CD track info automatically lost in seconds [#6422]

[ZenGeekDad]

My installation of Media Monkey Gold (MMg) is now losing CD track information within seconds of downloading it from Freedb. This happens whether or not I touch my keyboard or mouse. It typically takes anywhere from 5 to 30 seconds for the downloaded track info to revert to no track info (i.e., just "track 1" instead of "Main Title" by "Randy Newman" from "Seabiscuit" of the "soundtrack" genre).

I've had MMg 2-3 years, and this error is new. July 5, 2010, MMg prompted me to download a new version (3.2.1.1297) to fix compatibility problems with the latest hateful iTunes update. The MMg update seemed to go fine, and MMg behaved normally in all respects, except that I only today tried ripping CDs.

Today, I've tried, one-by-one, changing every setting in MMg Options, that made any sense to try, but no luck. These include (Tools > Options ...):
- CD > "read CD text" (for my optical drives) (tried selected & deselected)
- General Network (Proxy & Freedb) > automatic query of Freedb (tried selected & deselected)
- General Network (Proxy & Freedb) > either protocol "CDDBP (preferred)" or "HTTP"
- Library > "update track info from Tags when rescanning files" (tried selected & deselected)
- Tags & Playlists > Tags > "update tags when editing properties" (tried selected & deselected)
- CD/DVD Devices > "on the fly encoding" (tried selected & deselected)

I also verified it is not one quirky CD. This happens on any CD I try to rip in MMg.

I tried cold reboots of my PC, and even a forced interrupt reboot.

I am running Vista/64 on a high-end, new, BYO PC. I've run MMg on it for ~9 months without this happening, until now.

I don't know if this has anything to do with Vista's default behaviors on first sensing a new device connection. But I've made no intentional changes to that. And there are no Vista pop-ups or pop-unders when the tracks revert.

Still, I thought: "if Vista is the problem, then perhaps this would happen on another music manager I have" (Cowon Media Center), which also gets its track info from the web. But I could not reproduce the trouble in Cowon, even waiting ~½ an hour for track info to revert.

July 2, I allowed iTunes to do one of its hateful updates. (So my July 5, 2010 MMg update came after that.)

No updates from MS for Vista in months.

Does anyone have any experience with this? My searches this forum gave no hits.

I may try re-installing MMg next. Groan.

[nohitter151]

http://www.mediamonkey.com/support/inde ... icleid=137

[ZenGeekDad]

Thanks, but no help. Your solution says it's for a W7 bug. As I mentioned, I'm running Vista. And the bug is not shared in common with Vista, since my Vista/MMg pairing retained downloaded Freedb info fine for ~9 months, until MMg's 7-5-2010 update for iTunes compatibility. But I tried each of the three cited fixes anyway:

Fix #1 doesn't work. Tried running MMG as admin. No different.

Fix #2 doesn't work. I checked and my regularly-used nonadmin user acct already has full access to the file C:\users\__(my user name)__\AppData\Local\VirtualStore\Windows\CDPlayer.ini

Fix #3 doesn't work. You can scan the CD's tracks, without track info, into MMg's library, but you cannot subsequently download track info for the library instances of those tracks, nor even for the optical drive instance of those tracks (whereas before you scanned the disc into your library, you could download track info for the optical drive instance of the tracks, but it just won't stick longer than 5-30 seconds.)

Any other suggestions? Thanks!

=============================================
reference copy of the content in your link:
=============================================
On Windows 7, inserting a CD (or attempting to edit the properties of tracks on a CD) will fail to correctly look up and save the album properties causing all track attributes to be unknown.

This occurs because track attributes are saved to a file called cdplayer.ini which can only be edited by a user with admin rights.

There are three workarounds to this problem:

1) Run MediaMonkey as Admin (i.e. right-click on MediaMonkey and 'Run as administrator')

2) Change the permissions of cdplayer.ini so that it can be edited

a) Log in as Administrator
b) Find CDPlayer.ini in C:\Windows or C:\Users\USER\AppData\Local\VirtualStore\Windows
c) Right click on the file -> Properties -> Security
d) Edit Permissions
e) Select Users and Enable Full Control to CDPlayer.ini
f) Click Apply then OK and lastly OK to confirm Properties change

3) Add the CD into library (Right-click and select 'Add/Rescan tracks to library') and CD info will be stored in your database
====================================

[nohitter151]

Thanks, but no help. Your solution says it's for a W7 bug. As I mentioned, I'm running Vista.

Windows 7 and Vista are essentially the same in terms of permissions management, etc.

Not sure about your problem. I can't reproduce it on my system, also Windows 7.

[ZenGeekDad]

Clarification:

Fix #1 works but at an onerous price. While running Media Monkey as admin, I have not access to playlists I created in my normal nonadmin user account. So I can't do playlist file management to make use of the gobs of time required to rip CD collections.

But the fact that the Freedb track info sticks when I run as another user suggests this might be an ephemeral bug, or the sort readily fixed by reinstalling MMg. I'll try two things next:
(1) creating another non-admin user account, and opening MMg in that account. If Freedb info sticks there, that supports the "ephemeral bug" hypothesis.
(2) reinstalling MMg.

[ZenGeekDad]

Just for yucks, after I ran MMg as admin, and Freedb track info did NOT disappear, I closed MMg, then reopened it as my usual nonadmin user, and the problem was (of course) still there.

Then, I tried a new non-admin user, and that has the same problem: track info downloaded from Freedb disappears in about 5-30 seconds.

Before I try reinstalling MMg, I will cycle permission for CDPlayer.ini to no access, then back to its current full access (for my usual nonadmin user account), and see if that helps.

[ZenGeekDad]

Well, I could not cycle permissions for CDPlayer.ini for my normal user acct because the boxes are grayed out. I'm referring to the copy in

C:\users\__(my user name)__\AppData\Local\VirualStore\Windows

So instead I set all my normal user's permissions for that file to "deny" (which does not uncheck the grayed out "allow" boxes, but does override them). Logged out as admin, back in as self, opened MMg: same problem of course. Cold reboot for good measure: still same problem (as expected). Logged self out, admin in, edited permission for above file back to allow all (deselecting the "deny" boxes). Logged off admin, back as self. Launched MMg: no better. Cold reboot: same.

I then went to the second copy of CDPLayer.ini, the one at:

C:\Windows

and there (logged in as admin), I found that the "allow" boxes for "(my PC)/users" were not grayed out, and only "read" and "read & execute" were checked. So I checked allow "full control", applied change, clicked "okay". Logged out as admin, back in as self .... NO LUCK / PROBLEM UNCHANGED !

Hating this.

[Peke]

Strange.

I know this is few clicks more but Here is how I do it for more than 5 years:
1. Add CD to MM library
2. Go to library node and ask Freedb for info
3. CD will retain all info untill I RIP
4. I delete CD from MM library or set Filter to exclude CDA from Library views

[ZenGeekDad]

Thanks. Unfortunately that barely works for me. If I add the CD's tracks to the Library, then ...

(1) ... open the Library node to its Locations, and under that pick "CD: audio CD (F:)", right click it and select "Get album info from Freedb", it gives me the error message "No audio CD was found. Please insert audio CD." (Even though the CD is still in the F: optical drive.)

(2) ... if I instead select the MyComputer node, and the F: drive under that (where the CD is), then right click it and select "Get album info from Freedb", it just blinks at me ... i.e., the screen flicks for a nearly imperceptible fraction of a second, but nothing else happens. (It doesn't even download the track info briefly only to lose it soon after, as it had been doing.)

(3) ... But if I click on just the Library node, then sort the list of every song in the library to find just the anonymous tracks I just added to it, then right click those selected tracks and click on "autotag from the web" I get a pop-up window -- which with a fair amount of trial and error -- can sometimes find the right album, and download the track (& album) info. And that seems to stick around while I rip the music. But I got two errors for two tracks during that process, which have nothing to do with scratches on the CD:

(A) "Cannot delete C:\Users\__(my_user_name)__\AppData\Local\Temp\4B92.wav. Access is denied. The file may be in use or you may not have access rights."
and
(B) "File (path and filename) not successfully created."

I retried various ways to rip those two tracks, but same errors resulted. So I closed MMg, reopened it as Admin, and downloaded the track info just fine, and ripped them no problem. I also noticed that the track info I got from method (3) above (which came from Amazon) was not ideal: no track artist, no genre, and the album artist title was a paragraph (which makes for annoyingly large folder names), and the album info, which MMg put in the comment field was interesting but was several paragraphs long (so something I might not want on all tracks I rip).

In total, the option of running MMg as admin seems way preferable. It works, with the one drawback being I have to forego playlist management while ripping. Still far from ideal, but with all the quirky fails of method (3), I can't do any playlist editing that way either.

But it's sounding more and more like my troubles are atypical, so it's time to try a reinstall.

(I want my Saturday back.)

[ZenGeekDad]

I just reinstalled Media Monkey Gold from a fresh download from their website. No help: same problem.

[ZenGeekDad]

Ah-HA!

I reinstalled my prior version to Media Monkey Gold: 3.2.0.1294, and the problem is GONE. Logged on as my standard non-admin account, I can download track info from Freedb by right clicking the root F: drive node, and the info sticks around.

Can a moderator please post this now as a known bug? (with respect to the current 3.2.1.1297 version)

Thanks, all.

[Peke]

Can't replicate your issue using 3.2.1.1297.

Anyway I add this to http://www.ventismedia.com/mantis/view.php?id=6422 for improvement/optimization.

[Peke]

It should be Fixed in 3.2.2.1298

[snowman1]

I'm on W7 home premium 6.1, running MM 3.2.2.1300. And this problem still seems to be there. Any help appreciated.
Thanks

[snowman1]

This bug was driving me round the bend. I've downloaded the old version 3.2.0.1294 (my thanks to ZenGeeksDad for that info) and this version works just as ZGD reported.

PLEASE NOTE THE BUG IS STILL PRESENT IN 3.2.2.1300.

It's a very very annoying bug - it makes ripping CDs very hard to impossible, very labour intensive, and extremely irritating.