Just want to share some new user feedback.

[bobbylblaw]

Let me start with: I'm no novice to computers, nor to music files and management software. I mean this post with respect to the hard work that goes into creating an app like this.

I gave MusicBee a try because I heard it was good for Acoustic Match and duplicate deletion, 2 things I desperately need. My 60k+ file collection has grown into a 176 000 file monster over the years with various softwares creating duplicates instead of deleting on rename, etc.

That being said, I was sent fleeing to the forums for support with MusicBee in the first 5 minutes after my library was done scanning.
Probably also worth pointing out, this is a fresh, clean install of the latest version available, 3.6.9065.

1. One of the selections on scanning my library was to "send duplicate files to the Inbox". What Inbox? Where? The only posts I could find were years old and irrelevant.

2. After scanning duplicate files into a Playlist as suggested, several came up without tags or information. When I tried to have MusicBee update and tag them, I got various errors with no results.
 - File open failed: Exception from HRESULT: 0xC00D271D
or
-  System.NullReferenceException: Object reference not set to an instance of an object.
A Google search brings up no results.

3. Moving on. "Manage duplicates". Approximately 32000 of them. Let's delete them. Select 'delete' and hit "Proceed". Confirm that I want to permanently delete 32, 128 files.
Nope.
"The system cannot find the file specified."

I just want to manage my music, not have to sift through years of posts and comments to figure out all the workarounds to make a piece of software work.

I respect and appreciate all the hard work that goes into it, but in the first few hours of trying to use basic functionality, I'm out. I created this account simply to provide the feedback, and politely vent at the same time. No, I will not spend any more of my time with it or trying various tricks or advice on how to fix it. I've moved on.

Thanks for reading.

[Steven]

thanks for taking the time to write this. However unless you are willing to engage to diagnose what is happening, it isnt useful to me as is

[bobbylblaw]

I really can't offer anything beyond what I've mentioned above.

- No indication of what an "Inbox" is or where to find it, how to access it
- Error codes occurred during the described actions, and whatever process stopped on the error, so I couldn't even skip the error and continue.

If it helps, it's Windows 10 Pro, accessing a media folder mapped to Windows from my networked home server. Full SMB access, so not permissions issues. MusicBee scanned all the files into the library with the only issue being a corrupt .wma file on the first attempt. Deleted the file, second pass went fine. That's all I can tell you.

[Steven]

I agree the Inbox is not displayed by default. I might change that but i think your scenario is not the normal. You can just click the + button to add a tab and chose "Inbox".

error 0xC00D271D indicates the files you have DRM - probably WMA files and MB cant read DRM locked files

the "System.NullReferenceException: Object reference not set to an instance of an object." error, i would need the full error dump in the error log (help/ support/view error log) but i am guessing its related to the point above

for 3, i would need to understand some more about what you are doing. Did you initially import the files from a WMP library? If so, its possible that library references non-existant files

[bobbylblaw]

I agree the Inbox is not displayed by default. I might change that but i think your scenario is not the normal. You can just click the + button to add a tab and chose "Inbox".

- That's great, but nowhere is that indicated. I actually did try that, but don't recall seeing "Inbox" as an option.

Just tried it again. Click on '+', it just immediately creates a new tab called, "New tab". I do now see a change in the sidebar menu (hard to notice when the whole interface is new and unfamiliar and you have no idea if you're on the right track or what you're looking for) that includes several menu items, including "Inbox".

error 0xC00D271D indicates the files you have DRM - probably WMA files and MB cant read DRM locked files

the "System.NullReferenceException: Object reference not set to an instance of an object." error, i would need the full error dump in the error log (help/ support/view error log) but i am guessing its related to the point above

- Quite possibly. But it put a halt to processing anything.

for 3, i would need to understand some more about what you are doing. Did you initially import the files from a WMP library? If so, its possible that library references non-existant files

- My collection is over 15 years old, so most likely some of those files could have come from WMP. But again, those few hundred files put a screeching halt to proceeding with the other 172 000 .mp3 and .flac files.

[BoringName]

There is a Wiki, here is the Getting Started page.

The problem is this isn't a basic music player/manager. It is highly customisable and has lots of options that are constantly changing. It's what makes it so good. There is just no way you can install it and set it up how you want without doing some research.

There is tonnes of info on the forums and you only have to ask and someone will help out.

I wouldn't call trying to import 172k songs of various formats collated over 15 years across a shared network basic functionality. I'd be surprised if any free software handles that without any hiccups along the way.

[phred]

There is a Wiki, here is the Getting Started page.

Allow me to suggest that once you've finished reading the Getting Started section, read the section entitled The Anatomy of Music Bee

[bobbylblaw]

Thanks guys. But the fact that it takes 2-3 hours just to scan in the files (as with any software) - any slight hiccup that results in cryptic error codes that mean starting over again is enough for me. If I could get an error that at least gives me an indication of what to fix, that'd be helpful in progressing. If I could tag and skip that file, that'd be progress. But coming to a screeching halt on every single file error is just counterproductive, no matter how much support there is.

[sveakul]

1. One of the selections on scanning my library was to "send duplicate files to the Inbox". What Inbox? Where? The only posts I could find were years old and irrelevant.

https://cse.google.com/cse?cx=426af386625354430#gsc.tab=0&gsc.q=send%20duplicate%20files%20to%20inbox&gsc.sort=

https://cse.google.com/cse?cx=426af386625354430#gsc.tab=0&gsc.q=where%20is%20the%20inbox&gsc.sort=

3. Moving on. "Manage duplicates". Approximately 32000 of them. Let's delete them. Select 'delete' and hit "Proceed". Confirm that I want to permanently delete 32, 128 files.
Nope.
"The system cannot find the file specified."

Preferably before but do it now regardless:
Tools/Advanced/Compress Library  (allow time to finish)
Tools/Advanced/Rescan all files

I just want to manage my music, not have to sift through years of posts and comments to figure out all the workarounds to make a piece of software work.

Understood.  This is a complex/complicated player because one of its main goals is to provide the maximum amount of user flexibility and customizable options.  TBH I have to say it suffers from a lack of documentation, despite an "ancient" wiki.  By now it's grown so broad it would practically take a life's work to properly document from scratch.  It's pretty much a learn-by-using affair, one of the reasons I preach the Portable version, which gives you the peace of mind to try ANYTHING, knowing that if things end up not as planned the whole thing can be instantly reverted to pre-change by one copy/paste operation.

You might want to give Foobar try-- a lot of, but "scattered," documentation, and optional plugins to add or not add almost any feature you could want from "skeletal" on up.  Also gives the portable option upon install.

Before giving up you should try a batch scan from the mp3val Windows GUI with the option to "fix and move on," then scan again in MB to pick up the changes.  Should help with MP3's anyway.

[bobbylblaw]

It looks like it was just the one file that was corrupted.

Again, I appreciate whatever features and complexity the software can provide. I appreciate that it might not be a 'simple' music library manager. I appreciate that it's flexible. But out of the box, it's not doing for me what basic functions are offered - scanning, removing duplicates, and tagging - maybe some organizing. If it hangs or halts on every error, forces me to spend 3 hours re-scanning my library over and over to get it imported before I even get started and I need to turn to third party solutions, suggestions and fixes just to get basic functionality, it's time to move on.

[Zak]

If it hangs or halts on every error, forces me to spend 3 hours re-scanning my library over and over to get it imported before I even get started

With due respect, that's on you.

If you want to try any new music program, copy a handful of your albums over to a test folder and test it on them. There's almost nothing you will learn from testing it on 176,000 files that you won't learn from testing it on 2-300, except for how long it takes to scan 176,000 files.

You also don't want to risk the new program doing something undesirable to all of your files while you're still kicking the tires.
(And there are plenty of older threads from people who disabled the brakes, kicked the wrong tire, watched their music drive over a cliff, then blame it on the car)

...and I need to turn to third party solutions, suggestions and fixes just to get basic functionality, it's time to move on.

You don't need third-party solutions for basic functionality. There was a suggestion for Foobar, but that was as an alternative to MusicBee as a music player as you had already stated you were moving on.

I've been using MusicBee for managing and playing my music for over a decade, which definitely helps become accustomed to some of its quirks or ways of doing things.
The only thing I've found lacking for my needs is advanced tagging, so I use mp3Tag for that. Now I struggle to use any other music player programs because they don't let me customise the things I want.
MusicBee definitely has a learning curve, but once some of the trickier things click - like say, using virtual tags for grouping albums - it opens up possibilities that you won't find in any other program.

Finally, I think the forum isn't as useful as it used to be for helping new people figure things out. I find many threads in recent years have been from people who couldn't properly articulate the issues they were having or refused to provide details about what they were doing when asked and just gave up. You seem to be savvy enough that if you did stick around, I think there are still enough long-time users here that could help you get over any teething problems.

[sveakul]

+1.  BTW, let's hear it for Mp3val!