eyal!

Questions:
-Since i dont know what of my mp3 files actually are mp3pro files. I want to know the easiest way to find them. Is there a good SW that i can use?
- How do i rename a lot of files in batch?
- What binary editor should I use to change "in_mp3PRO.dll"? (Never used a binary editor before.)

[quote="Insomniac"]Why would you want to convert any file to mp3PRO? First of all, converting one lossy format to another basically kills the file, and is a big no-no in the means of the audio world.[/quote]

Hi Insomniac, maybe you should get some sleep for a while ... (only a joke)

To tell you the truth, I don't really care about the outside "audio world" as you name it.
I know there's a bunch of music file formats, but I don't see why I should use them only because people did some tests, better encoders, faster, more compression, lossless, and so on. For me it only appear to be valuable on paper, it's only mathematically better, but to my ears there is no difference. I have a good soundcard and a good set of 5.1 speakers on my computer, but to be honest, I can hardly hear the difference between a CD and the same song encoded in 128 kbps MP3, even with a $40 Sennheiser HiFi headphone. So why should I bother?

I'm not using Mp3Pro because my Lyra Player can play them: I've bought that Player because it can play them. The reasons I use Mp3Pro are:

[list][*]It take twice less space than MP3s for almost the same sound quality, so it takes less disk space and I can upload on my device 16 hours of music instead of 8.

[*]There's several good internet radio stations broadcasting in Mp3Pro, so it uses less bandwidth and I can directly stream/record them using my Quintessential player.

[*]Mp3Pro is compatible with Id3/v2 with the Album Art saved into the tag.

[*]I hate WMA, it's buggy most of the time and I don't want to elaborate on this.[/list]

So that's why. For me, with MediaMonkey, my players/encoders and my devices, I can really tell you that I'm in heaven.

Have a nice day (or a sleepless night), Insomniac.

Eyal

Why would you want to convert any file to mp3PRO? First of all, converting one lossy format to another basically kills the file, and is a big no-no in the means of the audio world.

Secondly, mp3PRO is the worst codec available. Your Lyra can support basic mp3 files as well, if I were you, I'd keep it that way.

mp3PRO is the anti-christ of audio files.

I did it!

I found a way to add the [b].mp3pro[/b] extension:

I install the Thompson Mp3Pro Input Plugin (available on the MM Add-ons Input/Output Plug-ins web page). But this plugin was designed to read only [b].mp3[/b] files, so it it did not resolve my problem. Since there is no options in that plugin to change the file type, I edited the [b]in_mp3PRO.dll[/b] file with my binary editor, found the string definition "mp3" (surounded by 00s) and change it to "mp3pro".

And there you go!

The plugin loads fine in MM, even adding the .MP3PRO to MediaMonkey file types. Even better, the mp3PRO plugin won't read regular MP3 files, so if I use MM internal player, it wont interfere with other plug-ins.

Now I can scan my folders with all my Mp3Pro files, and don't bother or ask myself with type they are (MP3 or Mp3Pro).

Have a nice day everyone

Eyal

Does anybody know how to scan a file type not defined in MediaMonkey?

I use an external player (Quintessential Player) that is completely compatible with Winamp. I use it that way for more than a year by now, and it's working fine.

Recently I began to convert my files to MP3PRO, since I can play them on my RCA Lyra portable player, and also because Quintessential player can play them with is MP3PRO pluggin decoder. What happens is that my RCA player will recognize whenever the file is a MP3 or MP3PRO, no matter what the file extension is. But Quintessential is not, it will play it as a MP3, and I don’t want to disable the MP3 pluggin. By renaming all my MP3PRO files to another extension [b](.mp3pro)[/b], it fixes my problem, since both players can play the files treated as MP3PROs.

But now I’m stuck with the problem that MediaMonkey would not recognize .mp3pro extension, and I don’t find a way to do it.

There is no way to know or change what file MM pluggins are associated with so I’ve try to add it in Mediamonkey.INI [b][Options][/b] section:

[list]ScanExts=CDA;MP1;MP2;MP3;OGG;WAV;WMA;[b]MP3PRO[/b][/list]It’s not working and I realized this information only tells MM with of its already defined internal extensions are to be scanned.

It would be nice to have in MM Options (General->File Types) the possibility to add other files types, but actually there’s no way to do it.

Any idea?

Thank you

Eyal