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Windows Forum / Windows Media / Player / February 2005Library not accurate
I should never have downloaded this. Like all early versions of new Microsoft products (and this is an entirely different product than Media Player 9) it's as buggy as a New Orleans dumpster. I was trying to simplify 1) managing my library and 2) adding and subtracting files on my MP3 players. Unfortunately, editing the library is wildly unreliable, quickly resulting in unsynchonized album and song listings. Specifically, the library displays duplicate album headings, album headings with very similar names (such as "CD Set 1" and "CD Set 1 (Name of Artist)"), with half the songs from the album under one heading and half under the other. Even after tweaking the song listings to ensure identical naming, there's no way to get rid of these anomalies without exiting the media player (which doesn't always work). Most aggravating is the lack of any reasonable way to refresh the library -- to repair the database -- to clear it of duplicates and phantom entries. There are instructions for clearing duplicates, but they are incomprehensible, and (although I can't be sure, because the instructions are incomprehensible) don't appear to work. It's also not always possible to add songs after deleting them. Specifically, I deleted an artist with three albums and then tried two methods to add them back: 1)searching the disk (targeting the folder where the songs were) and 2) adding a folder. In both cases, the library would not add back all of the songs in one album, stubborly insisting that there was only one song. Don't get me started about trying to simplify synching with my MP3 players -- that's an absolute disaster (and the screens and instructions are -- you guessed it -- incomprehensible). Oh yeah. This is in the "question" category, so here goes: how do I refresh/repair the library database? I wish I had Media Player 9 back (even though it was fairly buggy and a major cause of crashes in its own right) -- at least it didn't promise so much and deliver so little. > Specifically, the library displays duplicate album headings, album headings > with very similar names (such as "CD Set 1" and "CD Set 1 (Name of Artist)"), > with half the songs from the album under one heading and half under the > other. Even after tweaking the song listings to ensure identical naming, > there's no way to get rid of these anomalies without exiting the media player > (which doesn't always work). WMP groups tracks into albums based on them having the same Album Title AND Album Artist. IF you have no Album Artist recorded, then you won't see a bracketed name after the title. Fill in this field, and you'll end up with a single properly grouped entry. > Most aggravating is the lack of any reasonable way to refresh the library -- > to repair the database -- to clear it of duplicates and phantom entries. > There are instructions for clearing duplicates, but they are > incomprehensible, and (although I can't be sure, because the instructions are > incomprehensible) don't appear to work. Are the duplicates EXACT? That is, do they refer to the same file in the same drive & folder? If they are on different drives, perhaps due to Windows changing a drive letter, then the extras can be removed easily. > It's also not always possible to add songs after deleting them. > Specifically, I deleted an artist with three albums and then tried two > methods to add them back: 1)searching the disk (targeting the folder where > the songs were) and 2) adding a folder. In both cases, the library would not > add back all of the songs in one album, stubborly insisting that there was > only one song. Becaase of the Album Artist issue, you may find that they are hiding out in the Unknown category. > Don't get me started about trying to simplify synching with my MP3 players > -- that's an absolute disaster (and the screens and instructions are -- you > guessed it -- incomprehensible). > > Oh yeah. This is in the "question" category, so here goes: how do I > refresh/repair the library database? You can rebuild the database by deleting the actual data file, same as with WMP9. > I wish I had Media Player 9 back (even though it was fairly buggy and a > major cause of crashes in its own right) -- at least it didn't promise so > much and deliver so little. You can uninstall WMP10 from Control Panel. You may need to chekc the "Show Updates" box at the top of the Add/Remove Programs applet. > WMP groups tracks into albums based on them having the same Album Title > AND Album Artist. IF you have no Album Artist recorded, then you won't > see a bracketed name after the title. Fill in this field, and you'll end > up with a single properly grouped entry. Thanks -- I'll try the Album and Album Artist fix you recommend. > > Most aggravating is the lack of any reasonable way to refresh the library -- > > to repair the database -- to clear it of duplicates and phantom entries. [quoted text clipped - 5 lines] > same drive & folder? If they are on different drives, perhaps due to > Windows changing a drive letter, then the extras can be removed easily. Duplicates appear to be exact, and refer to files on the same physical drive under the same folder -- they don't refer to files that have been deleted, since I haven't deleted any files. > > It's also not always possible to add songs after deleting them. > > Specifically, I deleted an artist with three albums and then tried two [quoted text clipped - 5 lines] > Becaase of the Album Artist issue, you may find that they are hiding out > in the Unknown category. Interestingly enough, I have THREE Unknown categories under Album Artist, all with identical contents (including, of course, "Unknown"). I can't figure that one out at all. > You can rebuild the database by deleting the actual data file, same as > with WMP9. I have done that -- it's a lengthy process, taking about 2 hours to delete and 45 minutes to rebuild my 10,000-item Library on a 4-gHz machine. > You can uninstall WMP10 from Control Panel. You may need to chekc the > "Show Updates" box at the top of the Add/Remove Programs applet. I'll keep trying to make wmp10 work for awhile -- I really do want to manage my music from within one program rather than 5 or 6 -- but I'll need to figure out how to make it behave reliably and then develop confidence that it's doing so. So far, wmp10 is behind in the polls . . . > Interestingly enough, I have THREE Unknown categories under Album Artist, > all with identical contents (including, of course, "Unknown"). I can't figure > that one out at all. I've seen this and there *is* a good reason. One of them will be the "system" unknown, which means the field is empty. One will be because someone has entered "Unknown" into the field. I can't remember the other, but it might be that there is an extra space in the field. > I have done that -- it's a lengthy process, taking about 2 hours to delete > and 45 minutes to rebuild my 10,000-item Library on a 4-gHz machine. You could have deleted the library file directly. > I'll keep trying to make wmp10 work for awhile -- I really do want to manage > my music from within one program rather than 5 or 6 -- but I'll need to > figure out how to make it behave reliably and then develop confidence that > it's doing so. So far, wmp10 is behind in the polls . . . Ditto, but the library is perhaps the weakest part of WMP. The tagging processes are flakey and not publicly documented. The internet album search is limited AND flakey. > > WMP groups tracks into albums based on them having the same Album Title > > AND Album Artist. IF you have no Album Artist recorded, then you won't [quoted text clipped - 45 lines] > figure out how to make it behave reliably and then develop confidence that > it's doing so. So far, wmp10 is behind in the polls . . . >>Duplicates appear to be exact, and refer to files on the same physical drive >>under the same folder -- they don't refer to files that have been deleted, >>since I haven't deleted any files. That may just be WMP display bug. >>Interestingly enough, I have THREE Unknown categories under Album Artist, >>all with identical contents (including, of course, "Unknown"). I can't figure >>that one out at all. You would have the built in Unknown, which means the field is empty, plus I bet you have one for tracks with the word "Unknown" and probably "Unknown " as well. Delete the words "Unknown [+trailing spaces]" . >>I have done that -- it's a lengthy process, taking about 2 hours to delete 2 hours to delete a single file?? >>and 45 minutes to rebuild my 10,000-item Library on a 4-gHz machine. Not surprising - that's a lot of files to read (Although small next to my own collection ;-) ). >>I'll keep trying to make wmp10 work for awhile -- I really do want to manage >>my music from within one program rather than 5 or 6 -- but I'll need to >>figure out how to make it behave reliably and then develop confidence that >>it's doing so. So far, wmp10 is behind in the polls . . . The WMP team don't appear to be in any hurry to fix library-related bugs unfortunately. Most of the bugs seen today were reported in the beta of the previous version. > > Specifically, the library displays duplicate album headings, album headings > > with very similar names (such as "CD Set 1" and "CD Set 1 (Name of Artist)"), [quoted text clipped - 44 lines] > You can uninstall WMP10 from Control Panel. You may need to chekc the > "Show Updates" box at the top of the Add/Remove Programs applet. I'm glad I saw your imput. I was getting duplicate titles even after I deleted the doubles and sometimes triple entries. It's become a real annoyance. Now I realize it's a bug with MP10. The other thing that bothers me about all the versions of Media Player is the lack of a single repeat mode. Often when you have a new song that you love, you like to play it over and over again until you're tired of it. Most hardware cd players have this feature but few if any software players include this in their set up. I wish MS would include this feature in their players. But back on course, I hope they correct the annoying duplication problem. If you or anyone else has found a solution on their own, I would appreciate the information. Until this problem is fixed, I'll be using my Roxio to play and burn CD's. > I should never have downloaded this. Like all early versions of new Microsoft > products (and this is an entirely different product than Media Player 9) it's [quoted text clipped - 34 lines] > major cause of crashes in its own right) -- at least it didn't promise so > much and deliver so little. |
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