Author Topic: MusicBee Portable v3.x and Ratings  (Read 1964 times)

vwgtiturbo

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Hello, longtime MusicBee user, new MusicBee Portable user here...

I have Portable MusicBee installed to a USB drive, in addition to having the library and music files on the USB drive. I was hoping to use the Portable version to float between my home and work computers, so that I could get my tracks rated.

Unfortunately, I've seen that tracks rated at work end up not showing as rated on the home computer (although the library is intact). In addition, tracks rated at home show as unrated when the drive is plugged in to the work computer.

To further complicate matters, I rated some tracks at work, then closed MusicBee, and reopened it, and those test tracks are not shown as being rated... even when the drive is plugged in to/MusicBee is run from the same computer.

Am I missing something? My searches on the forums didn't explicitly call out lack of rating writing ability (in which case, I wouldn't have bothered posting this). Both computers have never had the regular version of MusicBee installed, so I'm sure that it isn't a conflict of settings, etc.

Any insight would be GREATLY appreciated, as this is kind of the main reason I was using the Portable variant of this software. Thanks in advance!

boroda

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vwgtiturbo

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check if you are using or not last.fm plugin.

Sorry, I should have added that to the OP. No plugins are in use, all are disabled. I simply installed it and added files to the library (i.e. I've changed no settings in the Preferences, beyond adding the music directories to scan).

psychoadept

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You do have the option to store ratings in the files ticked on both computers?
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vwgtiturbo

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Good question... I assumed that it would be written to the library, so writing to files explicitly wouldn't be necessary. I'll look at that when I get home. Thanks for the tip!

vwgtiturbo

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You do have the option to store ratings in the files ticked on both computers?

Well... it appears that both systems have this option checked. This leads me to... File format. 99.99% of these files are Apple Lossless. Is it possible that Musicbee cannot write this information to ALAC files? That is the only thing I can think of. However, my thinking is this: if I uncheck the 'Write ratings to file' option, maybe then the ratings will be stored in the library itself (which is sufficient for my purposes).
Last Edit: November 25, 2016, 06:40:35 PM by vwgtiturbo

vwgtiturbo

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Alright! It appears that MusicBee cannot write to ALAC files. Unchecking the 'Write ratings to file' option keeps the ratings in the library, instead of trying to write them to the file (and failing, obviously) which led to their loss.

Thanks for the help!

Steven

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MB should be able to write to ALAC files so can you PM me a link to one of the problem files?

vwgtiturbo

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MB should be able to write to ALAC files so can you PM me a link to one of the problem files?

My apologies... after reviewing the current directory that I'm working on, it seems that these files were all MP3s; I haven't loaded the Apple Lossless files for rating yet. In any case, this is even more strange that the rating couldn't have been written to the tag.

I'm noticing that, if I select multiple files and use the context menu to change the ratings of those tracks (with the 'Write to file' option disabled), the behavior is very erratic. Sometimes, after making the change, closing the program, then reopening the program, it is a real toss up whether the library will have the correct ratings assigned. One file might be correct, three might be, or they all may be correct.

Now that I know about the 'Write rating to file' option, and it is disabled, I'll mess with it for a couple of days to see if things clear up.

Thanks for the help!