Organizing FLAC and MP3 with MM4

[Morgenstern72]

I used lame encoded VBR-MP3s for a long time and will go on for my mobile devices.
But I would really like to have my songs too as FLAC since I have no need to compress them on my local PC but want the best audio quality.

How can I organize my music library with having both versions? Ideally FLAC would be played instead pof MP3 on my local PC with MM and the MP3 version would be syncronized to my mobile devices (like my android phone).

Thx for your ideas

[Lowlander]

Ideally you would just keep the FLAC version and have auto-conversion to MP3 when syncing with mobile devices. This is what I do and it has worked well for me.

[captain paranoia]

> How can I organize my music library with having both versions?

I use a kludge. I've installed two copies of MM into different folders in 'Program Files'. I've moved the .ini files to these folders, and edited them to force them to use different databases. I have two shortcuts on the desktop, pointing to the two installs.

I use my uncompressed library for ripping and organising the library, then compress to an MP3 library. I open up the 'other MM' that points to a compressed library database, and insert the newly-compressed files.

So, essentially, I have two copies of MM, and two databases, each looking at different music libraries, one found at <drive>:\Music, and the other at <drive>:\MP3.

I could get away with one copy of MM, and use two command shell scripts (sitting on the Desktop) to copy the appropriate .ini file (containing the database location) to 'Program Files\MediaMonkey' before launching MM. and then copy it back when MM closes.

[Morgenstern72]

Ideally you would just keep the FLAC version and have auto-conversion to MP3 when syncing with mobile devices. This is what I do and it has worked well for me.

Mh, I am pretty severe regarding converting to MP3. I only use lame and some special parameters that fit me most. Can MM4 handle this?

[Morgenstern72]

Ít would be great if MM could support the use of two copies of one song: one losless (FLAC) and one lossy (MP3) version.
Or maybe one primary and one (or many) secundary. Only the lossless/primary will be played (if exisiting) and only the lossy will be transfered to mobile devices (or used as fallback when no lossless version is found).

More and more want to use FLAC als primary version and all methods that were suggested that far (MP3 conversion on the fly, second database) are only workarounds for this problem. FIrst, I want to controll the conversion to MP3 (only lame, only my special paramters), second it takes to long if transferring huge amounts and third, a second Database is really a bad idea in terms of consistency.

[Lowlander]

MediaMonkey uses the Lame encoder.

[Lowlander]

I'd say keeping a MP3 copy of a FLAC file is a workaround. Anyway it has already been discussed as the Virtual CD is a prime candidate for this, except that it can't convert.

[dannyno]

If you want different formats of the same songs, but want them kept kind of separate, then you could create separate MP3 and FLAC libraries within the same MM installation.

Tools > options > Library > Media Tree > New

Then set criteria for filetypes.

Dan

[wolfzell]

A feature to avoid auto-conversion and manage several audio formats for the same song via multiple files or a "sync-cache" is highly wanted by many users since several years. Do a search for "sync-cache" in the forum...

Years ago this feature has been added to the planned feature list and since then it has been postponed over and over again for every each new version.

I have been using MM 3.x with the sync-the-sync script until lately and it worked perfectly for me, so I didn't care too much, but now I had to change to MM4 because of Windows 7 and I don't dare running that old script in the new version.

So now I'm back in manual management bullshit hell again. That is manually managing 2 complete libaries and trying to keep their tags and playlists in sync.

In my eyes this is a real pity and four years later, MM is still without such a basic functionality. Instead I got video functions I couldn't care less about...

[Lowlander]

I wanted the sync-cache too, but as time went on and PC's got more powerful I less and less see the need as Auto-Conversion works fast (due increased PC speeds). Add to that an expanding device/dlna line and more converted to formats are used (which would mean several cached copies of each track).

[wolfzell]

I wanted the sync-cache too, but as time went on and PC's got more powerful I less and less see the need as Auto-Conversion works fast (due increased PC speeds).

Sure... As if I would buy a brand new maxed out high-performance-high-power-consuming PC just for being able to sync in 4-5 hours instead of 12-18...

Actually I rather downsized some of my PC power in those years because I found myself not needing the speed. Simple small PC workstations are cheaper, less noisy, produce less heat, have smaller cases...

And on top of that I stopped using MM for syncing my IOS devices as well. I know the programmers are putting up a great effort to keep up with the challenges that every new IOS-version holds for them, but still there are most always weeks after new releases where syncing is either not possible or unreliable. I simply don't need that kind of trouble. So right now I'm doing all my audio file management with MM, but for syncing my IOS devices I simply run my playlist export script, start up iTunes, do a scan over my MP3-folder, and then I'm good to go. Absolutely no trouble with syncing and no hourly-conversion delays.

The only huge after losing the sync-the-sync-functionality is managing two 2 complete music libraries by hand and keeping them in sync.

Add to that an expanding device/dlna line and more converted to formats are used (which would mean several cached copies of each track).

It will never be possible to make anybody happy, but if MM could just store and manage only *two* file links for every entry (Master and sync = lossless and other), I'm rather sure this would be good enough for 99,9% of all users. I haven't yet read many queries for being able to handle more than 2 formats.

As I see it, the basic mechanism and the data fields are already there from the useless Virtual CD feature. It just would need a rework to take that to a good use.

[Lowlander]

There loads of people who do use iOS syncing from MediaMonkey, more have been vocal about that then the ability to maintain 2 copies. There are plenty of people who do find use in the Virtual CD (either as a way to rip CD's or as a way to keep a local copy of networked files), again I've seen more of that then requests to maintain 2 copies. Also no one said you need the latest and greatest PC, but the fact of the matter is that computing power is increasing over time, many smartphones have more processing power than that of PCs from 10 years ago. The simple truth is that people have many ways of using MediaMonkey and there simply isn't enough manpower to full-fill all those needs and for the average user auto-conversion works or their devices support the formats they have their library in (I use FLAC and accordingly have some devices that support FLAC).

If you're taking 12-18 hours:
- how much are you syncing
- how high a quality is your destination file
- how old is your PC
- how often are you syncing "everything" that this is an issue (as partial file updates on device would take a lot less)

I use a laptop that's more than 8 years old and apart from overheating it doesn't take that long to sync any of my devices (and I do tend to resync all music files as each sync is a different selection), with auto-conversion enabled. More than a couple hours only happens when syncing video files with auto-conversion.

Note that I don't have anything against this feature, I may even use it if implemented, but if I look at it I would say that the request is becoming less relevant over time (and yes that doesn't go for everyone) as a must-have feature in MediaMonkey and I would guess, my guess, that there isn't a huge chance will see it implemented.

[nohitter151]

The only huge after losing the sync-the-sync-functionality is managing two 2 complete music libraries by hand and keeping them in sync.

There is already a plugin specifically made for this + syncing stats between MM4 and iTunes, so you can use iTunes to sync to your iPod/iPhone/whatever. http://www.mediamonkey.com/addons/brows ... or-itunes/

[rcac]

I have just started to rip using flac conversion so these will be my masters later. Disc players will be gone in another few years so it's important get cds done now. Most artists are not selling lossless formats so I'm still purchasing cds.
But I am having problems with the tag info showing in explorer but also trying to copy these into my MM4 library. I'll pick them to add but it doesn't read them into it. Has anybody else had this problem?

[Lowlander]

See: https://www.mediamonkey.com/support/kno ... y-library/

Not sure what this means:

I'll pick them to add but it doesn't read them into it