Topics

1

Questions / Removing folders from library scan list

« on: March 04, 2024, 12:22:52 AM »

When I open the Scan folders dialog, and from there open the Choose Folders dialog, MB is showing me network paths and COMPUTERNAMES that are no longer in use and that no longer exist. In I see no way to remove them. They are not checked in as being selected for scanning, they're just there.

I would think that MB is only showing me the available sources that Windows presents to MB. But these paths are not available when I go to Networks in Explorer. Everything there is as expected.

Looking for insight.

The same thing, with slightly different zombie paths, happens on another device running a portable clone of the above install.

All else is working as expected. I'm trying to declutter the dialogs, and not confuse myself any more than necessary.

Thanks!

2

Questions / Changing the COMPUTERNAME where the MB library files are located

« on: October 13, 2023, 03:34:09 AM »

I would like to move my music collection to a different local device. Is there any way of doing this without breaking the playlists that use the current path?

The files are currently located here:
\\COMPUTERNAME\Record Collection\MainParentFolder

Under the MainParentFolder are all the usual artist- and album-based folders where the actual files are.

I need to change it all to
\\NEWCOMPUTERNAME\Record Collection\MainParentFolder.

That's it. Everything else can stay the same.

What's the best way, by which I mean easiest and safest way, to do this?

I've done some very simple file moves using MB's File Organizer (Ctrl-R), and it has no problem moving files to a new network location. And it maintains playlist pointers, playcount, other metadata. But is that the way to do this? I see it's a tool to be approached with great caution!

Is there some way I can just edit the MB database, globally replace COMPUTERNAME with NEWCOMPUTERNAME, then reopen MB and be done with it?

How is this best done?

3

Questions / Selecting multiple playlists, moving to folder

« on: October 05, 2023, 09:59:14 PM »

Hi. would like to declutter my playlist panel by moving playlists into folders. Is it possible to select multiple playlists and drag them into a folder all at once. I can't find any way to multi-select playlists, either in the side panel, or using the playlist explorer. Is this possible?

Thank you!

4

Questions / Ripping CDs with MB. Always need to restart.

« on: September 15, 2023, 11:46:49 PM »

Hi. I am having an issue ripping CDs with MB. I am using a portable ASUS portable optical disk reader plugged into my Windows 10 laptop.

I plug in the drive and insert a disk.
I open MB, and open the rip dialog.
MB finds the correct album, all the options are set, and everything is ready to go.
I click Start Rip, the first item in the window says Ripping..... and then nothing at all happens.

I eventually manage to back out and exit MB, getting a few different prompts, but it sometimes seems to hang (or I lose patience with how long it's taking to release the rip) and I terminate the MB process manually.

Then, I restart MB, do the same thing, and it rips without problem, sometimes at surprisingly fast speeds (24x.)

This is pretty consistent.

When I try to rip another disk in that same MB session, it almost always does the same thing. One time, it did a few rips in a row without without needing be restarted. But never again. It's not a function of the rip format.

Any ideas what's going on?

I am using MB 3.5.8150 P. I know it's not the most recent. I will update (and probably should have before posting.)

Thank you!

5

Questions / History list - timing threshold ?

« on: August 18, 2023, 03:12:44 AM »

Hi. Is there any way to control how long a song must be played for it to be entered into the history list? This appears to happen only when the file has played all the way, and is not a setting I can find anywhere. I'm hoping maybe there's a way I could set the threshold for entry at say 30 seconds. Maybe an add on? Thank you! 

6

Questions / Single item, multiple start/end times?

« on: October 29, 2022, 07:06:05 AM »

I have a file that contains two individual songs. I would like to treat each of these songs as individual items in a playlist. But I'd prefer not to do this by splitting the actual audio file into two new files, or by duplicating the current file and creating a new library item. 

I duplicated the item in the playlist, and I intended to give each of them the appropriate start and end time in properties so that I would have virtually performed to the split. But, as expected really, when I changed a property of one of them, it changed it for the other.

Is there a way around that? Like a way of aliasing a library item, so it references the same source file but has its own seondary properties? Or some other way of doing what I'm trying to do?

Thanks!

7

Questions / Another playlist question

« on: June 02, 2022, 10:52:59 PM »

There is something about playlists that I am just not getting.

Right clicking on a playlist, I can choose playlist settings and set that list to either use the default or custom fields. As it seems to work, with custom fields, the list's column arrangement is fixed for that list and do not change when column settings for other lists or nodes are changed. But when I duplicate that list, the duped version reverts to the default, which doesn't really seem like "duplication." That might not be a problem, but I'm unable to locate any way to either set the "default" that's being used, or to copy the settings from one list to another. So I end up constantly having to set and sometimes reset the same column  configuration. I'm pretty sure this is not the way it's supposed to work, but I can't figure out what I am either doing wrong, or what it is I am not understanding (which amount to the same things.)

This is related to to a question I asked about a week ago that never got a reply. There too, it seems like what I'm trying to do would be very common and easy to do and a basic function of the program.

I've looked in the wiki and have searched the forum for both of these things, but somehow I'm not finding what seems like should be really basic info.

So I'm really hoping someone can shed some light on this.

8

Questions / Context menu

« on: June 02, 2022, 10:20:08 PM »

I would like to remove from the Windows Explorer context menu the MB options to  "Queue Next in MusicBee" and "Queue Last in MusicBee." These are not options that I use, and their shortcut keys (N and L, respectively) interfere with other context menu items that I use all the time.

I don't see any option in MB for either adding or removing these. And I can't find the displayed text when looking in the registry.

I have MB set as the default for opening audio files, and don't want to undo that - just remove those two options from my already cluttered context menu.

Can this be done?

Thanks

9

Questions / Playlists and renamed files

« on: June 02, 2022, 12:26:34 AM »

I have files that I would like to rename in bulk but that are already in playlists under their old filename. I know that I can rename a single file via the tag editor, and that MB will update the library and the playlists won't be broken. But I don't see any way to do this for multiple files.

What would be great is if MB could send items to Bulk Rename utility and update all successful renames. But until then, is there any way to rename outside of MB and not break playlists?

10

Questions / Columns in search results

« on: May 26, 2022, 01:52:48 AM »

Is there any way to set things so that the columns in search results match the columns of the node being searched from?

Would be nice to save and load preset column settings. Playlists seem to be able to have their own column settings, which is related. But is there any way to apply one set of column settings to another node?

I still find myself adding and re-adding and resizing columns more than it seems should be necessary.

11

MusicBee Wishlist / Option: Remove "Delete from Computer" from Del dialog

« on: May 24, 2022, 08:01:37 AM »

On the dialog that comes up when pressing the delete key, I would like to remove the option to also delete the files from the computer. I would like to access the option to delete from the computer by having to press a modifier key in addition to the delete key, which is more the way Windows Explorer works when bypassing the recycle bin.

I use the delete key all the time, but I don't usually want to also delete the file itself. Problem is, if I do want to delete the file, and click that option, the next time I press delete, that option is still selected. And for me, that is too close to an accident waiting to happen. I'd rather not always be quite that careful about something so potentially destructive.

So I'd like to be able to suppress that option from the default dialog, and require a mod key to actually kill a file.

Thanks for considering!

12

Beyond MusicBee / A program like MusicBee for photos, jpgs, pngs, mp4. etc

« on: May 18, 2022, 09:22:48 PM »

Hi. I am looking for recommendations for a program that will let me manage and work with picture and video files the way MB works with audio files.

For years I've used a program called ThumbsPlus, which is still out there and working, and has a lot of nice things about it. But I'm wondering what other MB users are using.

Thanks!

13

MusicBee Wishlist / Can the Custom Search window be made non-modal?

« on: May 10, 2022, 01:48:25 AM »

It would be nice if the Custom Search window was not modal.

I am building a multi-rule custom search based what I am finding in the main window, and every time I add a new rule, my only options are are to cancel, or to proceed with the search, so I do the latter. But that refreshes the contents in the main view, so I need to start scrolling back to where I last was, as the refresh repositions the scroll. So I'd like to be able to keep the search window open, while I continue to scour for additional rules to add to it.

It doesn't seem like it's necessary that that window be modal. Though I can see how the default assumption is that one would proceed to run the search after updating the rules. But not always!

Thank you for considering!

14

Questions / Basic questions about the library and paths

« on: May 10, 2022, 12:37:34 AM »

I've been very happy using MB for about a month but I realize there are some very basic things I don't understand. For example.....

What is the difference between adding items to the library using Preferences -> Library  -> Monitored Folders, and the folders that can be added via the File menu -> Scan folders for new files?

I've only used the one under File-Scan, and have left the one in Preferences empty. I did this because I thought I'd rather manually  refresh when I know there is a reason to, than have MB refresh either on start or continuously.

That worked well, and when I added or removed items from those folders and then reran the scan, and MB seemed to keep track of things well.

But I was finding items in the library that I thought I had removed, and that MB reports are not in the expected location, even though the path had been removed from the list in the File -> Scan window, and was never in the list in Preferences.

I also find that when I add paths in Preferences, I never see MB scanning those paths either on start or continuously, even after I've removed all items from the MB library leaving it totally empty, or when I've added files to the path that MB is supposedly monitoring.

I'm using a portable installation and have made copies of it so I can experiment freely. But I'm not sure what I'm seeing, or what I should be expecting.

If I seem confused it's because I am.

15

Questions / Unable to drag into MB

« on: April 18, 2022, 03:03:58 AM »

I am using a program called TreeSize to find duplicates. When I try to drag from TreeSize to MB, it doesn't work. The cursor changes to show the number of files being added to the node, but when I release it, nothing happens. Different nodes, same thing. Reboot and restart, both programs, same thing. I can drag from TreeSize into Winamp, Reaper, Mp3tag, Chrome, the desktop, etc as usual. Any idea why MB isn't happening?

The Groove player that comes with Windows doesn't even let me drag from Explorer.