Switching From MediaMonkey 4 To 5

[Stigg]

What's is the best way to switch over to MediaMonkey 5 from 4 and retaining the database, play counts, date added etc?
If I use the MediaMonkey uninstaller to uninstall MediaMonkey 4, will it leave this information on my computer, or do I have to backup first?

Please help me with the best method.


Also, what about transferring the play data to a laptop?
And can I also sync a desktop and a laptop?

[PetrCBR]

Just download MM5 installer and install it to different folder than MM4. All settings and database will be imported to MM5.

[Barry4679]

I think that the other question you should ask is "Is MM5 stable enough to convert across to at the moment?" ... ie migrate from MM4, and then delete MM4 as you suggest.

IMO it is not ready yet .. I wouldn't do it.

Any other opinions?

[dtsig]

I don't think I would get rid of my 4 yet .. although i only use 5 for playing etc I still do some editing in 4 which is my master.

And don't forget there are no addon's available ... yet.

[willyvds]

I just started trying MM5. It is not ready to replace MM4 I would say.

If you install MM5, you can migrate your MM4 library. For me this didn't work.
We have > 50.000 tracks on a network share, and an awfull lot of playlists/magic nodes etc, and multiple MM libraries on our pc's/laptop.

MM5 started to migrate the whole library on my pc (which is our main instance) and started scanning all our files. I thought this was a bit too much, and a bit too risky for now. Also I noticed that the playlist conversion was not going well.

So now I made a directory with just a few albums, deleted the new MM5 library, and started again with MM5. Now MM5 has made a new MM5 library with just the few albums. And no playlists yet.

My plan is now to first understand how it should work, what gives problems, what I like and what I want to change.
When I am confident the basic functions works, I'll install the server version and see how that works.
After that, I'll migrate the MM4 library (libraries) again.

We'll keep using MM4 for "regular" listening and managing my music until I am satisfied and confident.
Then the final test will be if my husband can bear the migration on his media player

Looking forward to support you with this. I wish MM a great future!

[Ludek]

Hi, if you first time install MM5 then you are asked:

Do you want to copy settings (and database) from MediaMonkey 4?
[[Yes]][No]

Did you click [yes] ?

If yes, then the MM4 database location is just copied as whole to MM5 locations and upgraded, this preserves all playlists and library data (including playcounts)
MM5 database locations:
- portable: MM5 install folder/Portable/MM.DB
- normal: AppData/MediaMonkey5/MM.DB

So as you can see in both cases the old MM4 database and setting is preserved and not touched by MM5 (as MM4 location is AppData/MediaMonkey/ )

Let us know once that's not working for you ?

[willyvds]

Indeed, I did tell MM5 to convert the database and I know it doesn't alter the original MM4 database. But somehow MM5 started searching for media files all across my network, even on the backup NAS. I wasn't concerned about the MM database, I was concerned about my collection of media files.
So, I decided to restart without database conversion, with an empty database and just a couple of albums.
When I have a bit more time I will retry the database conversion. If there are any problems, I'll report them.

[Stigg]

Thanks all.

But what about installing it on a new computer and data is stored on another computer? I have many years of added/play history.
Also. Can 2 computers keep in sync with same play count, history etc?

[Barry4679]

But what about installing it on a new computer and data is stored on another computer? I have many years of added/play history.
Also. Can 2 computers keep in sync with same play count, history etc?

They are also working on this: http://www.mediamonkey.com/forum/viewto ... 31&t=90809

MediaMonkey Server is a server-only implementation of MediaMonkey that is designed to provide a means of sharing a library across multiple clients and present each user with almost the same experience as if the library were local. In addition, the server provides a lightweight means of browsing content via a web server. It is designed for portability so that it can eventually be deployed on any Linux server/NAS. We created it because UPnP doesn't scale sufficiently for our users, and because DB sharing hacks weren't sufficiently robust.

I have not tried it yet. I don't know how far progressed it is.

It may help to publish the MM db from your main MM computer, so that you could browse it on the other.

[Barry4679]

Indeed, I did tell MM5 to convert the database and I know it doesn't alter the original MM4 database. But somehow MM5 started searching for media files all across my network, even on the backup NAS. I wasn't concerned about the MM database, I was concerned about my collection of media files.
So, I decided to restart without database conversion, with an empty database and just a couple of albums.
When I have a bit more time I will retry the database conversion. If there are any problems, I'll report them.

I have a lot of music tracks that are not indexed by MM4 (aka are "unknown by" MM4). Some of the tracks are on a drive in my PC, and some the tracks are on the same NAS that stores that tracks which are indexed by MM4.

The MM4>MM5 database conversion only imported tracks that were already indexed MM4 ... ie. it did not find my other music.

Check your MM4 config ... Press the File monitor button at Files|Options}Library ... if it shows any "Monitored Folders", it may pay to temporarily uncheck their ScanAtStart and ScanContinuously check buttons before you start MM5 for the first time ... unless you also want MM5 monitoring changes to these folders

If, in MM5, you open the File|AddRescan menu you will see a list of locations that MM5 is interested in ... maybe these are also searched during MM4->MM5 data importation, I don't know for sure. .... The list just seems to be the /Music and the /Videos folder for your user profile

When you have done the importation, you can see what locations have been imported in MM5

• go Tools|Options|Library|MediaTree and check the EntireLibrary MediaTreeItem, and press the OK button

• In the MediaTree open node EntireLibrary|Location ... this shows all locations where it found music, and what it found there

The act of importing tracks entries into the MM5 database, doesn't change the MM4 db , nor the actual music files.

But if you used MM5 to change tags or Auto-tag or Auto-organise, or anything like that, you could get into trouble if MM5 has bugs ... I have avoided those activities so far, except just on single-track-at-a-time (timid) updates.

[ebenezer]

Hi all.

I am also trying to get my music files from MM4 on one PC to MM5 on a different PC. My MM4 was configured (by adding a line to the MM4 .INI file) to store the data base on a different drive (F:). Now when I install MM5, it has no clue where to find the data base As far as I can see there is no place in MM5 to set the location of the data base. Why not ???? There are a few folder settings under options (cache, downloads, podcasts) but nothing for the main data base. There NEEDS to be a file location page under Options. It should have settings for the main data base and any of the other data files used by MM (plug ins, previews, scripts, etc).

On a related note, when I moved / copied my files to the new PC, Windows said it was copying 5,493 items. After copying, I used Windows Properties to check. The new folder contained 4,386 files and 1,107 folders = 5,493 items. Then I asked MM to add / rescan the main folder. It says it found 2,836
files. Who knows what happened to the other 1,550 files ?? The log file only shows the files imported. There needs to be a log entry for every file, saying what happened to that file. Was it ignored because it was not music / video ? Or was there some error ? As indicated in other posts, information like times played, etc was lost.

This whole area of transferring and managing your data needs some serious work. It's like buying a word processing app that won't let you decide where to save your documents and your documents don't work on another computer.

Sorry for the long post.

[willyvds]

It would help if the addon restore/sync database were available. This should be able to also restore an MM4 database into MM5.
It can either be an add on, or a function in MM5.

[Barry4679]

I am also trying to get my music files from MM4 on one PC to MM5 on a different PC. My MM4 was configured (by adding a line to the MM4 .INI file) to store the data base on a different drive (F:). Now when I install MM5, it has no clue where to find the data base As far as I can see there is no place in MM5 to set the location of the data base.

Hi Ebenezer,

I also have my MM4 db in a custom location.

When I install MM5, it finds and imports from my MM4 database without assistance.
You are installing MM5 onto the same computer that already has MM4? ... You are installing under the same User Profile? ... You are using the latest version of MM5: 2149?

I presume that you can set a custom database location in MM5, the same way that you did in MM5 .... ie. in the ini file
But during 1st run of MM5 it should locate your MM4 db automatically.

There are a few folder settings under options (cache, downloads, podcasts) but nothing for the main data base. There NEEDS to be a file location page under Options. It should have settings for the main data base and any of the other data files used by MM (plug ins, previews, scripts, etc).

It is not a big deal for me, but I don't disagree.

there is one small improvement in MM5. The BackupDatabaseNow button, accessible via the MM5 menu option File|ManageDatabase, will show your database location ... there was no way to see this info in MM4 .... also the fact the MM5 has a baked-in database backup facility, removes most of the need to know the database location anyway.

Who knows what happened to the other 1,550 files ?? The log file only shows the files imported. There needs to be a log entry for every file, saying what happened to that file. Was it ignored because it was not music / video ? Or was there some error ? As indicated in other posts, information like times played, etc was lost.

I 100% agree that the logging facility in MM5 is disappointing and annoying.

I am not completely sure, but I think I once saw an error dbox, which had a show log button. ... Maybe this pops up only if|when there is a error or issue for you to attend to.

I don't think that this is good enough.

Firstly they are asking for a big leap of faith that they would successfully tell you if anything was lost or skipped ... or if the process was incomplete because it broke somehow and ended abnormally.
Secondly I need to be be able to recall the audit|error log later if I was unable to attend to it immediately.

Good to hear your views. ... More people need to speak up while MM5 is in alpha.

[Ludek]

That is strange that the log does not show the skipped files for you, it does show them for me.
Ensure that this is enabled in Options:
Tools|Options|Library| [x] Show scan results dialog

Then "Scan results" dialog will appear and on the dialog upon clicking [View log] button you will see:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/wv7bbgewwdgcy ... 9.png?dl=0
You can also click the [Save] button to save the scan log to a *.log file.

Could you please re-scan the location and ensure that the log is show for you?

As for the custom database location in MM5, this works the same way as in MM4, i.e. by editing the INI file, so once you install MM5 on the same computer then it is automatically imported. If you want to move it to another computer then you can install MM5 as portable and move it as whole. Or just copy the database to the other computer and set the corresponding path in the INI file.

[Barry4679]

As for the custom database location in MM5, this works the same way as in MM4, i.e. by editing the INI file, so once you install MM5 on the same computer then it is automatically imported. If you want to move it to another computer then you can install MM5 as portable and move it as whole. Or just copy the database to the other computer and set the corresponding path in the INI file.

Following on from this :

It would help if the addon restore/sync database were available. This should be able to also restore an MM4 database into MM5.
It can either be an add on, or a function in MM5.

It would be good if you also offered an "Upgrade from MM4 database" option , to be added to the existing "Restore from backup" option at the Files|ManageDatabase menu.