Can I Get Your Help With Freezing And "Update & Next Song"?

[Batalanto!]

Hi Everybody,

In good faith, I'll start of by telling our helpful moderators that I did, indeed, peruse the forums on my first issue before adding a new topic. Here's the two-headed snake I'm dealing with. First, MM is freezing about 25 minutes. Much of what I'm doing in that time is cleaning on a tune (which is where the freeze happens) and then cleaning up properties when it functions correctly. It is not generating and forwarding a log to MM. In fact, I am unable to find a log if I look manually in the file folder. The program freezes, I get a windows error prompt that asks to close the program, let Windows look for a solution online, or wait until the program responds. The circle just keeps on rotating, so I CTL+ALT+Delete to unstick and close program. Another quirk I am finding is that when I am in Properties, correcting a tunes Basic details and then press the right arrow on the bottom left of the screen to "Update and Next Song", it usually does not go to the next song in the album. Typically, it goes to a different album altogether.

You know what I would buy? A MediaMonkey For Dummies book. I'm being absolutely serious here. I'm no dummy, but as someone who has a decent grasp of program, I do not find MediaMonkey intuitive. I understand that one of the strengths of the software is the ability to work files/music with lots of options and intricacies. And that makes "easier to understand" a bigger challenge. But if there is anything I want in a future version of MM as a long-time paid user, it would be for the programmers not to look at the program through the eyes of a superuser (adding even more features) but, rather, to make the ones you already have easier to use. This is not meant in criticism but as a passionate response based upon both my fondness for the software and my intermittent frustrations with it.

Thanks for reading and I welcome any help and/or feedback you might have. Peace, -Joher

[MMFrLife]

What version of MM? Do you have an older system/software?

First, MM is freezing about 25 minutes. Much of what I'm doing in that time is cleaning on a tune (which is where the freeze happens) and then cleaning up properties when it functions correctly.

What does the former mean, exactly?

The program freezes, I get a windows error prompt that asks to close the program, let Windows look for a solution online, or wait until the program responds.

May be MM, but this is often a symptom of system environment.

Another quirk I am finding is that when I am in Properties, correcting a tunes Basic details and then press the right arrow on the bottom left of the screen to "Update and Next Song", it usually does not go to the next song in the album. Typically, it goes to a different album altogether.

So, you are sure the track you have selected is followed logically by a song on an album, set, grouping?

But if there is anything I want in a future version of MM as a long-time paid user, it would be for the programmers not to look at the program through the eyes of a superuser (adding even more features) but, rather, to make the ones you already have easier to use.

Sure, it can be used by someone who just wants to listen to music on occasion, but the primary purpose of MM is to be useful to a power user or collector.
Otherwise, it would just be another WMP, iTunes, MusicBee, foobar, Ubiquitous Player, Zune, etc. The basic features are fairly simple to use. However,
what you are describing isn't that atypical of many other programs. Freezes over simple things are not unheard of with any software.

[Batalanto!]

Hi MMfrLife,

I'll take your entries one at a time.

1) I'll simplify my description of the pattern of when it freezes; when I click on a song, rather than when it plays.
2) If it is MM, rather than my system environment, what do you recommend? I am using the latest version of MM.
3) Under what conditions would it not be? If I have an album with five tunes and I start with the first one, why would it forward to a different album from a different artist? If you know, I'm interested.
4) I disagree. I don't believe any one user can determine what the primary purpose is for all users. But I hear this as being your own primary purpose and that makes sense. Being similar to other programs versus being more intuitive are two different things and not mutually exclusive. And, for even basic use, it's not the easiest program to use, either. But, in another regard, I think we're talking about the same thing, in that MM is feature rich. I'm not a power user and I don't think there is a clear line between what constitutes a collector vs. non-collector. What I will say is that I have a collection I'm pretty pleased with and that I am extremely detailed in all aspects of their organization: artwork, ratings, file names, genres and the like. I think it's great that you've mastered the software. Kudos.

I'll refrain from further debate as I don't have anything to add to what I've said, so the floor is yours. What I'd really like to accomplish is getting either/both of these things taken care of. Speaking to one of your points, I'll defrag, clear out some hard drive memory for good measure, run a virus check.

Peace,

NR

[MMFrLife]

I think there is a spirit of agreement here. Allow me to clarify a bit.
By it's primary purpose, I wasn't speaking of the user end's personal opinion (mine included) of any one way to use it or how difficult it is to use.
I was speaking to what I believe was and is the primary intent of creation and development. To go well beyond what all the other players do.
If you think they are going way too fast and need to slow down and work on perfecting or rearranging or going a different direction to make things
more intuitve, I certainly get that, and sympathize. But doing things too differently than they are now could cause current feature loss or feature chaos.
It's just the nature of the beast. Sometimes, even the developers don't know what they can and can't do to make it all work a certain way.

I should have clarified collector by saying "serious collector".
Collectors are on a spectrum. If you compare one end of the spectrum to the other, there is a marked difference. If you compare the middle to either end,
there is a marked difference. If you compare the quarter mark to the 3 quarters mark, there is a marked difference, and so on. But if you compare any one area
to another in close proximity there isn't much of a difference. But I'm not saying "serious collecting" is its sole purpose. If it couldn't be used "generally", or in
a basic way, then it couldn't be used at all. I find, as I believe most others do, basic functions like playing a file, properties editing, applying shuffle, crossfade, etc. to be fairly simple. Most problems with these basic functions have more to do with finding where they're at than they just won't work because they freeze up.

In the beginning, I very much had a love/hate relationship with it and would not use it at all for lengthy periods at a time. I "have" gotten much better at it over the years. So sure, I am better at it than a beginner. Although, by no means do I think of myself as having mastered it. I'm always learning. And I certainly may not be able to solve the problem, but I'll try to help, as I already have, get the ball rolling.

I'll defrag, clear out some hard drive memory for good measure, run a virus check.

That's a good place to start.

[rovingcowboy]

Freezing and getting the alert to wait for it to respond again is caused by over use of cpu cycles by another program I speed up my mm.exe and even give it it's own 2 cpu's to use. All other programs use the other cpu's. But this only works part of the time because heavy use of ram can cause the same alert. 3. Is more likely an cross link in mm code for the link arrow in the Playlist columns. 4. Yep it very well can be made easier for newbies but the newbies have to do their part when trading software programs for another one. They need to forget about the old one and study the options of the new one. Most people don't do that.

[Batalanto!]

Cowboy,

In order...1) Thanks for the insight of that. I don;t know how to "speed up MM.exe" but I can sure look at CPU stuff. I'm wondering. If I'm down to 85 GB of memory (out of a total 500 GB), would that make any difference? 2) I don't know what "cross link in MM code for link arrow to playlist" means. Is this a glitch for you guys to figure out? If not, in simple language, can you give me the steps I need to fix it or understand how I am not using the feature correctly? 3) I get what you mean about learning curve. What I'll say is that I've had the program since 2005, and although I don't use the more detailed features monthly, I still wrestle with it. So I don't fall into the newbie category. I will also say that the addition of context menus(?) that pop up when hovering over a button/checkbox/feature has been one really useful move in navigating activity and action. Lastly, thanks for all you contribute to this forum. I think you jump in anytime I post here, which is usually when I haven't been able to troubleshoot myself, have gone through other topic entries here, and am completely vexed. Peace, -NR

[MMFrLife]

If I'm down to 85 GB of memory (out of a total 500 GB), would that make any difference?

Memory? You mean drive storage space? It shouldn't cause it to freeze constantly. Although, there is a theory/truth(?) that if
a drive is filled beyond the halfway mark, it becomes slower (but not crazy slow). You can test out consistency by seeing if MM behaves the same with
tracks stored on another less encumbered drive source.

2) I don't know what "cross link in MM code for link arrow to playlist" means. Is this a glitch for you guys to figure out? If not, in simple language, can you give me the steps I need to fix it or understand how I am not using the feature correctly?

Not likely the case. I assume he's talking about the upturned arrow links to web info in Now Playing and the File List. Has this cross code interference been a common
problem in the past, RC? I'm not able to replicate the problem myself, in Now Playing or File List. If I select just the first track of an album > properties > click next >
it moves to the next one and I can see the select highlight bar behind the properties dialog correctly moving to it.

Don't worry about tweaking CPU's (or cores, rather). Too confusing/complex for now.

I still wrestle with it.

I understand. Many do to some degree or another.

What are you calling the latest version? What OS? .......and are you using modern equipment? ...how much memory (ram)?

Did you do this:

I'll defrag, clear out some hard drive memory for good measure, run a virus check.

Try running MM with everything non-essential shut down. Play around and see if it does the same things.

[rovingcowboy]

I remember seeing some posts about the link arrow not working. I am thinking that the code in the exe for that is touchy and might have been crossed to the next arrow on the properties panel. If so it's a developer thing to fix.
The memory of the hard drive is slow compared to the ram stick. 500gb ram? What kind of system board you got?
Or is that the harddrive size? Hard drive software last i knew requires 200 mbs of the hd size to run the hd it might be a little more on huge harddrives.

Speeding up mm exe is done by use of third party software to speed up the priority of programs this helps by making mm first in line to get in the club. But putting him on his own cpu's reduces the chance of background programs interference I'm believing I'm the only one here who still does this speed up. But if you been here long time you know that my complaints have dropped to almost zill. Since I have started this speed up. It's more useful if you are a heavy user of the computer for other purposes when you play music.