Migrating from iTunes, Windows Media Player, jRiver, MusicMatch, etc. to MediaMonkey

You can migrate from other applications to MediaMonkey relatively easily if the Player saves tags to the files following the standards and allows for export of Playlists. MediaMonkey can read limited data from some applications directly.

MediaMonkey imports:

  • File properties: from file tags
  • Playlists: from .m3u, .m3u8, .pls, .asx and .xspf files
  • File Ratings and Play History: from Windows Media Player, iTunes, and WinAmp databases.
  • Album Art: embedded in file tags and any saved in folders that contain files from a single album (iTunes uses a proprietary method for Artwork which isn’t available to be used by other Players like MediaMonkey).

A full description of tags that are supported appears in the Online Help: Help: Track Properties & Tag Formats

Before switching from your existing player you should:

  1. Make sure that the software has saved tags to the files. This may not be a feature on all software.
    1. When tags are missing a work-around is to use the folder/filenames to tag your files in MediaMonkey with Auto-Tag from Filename: https://www.mediamonkey.com/wiki/index.php?title=WebHelp:Auto-Tag_from_Filename/4.0
    2. MediaMonkey by default saves tags to the files, but can be forced to save database values using Tools > Edit Tags > Update Tags (MediaMonkey 5) or Tools > Advanced Tag Management > Synchronize Tags (MediaMonkey 4).
  2. Export all playlists from the player to a format like M3U files.
    1. Review documentation for your Player on how to do this for that specific Player or use online search/videos for guidance.
    2. To add these Playlists to MediaMonkey use File > Add/Rescan Files from the Main Menu and make sure the Playlist File Type (like M3U) is enabled for scanning under Options (MediaMonkey 5) or File Types (MediaMonkey 4) in the Add/Rescan Files dialog.
    3. Imported Playlists will show under the Playlists > Imported Playlists node in the Media Tree.
    4. If Playlists show no files on import it means that either they’re empty or they point to where the files no longer exist. You can use any text editor (like Notepad) to verify the Paths the Playlists uses for the files and modify these Paths if incorrect prior to import.
    5. In MediaMonkey you can use File > Create Reports > Export All Playlists (MediaMonkey 5) or Tools > Scripts > Export All Playlists (MediaMonkey 4) from the Main Menu if you wish to export all Playlists from MediaMonkey.
  3. If there is other information in a music database that MediaMonkey can’t read (e.g. Ratings in jRiver Media Center, or Preferences in MusicMatch, etc.) there’s a workaround that can be used to import categorization data:
    1. In your current media manager, select all of the files in a given category (e.g. all files that have a rating of ‘2’) and create a Playlist of them. Repeat this per each value.
    2. In your current media manager, export the Playlist (e.g. Rating2.m3u)
    3. With MediaMonkey, scan the directory containing the new Playlist.
    4. In MediaMonkey select all the files from the new Playlist (e.g. Playlists > Imported Playlists > Rating2) and right-click and select ‘Properties‘.
    5. Edit the Tag that you wish to change (e.g. in this case, change Rating to ‘2 stars’) and click ‘OK’ to update all the files at once.

Applies to: ,

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