Author Topic: All source files missing in Inbox (although path is correct)  (Read 3574 times)

SofaQueen

  • Guest
Hi Steve & everyone else,

I'm new to MB and the forum, so first of all greetings to all of you :)

So here's the deal: I installed MB recently, switching from iTunes. What I want to do is move my entire music folder from the iTunes to the MusicBee folder and let MB organize my library from now on. Since I wanted to import my playlists and metadata as well (including "Date Added"), I used the "Import from iTunes" function. I found a post on the forum that specified I needed to do it this way - import from the iTunes library into the Inbox (not the library) to keep the "Date Added" attribute.

http://getmusicbee.com/forum/index.php?topic=8132.0

I know that Inbox doesn't move any files by default so I ticked the auto sweep option, figuring I could move it to the library from there and everything would be moved to the MB folder.

Now my problem is this: When I import my iTunes library to the Inbox, there is an exclamation mark next to every track (MB can't find the source file). So naturally I can't add/send them to the library. I've looked at the supposed paths and they are correct.

Another weird thing is that in the organize library settings, the option to move a folder is greyed out. Here's a screenshot:



I've been researching for hours about MB and its import and library settings but I can't seem to find a solution. I've checked my music folder for "Read only" and disabled the attribute for the entire folder. I've also enabled full control for all users for the entire folder. Just to be safe I'm running MB as administrator. The iTunes and MB folders are on the same partition. I've tried importing my music in different ways, but they didn't preserve the "Date Added" attribute.

Is there anything I'm missing here? I'm new to MB so I suspect there's something really simple I'm doing wrong. I couldn't find a post in the forum concerning the same issue, only people accusing MB of moving their files, which is the opposite problem :) So I guess I'm the only one and there's some minor detail wrong here. Or it's a bug, in which case I'd be happy to report it in the appropriate department.

Any advice is appreciated :)

Cheers,
Sara


Last Edit: December 11, 2014, 12:41:20 AM by SofaQueen

redwing

  • Guest
Not sure why that didn't work, but it could have something to do with your auto-sweep settings.

Anyway, first try this and see if the exclamation mark goes away:

http://getmusicbee.com/forum/index.php?topic=7974.msg78665#msg78665

If not, remove files from the inbox, and import them again with auto-sweep option disabled. Auto-sweep is sort of stopover for new files to gather from various sources, so it's just optional.

SofaQueen

  • Guest
Thank you for the quick reply!

I tried the suggestion from the other thread, and it removed the exclamation marks but didn't preserve the "Date Added" attribute :(

I also tried importing without auto sweep, just the auto-organize function enabled, didn't work. Then I tried importing without touching the settings at all, still no luck.

redwing

  • Guest
So you tried even with auto-organize option disabled, but still all imported files have exclamation marks?



redwing

  • Guest
I don't know, but I doubt it.

Can you post a screenshot of your library settings (Preferences> Library)? And what's the exact path of your current music files folder?

SofaQueen

  • Guest
I think I just fixed it. My guess to what the problem was: I had reinstalled Windows recently, and I installed iTunes before copying my backed up music library back in its place. I never opened iTunes again because I decided to switch to MB, so iTunes never got a chance to connect to the library from my backup. So the iTunes folder had been moved back in its original place, but iTunes didn't know that yet. For all I know it could even have been updated in the meantime or something.

So now, I simply started up iTunes and it did a little "updating" of the music library. When I tried importing into MB then, the exclamation marks were gone.

Man, I KNEW it was something really simple! I don't really get it, but I'm glad.

So maybe this simply means that you can't import a backup of an iTunes library into the Inbox without having iTunes installed and the library up to date.

In any case, thank you for your help anyway!

redwing

  • Guest
Glad you got it working!

Sounds like your iTunes library xml file was outdated with incorrect file URLs.