If the drive is wiped, it's seen as a new device. When it's seen as a new device, make sure you actually enable something to be Synced on the [url=https://www.mediamonkey.com/wiki/WebHelp:Exporting_Tracks/5.0#Sync_List_(Library_--%3E_Device)]Sync List[/url]. Does it have content enabled to be synced?

Not initially. sincce it wasn't working, I wiped everything on the drive and tried syncing it as a new device. It recreated the Media Monkey folder but didn't copy any files across at all.

I only bought this thing in the first place because windows Media Player (now Legacy and unsupported) stopped syncing. Media Monkey has been working (albeit with the above-mentioned issues) for about nine months but now it too has stopped working. Beginning to think a Windows reinstall is in order but that seems a bit drastic just to play music in the car.

I've changed my car in the last year. I'll see if this one plays flacs in the right order - if it does I'll just use Synctoy (also now unsupported).

Did you remove files/format the drives since the last Sync? MediaMonkey relies on a some files it stores on the device to recognize it as a previously used device.

Nah. That didn't help. Sometimes it notices if files have changed; sometimes it doesn't.

Now it's refusing to recognise USB devices I've used before, and appends "(1)" to their name. Luckily I exported my sync settings so I can import them again, but it sits there scanning for hours on end and doesn't update a thing.
This isn't going to work for me. I just want something that mirrors files from one location to another, without caring what's in them, but also has the ability to change their format on the fly. I'm assuming from the lack of any suggestions to this end that this isn't the place I'm going to find it.

Thanks for all your help anyway.

[quote=Dryst post_id=505208 time=1673795833 user_id=116831]
[quote=ronnyjoz post_id=503210 time=1669350814 user_id=121005]
To answer your question "how is this this not working for you?", you tell me! I'll think it's all gone well, I'll be playing random tracks in my car and suddenly an album (seemingly at random) will be missing its artwork.
[/quote]

For missing artwork, many head units will refuse to show album art that is either too large or the wrong image format. I reduce all album art sizes to 300x300 for my vehicle and convert all to jpg format. If album art is 1000x1000 no art gets displayed at all for my Jeep. My Mitsubishi was exactly the same way. This is why I settled on 300x300 for all album art only for my vehicle. This is too small for viewing on my computer while playing, so I resize album art for all file for my USB stick.
[/quote]

Answered in post #6

[quote=Lowlander post_id=505137 time=1673625629 user_id=262]
Is the Date Modified changed on files that were edited? MediaMonkey, by default, won't rescan files [url=https://www.mediamonkey.com/wiki/WebHelp:Adding_Existing_Files_to_the_Library/5.0#Setup_how_MediaMonkey_Scans_Files]without changed Timestamp[/url].
[/quote]

Thank you!

You may may very well have pointed me at option I was looking for. "Update file info from tags when rescanning files" was NOT checked. I'll clear the database one more time having made changes to the settings, and let you know how it goes.

[quote=ronnyjoz post_id=503210 time=1669350814 user_id=121005]
To answer your question "how is this this not working for you?", you tell me! I'll think it's all gone well, I'll be playing random tracks in my car and suddenly an album (seemingly at random) will be missing its artwork.
[/quote]

For missing artwork, many head units will refuse to show album art that is either too large or the wrong image format. I reduce all album art sizes to 300x300 for my vehicle and convert all to jpg format. If album art is 1000x1000 no art gets displayed at all for my Jeep. My Mitsubishi was exactly the same way. This is why I settled on 300x300 for all album art only for my vehicle. This is too small for viewing on my computer while playing, so I resize album art for all file for my USB stick.

Is the Date Modified changed on files that were edited? MediaMonkey, by default, won't rescan files [url=https://www.mediamonkey.com/wiki/WebHelp:Adding_Existing_Files_to_the_Library/5.0#Setup_how_MediaMonkey_Scans_Files]without changed Timestamp[/url].

Thanks for all your suggestions. I've found that the only way round this that seems to work is to clear the database every time I make changes to a file. Continuous monitoring and scan at startup don't seem to work (at least, not reliably)

How files are saved on the device is set in the Device Profile: https://www.mediamonkey.com/wiki/WebHelp:Exporting_Tracks/5.0#File_Locations

I went along with this
[i][i]1. Copy my files to a USB flash drive exactly as-is. I don't want it to interfere with any tags, or delete my artwork, or replace my artwork with something it thinks is more apporpriate.[/i][/i]

The recent update to MMA encouraged me to take another look and it semed much improved, fewer missing or different artwork.

Then I started reusing wifi sync instead of copying a long way round to the MMA tablet via a usb stick.

Having cleared the directory first to keep it simple
The files are just not a copy of the ones on the pc. The tracks may be there but not in the same directory file structure
There are new folders and replicated folders within the new structure. The most obvious is a Classical folder with 5 sub directories with further levels down that isn't present on the pc.

Is this done on the export by MMW or import by MMA and is there a way to get a copy of what's on the pc. Is it meant to be a direct copy or rejigged?

Keeping the same structure makes it much easier to find and fix issues that can arise from bad info in the original tags

Happy to provide more info if that's needed...
trying to sync to a Lenovo tab10

[quote=ronnyjoz post_id=504388 time=1672137895 user_id=121005]
It's everything else that's wrong: messing with my tags, deleting artwork etc.
[/quote]While correct tags are in file metadata and unless user explicitly set to auto retag and search for lyrics. I do not see how MM can mess tags, because by default MM focus on library changes, rather than tag and file messing.

At what point did I say that auto conversion wasn't working??? I already have that add-on, or I wouldn't have the ability to use M4A!

It's everything else that's wrong: messing with my tags, deleting artwork etc.

I've just deleted everything on the flash drive (including the Media Monkey folder) and started from scratch, to see if that helps. Took me a while to persuade it there were any filese to copy at all but it seems to be doing it now: I'll check for problems when it's finished.

Sorry, but my suggested solution was not effective.

Only that m4a is a better format than mp3. I know people say you can't hear the lossiness of mp3 but it's just not true. I can tell when something sounds compressed; m4a is the lesser of two evils. Same reason I'd prefer flac if it worked well in the car.

That's not the issue though - I could have it convert my entire library to mp3 and it would still do the sme thing(s) it's doing now. I just don't want Media Monkey exerting its will over me in any way, and clearly it is. If I can't make it work the way I want it to (see my previous post), I just need to keep searching for something that will.

Any particular reason you use M4a instead of MP3 for your car? Are all you source files m4a or flac or do you have mp3 as well?

I always thought Mp3 was most commonly used format, and most reliable for tagging as well.

If your car will play those as mp3, it might be worth a try. You could convert a small batch of files to a blank flash drive and see how it works.