Topics

1

Questions / Un-do changes to tags?

« on: April 30, 2022, 10:43:21 PM »

I realize that this question has been asked on and off over the last 10 years that MB has been around, but so far I don't see any way one can un-do changes to tags when the metadata is saved to the files. Perhaps if it is saved to MB database only, one can un-do, but I don't see a way to do it.
I had a 'scare' earlier today when I wanted to make sure that none of my files had the 'enable custom sorting' box (in the sorting tab) ticked. I selected my entire library, went into edit, and sorting. I found the box un-ticked, so I hit the Save button, thinking that if any of the files had custom sorting ticked, this would remove it.
After I saved, nothing bad happened, but I suddenly had the fear that perhaps some of the other checkboxes on the sort tab had also been ticked. What would be the result of doing that? I suspect it would seriously mess up the database. But luckily, MusicBee leaves all the boxes un-ticked by default - unlike another program (Tag & Rename) I sometimes use for tagging, which leaves boxes ticked from the last operation performed.
So, at least MB is smart enough to clear the boxes so something bad doesn't happen, but it would be really nice to have an un-do feature; although I suspect that if writing tags to the files, this would be somewhat difficult. A cache of all changed files would need to be stored somewhere.

Of course the best way to prevent disasters that can cost many hours of work, one should always keep a good backup.
I do a backup regularly every night when I have been working on MB, but I think it might be a good idea to do a backup more often, when processing large numbers of files during a day. Maybe once an hour.

Your thoughts?
Ultrarunner

2

Questions / Why doesn't MB play tracks in order?

« on: April 22, 2022, 09:57:54 PM »

Hey guys;
I just purchased some tracks on iTunes (PC app) and converted them to .flac (lossy to lossless, but OK), then did a rescan in MB to add the tracks to my library.
I have a filter set up to display only tracks I added within the last 24 hours.
I clicked on Artist column to sort by artist, but MB isn't playing the tracks in exactly that order.
I have Auto DJ and shuffle turned off, but the tracks do not play in the order (top of list to bottom, or alphabetically) i would have expected.
Here is a link to the track list:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1s3rKV3mjLunmgEvtGR_0VSpZ_ZDdwXj1/view?usp=sharing

Any idea why MB chose to play the tracks in this order, and not what I had expected?

Thanks for your help
Ultrarunner

3

Questions / Another issue with ratings

« on: April 17, 2022, 03:32:28 PM »

I am having a hard time trying to figure out what is happening in MusicBee with ratings on .flac files.
First, I have the option in Preferences > Tags(1)  "store ratings in the music file" ticked.

I have several tabs set up, using filters to select which tracks are displayed for each tab:

"Rock (All)" - filters:  Match ALL of the following rules:
Genre is not Classical
Genre is not Meditation

"Rock (3_Stars)" - filters:  Match All of the following rules:
Genre is not Classical
Genre is not Meditation
Rating in range 3* to 5*

If I change a rating from 3 stars to 2 stars, that track should no longer appear in the 3 star list, but appear in the All tab. However, changing the rating in MB does not immediately remove the 2* track from the 3* list. I must first 'refresh' the filter (by opening it, and saving without making any changes). After doing that, the 2* rated track(s) disappear from the 3* list, but are still listed in the All list.
Switching to another tab, then back to the 3* tab does not refresh the list, nor does closing MB and restarting the app.

However, if I set the ratings in Tag & Rename, then do a rescan in MB, the rating is updated in MB, and the filters work properly.
Also note that if I change a rating in MB, then look at the track in T&R, the ratings field is null.

While I understand that the .flac format does not store ratings the same way as .mp3 or maybe .wav, it does appear to store ratings in some way, but apparently, MB is storing the metadata in a different format than what T&R is using, but at the same time, MB is able to read the tags set by T&R (but not the other way around).

Can anyone shine a light onto this issue? Is there a bug in MusicBee, or is there a setting I have been ignoring?

Thanks for your help
Ultrarunner.

4

Questions / flac files mysteriously changed to .tmp

« on: April 11, 2022, 03:12:24 AM »

Hello;
I have been updating my music library, which is stored as .flac on my system.
I play tracks through MusicBee on Windows 10, but use Tag & Rename to tag the files.
I have both apps running on Windows 10 (latest build).
Occasionally, when playing a track in MusicBee, and opening that same track in Tag & Rename to set the ratings, I get an error from T&R telling me that it cannot find the file. When I open Windows file explorer, I see that the file has a .tmp instead of .flac extension.
I understand that I cannot save tags in T&R while the track is playing in MB, so I will always play another track before saving in T&R.
This extension changed to .tmp has only happened about half dozen times in all, and I am always able to recover the file by changing its extension from .tmp to .flac.

I am at a loss to what is happening. I don't know if the problem is with MusicBee or Tag & Rename, but when I searched through my Users/<username>/AppData/Local/MusicBee/InternalCache/ArtistBackdrops folder, I see many files with .tmp extension, so I am assuming it is MusicBee that is changing the file extension.

Any ideas?
Thanks
Ultrarunner

5

Questions / MB won't update ratings tag in .flac files

« on: March 28, 2022, 01:32:30 PM »

I have the 'store ratings in the music file' ticked, and yet if I make changes to the ratings in MB, the rating does not show in Tag & Rename, which I have been using to work with tags in my library.
My entire music library is stored on my local system in .flac format.
If I make changes to ratings in T&R, then do a re-scan in MB, the changes are updated in MB, but not the other way around.
As a matter of fact, if I change the ratings in MB, the rating in T&R disappears, leaving the track with no rating.
This behavior appears to affect only the ratings tag, as I can change other tags (such as title) in MB, and the changes will reflect in T&R.

I will do some more digging and see what I can find, but in the meantime, has anyone had this experience when using MB and another app for tagging flac files?

Thanks for your help
Ultrarunner

6

Beyond MusicBee / No more iTunes app in Microsoft store

« on: March 24, 2022, 06:07:09 PM »

Hey all;
I have always purchased my music - mostly from iTunes, but I also own about 100 CD's which I have ripped to .flac and store on my computer's SSD while keeping dual backups (both located off the computer), so I think my music files are well protected.
I use MusicBee to play tracks on my Windows PC, and PowerAmp on my Android phone.
However, I am still buying new tracks - mainly on iTunes, which I have installed on Windows 10.
Since Microsoft has removed iTunes from the MS store, I am concerned that I won't be able to re-install iTunes if my system crashes.

Are there other music services that will allow me to purchase single Rock & Roll tracks (as well as albums)?
I have purchased a few tracks from 7Digital and maybe HDTracks, but there don't seem to be many places where one can still purchase music for download - rather than streaming.
While I could switch to a streaming service, such as Spotify, I don't see the point in paying $10/month for songs I already own. In addition, I use Tracfone, so I don't have unlimited data. I could download tracks from Spotify to my phone to play without streaming, but I would really rather keep my own music library on my computer.

So, should I just buy all the tracks I think I will ever want from iTunes right now, or is there some other place I can find the variety of tracks that is currently available through iTunes?
Of course I could probably find used (or new) CD's on Ebay, but if I only want one or two tracks, the CD's will cost a lot more than the $1.29/track I pay on iTunes.

Thanks for your help
Ultrarunner

7

Beyond MusicBee / Joe Walsh song with collect phone call from Joe Vitale?

« on: March 23, 2022, 01:32:07 PM »

Hey guys;
I have been racking my brain trying to find the Joe Walsh song in which you hear a phone ringing, and Joe Walsh picking it up to receive a collect call from Joe Vitale. The operator asks Joe whether he is Joe Walsh, and he replies 'I think so', to which the operator replies 'Sir, you should know something like this'.
Perhaps it was the other way around, and it was Joe Vitale who receives the call from Joe Walsh, but I seem to recall it with Joe Walsh receiving the call. I believe it's at the end of the song.
I thought the song was 'Life's Been Good', but cannot find a version that contains this 'break'. I do have the version of the song with the Wah Wah's at the end though...
Perhaps it's not even a Joe Walsh track; could it be the Eagles?

I don't have much Joe Walsh in my music library, which is all purchased (not streaming), but I plan to fix that problem today.
This will be on my mind until I find the song, so I would really appreciate some help.
Thanks
Ultrarunner

8

Questions / Add silence between some 'albums' but not others

« on: November 13, 2021, 03:29:40 AM »

Hello;
I have both Rock and Classical in my MusicBee library. I select the genre I want to listen to using filters.
For Rock tracks, I rarely listen to an entire album, and prefer no silence between tracks. Matter of fact I use crossfading.
However, for Classical pieces, I don't want any crossfading - and have the 'do not crossfade' option ticked for these tracks.
I also prefer to add some silence (about 5 seconds) between pieces (works).
I see there is an option in Preferences > Player to add silence to end of each track, but ticking this box would add silence to Rock tracks - which I do not want.
I could add the silence to the end of the last movement of each Classical piece manually using my DAW (Reaper) but that would be time consuming.

Any ideas?
Thanks
Ultrarunner

9

Questions / Trouble with tags

« on: November 03, 2021, 08:40:14 PM »

Hey all;
I have been playing around with MB for several years now, but only recently got interested in working with tags.
I have been using another app - Tag & Rename - to edit IDV3 tags.
I had never figured out why MB wasn't reading the tags when I updated them in T&R - until today.
I had always thought that the action: 'File > Scan folders for new files' would also update the tags, but it did not.
As a matter of fact, if I make changes to the tags in MB and then Save, the tags are updated in the files themselves.
After several Google searches - most of which took me to threads in this forum - I found that the process for updating IDV3 tags is to highlight the tracks, right-click and select 'Send to > File rescan'.

Now, if I can figure out how to automatically activate a view filter when loading a library, I'll be all set. Until then, I can do it manually.
I guess I shouldn't complain about the relatively steep learning curve for MB, as there is so much that can be done with the app.

Your thoughts / suggestions
Ultrarunner

10

Questions / Tabbing between columns in Music window

« on: October 19, 2021, 10:41:58 PM »

Hello;
I am trying to update my IDV3 tags for my music library. The tracks are stored as .flac.
When looking at the main window - after clicking 'Music' on the top bar, I see the columns I have set to be displayed. All is good.
But now I want to edit the info in some of those columns (the tags). The easiest way to do that is to click once to select a track, then click again (but not quickly or the song will start to play) in the column where I want to change the tag.
Once I click again in the column, the tag will open for editing. Sometimes there is a down-arrow on the right, which I cannot explain.
I enter the new info into the tag, then hit the TAB key to move to the next column to the right- where I want to change the next tag.
I found that depending on the order I have the columns arranged, the TAB key will move to the right (to the next column) in the editing mode, but sometimes it will exit the editing mode when I hit the TAB key and will not allow me to move to the next column to edit the data.
I found that when I re-arranged the columns, I can now TAB from one column to the next while still keeping the editing mode open.

I have re-named some of my custom tags (Tags(1)).
Now, when I right-click on a track and select Edit > Tags(2), I see my custom tags.
Some of these tags have a down-arrow on the right of the box, while others have the three dots ...
I cannot see the difference between tags that have the arrow and those that have the dots.
I have the feeling that this makes a difference as to which tags (in columns) I can TAB to and which I cannot.

I would like to create a screen video of this, but I lack the software for that.

I don't know if I have made myself clear as to what is going on. Please let me know and I can clarify.

Thanks for your help
Ultrarunner

11

Questions / A very frustrated man

« on: July 31, 2021, 10:44:09 PM »

This is in reference to MusicBee 3.3.7367 on Windows 10 Pro 20H2 (build 19042.1110)
I have my music library located on my PC and use MusicBee to catalog it.
I also have copies of most of the tracks on my Android phone.
I would like to keep track of which tracks I have on the phone and which I do not, so I used one of the custom tags. I renamed this tag 'Phone'.
I put a Y in the tag's value if the track is on the phone, and leave it blank if it is not.

Today I spent about 2 hours updating the values of the Phone tags on tracks in MusicBee.
I have been doing this by selecting multiple tracks of one artist, open the tag editor, and set the value for the custom (phone) tag to Y.
Then I hit Save, and move on to the next group.

I have also been moving some of the .flac files on the PC from one folder to another as I try to create a simplified directory structure. In the past, I have always stored files in folders by album, but since I am using MusicBee to sort out which tracks belong to which album, I am moving the flac files into a single folder for each artist. I never listen to albums anyway, so I just thought I would make my life easier - when I need to search in Explorer for a specific file.

When I make changes to the location of the files, I need to refresh MusicBee. I do this by File > Scan folders for new files.

Is this a bug in MusicBee, or am I violating some sort of rule of file integrity?
I am really frustrated with this now, so am planning to go back to my Access database for keeping my library organized, using MusicBee only for playing the tracks.

Any idea of what I am doing wrong?

Thanks
Ultrarunner

Edit: After posting, I recalled reading in these forums about saving custom tags to MusicBee database only or to permanent metadata in the files.
So I opened preferences and on the Tags(1) tab I see that I have my custom tags set to save to MusicBee database only.
So I chose one of the other options (File Owner) and selected it for the custom tags.
Now these tags no longer disappear if I move the files on the PC.
I assume that saving to MusicBee database only does just that - saves to a special MusicBee file somewhere on my PC (probably in Users/../Appdata.
This when the files are moved, and MusicBee rescans the music folders, these tags are reset.
I assume that by saving to 'File Owner' or any of the other choices in that list, I am saving the data to the file itself, thus it will not be lost if the file is moved.
Is this correct?

Thanks again.
Ultrarunner

12

Questions / Can I create a check-box field?

« on: July 10, 2021, 04:19:38 PM »

Hi;
I would like a couple of my fields to be checkboxes instead of text. For example, I have a custom field (tag) labeled 'phone'. The purpose of this field is to tell me whether I have uploaded the track to my phone.
Another  field I have is 'new', which I use to indicate that I have recently purchased this track.
Both the 'phone' and 'new' fields would ideally be checkboxes.

Is there any way to do this in MB? I did see a couple of posts in the wishlist thread,  but I wasn't sure if this feature has been implemented or not.

Thanks
Ultrarunner

13

Questions / Auto Tag doesn't update year

« on: November 23, 2018, 01:45:50 PM »

Hi;
MusicBee ver 3.2.6827, which I checked and is latest version.
I am trying to auto-update my library by track. My main concern is getting the year the song was originally released; not on a greatest hits album.
When I do 'auto-tag by track', the missing fields are filled in, but with the wrong data.
For example, Tom Petty's 'Listen To Her Heart' was first recorded on his 'You're Gonna Get It' album in 1978. But Auto-Tag writes the album as 'Recorded Live in Holland & USA' and the year as 1992.
I tried changing the database order, and un-checking databases, but it makes no difference.

Any ideas?

Thanks
FW

14

Questions / How does MusicBee apply Replay Gain to .flac files?

« on: January 11, 2018, 05:03:00 PM »

Hi;
I have been experimenting with Replay Gain both in MusicBee and in Foobar2000. I am a bit confused as to what MusicBee is doing when you perform the "Analyze Volume" operation.
I select a number of tracks I want to work with, un-tick the "on album basis" so that I have correct analysys by track, slide the "adjust calculated replaygain values:" slider up to +6db to make the songs louder, and finally hit the Proceed button.

Once the process has completed, I notice that playing the songs I applied the replaygain +6db to are louder. But when I open the same files in Foobar, I see that the replaygain has not changed. This leads me to assume that adding the 6db in MusicBee does not actually change the replaygain tag values but only sets a flag to tell MusicBee to apply the gain while playing the song. So the same files will sound more quiet in another player, such as Foobar.

Is my thinking correct, or is something else going on here?

Thanks for your help

Ultrarunner2018

15

Questions / Play list doesn't update automatically in Auto DJ

« on: November 26, 2017, 02:42:16 AM »

I set up Auto DJ to play tracks using a filter. No tracks immediately appear in the play queue below. When I stop Auto DJ then press Preview, the list will fill up. Then I press Start and double click the first song and it begins playing.
But when the last displayed song had been played, and the next song is playing, the list does not update.
I would think that the list will always show the set number of upcoming tracks (I left this set to 5) but the list didn't update at all.

If I stop Auto DJ, then press Preview again, the list updates.

What am I doing wrong?

Thanks

Ultrarunner