Media Libray: Very Important Questions, please help!

[braindeadt]

Hi all,
I have some very important questions about the Media Library:

I have lots's of mp3 files but they are all in one folder so i decided to put them into subfolder (like: interpret/album) the problem is nealy all of my files are rated in the Media Libray, so my questions are:

1.) If i move a mp3-file, the ML will remove this file (from its index) and had to rescan this file, right ?

2.) If so, what happend with the rating information did i have to rate these file again ?

3.) If so, is there a way to keep these ML information or must i rate every file again wich i move ?

If you, cannot answer all questions or just know that i realy have to rate every one of my 1203 again if i move them,
please give an answer although.

[mikm]

1. Yes...it won't keep track of files if you move them.

2. It is stored in a file (not sure which) in the \plugins\ml directory.

3. You could manually edit the (ratings data) file, but even that won't always work.

[DJ Egg]

1. as above

2. It's all stored in the main database files.
Database, ratings & playcounts = winamp\plugins\ml\main.dat
History = winamp\plugins\ml\recent.dat
You also need to save the respective .idx files too (main.idx & recent.idx)
Or preferably just backup the entire "winamp\plugins\ml" folder.

3. Before you move them, you could use shaneh's ml_id3rate plugin to export and later reimport the ratings to/from the id3 tags.


Another method would be to use ml search query, eg.
?rating = 5
then select all results
right click > edit selected items
add: rating 5 in the Comment field -> Update
Repeat for:
?rating = 4
etc
Then once files have been moved and reimported,
use search query:
?comment = "rating 5"
(or: ?comment has "rating 5")
select all -> rate items -> 5
and so on.

You could even add: *****
to the comment tag
and use query:
?comment==*****


Another option is to use the ML Import/Export plugin
(exports ml database to iTunes compatible xml, which you can reimport at a later date... as long as all the music files have the exact same names and are in the exact same place as before... though if they aren't, you can always edit the paths in the xml with a text editor before reimporting it).

[braindeadt]

Thanks a lot for the answers.

[realriot]

And how is it possible to save the gracenote-database since it took a VERY long time to scan all files?

As everyone can see there's a big need for a possibility to backup all settings/databases of winamp for example for a reinstall or to copy all settings to another computer/labtop.

Thanks for answer
Sascha

[DJ Egg]

Yeah, a complete backup tool would be nice.

In 5.54+, the Gracenote database is stored in:

%appadata%\Winamp\Plugins\Gracenote:

cddb.db

The cddbplm.* files are the Playlist Manager database files (play tracks similar to).

[realriot]

Thanks, but only the following files are changed after a full scan:

elists.db (768 KB)
cddbplm.gcf (583 KB)
cddbplm.idx (2404 KB)
cddbplm.pdb (4562 KB)

Only these files have a timestamp from today. cddb.db has a timestamp from 2008-04-22 with a size of 1 KB.

Greets
Sascha

[DJ Egg]

Hmm, right...

Yeah, it's a bit confusing, lol


Try: %appdata%\Winamp\Plugins:

cddiscs.dat
cdtracks.dat

That's the local cddb

I guess ..\Gracenote\cddb.db is the remote database....

[DeJaePu]

this is the main result on google for "winamp ratings located" so i wanted to hoepfully update this as i don't HAVE a /ml/ directory in my plugins folder, where is the new place this ratings data is stored?

[DJ Egg]

%appdata%\winamp\...

%appdata% on Win2k/XP
C:\Documents and Settings\<username>\Application Data\Winamp\

%appdata% on Vista
C:\Users\<username>\AppData\Roaming\Winamp\

[john43]

I agree with mikm.