Back to MM2 - WMA Tagging issue [FIXED via MS Update]

Looxer · Post by **Looxer** » Sat Nov 24, 2007 2:31 pm

.....
after a long story with MM3 I have decided to go back to MM2. Main reason is that I can not get tagging fixed. I have been using MM3 since the alpha version. with B1 or perhaps a version before MM3 started to screw up my tags. I have reported the issue but could not get it fixed. I guess I have done everything from my side like rebuilding the MM3 database, I have reinstalled MM3 and deleted the database and finally I haven even reinstalled XP. Unfortunately with no luck. I have seen that some MM3 user hat similar issues. For me the issue was getting worse from release level to release level.
Now, since I am using MM2, everything works just fine. Of course I am missing some nice features from MM3. Hopefully MM3 will be fixed soon.

MM3 is great as a player and great as a tagger and also super from other sides but should work as expected with the basics. I know it is still beta but that's fundamental.

I still believe that MediaMonkey is one of the best and would like to encourage all developers to keep up the great work.

Teknojnky · Post by **Teknojnky** » Sat Nov 24, 2007 7:27 pm

of course you didn't list the specific problem(s) (or post this under the problem threads)... nor should there ever be any reason to re-install xp for MM (unless you meant you were using vista or something else, or your xp was already messed up).

looxer · Post by **looxer** » Sun Nov 25, 2007 4:45 am

probably I did not do the right thing when I have posted my issue. Just to give an indication what I have experienced: I have roundabout 15000 tracks which I have organized in folders by interpret and album. Within the album you then find the songs, all named with album-interpret-album-tracknr-titel
Example:
Forder: Bruce_Springsteen\Matig
File: Bruce Springsteen_Magic_01_Radio Nowhere.wma
plus in each of the album folder I have the cover named with "folder.jpg"
I usually tag all files from amazon with the MediaMonkey function for tagging.

I had three issues with MM3
- When I tag the files or when I even change them manually I can see all changes but when I go to a different node and come back all changes are gone. But when I go into properties I can see the changes again. I guess this is because the changes are in the tag but did not make it to the database. I have opened a thread for this one.

- album art works randomly. I can not even really describe the exact issue but in most of the cases I just do not see any album arts. Even though they were tagged with the MM function (from amazon). I have seen many threads around album art which were reporting similar issues.

- with the recent Beta release I have gotten the issue that renaming of files does not work for me anymore. I am getting pop ups saying the it would not be possible to rename. I did not report this as with this I gave up.

When you experience these kind of issues you simply can not use the tagging function. But tagging is as important as the playa function (if you are trying to manage a high no of tracks)

All I wanted to do is to give a feedback to what happened to me. It is not my intention to frustrate anybody.

Once these serious issues in MM3 are fixed I will be back - for sure.

rovingcowboy · Post by **rovingcowboy** » Sun Nov 25, 2007 12:55 pm

umm ? i think the tags might stay in the list if you do them then close media monkey 3. see if that works for you.

the renaming might be because the files are right protected.
or they are a newer format of wma files i heard microsoft was making some changes on wma files a few months ago maybe they got them out already?

i suggest sending a file that wont keep tags or rename. to
support at mediamonkey dot com and let them see what the trouble is.

looxer · Post by **looxer** » Sun Nov 25, 2007 1:29 pm

Thank you for the response.

Now I am surprised. When I change the tags and leave MM3 without going to another node then it works. Sure it is not what I would like to do but at least it might help to explain the problem. So do you know why MM3 is doing this ?

...and you are right I am trying to rename wma files. If the assumption is that MS changed something I still do not understand why it is working for MM2 - Do you have any explanation for this ?

thx a log again.

Looxer

rovingcowboy · Post by **rovingcowboy** » Mon Nov 26, 2007 8:12 am

no idea why it is working in mm 2 unless they changed the codec in mm 3 to work with the newer wma's and that codec is mucked up.

no i don't know what is causing the tagging to need monkey to close with out changing the nodes, before it saves it to the database.

i know media monkey saves the data you change in limbo until you close it if you have that option to edit as you typed turned off.
if you have that option turned on and it still takes the closing to write the tags then it is something rusty or jiri or the other developers need to fix.

looxer · Post by **looxer** » Mon Nov 26, 2007 12:11 pm

I have looked at the options as proposed. I guess my settings are correct. MM3 should update my tags and the database after changing the properties.
So it really looks like a bug.

I have searched the album art from amazon. This time I even get an error log (first time) when I try to save to folder.jpg and to the tag. I have also tried it once for the tag and once for the file. Did not work either.
This bug is new to me.

I have also tried to rename files which worked this time fine. (don't know why)

I am wondering whether other users have similar issues with tagging. It would make me hope that this something which will get fixed some time.

onkel_enno · Post by **onkel_enno** » Mon Nov 26, 2007 12:54 pm

I must agree Looxer.
I'm really unsatisfied with MM3. The usability is much much better in MM2. I have to wait everywhere (the larger the library the more you have to wait) even if there's no reason for and every time I cross fingers that it doesn't end up in an exception.
I hope there will be a few more RCs before switching to final.

looxer · Post by **looxer** » Mon Nov 26, 2007 1:57 pm

seems like my main issues are related to wma format.
after a thread from timmax I have tried other formats like mp3.
And here tagging is working. I guess the album art issue is also related to wma. I did not notice before since I am mainly working with wma.

Still this is basic and will hopefully fixed with the next RC.

looxer · Post by **looxer** » Wed Nov 28, 2007 1:58 pm

It would be great if somebody could look into this.
It is repeatable and proven that it is not just me having the issue.
It obviously relates only to wma as far as I can tell.
Any feedback is very much appreciated.

looxer · Post by **looxer** » Sat Dec 01, 2007 5:22 am

It does not look like there is a solution soon to come. Perhaps it comes with one of the next RCs. I will now continue to use MM2 for tagging. For the rest I have installed WINAMP 5.5 which made a big step forward.
Bye MM3 for now....

asmodai · Post by **asmodai** » Sat Dec 01, 2007 6:04 am

I am not sure what to make of this thread.

I use tagging of my mp3/m4a/ogg files with MediaMonkey, MusicBrainz' Picard and mp3tag. My main music folder contains around 30 GB with 6500 files. I experience no slowdowns or other issues with this using MediaMonkey. I standardize on mp3id v2.4 and all seems to work ok.

So perhaps the problems all come from using wma indeed (why you would even need wma is beyond me, but that's not important).

looxer · Post by **looxer** » Sat Dec 01, 2007 10:22 am

I guess it is not just me getting hit with this. Everyone who uses WMA will have an issue with tagging.
I have a couple of 1000 wma songs. Of course I would not convert them because MM3 is not ready to treat them right.

Why this thread ?
Should be important information for the once who are working with wma
and I was hoping to get it fixed. Since I have not gotten any statement I am assuming that it will take a while.

Post by **rusty** » Wed Dec 05, 2007 12:55 pm

looxer,

Let me try to tackle the issues 1 by 1:

1) Metadata doesn't persist in some cases:
-I can't replicate this with WMA or any other file type. Does metadata get lost for any particular field(s)? Can you create a video of this or point me to your original posting for more details (I can't seem to find it) ?

Important note: this is possibly triggered by item 2 below. Please try to replicate the issue _without_ using Auto-tag from Amazon beforehand.

2) Album Art doesn't work well:
-MM3 RC3 actually has a number of album art fixes that resolve some longstanding Album Art problems in MM2. That said, Album Art bugs are now much more apparent due to the Album Art views.
-MM3 RC3 still has a longstanding bug related to failed updates when using Auto-tag from Amazon. It is a memory corruption issue that can result in other anomalous behaviours such as that which you describe in 1). This will be fixed in RC4.

3) Renaming files doesn't work:
-RC2 and RC3 had a regression related to the use of certain characters in the mask (see: http://www.mediamonkey.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=22952 ). This will be fixed in RC4.

4) Performance:
-Prerelease builds are debug builds, and perform a bit slower. In addition, various optimizations are being performed as we move forward. If there are any specific areas that seem to be lacking, please raise them in a separate thread.

-Rusty

looxer · Post by **looxer** » Thu Dec 06, 2007 2:51 pm

Hi Rusti,

thank you for your response. The biggest Issue I have in fact is that field changes for WMA files are getting generally not updated. Not matter what I am doing. Here my step by step description:
I have my files organized in folders. Interpret and then as the next level album.
- I go to my computer
- select a drive
- got through the folders to the lowest level
- mark a file
- goto to properties
- change i.e titel (but it does not matter which field)
- if I stay in the same folder I still see the change
- if I go to properties of the track where I did the change -> all fine
- if I go to a different folder (so I leave the current view and get a new list of tracks of a different album) the change is gone. (at least what I see on the screen)
- when I go now to properties of the track where I did the change I can see the new value. So think the change made it to the tag but not to the database. That's why I can see the change when I am in the properties

For the rest I would like to wait for RC4 to see how it works. But my issue seem to be not common. None the less there was another user (TIMMOY) reporting the same issue.

I hope the step by step description helps. I don't have a tool to record videos but if it is still required I would try to get it done.

thank you again for your support.

looxer

I can now change any field or a selection of fields. It does not matter.
If I go now to a different track of the same