MM made a mess of my library

[tgalea]

I have built my library over a few weeks of ripping my cds, resultin in 4072 tracks. I wanted to back up this, so I decided to synchronise with an external hard disk drive (usb 2). After a couple of hours, I started getting messages to the effect that a file could bot be transferred and option to retry, ignore, or cancel. I retried a couple of times with no luck, so I ignored. But another one came up, and another etc. Finally it finished, and I went to inspect the copy, and to my horror I found that most graphics were misplaced or repeated on several wrong albums. I went back to the original, and to my even bigger horror I found that the files had been emptied. I worried a lot, but went away from it, until the next day. I used rescan etc, and I was pleased that apparently the library was restored.

But I still had no back-up. So this time I decided to back-up to "music" in the PC library, hoping that the process would be faster...which it was marginally. I got a few messages as before, but not as many, but at some point I got one to which by mistake I responded with a "cancel", and to my surprise this cancelled the whole process, not just the file I was responding to. So only about 3/4 of the library was transferred. I went to look at the copy, and it had the same problem with misplaced graphics. I had switch off MM, and when I started it again, as I had set it to automatically maintain the library against the "music" file, it started loading tracks from the "music" copy file into the original library, and by the time I realised and stopped it, it had increased the track count from the original 4072 to 7575.

The solution offered by MM is to find the duplicates and remove them manually!! can you imagine...removing some 3500 by clicking on each one of them...maybe finish next month!! I cannot understand why MM is not compatable with the windows format and does not have any undoes in this circumstance...it would be so easy to clear this mistake. the same, incidentally goes for when a track or album is removed.

I doubt if anyone can help me...but if you can...please!!!

[Lowlander]

If the Duplicates are in a new folder use the Location node to remove this folder. Otherwise you may want to sort on Timestamp or Date Added as the new files should be listed together.

How did you synchronize and if you used AutoSync what mask and Artwork options did you set?

[tgalea]

Thanks Lowlander, but....
1. As far as I know duplicates are inside each album, but have different file...one from C/ and one from Backup (the external disk). So I have 40 tracks in an otherwise 20 track album. There might be a way to select the ones which are not in C files.
2. Assuming that the music is all intact, there is a major problem with the graphics, as they are all over the place. It seems like a few pictures invaded and replaced the original. I might have to go back and scan some of the CD covers.
3. I do not seem to be able to find the "monitor file" command which I had originally set, so that I can undo it. Any help?
The problem is that after spending a few weeks to make sure I have a perfect library, I will still have a patched up library, which is difficult to properly repair, and it might take quite some time....hopefully not as much as when I ripped the cds.

[Lowlander]

1) Then as stated you can remove either the Backup drive or the C drive from the Entire Library > Location node (whichever shouldn't be in the Library).

2) Is artwork messed up for the original files or the synced files?

How did you synchronize and if you used AutoSync what mask and Artwork options did you set?

3) Monitoring is set in the File > Add/Rescan Files dialog: http://www.mediamonkey.com/wiki/index.p ... ibrary/4.0

[mamoom]

Thank you tgalea. I am not alone. I too ended up with most of my library duplicated [don't ask] with some track titles missing as well as most of the album art.
I took the anal option of deleting all the duplicates and re-editing the titles, renumbering the tracks [using tools > scripts] and then the long and laborious task of reinserting all the album art by copying from google images.
Now I find that the album art is missing from some or all tracks on albums and doesn't want to be reattached.
I also note that when ripping new cd's the album art does not appear.
Not happy with MM at all

[Lowlander]

You can't add Art before ripping, you need to do so after ripping.

[tgalea]

You can't add Art before ripping, you need to do so after ripping.

First of all, apologies to Lowlander, as I did not come back here, the truth is that, apart from being busy on something else, I just cannot stomach doing all the work and trials just now. As far as my library is concerned, I had used dbPowerampripper, which has a check with previously recorded cds by other people, something thatnow has been sublicenced by MM for its ripping. First of all that software give you the option to review the tagging information, and often you will find three versions, as some people write wrong information, or use different languages (amazingly, they often put composer in the artist box, instead of the performing artist). So you can choose, modify, refine etc. Sometimes, there was no picture available, but the application gives you the option to scan or get from your file....the only problem with that, I found, was that it took a long time, and ripping did not start until the art was completed...the programme looked like it hanged! To avoid this, but then you do not update the public database with your scan, you can add it later, as Lowlander is suggesting. In this respect MM gives you quite a relaxed way of doing it, Best if you scan into a specific file, say called CDArt and give the pictures a name that you can relate to the CDs, and when you click on the Box where art is displayed in the Album line, you can choose "add art" or "edit art". As I said, this does not update the information for public access/

The biggest problem I see with situations like mine is that whereas before I had a Library with confidence that everything is in order, now, even after repair, I can never be sure

[tgalea]

Thank you tgalea. I am not alone. I too ended up with most of my library duplicated [don't ask] with some track titles missing as well as most of the album art.
I took the anal option of deleting all the duplicates and re-editing the titles, renumbering the tracks [using tools > scripts] and then the long and laborious task of reinserting all the album art by copying from google images.
Now I find that the album art is missing from some or all tracks on albums and doesn't want to be reattached.
I also note that when ripping new cd's the album art does not appear.
Not happy with MM at all

In my case, all my recordings are from my own CDs, for which, with few exceptions, I have the jewel box, and hence art. But those CDs are packed in a cupboard, haphazardly, and its quite a job to locate the missing one!! I sometimes found that the art that comes from public databases does not correspond to the one with my CD, maybe because I come from Europe, and the versions could be diffrent, or because the album was re-published etc. So mamoon good luck

[tgalea]

[quote="Lowlander"]1) Then as stated you can remove either the Backup drive or the C drive from the Entire Library > Location node (whichever shouldn't be in the Library).

Lowlander, As you can see I have been quite busy, however I did have some time to look at the possibility of deleting either the C or the Backup, bur unforetunately it seems that neither one of them is complete. I shall have to do more analyses. When I classify by drive, all the Labums in a drive are displayed first and then all the albums in the other drive are displayed further down. Now if I do not classify by drive, and just go to music, one album will show double tracks (alternating between the Backup and the C-drive) It would be handy if one could under this mode one could have all the c-drive (say) tracks in a first block and all the Backup tracks in a second block but within the same Album. That way one could destroy the unwanted block, otherwise, I would have to work within the double track mode and remove each track individually....quite a lot of clicks!!. Then after that, I will take the task of fixing the art.

You had also asked me how I had synchronised, but frankly I do not recall. Apologies.

Again, thanks a lot for your help

[Lowlander]

You could try sorting on Album > Path.

[tgalea]

Today is the day I should decide to unistall MM. I opened it and there was a notice that a new and better version, with fixed bugs has been released...4.03, and it urged you to upgrade. I followed the instructions, downloaded the release and opened MM again. To my horror, ir has now deleted ALL artwork, ALL!! It nearly gave me a heart attack. What kind of program is this? and they charge money for it too?? I started with the free version, then I upgraded to Gold, and now this. I have all those aqlbums with one of about three icons or nothing showing for art. I have not yet analysed the tracks so far, I was too shocked with the mess of the artwork. I dread another mess on the tracks. So I will be looking for another, more serious program to put my music in.

[Lowlander]

I had no issue with Artwork on upgrade. How did you have Artwork saved prior to upgrade? Do you use the My Computer or Library nodes? Do the files themselves still play in MediaMonkey? If not did you use a mapped drive prior to upgrade?

[tgalea]

I had no issue with Artwork on upgrade. How did you have Artwork saved prior to upgrade? Do you use the My Computer or Library nodes? Do the files themselves still play in MediaMonkey? If not did you use a mapped drive prior to upgrade?

The media still play. Remember I had a mess before, so I still have a lot of duplicates. The artwork was already screwed up,and since i wrote the last message, I found out that after the upgrade, more messing up was happening. It looks like MM adds one of a few pictures to nearly all albums,so in some cases, when I go to "edit Art", I find two to five extra "pictures", some of them just blank (the music icon). I have managed to remove nearly half of them, though in some cases the original picture was also lost, so no picture there. Where I had scanned the picture myself, I have managed to reload it. In some cases this reloading was rejected. I am trying to restore all pictures with great patience and enormous amount of lost time, which could have been put to better use. After the pictures, I will continue deleting duplicates....I am getting good at it but again it requires a lot of time. After that, I will decide whether to remove MM, and go for something else. I have since discovered Helium Music Manager, which is Sweden Made, and probably has better quality than MM. I found MM too invasive, and does things that you have not been asked to approve, and worst of all, there is no fall-back or any form of recovery. I do not think that one should be A GURU TO BE ABLE TO USE IT. I am growing to hate it!! That you had no problems with the upgrade is good news, but nobody should have any problems. I did not have to do anything in the upgrade, it just downloaded, and then I allowed it to peoceed. OK, sorry about all the moaning, but I am very unhappy, and hate spending all this time trying to fix it....and not feeling secure that it will not give me more trouble.

Thank you for you suggestions.
Thomas

[Lowlander]

MediaMonkey doesn't do anything you don't allow it to do.

Perhaps you have Scan file directories for Artwork enabled under Tools > Options > Library. It will auto-add artwork found in the files folder. If you embed Artwork you shouldn't run into any of these issues. Using external Art is more tricky as there is no link between Artwork and media files other than the one established in the DB (if using Library nodes). This means when scanning in files Artwork is automatically associated which will only work well if you have properly organized music files (which you don't). I don't recommend to use the My Computer node for tagging as this seems to cause problems when tagging (since version 3). There is currently an open bug related to My Computer node tagging.

[tgalea]

This is my second writeup, as incredibly, in Preview mode, this site deleted all the message when I used a back delete to correct a letter!! Typical unforgiving of MM!!
Ok, so I may have had scan in library, but how would each album end up with three or four copies of the same two pictures, plus a vacant one or two? Anyway, I have now cleaned nearly every Album, but about 20 or 30% do not have any picture in them, as it was wiped out. So not all was lost...but still a big pain. And still I have to sort out the duplicates too.
You talk of "embed the art" how do you this. Also, if no art comes in on internet from the freedb, or other reference sites, the only option is to scan the CD art. I did this into a picture file...CDart, and then from "edit art" of the album, I added those scanned pictures. To rip the CDs I had used dbpoweramp, with accuraterip..excellent software.
Now a new problem has emerged. The player plays the tracks, but the sound does not come out. I tried Windows Media, and its ok, so nothing wrong with the system. There must have been a link to the driver... I do not know where to set the parameters, do you? I would be grateful for any help/
Thanks