Messages

1

Questions / Re: I cannot add a file to the library - what am I doing wrong?

« on: December 14, 2018, 11:02:46 AM »

Many thanks for your continued help ;  this command has worked to my satisfaction on about 20 or so audio files I have tried and which are now 'managed' within MB.

While having the opinion that this sort of corrective activity is not exactly what I expected to have to do as a listener to music - having been retired from a quasi-technical role for some decades - I am quite ready to affirm how supportive this forum community is. It is obvious that there is real technical skill in depth here. Thank you.

2

Questions / Re: I cannot add a file to the library - what am I doing wrong?

« on: December 13, 2018, 11:58:55 PM »

I have also tried running the procedure specified here

https://getmusicbee.com/forum/index.php?topic=23193.msg135406#msg135406

but sadly this fails with the error message :

At line:1 char:4
+ FOR %F IN (*.aac) DO C:\ffmpeg-20181212-32601fb-win64-static\bin\ffmp ...
+    ~
Missing opening '(' after keyword 'for'.
    + CategoryInfo          : ParserError: ( [], ParentContainsErrorRecordException
    + FullyQualifiedErrorId : MissingOpenParenthesisAfterKeyword

and this means very little to me - specifically I don't know how to correct the error. And I am not permiited to post on that part of the forum.

3

Questions / Re: I cannot add a file to the library - what am I doing wrong?

« on: December 13, 2018, 11:02:56 PM »

This one and another post of yours indicate some of your files have corrupt file header (though their audio stream is fine) that's why all these problems arise. You need to fix them. One way is using ffmpeg: https://getmusicbee.com/forum/index.php?topic=23193.0

Thank you for this instruction. Based on the link you have shown me, I have created a "demux m4a" external application and am able to see the results of the action on the files in my music folders, by using the preview option in the template editor window which I have invoked my clicking on the '...' box at the right hand end of the 'parameters' data entry field, when defining the external application.

I used your modified version of the command string, without outer double quotes around that string. is that correct?

The preview option ouput showed the text 'OK' plus a column of filenames headed "Result" and a column of file names headed 'URL'. It seems that almost every audio file in my windows file organisation is listed here (more than 2000), but the execution of this sendto 'action' took about 100 milliseconds, so I was sure that nothing was actually done. An examination of the 'date modified' attribute of these audio files shows this to be true - and the files which MB had previously declined to add to the libary are still not being added.

Any idea why?

By the way, I used the version of ffmpeg.exe that I found in my MusicBee folder in the ProgramFiles (x86) directory. Is this suitable?

4

Questions / Re: MB will not add some files to its library which have been downloaded from BBC

« on: December 13, 2018, 10:44:23 PM »

See redwing's response to your other post about corrupt file headers and a possible fix, but if it's all aac/m4a you might want to first try adding the file "bass_aac.dll" to your main MusicBee folder, which will cause the audio engine (bass.dll) to use that to decode aac/m4a instead of the built-in Windows codec, which has sometimes been a problem in Windows 10 in particular.  Download the zip file here:  https://www.un4seen.com/download.php?z/2/bass_aac24 ;  then, extract just the file "bass_aac.dll" from the zip package (NOT the one inside the "x64" subfolder) and put it in the main MusicBee folder with all the other bass plugins.  Of course, this will not fix a corrupt headers issue, but is worth a shot.

Thanks for the suggestion: I already have version 2.4.5.8 of bass_acc.dll installed in my  MB folder. MB still doesn't like aac files and still will not add the files I have downloaded from the BBC. I have tried to follow the advice from redwing - I will comment on the results of that in that thread.

5

Questions / Re: Why is newly imported album split into two entries?

« on: December 13, 2018, 04:39:52 PM »

Thank you also for the tip on how to post images - I shall have to learn how to find, chose and enroll in one of these thrid party services.

This one is easy and no "enrolling":

1.  Go to https://imgur.com/upload

<snip>

Other sites/methods abound, but as I said, this is the one that works easiest for me.

A spendid reply, thankyou. This has saved me a considerable amount of faffing around. I have no doubt that I will learn the essential  difference between posting an image and posting a hyper-link the hard way!

6

Questions / Re: I cannot add a file to the library - what am I doing wrong?

« on: December 13, 2018, 03:58:15 PM »

you can adjust "Selected Tags" on the top of the dialog.

Thanks; yes, I have now 'discovered' this function, not having previously realised that 'Selected Tags' is a drop-down menu item.

I am assuming that the selected tags then act as 'AND' logic in determing which files are to be identified as duplicates. Having used this feature to specify no less than 10 tags in my files, this 'manage duplicates'  feature then finds 16 duplicates for one file which it has chosen (and for one only). The criteria used by MB for selecting this one 'keep' file (as I call it) are not revealed. More importantly none of these 16 identified duplicate files match the keep file in all 10 of  the selected tags. In fact they match in only one tag: playing time, which MB measures to be 0.00 in all these files. This begs the question of where MB is finding the data, after 0.00 seconds have elapsed, when asked to play any one of these files? MB is the only player I have which measures the files to be this long (short ?) but will still play them.

Again, I am forced to ask 'what is going on ?'

7

Questions / MB will not add some files to its library which have been downloaded from BBC

« on: December 13, 2018, 11:55:28 AM »

I have previously posted on this forum asking why I could not add some files to the library. I have now found that the files which will not add, together with another set of files (see later), do have one thing in common: they were all obtained from the BBC using the 'get-iplayer' app under Linux. They were all of file type 'm4a' or 'aac'. 

Just to complicate things I do have audio files obtained in this way which do get added to the library without any problem, except they either pre-date or post-date the problem files.

As a matter of further complication there are also some such files which did make it into the MB library but which are grouped under the 'unknown artist' category. Attempts to edit these files results in a flashing exclamation mark in a red circle to the left of the 'save' button in the edit window. Hovering over this icon causes a message (about the file having been edited outside of MB and suggesting a 'rescan' of the file), to be displayed. Pressing 'save' resuls in an error message about the file failing some sort of validation process and the file not being updated. Rescanning the file does not change this scenario at all. These files are permanently in 'limbo': details about the file are unknown but cannot be updated.

The strange thing about these files downloaded from the BBC, in a period from about 2012 to 2016, is that they can be played, problem-free, in every player I have under windows and LInux - about 20 such players in total, including MB itself. I also find they can be added to a library in every music cataloging app in have in Windows and Linux - about 6 in total - except MB.

The only technique that I have found that will cause MB to add such files to its library is to open the file in  Audacity and then export it as an m4a file (over-writing the original if necessary) using the default codecs in Audacity. There is also then no probelm in editing this file in MB.

My conclusion is that there is some difference in opinion between MB and all other similar apps and players in what constitues a valid implementation of the AAC file specification (or is the m4A specification ?). The BBC also seems to have changed the way it is encoding its files (I discount a problem with get-iplayer - in this context it is just a transport mechanism).

8

Questions / Re: I cannot add a file to the library - what am I doing wrong?

« on: December 13, 2018, 11:29:21 AM »

If some files won't get added to the library, they could already be in your library. Right click the file> send to> and see if "music library" option is disabled, if so it's already in the library.
For configuring duplicates, go to Tools> Manage duplicate and you can adjust "Selected Tags" on the top of the dialog.

That's very interesting: I had previously looked at this function "Manage duplicates" and it showed only files which were classified as duplicates, without giving me ANY indication of what/where the duplicates are. This time the top part of the window is organised in two columns with a 'keep' file on the left and all its duplicates on the right.

Great! Except that the listing of these files as 'duplicates' is wildly wrong: Not a single one of the duplicates listed is any way a duplicate of the associated keep file: not duplicate in file location, file name, file size, file content, file 'tags' (artist, album, date, and so on). On a quick review I did not find a single point of duplication in the hundreds of potential comparison criteria.

What is going on ?

{update}
I am not correct here: I now better understand what logic is being used to determine a duplicate - there are valid repeated instances of Artist Name for example. It is the combination of key tags that have to be carefully chosen to find what I consider a true duplicate. I have to do this work later. But in the mean time I am still left with a list of files in the lower part of this window which are described as duplicates, but with no indication of what the duplicate files are. I still do not yet understand how to address this form of duplication.

9

Questions / Re: I cannot add a file to the library - what am I doing wrong?

« on: December 13, 2018, 11:17:27 AM »

I am unable to sensibly parse your advice " Check the wiki psychoadept linked you to for discussion on what the Inbox is for and if you care to use it".

I've not followed the discussion before this, but psychoadept is a forum member, 'wiki' is a reference to a website that he created and maintains with lots of good info on MusicBee.
Presumably psychoadept has posted a link for you to a relevant page on that wiki:
Probably one like this: https://musicbee.fandom.com/wiki/Navigator

Aha! Now all this makes sense - thank you very much. I can get on with this now

10

Questions / Re: I cannot add a file to the library - what am I doing wrong?

« on: December 13, 2018, 11:15:29 AM »

LateJuntcion, you can find the preference setting by clicking on the MusicBee drop-down located in the top left.
Then go to Edit/Edit Preferences.

Hope this helps a little.

Coogan

Thanks for this  - understanding arrives! I should have been able to figure this out .....

11

General Discussions / Re: Official MB appreciation thread

« on: December 12, 2018, 04:45:08 PM »

I see a lot of 'thank you' threads for Steven and his wonderful player and thought we should have a single official thread for doing so.. So here it is. Thanks Steven!

I'm a new user as well as a very old person. I'm struggling with understanding how to use MB - which is very different to saying I am struggling with using MB. I have to say that I am  impressed with this product - it is so much nicer to use than the obvious alternative which I thought I was forced to use when I was given a discarded iPod Nano. I think I am probably not the right sort of user for this product: I'm just so technically out of date - by at least 30 years I guess -  so it is particularly gratifying to experience the promptnesss and courtesy with which my irritating questions are being answered. As somebody who used to manage an application development group 40 years ago, I am just amazed that MB appears to be delivered by a single individual - that is super human performance, especially bearing in mind it is a library manager as well as a player and format converter. It puts into sharp contrast the efforts to deliver an iTunes alternative under Linux - like Amarok and its forks; like Banshee; like Rythmbox; like many others. MB seems more functional, better integrated, nicer to use than any of these  -even if I would have to use WINE!; fortunately I can afford the security risk of using Windows for the management of my audio assets.

So I owe Mr. Mayall my sincere thanks and respect.

12

Questions / Re: I cannot add a file to the library - what am I doing wrong?

« on: December 11, 2018, 11:23:10 PM »

Thank you for the guidance; please bear with me as I am really starting to struggle with the language style and content of the windows in MB (but I recognise that I am achieving considrably more that I have been able to using iTunes).. I know I am old (my first introduction to symbolic programming languages was in 1959, when things were rather primitive) but I don't think I'm significantly intellectually impaired or lacking in commitment.

I seem to have stumbled for a while trying to parse your instruction 'drop the menu File' - I could not find a menu File (File of menus ?) or a file called 'menu' on my system (which contains about 3 million files) until I finally ealised that I was misunderstanding the verb 'drop' and that what you were instructing me to do was to invoke the action to add a file or files to my library through use of the top level menu named 'File'. That is what I had been doing.

On the particular audio file with which I am having a problem, this action results in a message in what I assume is a status information area at the bottom of the window. The message reads 'No files added' - which I am painfully aware of. What I should like to know is 'why ?'. So far I have found just the one audio file that behaves in this way, but I see there are a number of other files in my windows structure which I have not yet attenpted to add into the library, so at this point it is not possible to say if there any common factors in these 'not added' files. But I can say that the one problem file I have identified appears to be no different to many other files which MB has added to the library.

I am unable to " Go to Preferences/Layout (1)/left sidebar" as there is no menu or sub-menu labeled 'Preferences' in my installation/configuration of MB, which I have not changed in any conscious way from the default created by the installation process.

But I do see that I now have an icon  towards the top right of the MB window that looks like a letter or printed object; hovering over this icon with my mouse pointer tells me this is my inbox (of which more later)

I do have a black rectangle (but not a blue square) which, on mouse hover, appears to be  the 'Configure Layout' button. I have been able to show the left side bar panel. Doing this causes the Inbox icon to disappear. It is not clear to me what the purpose of the side bar panel is in terms of the problem I am having, aside from proving to myself that the problem file does exist within my Windows file organisation.

I am unable to sensibly parse your advice " Check the wiki psychoadept linked you to for discussion on what the Inbox is for and if you care to use it". The sentence appears to be telling me that some 'agent' named 'wiki  pyschoadept' or 'psychoadept' has linked me to some object, but I have no undersanding of what or where this agent is or how it has linked me to some information. I don't believe  MB has asked me for  an email address. As a matter of basic computer security I deny all requests to link to my computer systems, both at the firewall and at my router.

The contents of the inbox - when I could see it - has totally mystified me. This has to be the subject of another forum post , as it is off topic here. Suffice it to say that the inbox has identified a number of duplicate files which it has therefore hidden but the inbox window  utterly fails to tell me what they are duplicates of, i.e. what characteristics in the file properties are duplicated - time & date? File size ? File Name ? File content ? Encoding method ? Artist ? Album Artist? Year of composition? Composer? - and so on. So I am unable to determine what would have to be changed to eliminate the duplication. Te duplicate files listed are othrorgonal to the file which I cannot persuade MB to add to the library.

13

Questions / I cannot add a file to the library - what am I doing wrong?

« on: December 11, 2018, 12:55:31 AM »

For some reason MB refuses to add some of the audio files in my Windows  music folder, while it has no problem with logically identical, sonically different, files in that folder.

Although there is much in the terminology of MB that is alien to me (e.g. 'node') and I cannot seem to find whether or not I have an inbox, I am requesting to import files directly to the library and I have no filters established (afaik) and no other restrictions that I am aware of.

I can find no directly applicable posts in the forum or articles in the FAQ. What should I be checking ?

14

Questions / Re: Why is newly imported album split into two entries?

« on: December 10, 2018, 10:25:42 PM »

Thank you - that has been a most instructive FAQ item, which has helped me fix the problem in my original post, plus a number of others on the way. I apologise for not finding this item in the FAQs; it seems that my search arguments were not well chosen.

Thank you also for the tip on how to post images - I shall have to learn how to find, chose and enroll in one of these thrid party services.

15

Questions / Why is newly imported album split into two entries?

« on: December 09, 2018, 06:13:12 PM »

Running Win 10 with Version 3.2.6902 of MB.

My experience of MB amounts to about 3 hours, so there are some things that confuse me (in truth, everything in life confuses me, but let's ignore that):

MB has successfully scanned and 'catalogues' my music libray f about 2K 'songs', previosuly managed by iTunes, with a few omissions. For example I have a piece of music organised in my music library under this Windows file structure:

<drive><library name><Genre><Composer><Composition><Performer><movement>

At the audio file level (= movement in the above structure) I have checked that the tagging is as complete as possible, using the application 'mp3tag'. It all seems to be logical, but when I add the files to MB (by selecting the 4 movement audio files in Windows explorer) and view the albums in my music collection, the result is that 2 movements are displayed under a 'blank' cover photo, while the other 2 are displayed under the cover photo which MP3TAG says has been applied to all 4 audio files. I do have a screen-shot to show this -if I knew how to attach it to this post...

Why am I getting this reult?