Syncing from external drive to laptop

[queuewindow]

All right, I got as far as selecting all the files on the external HDD in the folders node, but after choosing to organize files, I can't find an option to convert them to a different format when moving to the destination nor can I find the mask option to ignore previously moved files. What am I missing?

[Lowlander]

Organize Files doesn't convert, instead Convert format does this.

[queuewindow]

Ok, so I can copy the files over using Convert Format, but how do I apply a mask to make sure I'm not overwriting any files?

[Lowlander]

By setting the Mask in the Destination in the Convert files dialog. As the Help shows, you choose to overwrite or not.

[queuewindow]

A couple more questions please before I attempt this:

1) I used to encode to mp3 v2 but I plan to encode to AAC this time. Whats the aac setting that's equivalent to that in sound quality? 50% produces slight larger file sizes than V2, and I've heard that AAC is capable of similar sound quality as MP3 at lower bitrates. I'd appreciate some guidance on this.

2) A very small minority of files on the external HDD are in lossy format. Is it possible to skip those during the conversion process?

[Peke]

Hi,

1) I would not suggest AAC conversion as it is inferior format to Newer M4A aand even older MP3, because it is more streaming format and lack majority of track Metadata. I would personally stick to common formats.

2) you can add Extension column in Listing or even create two Auto Playlist that would separate lossy from lossless format and for lossless use Convert format option and for lossy use Auto Organize COPY function.

[queuewindow]

Thanks for the help. I actually did mean M4A, not AAC. My question still stands. What would be the M4A setting equivalent in sound quality to MP3 V2?

I got you re the auto playlists. I will attempt that

[Peke]

What would be the M4A setting equivalent in sound quality to MP3 V2?

I guess Variable at 70-80% should be around the same

[queuewindow]

I must be doing something wrong then. For the same song, the mp3 V2 is 4.39 MB, whereas the m4A at 50% with mid/stereo is 5.21 MB.

I was under the impression that m4A could achieve the same sound quality as mp3 at lower bitrates and therefore smaller file sizes. Is that wrong?

[Peke]

Hi,

I must be doing something wrong then. For the same song, the mp3 V2 is 4.39 MB, whereas the m4A at 50% with mid/stereo is 5.21 MB.

I was under the impression that m4A could achieve the same sound quality as mp3 at lower bitrates and therefore smaller file sizes. Is that wrong?

In theory yes, because M4A algorithm is better, but it really depends on playback equipment and subjective listening experience. MP3 -> M4A is not recommended as it further degrade audio quality.

[Queuewindoe]

Oh no, of course I’m not converting from one lossy format to another. Both mp3 and m4a were converted from the same flac file. I was just surprised to find the m4a at a higher bitrate than the V2 even at 50% quality. Is there a resource on mp3 vs m4a sound quality at equivalent bitrates?

[Peke]

Hi,
You need to decide by yourself https://www.google.com/search?q=mp3+vs+ ... 8&oe=utf-8 Personally Low and high pass filters are better in M4A even both cut around 16khz and 100hz but drop is not so steep on M4A (emphasis on personal opinion).

[queuewindow]

Hi, sorry to bump this so much later, but I'm just coming around to doing this and I realised that the process you described wouldn't detect changes in files if their filenames were not changed, e.g. if I updated the tags or replaced the same album with a different mastering. Is that right?

Hi,
Thank you for bump. I thought I replied, but it was left not submitted. Strange here is what I wrote:
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Hi,
Yes, I still think it is the right way. Point of my presentation is that you keep your original/source FLAC files on your external drive, you make converted copies locally on LAPTOP but manually do conversations on FLAC files -> Local MP3s and have them listed separately. Setting sync path to library scan folder will (at least that was the case in my tests) create issues like you describes where MM do not know if tracks are synced tracks or tracks in library. What I propose give you full control of tracks on external Drive (when connected), but you always have your local converted to MP3 copies available like they are actually the source files too.

In previous MM versions there was a feature called "Virtual CD" which allowed tracks from Removable drives and Network URLS to bi cached (available offline) locally (in set format) while still pointing to original path. It unfortunately made many confusions and due the demand was removed from MM. Your question and usage case made me question to introduce some sort of similar feature for local files not just Cloud based files.

Hope I have made it more clear now.
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[Lowlander]

Scanning will pick up changes by default if the Date Modified is newer. Disable that option and all files will be re-read on scan (takes longer).

[queuewindow]

I know that the pre-sync scan picks up on that, but I was referring to the solution Peke posted earlier, which would be converting the files manually using the Convert dialog rather than syncing to my laptop as a device