Managing my library

[ben]

Hi,
I'm still trying to get everything just how I want it. I've made good progress but have a few more questions.

Here's what I have so far:

pc_hq: dir full of mainly flac files and a few mp3 on my PC (ubuntu). This is my master library.
pc_sq: only mp3s - pc_hq flacs transcoded, pc_hq mp3s copied.
nas_hq: rsync'd from pc_hq. Stored for backup and also source for my squeezebox server.
nas_sq: rsync'd from pc_sq. Just for backup really - I probably don't need it.
phone: rsync'd from pc_sq.

pc_sq, nas_hq and nas_sq are all written with one script, running automatically. phone is written by another, activated manually.

I have all the file conversions, tags and copies working perfectly.

The main thing I'd like to add is upstream transfer of ratings, both from phone and nas. I'm confident that given the raw data, I can get the tags onto the flac and mp3 files, just need to do a bit of management.

I know that I need to make decisions about what to do if ratings have changed in more than one place since the last sync.
I also need to look at ratings coming back from the squeezebox server.


So questions for you:

1) I saw that you told somebody in another thread that ratings are stored in an xml file. Where is this file stored? I can't find it.

2) Is this xml file GMMP's working copy of the ratings? So if I overwrite data in the file, will GMMP pick up the changes? Or is it output-only for information?

3) What does GMMP do if the rating tag in a track disagrees with the xml file?

4) If I change a tag on the pc and rsync to the phone, how would GMMP act? For things like ratings, would it treat it as the same file or a new one? Is there anything other than filename/path that could change and cause GMMP to think it's a different track?

5) Of this list: help.mp3tag.de/main_tags.html what is the most appropriate ratings tag and format for me to use? (there are 3 options on POPM)

6) Does GMMP create any files in my phone's music directory at all? If it does, I need to stop my rsync from deleting them.


Thanks.

[GoneMAD]

Mar 26, 2014 5:13:51 GMT -5 ben said:

Hi,
I'm still trying to get everything just how I want it. I've made good progress but have a few more questions.

Here's what I have so far:

pc_hq: dir full of mainly flac files and a few mp3 on my PC (ubuntu). This is my master library.
pc_sq: only mp3s - pc_hq flacs transcoded, pc_hq mp3s copied.
nas_hq: rsync'd from pc_hq. Stored for backup and also source for my squeezebox server.
nas_sq: rsync'd from pc_sq. Just for backup really - I probably don't need it.
phone: rsync'd from pc_sq.

pc_sq, nas_hq and nas_sq are all written with one script, running automatically. phone is written by another, activated manually.

I have all the file conversions, tags and copies working perfectly.

The main thing I'd like to add is upstream transfer of ratings, both from phone and nas. I'm confident that given the raw data, I can get the tags onto the flac and mp3 files, just need to do a bit of management.

I know that I need to make decisions about what to do if ratings have changed in more than one place since the last sync.
I also need to look at ratings coming back from the squeezebox server.


So questions for you:

1) I saw that you told somebody in another thread that ratings are stored in an xml file. Where is this file stored? I can't find it.

2) Is this xml file GMMP's working copy of the ratings? So if I overwrite data in the file, will GMMP pick up the changes? Or is it output-only for information?

3) What does GMMP do if the rating tag in a track disagrees with the xml file?

4) If I change a tag on the pc and rsync to the phone, how would GMMP act? For things like ratings, would it treat it as the same file or a new one? Is there anything other than filename/path that could change and cause GMMP to think it's a different track?

5) Of this list: help.mp3tag.de/main_tags.html what is the most appropriate ratings tag and format for me to use? (there are 3 options on POPM)

6) Does GMMP create any files in my phone's music directory at all? If it does, I need to stop my rsync from deleting them.


Thanks.

1/2) ratings are stored in the database but can be imported / exported to xml. It would end up in stats.xml (i think.. im not in front of my dev machine to check) in the storage/gmmp folder. Prefs -> General -> Backup -> Backup Stats / Restore Stats. Assuming the music service is running you can automate the backup/restore via intents: gonemad.gmmp.action.BACKUP_STATS and gonemad.gmmp.action.RESTORE_STATS

3) Rating tag is only looked at when being scanned into the library.. if you would run a scan with the "only scan new files" unchecked.. im fairly certain any tag changes would get updated in the database including rating

4) The full filename/path is what the database uses as the identifier for a track.. so if you have the "only scan new files" unchecked it would update the existing entry in the database.. if its checked the file would be not be scanned

5) for mp3 you want to use POPM (which is stored as a value 0-255.. its converted to a 0-10 scale for gmmp), aac/m4a can use POPM or RATE (rate was added in the next update.. its a 0-100 scale), FLAC uses a tag named "RATING" and its a 0-100 scale from what i remember.. i'd have to check the code to be certain

6) By default GMMP stores all its files in the storage/gmmp folder. There is an album art setting that lets you save the downloaded album art to the same folder as your music, but that is off by default


It sounds like you have a pretty nice setup for your music.. i wish i was able to fit my whole collection on a single device but i have way too much.. which makes syncing a bit of a pain (at some point i'll write an app to make that easier )

[ben]

1/2) Understood, and having explicit backup/restore commands should help me. I haven't done any android work before so will have to look into doing the intents. I'll look for a tutorial, but do you know if there's any way to use my PC to invoke an intent on my phone? (it's fine if the phone has to be plugged in by USB)

3) Ok, so after I organise my upstream ratings and rsync files back to phone, I need to kick off a scan. Is there an intent for this too?

4) That's what I hoped - I'll need to use it with the 'new files' option unchecked.

5) Different scale between flac and mp3 complicates things a little. On the 0-255 scale, what are your values for the various number of stars, and for unrated?

6) I had turned the download art feature off. I did anything I could on the PC, so the few that I didn't do, the GMMP downloader found something inappropriate like a similarly-named disney CD!


Thanks, it takes a bit of maintaining but I'm happy with what I've got. Especially the squeezebox system - really disappointed they discontinued the products.
I couldn't have fit it all on the phone in its original state which is why I transcode to mp3. It was either that or write a script to put a random selection onto the phone. When I've sorted my ratings thing out, I might have a look at making one anyway, just for fun. I was thinking of something that transfers a weighted random selection of songs, based on rating and how often it's been played. I'll let you know if I get round to that in case it's of use to you.

[GoneMAD]

Mar 26, 2014 11:43:32 GMT -5 ben said:

1/2) Understood, and having explicit backup/restore commands should help me. I haven't done any android work before so will have to look into doing the intents. I'll look for a tutorial, but do you know if there's any way to use my PC to invoke an intent on my phone? (it's fine if the phone has to be plugged in by USB)

3) Ok, so after I organise my upstream ratings and rsync files back to phone, I need to kick off a scan. Is there an intent for this too?

4) That's what I hoped - I'll need to use it with the 'new files' option unchecked.

5) Different scale between flac and mp3 complicates things a little. On the 0-255 scale, what are your values for the various number of stars, and for unrated?

6) I had turned the download art feature off. I did anything I could on the PC, so the few that I didn't do, the GMMP downloader found something inappropriate like a similarly-named disney CD!


Thanks, it takes a bit of maintaining but I'm happy with what I've got. Especially the squeezebox system - really disappointed they discontinued the products.
I couldn't have fit it all on the phone in its original state which is why I transcode to mp3. It was either that or write a script to put a random selection onto the phone. When I've sorted my ratings thing out, I might have a look at making one anyway, just for fun. I was thinking of something that transfers a weighted random selection of songs, based on rating and how often it's been played. I'll let you know if I get round to that in case it's of use to you.

1) you should be able to send intents to a device from the PC using ADB https://gist.github.com/qube81/1148734

3) there are intents that gmmp uses internally to trigger the scan (scanner runs in its own service) but im not sure how usable they are outside of the app. I can add a public intent to do this if not. I have to add one anyway for another project im working on

5) i believe the math is something like rating = POPM / 255 * 10 to convert it to 0-10. Unrated is 0. I can check tonight

6) the album search results are dependent on the search provider. GMMP will search for "ArtistName AlbumName" in amazon and use the first result. Its up to amazon to provide
accurate results