Track Redirection & Synchronization 3.4 (2012-10-08) [MM3+]

[ZvezdanD]

New .asx's (created using "Create Redirections for Specific Tracks...") seem to be automaticalyl added twice to the library.

Are you absolutely sure? Could you be more specific, what options did you choose in the Create Redirections dialog box? Could you post a screenshot of the Show and Remove Redirections dialog box?

Can we have an option in that dialog box for "Album Artist" for the new .asx, otherwise it gets a blank Album Artist automatically and doesn't go into the album we wanted in the library!

Again, I don't know what you did and what is your intention. If you already have two duplicate tracks and want to create .asx file instead of one audio file, the script would transfer all metadata from that audio track to the .asx file, including Album Artist. However, if you want to create .asx file for non-existent duplicate, then Album Artist would be blank, but you could use Properties dialog box to enter that data. If .asx files should have same metadata as corresponding masters, you could choose the Synchronize Metadata of Redirected Tracks option and batch update all metadata. Anyway, when I think more about it, I consider your suggestion is valuable and I will add the Album Artist field to the dialog box in the next version of the script.

It doesn't seem to work well for albums with "Various" as the AlbumArtist... If I select "Various" from the "Artist" dropdown, it only populates the Album field with albums where there is a track with an Artist of "Various", and not Albums where the AlbumArtist is "Various". This makes it difficult to link a track from the artists own album to a compilation album, soundtrack, etc.

I really don't understand. I created links for compilations without any problem, only requirement is that duplicates should have same Artist and Title. Could you post some example, please? By the way, you should avoid using "Various" as a name for Artists, instead the Album artist should have such name.

[benzo8]

New .asx's (created using "Create Redirections for Specific Tracks...") seem to be automaticalyl added twice to the library.

Are you absolutely sure? Could you be more specific, what options did you choose in the Create Redirections dialog box? Could you post a screenshot of the Show and Remove Redirections dialog box?

This has happened a couple of times, and not happened a couple of times, so let's put it down to user error at the moment!

It doesn't seem to work well for albums with "Various" as the AlbumArtist... If I select "Various" from the "Artist" dropdown, it only populates the Album field with albums where there is a track with an Artist of "Various", and not Albums where the AlbumArtist is "Various". This makes it difficult to link a track from the artists own album to a compilation album, soundtrack, etc.

I really don't understand. I created links for compilations without any problem, only requirement is that duplicates should have same Artist and Title. Could you post some example, please? By the way, you should avoid using "Various" as a name for Artists, instead the Album artist should have such name.

You're right, I've changed the (few) tracks I had with Artists as "Various" to read "Various Artists".

OK, my situation is this: I have no duplicates. All I have are gaps. So, take an example:

In the album "Phil Collins Greatest Hits", I have a file "Against All Odds". This has the AlbumArtist as "Phil Collins".
In the album "Against All Odds Soundtrack", I have no file for track 1. This has the AlbumArtist as "Various".

I Right-Click on "Against All Odds" and select Track Redirections|Select Redirections for Specific Tracks
In the Artist drop-down, there is no "Various" artist (now I've changed those few).

So, how do I select the Against All Odds album? Do I manually type in the file name I want? (There's not enough room, even - just tried!)

I have the feeling I'm missing something fundamental here - it's probably user error again. But if you could explain (patiently - sorry!) how I would link the song from the Phil Collins album so it appears in my Against All Odds Soundtrack, that may clear things up for me!

[ZvezdanD]

I have no duplicates. All I have are gaps. So, take an example:

In the album "Phil Collins Greatest Hits", I have a file "Against All Odds". This has the AlbumArtist as "Phil Collins".
In the album "Against All Odds Soundtrack", I have no file for track 1. This has the AlbumArtist as "Various".

I Right-Click on "Against All Odds" and select Track Redirections|Select Redirections for Specific Tracks
In the Artist drop-down, there is no "Various" artist (now I've changed those few).

So, how do I select the Against All Odds album? Do I manually type in the file name I want? (There's not enough room, even - just tried!)

OK, now I think that understand your intention. Here is a guide for all users reading this:
1. First of all, whichever method of creating links/.asx files you want to use, you first need to select master track(s).
2. Choose Create Redirections for Specified Tracks, choose Replace with .asx metafile and Tracks from specified Album.
3a. If you have only one selected track and if it has its duplicate with same Artist and Title (but from another Album), the script would display it automatically;
3b. If you have duplicate, but it has different Artist or Title than the selected (master) track, you could specify its Artist/Album/Title manually;
3c. If you don't have a duplicate for the selected track at all (as this is a case with your example), you should specify a full path/filename of the new .asx file (you could click on the [...] button next to the File Path text box to specify it using folder navigation with ASX as File Type); after that you could type Artist/Album/Title/Track#... for the new .asx file. It is recommended that new Artist and Title be same as with master, but it is not necessary.

So, with your example, you should first specify .asx filename located in same folder as other tracks from the "Against All Odds Soundtrack" album, then you should type "Phil Collins" as Artist, "Against All Odds Soundtrack" as Album and "Against All Odds" as Title (and Track#/Disc#/Date if you know it).

This dialog box is not resizable, but this doesn't mean that there is not enough room and that you cannot type a long text into some text box. Maybe it could not be completely visible, but it would still exists - just press left/right arrow keys or Ctrl+left/right several times or Home/End.

[benzo8]

So, with your example, you should first specify .asx filename located in same folder as other tracks from the "Against All Odds Soundtrack" album, then you should type "Phil Collins" as Artist, "Against All Odds Soundtrack" as Album and "Against All Odds" as Title (and Track#/Disc#/Date if you know it).

Cool! This worked now, and once you've added the AlbumArtist field in the dialog box, it'll be one step to adding links back to tracks I've deleted in the past.

Thanks again!

[Guest]

Thank you ZvezdanD for the extensive comment regarding syncing a lossless and compressed libraries. I understand that I am not using your script in the manner that it was intended. Your script seems to have many more functions then I need. After some painful testing and losing all data for an album here are some issues I have found...

1. Your script seems to get in the way of iPod syncing. This could be specific to the iPod Touch(very buggy syncs) as I have the same problem with Autorate Accurate. I leave Autorate Accurate on manual and then click rate when I finish syncing playcounts.

Would it be possible / easy to make an option of making redirection / syncing manual? Or being able to turn it on or off?

2. Linking the amount of tracks I am talking about is near impossible because of no easy way of sorting the master tracks out... There are no differences whatsoever they sort / filter in the same album.

Would it be possible to create links based on file structure? Currently my files are setup:

Lossless (Master):
Z:\My Music\Artist\Album\Song.wma

Compressed (Linked Track):
Z:\My Music Compressed\Artist\Album\Song.mp3


These are the only issues that I have otherwise it would work out perfect for my situation. Once again I understand that what I am attempting to use your script for is not what you intended. Therefore i understand if you would not like to make these changes/additions. Let me know. Otherwise with your permission maybe I could make the modifications myself and strip the unnecessary components out? Let me know. I know there are quite a few others that are looking for this exact functionality. Thanks!

[Guest]

Another Issue I have found... This script seems to get in the way of Autorate Accurate running correctly. For some reason the linked master tracks cannot seem to get their ratings updated.

[ZvezdanD]

Would it be possible / easy to make an option of making redirection / syncing manual? Or being able to turn it on or off?

I don't understand. You already have a possibility to create redirections and to synchronize tracks manually (Synchronize Metadata of Redirected Tracks). You also have an option to turn on/off Synchronization (Synchronize metadata for all linked tracks (master & redirected) when some track changed). However, as I already said, you could synchronize only tracks that are previously linked by creating redirections.

2. Linking the amount of tracks I am talking about is near impossible because of no easy way of sorting the master tracks out... There are no differences whatsoever they sort / filter in the same album.

Would it be possible to create links based on file structure? Currently my files are setup:

Lossless (Master):
Z:\My Music\Artist\Album\Song.wma

Compressed (Linked Track):
Z:\My Music Compressed\Artist\Album\Song.mp3

If you choose the Find Duplicate Titles and Select Maximal Bitrate option, you would get displayed all duplicates and selected tracks with maximal bitrate. Of course, you would get properly displayed and selected duplicates only if they have same Artist and Title. I suppose your lossless tracks have greater bitrate than mp3 files, so I cannot see where is a problem. Eventually, you could de-select tracks which you don't want to be masters. However, if there are many wrongly selected tracks, I suggest creating of some playlist with only duplicates that you want to link - you just open Library / Files To Edit / Duplicate Titles and drag & drop wanted tracks to that playlist. After that you should select master tracks using Select Duplicates with Maximal Bitrate option and eventually manually correcting wrongly selected ones. Then you could choose Create Redirections for Duplicates or Create Redirections for Specified Tracks with checked Unselected tracks in tracklist option.

However, there is one more thing you could try. You could select Z:\My Music folder in the Library / Location node and select its All sub-node. Then select all tracks with Ctrl+A and choose Create Redirections for Duplicates. Let me know if you got what you want.

Another Issue I have found... This script seems to get in the way of Autorate Accurate running correctly. For some reason the linked master tracks cannot seem to get their ratings updated.

Well, I don't know. Maybe Autorate Accurate is not compatible with this script. Maybe I could resolve this using database triggers, but I am trying to avoid this.

[Guest]

Hey guys

it seems to be a great fantastci script
but I get a failure by creating the .asx files.
I select the file --> right click on the mouse --> track redirection --> create redirections ...specific track -->
activate "replace with .asx meta"; track from specified ..;
after klick on "ok" the follow message
"Error happend during script execution: Variable is undefined: 'ideleted'"
I use MM 3.1.0.1256 gold

Can anybody help me?

Thanks
thecrow5

[ZvezdanD]

I get a failure by creating the .asx files.

Which version of the script are you using? The mentioned bug is removed recently.

[Guest]

it's:


' Track Redirection
'
' Version: 2.1.1
' Date: 2009-07-03

[thecrow5]

@ZvezdanD

it works!
I've reinstalled the app and now I can create .asx files.

the script is perfect

Thanks

[ZvezdanD]

There is a new update: v2.2 - 2009-07-11
- Added: Create Redirections for Folders option; you could specify Master and Copy folders which have tracks with similar path/filename;
- Added: Album Artist field to the Create Redirections for Specified Tracks dialog box.

[nynaevelan]

Z:

I am in the process of trying to use Track Redirection in order to keep my mp3 tracks linked with my aac tracks, is there a way within this script to do that? And, is it possible for it to only link if there is a change within the master track, I would rather it not update the master if there is a change in the redirected track?

Nyn

[ZvezdanD]

I am in the process of trying to use Track Redirection in order to keep my mp3 tracks linked with my aac tracks, is there a way within this script to do that?

Yes, it has an option to synchronize metadata between linked tracks. Whenever you change metadata in one track, all linked tracks would be updated. You could select which metadata you want to be synchronized. Playcount and Last played date could be updated only for master tracks (if you turn on the corresponding option). I think it is senseless to have same playcounts and playing dates for all linked tracks, because statistics would be wrong.

is it possible for it to only link if there is a change within the master track, I would rather it not update the master if there is a change in the redirected track?

As I said, if you change metadata of any linked track, even if it is redirected track, all linked tracks would be updated, even master track. Maybe I should add one new option "Synchronize metadata only when master track is changed"?

[nynaevelan]

I tried to create a redirection from one mp3 to an aac but all it tells me is "The specified track is not redirected to the audio file." Suggestions??

Nyn