getmusicbee.com
Support => Questions => Topic started by: tstenz on December 21, 2017, 05:51:51 AM
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The other day I noticed that a few files from my library were missing. There didn't seem to be much rhyme or reason to which files those were, so I created a new library with the same source folder and it turns out I'm missing 0.6 GB worth of files. I then tried to figure out some way to get MB to identify which files in my initial library could not be played (which is theoretically 0.6 GB worth), but I must have messed up with the Remap Music Folders tool because now I can't play anything from my initial library. The new library, with the exception of being short the missing files, works fine. That doesn't really make sense to me because the current path given by Remap Music Folders is identical between the two libraries.
I guess my questions are these, in order of importance:
1) Is there a way to compare libraries so I can identify which files are not in my newly created library?
2) How can I see what file path MB is using to look for a given file in my library? And if I can fix that, is there an alternate way I can answer question 1 by identifying which files cannot be found in my initial library?
3) Does anyone have any idea what could have caused some of my files to apparently disappear? Like I said, the few I've identified already don't make sense. I have a 40+ track album that is all different artists entirely missing, except for a single song that is there. I hadn't been messing around with reorganization until I noticed this issue.
Thanks!
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One thing you could try is go to library settings and tick export iTunes formatted xml file.
Do that for both libraries and then compare the two xml files.
If you search with title/artist tag in those xml files, it will also answer your question #2.
Then you might have a better idea about what happened.
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I'm not sure I understand; compare the two XML files how?
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I'm not sure I understand; compare the two XML files how?
I don't know but I would search it first what works best in your situation.
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Based on the size of the library, I'm not sure any sort of manual comparison is feasible.
If there's no simpler way to compare libraries, is there something that can identify which tracks cannot be played from my initial library without me having to play them all individually and record which ones have a problem? That would require me to fix whatever mapping issue that entire library currently has, but it seems doable.
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Maybe something like this Online comparison tool:
https://www.corefiling.com/opensource/xmldiff/
Or this software:
https://www.oxygenxml.com/doc/versions/19.1/ug-editor/topics/file-comparison.html
Would help? (I've never used either of these and cannot recommend them specifically, but I have used similar packages in the past to find differences between two files)
It still won't be easy. Once it goes off the rails on one file, everything below will be different, so you'd have to cut the line (missing file) from the "good" document and paste it to a new document ("missing files") to sync them up again, and then go searching for the next instance of a difference and then repeat. But it may work for you.
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OK, I guess that's better than whatever current method I have available.
How about this: how can I figure out where my library is pointing and why it can't locate any of the files that aren't missing?
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Not sure what you're asking here. If you right click on an entry in the library and select the "Properties" tab, it should tell you where it thinks the file should be.
Have you exported your library as XML as suggested earlier? If you export to an XML file, it should give an absolute path for each file according to the data in the library. If there's something glaringly wrong with the mapping, that would probably be the easiest way to catch it.
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OK, thanks.
So remapping the folder apparently requires the files to have the exact same folder structure because it keeps adding folders to wherever I point it. Is there another way to locate the correct directory?
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Remapping doesn't do anything to any folders within your file system, adding removing or otherwise. It tells MusicBee to look in a different place for your files than the place listed in the library for them.
For example, if you had all of your music files in D:\Music and established a library and then you wholesale moved all of your music files to F:\Music\Transferred, you would remap D:\Music to F:\Music\Transferred. It works like a whole-library path text substitution. It doesn't alter anything.
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I don't mean it's physically adding folders, I mean it's adding folders to the file path.
I originally imported my library from iTunes, so the file path was roughly C:\Music\iTunes\iTunes Media. I moved all files to C:\Music\MusicBee and remapped my library to that location (and the correct path shows in the Remap window now), but MusicBee is expecting to see those files at C:\Music\MusicBee\Music\iTunes\iTunes Media, and that folder has never existed in that location.
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Are you typing the remapping or selecting it using the [...] button? I'd try using the [...] to select the new path. I remember it being quirky in some way.
How far out from all of this importing, etc are you time-wise? Is it possible to open the XML that iTunes exported (the one that you originally used to import into Musicbee) in a text editor, search and replace the old path for the new path right in that XML file, and then reimport the modified XML with the correct paths as a totally new, clean library? You could avoid all the remapping weirdness that way.
Of course, if you've made a lot of changes since then that's not a great solution.
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I originally imported my library from iTunes, so the file path was roughly C:\Music\iTunes\iTunes Media. I moved all files to C:\Music\MusicBee and remapped my library to that location (and the correct path shows in the Remap window now), but MusicBee is expecting to see those files at C:\Music\MusicBee\Music\iTunes\iTunes Media, and that folder has never existed in that location.
If you add Path column to the main panel, does it show "C:\Music\MusicBee\Music\iTunes\iTunes Media\" for all files?
Then try remapping music files from "C:\Music\MusicBee\Music\iTunes\iTunes Media\" to "C:\Music\MusicBee\" (without quote).
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Ah! Another thing you can do is to export your current MusicBee library as an XML file (Edit->Preferences->Library and check "export the library as an iTunes formatted XML File") and then close MB, edit that XML file in a text editor to correct the path, and then import that corrected file as a new clean library. That will catch changes you made since you left iTunes.
That's if you want to completely avoid the remapping weirdness.
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If you add Path column to the main panel, does it show "C:\Music\MusicBee\Music\iTunes\iTunes Media\" for all files?
How is this done?
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Ah! Another thing you can do is to export your current MusicBee library as an XML file (Edit->Preferences->Library and check "export the library as an iTunes formatted XML File" and then close MB, edit that XML file in a text editor to correct the path, and then import that corrected file as a new clean library. That will catch changes you made since you left iTunes.
That's if you want to completely avoid the remapping weirdness.
Thanks, I'll try this because clicking "..." after the file location does nothing for some reason.
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How is this done?
Right click the column listings (Artist, Title, Album,etc) at the top of the main panel and select "Set Displayed Fields." You can add it from there.
@redwing - I have a semi-related question. When you do a Remap, does it alter the library and change the path, or does it just tell musicbee to substitute the new path for the old path on the fly? I thought it was substituting on the fly, but it doesn't seem like it since under my remap options both sides now show the same paths.
In other words, if I were to clear the remapping options right now, would my library go back to its original state?
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If you add Path column to the main panel, does it show "C:\Music\MusicBee\Music\iTunes\iTunes Media\" for all files?
Yes.
Then try remapping music files from "C:\Music\MusicBee\Music\iTunes\iTunes Media\" to "C:\Music\MusicBee\" (without quote).
That's the problem; the remap is already showing C:\Music\MusicBee as the current location.
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That's the problem; the remap is already showing C:\Music\MusicBee as the current location.
What's the path in "from" box?
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@redwing - I have a semi-related question. When you do a Remap, does it alter the library and change the path, or does it just tell musicbee to substitute the new path for the old path on the fly? I thought it was substituting on the fly, but it doesn't seem like it since under my remap options both sides now show the same paths.
In other words, if I were to clear the remapping options right now, would my library go back to its original state?
I think the text in the dialog says everything. It changes the file path registered in the library.
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What's the path in "from" box?
C:\Music\MusicBee. Which is identical to the path in the "from" box of my newly created library that works perfectly fine (besides having no record of the deleted tracks I want to find); that one just doesn't have the extra folders added to the individual file locations.
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Then as I said try remapping music files from "C:\Music\MusicBee\Music\iTunes\iTunes Media\" to "C:\Music\MusicBee\" to see what happens.
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Then as I said try remapping music files from "C:\Music\MusicBee\Music\iTunes\iTunes Media\" to "C:\Music\MusicBee\" to see what happens.
Just so we're clear, when I do that, the "from" and the "to" file paths in the Remap Music Folders window are identical.
But yeah, that doesn't change anything.
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Maybe it's because it's a sub-folder of the target folder.
Then let's try this. Change the target path to "D:\madeup\". Run the command.
And then remap from "D:\madeup\" to "C:\Music\MusicBee\"
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OK, I created a new library using the XML from my initial library and now things are getting really weird.
1) Even after adjusting the Music Folder path so that it's identical to my working library, only about half of the files can be located.
2) The unlocatable files have little exclamation marks next to them to indicate that they're not available. This is exactly the behavior I'm looking to replicate in my initial library (once I get the remapping figured out); why isn't that library behaving the same way?
3) When I try to play one of the unlocatable files in the new library, it asks me if I'd like to locate the file. When I click yes, it points me to exactly where the file is. The "path" shown for each is also correct, so I'm not sure why it can't locate them. But if I can correct this issue, I think this will get me what I need.
Also, probably related to point #2: when I try to play a file in my initial library, it just tells me that it can't be found. There's no option to locate it.
4) Edit: Nevermind, I was looking at the wrong place.
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Maybe it's because it's a sub-folder of the target folder.
Then let's try this. Change the target path to "D:\madeup\". Run the command.
And then remap from "D:\madeup\" to "C:\Music\MusicBee\"
No dice. Even when it was pointing to D:\madeup\, the paths changed to D:\madeup\iTunes\iTunes Media\.
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Then try remapping from "D:\madeup\iTunes\iTunes Media\" to "C:\Music\MusicBee\"
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Then try remapping from "D:\madeup\iTunes\iTunes Media\" to "C:\Music\MusicBee\"
Sorry if I was unclear. I did that and nothing changed.
I can't remap from exactly that path because the iTunes\iTunes Media\ portion does not show in the "from" box; it only said "D:\madeup\". That portion of it must be coming from somewhere else
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What's the current path shown in the main panel?
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You mean it's still "D:\madeup\iTunes\iTunes Media\" ?
Try entering the path to "from" box and remap to "C:\Music\MusicBee\"
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No, "from" path is C:\Music\MusicBee, but the displayed path is C:\Music\MusicBee\iTunes\iTunes Media. I'm just saying that no matter what I enter as the source file path, \iTunes\iTunes Media\ is being added to it.
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So what's the current path shown in the main panel? is it "C:\Music\MusicBee\iTunes\iTunes Media\"?
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BTW "from" path has nothing to do with its current path shown in the main panel. It's just the portion of the path you want to replace with "target folder".
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Then as I said try remapping music files from "C:\Music\MusicBee\Music\iTunes\iTunes Media\" to "C:\Music\MusicBee\" to see what happens.
Just so we're clear, when I do that, the "from" and the "to" file paths in the Remap Music Folders window are identical.
But yeah, that doesn't change anything.
I also tested this and it's working fine for me.
It doesn't matter whether the current folder is a sub-folder of the target folder. I'm not sure how you're entering "from" path.
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I also tested this and it's working fine for me.
It doesn't matter whether the current folder is a sub-folder of the target folder. I'm not sure how you're entering "from" path.
I'm not saying the path isn't changing; the problem is that no matter what I change it to, the iTunes folders are being added to the path for each file (yes, in the main panel). Those folders don't exist and I have no idea where they're coming from, besides being where I initially imported the library from. That is the problem. If I can delete those from the file path, everything would be fine.
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OK, let's do it step by step. What's the current path shown in the main panel?
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C:\Music\MusicBee\iTunes\iTunes Media.
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Can you enter "C:\Music\MusicBee\iTunes\iTunes Media\" to "from" path?
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I can, but that doesn't change any of the paths.
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And can you enter "C:\Music\MusicBee\" to "to" path?
Confirm currently the dialog shows from "C:\Music\MusicBee\iTunes\iTunes Media\" to "C:\Music\MusicBee\" .
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Confirm currently the dialog shows from "C:\Music\MusicBee\iTunes\iTunes Media\" to "C:\Music\MusicBee\" .
No, it shows from "C:\Music\MusicBee" to "C:\Music\MusicBee".
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Did you already click on "Update" button?
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I've been constantly Updating based on your suggestions, and whatever I update it to becomes the "from" source.
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What did I suggest? I suggested doing it step by step.
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whatever I update it to becomes the "from" source.
Of course, that's how it's supposed to show AFTER changing the path.
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OK, so your suggestion is to Remap Music Folders from "C:\Music\MusicBee\iTunes\iTunes Media\" to "C:\Music\MusicBee"?
That does nothing, because this tool does not recognize the iTunes folders as part of the current path.
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Then check the spelling if the path is correct.
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OK, sorry for being an idiot, I got the paths changed.
Still getting the "source file could not be found" error, even though the path looks entirely correct to me now.
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Try selecting one file> right click> Send to> file rescan. Does that make a difference?
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No, but after doing that it allows me to point it to the correct locations, so I should be able to run Locate Missing Files to fix them...
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OK. Also you could try Tools> Advanced> Rescan all files.
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OK, awesome. I have a good idea of what files are actually missing now, so maybe I can prevent it from happening in the future:
1) I edited some artist names in MusicBee which caused path problems; is there a setting I can turn on so that those changes are applied to the folder itself? (if not retroactively, in the future?)
2) Is "automatically sweep and organize new files" the setting I want to turn on if I want everything I add to my library in the future to be copied to the same directory?
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I edited some artist names in MusicBee which caused path problems
Have you enabled auto-organization? If so what template are you using?
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Yes, Artist\Album\Title
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What wasn't working as expected? Any specific example where editing artist name caused the path issue?
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I'm not sure what happened, to be honest. I did some minor cleanup like adding/removing periods, and I seem to remember them working fine initially (this was 2 weeks ago), but a couple days ago is when I started noticing some that weren't playing.
Those files are still there though; the only ones that are completely missing are ones that I deleted because I thought they were copied to the same location as the rest of my library.
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If you turn on auto-organize, I recommend continuous monitoring for the whole music files folder in library settings so that any file location change resulted from tag change would be immediately recognized by MB. Probably it should work without monitoring, but it helps.
Also there's no auto-copy option with MB for imported files unlike iTunes. Have a look at this guide: https://getmusicbee.com/forum/index.php?topic=22406.0
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Is "automatically sweep and organize new files" the setting I want to turn on if I want everything I add to my library in the future to be copied to the same directory?
As I said no copy option with MB. "automatically sweep and organize new files" is used when you want to get new files organized. It's different from auto-organize in that they won't move following tag changes.
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I see.
Well, thanks a ton for all of your help and for putting up with me. Hopefully I learned enough that I can figure this out myself next time.
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No problem! Glad you got it sorted out.
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Hello. tell me, here I pointed the player, from which folder to take the music. yesterday, from this folder, deleted 1 song, and 2 added. the player did not see the changes. advised - to close and open the player, did not help. Advised to press F5, also no use. I had to re-scan ... maybe, who knows, the way is easier?
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Hello. tell me, here I pointed the player, from which folder to take the music. yesterday, from this folder, deleted 1 song, and 2 added. the player did not see the changes. advised - to close and open the player, did not help. Advised to press F5, also no use. I had to re-scan ... maybe, who knows, the way is easier?
Are you saying you have configured that folder as a monitored folder? Then it's strange. If it's continuous monitoring setting, it should have detected the changes right away. If it's scan on startup only option, restarting should notice the changes (if your library is big, wait until scanning gets done). Try again to see if you can replicate the issue.