Confused about auto-sorting

[Volnaiskra]

Hi. I just bought pro for the autosorting capability, but I'm having trouble.

This is how I WANT my music sorted:
S:\AUDIO\MUSIC\JAZZ\Pat Metheny\Unity Band\Pat Metheny - Roofdogs.mp3

This is how I tell MediaMonkey to sort:
S:\AUDIO\MUSIC\<Genre>\<Album Artist>\<Album>\<Artist> - <Track#> - <Title>

But this is how MediaMonkey has sorted it:
S:\AUDIO\MUSIC\JAZZ\Pat Metheny\Jazz\Pat Metheny\Unity Band\Jazz\Pat Metheny\Unity Band\Pat Metheny - Unity Band - 2 - Roofdogs.mp3



My question is:.......huh?

[Lowlander]

Which version of MediaMonkey?

If this is the full mask you use:

Code: Select all

S:\AUDIO\MUSIC\<Genre>\<Album Artist>\<Album>\<Artist> - <Track#> - <Title>

that shouldn't happen as it is the full path (unless your tags are messed up).

You can try Tools > Auto-Organize Files with that mask and see the result in the Auto-Organize Files window. Does it show the same problem?

[Volnaiskra]

I'm using 4.0.6.1501

I tried that exact mask 2 or 3 times, with the same results. My tags are definitely fine - I've been keeping them immaculately clean for years. There's certainly no reason for "jazz" to come up more than once.

Since then, I altered the mask to

Code: Select all

S:\AUDIO\MUSIC\<Genre>\<Artist>\<Album>\<Artist>-<Title>

, and now it seemed to work. Although I just found an empty folder structure that is a bit of a worry!:

Code: Select all

S:\AUDIO\MUSIC\WORLD\Stan Dryden\World\Stan Dryden\Yarramunua\World\Stan Dryden\Yarramunua\World\Stan Dryden\Yarramunua\World\Stan Dryden\Yarramunua\World\Stan Dryden\Yarramunua\World\Stan Dryden\Yarramunua\World\Stan Dryden\Yarramunua

I've been doing the autosorting on startup. I stay away from Tools > Auto-Organize Files (ctrl-R) method because it pops up a dialogue box that [also ] confuses me even further. It says "Duplicates and overly long filenames are highlighted. Please edit them". I realise now that this must be a poor choice of wording on behalf of the MM developers, because it also shows me all of my files with a bright yellow background. Naturally, I assumed that "highlighted" referred to the files with a bright yellow background, since that's how programs like MSWord highlight words (and that's what physical *highlighter* pens generally do: they highlight the background of things in yellow).

I realised now that if I scroll down long enough, I'll see some songs that are listed in red, so I guess it means those. Though what it actually wants me to do with them is unclear. The files aren't too long (there are longer ones elsewhere). It seems like it's identified some tracks as duplicates because their genre is spelt in Normal Caps rather than ALLCAPS. For example, it highlights these two files:

Code: Select all

S:\AUDIO\MUSIC\TRIPHOP\Massive Attack\Best of - Massive Attack\Massive Attack - Hymn Of The Big Wheel.mp3
S:\AUDIO\MUSIC\TripHop\Massive Attack\Best of - Massive Attack\Massive Attack - Hymn Of The Big Wheel.mp3

Now, obviously, these two files don't exist. Windows would not allow it. So why MediaMonkey picks this up, and what it wants me to do about it is a mystery. Any ideas?

[Lowlander]

I just tried your mask in Tools > Auto-Organize Files and the new Paths are shown as expected.

If you have 2 files highlighted in red it would seem you have 2 files selected that would end up with the same filename. If you proceed one of the files will be lost. The capitalization difference is irrelevant and would be based on the tags (Windows doesn't see capitalization differences). You also may want to check that you didn't select to Copy files instead of Move in the Auto-Organize Files window.

[Volnaiskra]

Oh, ok. I didn't realise that I could just click OK and the problem would solve itself. Naturally, I'm happy for those duplicates to overwrite themselves and become single files again. The wording and UI design of that whole popup could really be a lot clearer. The yellow highlighting problem I mentioned before is very confusing. Also, I'm not sure why I need to scroll through my entire library of thousands of tracks to find the red-highlighted items one at a time. Surely the problem files should be shown up-front.

Why does the automatically-on-startup auto-sort doesn't give me that warning about duplicates? Does it ignore conflicted files, or does it automatically do the overwrites?


Do you have any idea why my original problem might have happened? I don't want to blame MM without considering that the error was on my part, but I'd think that if the following folder structure was created by my own error, it would have been one hell of an error, and I'd be likely to have noticed it:

Code: Select all

S:\AUDIO\MUSIC\WORLD\Stan Dryden\World\Stan Dryden\Yarramunua\World\Stan Dryden\Yarramunua\World\Stan Dryden\Yarramunua\World\Stan Dryden\Yarramunua\World\Stan Dryden\Yarramunua\World\Stan Dryden\Yarramunua\World\Stan Dryden\Yarramunua

I guess it doesn't amtter as long as it doesn't happen anymore.

[Volnaiskra]

Anyway, I forgot to add: Thanks a lot for your help. Despite the initial craziness, I'm very glad I purchased the Gold edition.

[Lowlander]

Why does the automatically-on-startup auto-sort doesn't give me that warning about duplicates?

Don't know, as I want control over the process I haven't used it.

Do you have any idea why my original problem might have happened?

No clue, you should revisit the mask and make sure no leading spaces are in it. Otherwise you may want to create a debug log (step 4b) and send it to support so that the developers can see what may be the problem: http://www.mediamonkey.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=69

[Volny]

I didn't want to start another thread for this, but I just wanted to say "Wow - I had no idea MediaMonkey is so friggin' awesome!"

I've used MM for years actually, but only for organising my collection. I still used winamp as a player as I found MM too clunky. But now that I've gone pro and spent some time using things like auto-playlists and automatic organising (despite the above hiccup), I've realised what a fantastic piece of software this is. Thanks!