MM5 beta, Google Play Music, Sync, non-Gold, should it work?

[Linwood]

I am new to MediaMonkey as of today, converting an old iTunes library, plus need to rip a bunch of CD's sitting around in boxes after a move.

Since it is all new I decided to try Beta for 5, and see how stable it is, as I also want to load the tracks on Google, and I see that is a new feature.

Is it supposed to work yet?

For non-Gold?

It runs, it appears to do what it should, but the tracks that are uploaded are not playable, and show only a few seconds (10-30 randomly) when seen on Google. The original tracks are generally M4A.

If it's just too new of a beta I get it, no issue; if it's a non-Gold vs Gold issue let me know please, and if it's broken I'll try to follow the instructions to give some logs.

Thanks. Linwood

[Linwood]

Does silence mean no one is using it, or just that something about it is a dumb question?

[Peke]

Hi,
Non-Gold Users are allowed to use services like Google Play Music and any further services plugins developed independently or included in MediaMonkey unless stated otherwise.

MediaMonkey clearly state what Gold Features will be unavailable and will be covered by Gold Purchase like it was stated with any previous MediaMonkey Versions as already stated in https://www.mediamonkey.com/information/gold/

Feel Free ask anything regarding MediaMonkey Gold.

[Peke]

Hi,
As for "It runs, it appears to do what it should, but the tracks that are uploaded are not playable, and show only a few seconds (10-30 randomly) when seen on Google. The original tracks are generally M4A."

As for log Files the best would be to open support Ticket and supply us log according to https://www.mediamonkey.com/forum/viewt ... ?f=30&t=69 tutorial.

[Linwood]

Thanks, @Peke. My question on licensing related to it being a new feature, and it was not clear if the documentation on licensing (which appears to be V4 which didn't have this feature) was informative on whether it should work in V5.

Anyway...

I opened ticket #JQJ-314-63806.

I also in experimenting found that the problem does NOT occur in MP3, but does in other formats (at least in M4A and FLAC). Since GPM involves a conversion to MP3 (either during upload or once it arrives) I suspect there is something related to that conversion involved.

I manually converted 1000 or so songs to MP3 with MM5 and uploaded them by hand and they all seem fine.

My guess is MM5 should convert to MP3 (at the highest GPM supports) before handoff to the upload?

[Barry4679]

My question on licensing related to it being a new feature, and it was not clear if the documentation on licensing (which appears to be V4 which didn't have this feature) was informative on whether it should work in V5.

Good question. ... Which of the new MM5 features are going to be restricted to Gold Edition customers?

[Peke]

Hi,
To answer, most likely the features that ATM work in current Non-Gold MM5 will be free even after MM5 starts to sell.

We never before removed free feature without reasoning with users. I remember when we asked Users about Codec Pack and if due the licensing fees we need to pay, if we should rise MMW license or release separate package. You voted separate package and you were right it was a good call.

Also many GOLD features were independently developed by plugin developers over the years and we never tried to block that.

I guess that answer presents itself, especially that any GOLD user for a past 17 years can register MM5 GOLD during Beta period and till MM5 is put to sale.

[Ludek]

The issue is that FLAC -> MP3 conversion silently fails for non-gold users thus the files are not playable in GPM (as GPM supports MP3 only).
Tracked as https://www.ventismedia.com/mantis/view.php?id=15832

[Linwood]

Glad you found it, but just in the for what it is worth department, if the license issue relates to the 30 day (?) period when lame should work, I've only been using MM (or MM5) for a few days. Also, I just grabbed the alternate lame dll, and replaced it in the MM5 folder, restarted MM5, re-connected to google, uploaded a song and it still failed.

So I'm guessing it is a different licensing issue not just the lame timeout?

[Ludek]

Yes, the bug is that currently the FLAC > MP3 auto-conversion works just for the MM registered (gold) users (just like auto-conversions in MM4).
This is about to be fixed as https://www.ventismedia.com/mantis/view.php?id=15832

So the workarounds for now are:
1) pre-convert the files to MP3 before sending them to GMP
2) Register MediaMonkey