Media monkey plugin

[gcjacob]

Hi.

I'm using media monkey plugin and it is working perfect, but when i import musics to control4, it took a long time. i remember reding somewhere on the forum that c4 is checking the internet for cover art and other stuff, wich i obiviously don;'t want as i have the cover art embended on the mp3 file.

The same post (i was not able to find it, sorry) stated that if i change a line on the config file, this would change.

My question:

what line should i add? and where i find this config file. is it on composer? or on the HC300?

Thanks

[K&J]

Hi.

I'm using media monkey plugin and it is working perfect, but when i import musics to control4, it took a long time. i remember reding somewhere on the forum that c4 is checking the internet for cover art and other stuff, wich i obiviously don;'t want as i have the cover art embended on the mp3 file.

The same post (i was not able to find it, sorry) stated that if i change a line on the config file, this would change.

My question:

what line should i add? and where i find this config file. is it on composer? or on the HC300?

Thanks

Where do you have your music stored in? HC 300 has no hard drive.

Go to Media scan where you have your music stored and as long as your controller has access to the internet you should be able to pull cover art.

Edited January 21, 2009 by K&J

[gcjacob]

My music is stored on a NAS.

I dont want hc300 to check for the cover art. And i'm not using the scan on composer.

I'm using media monkey plugin, that generates a XML file, and importing this file on composer.

My problem is that the import is taking a long time, and as far as i remember, the post i was looking for and that i did not find says that changing a configuration would increase this.

thanks

[K&J]

My music is stored on a NAS.

I dont want hc300 to check for the cover art. And i'm not using the scan on composer.

I'm using media monkey plugin, that generates a XML file, and importing this file on composer.

My problem is that the import is taking a long time, and as far as i remember, the post i was looking for and that i did not find says that changing a configuration would increase this.

thanks

I understand now.

I've never used that program.

[Tim]

The use of MediaMonkey with the Control4 script is faster and more accurate than using the scan in Composer, Home Composer, or Media Composer. That said, Composer can take time importing the XML file based on its size and number of songs. In one case I have a library of around 5000 songs and the XML file loads in about 30 to 40 minutes with all the metadata, artwork, etc. The NAS is directly connected to the HC. The Scan function itself does not run unless activated and shouldn't be required. So, no config file changes are needed.

How do you have the NAS setup on the system. It is plugged into a USB port on the back of a HC? Or, do you have it running from a PC on the LAN as shared. If so, is the PC wired or wireless. These will all play into the process time.

On a seperate topic.... The MediaMonkey Control4 export script does have a few small bugs. It cannot export large libraries (greater than ~4000 songs), it doesn't export playlist, and it will export a song at a time for albums that have duplicate names (i.e. "Greatest Hits"). Do to this, I have done a complete re-written of the script. I will post it to the forum once I have finished all the testing.

Tim

[c44me]

wow thanks Tim. I was about to re-do my music but will hold off. looking forward to the new script.

[Tim]

Almost done with the script.... Sorry for the delay in getting it posted. Got slammed at work. I should have it posted in a few more days.

Tim

[tumult]

I appreciate all the work you've put into this.

tum

[Tim]

Here is the script. Sorry again for taking so long to post.

I have kept this version as a beta due to all the various ways media can be stored in a Control4 environment and the testing configuration I was able to use.

I have added an email address to my profile for anyone to send comments, suggestions, or bugs that they may find.

I am also posting documentation.

As a side note... I will be changing the SQL lookups for playlists. Currently the script uses MediaMonkey functions to interface with the database. This method doesn't check to see if a song in a playlist actually resides on the storage device while creating the export file. This can cause a problem when loading the playlist into a Home Controller. However, if the songs in a playlist are on the storage device that the Home Controller is referencing, this is not an issue. This problem only exists with playlists.

For those who have been using Control4Export.vbs, the file will need to renamed or removed from the MediaMonkey scripts/auto folder to keep from having redundant entries in the MediaMonkey menus.

Tim

[Tim]

Here is the documentation....

Edited February 4, 2009 by Tim

[c44me]

thank you tim

[chicagoskiguy]

Tim great script. As luck would have it I've been using Media Monkey for years, and recently got C4. I was excited to see integration with the two.

I managed to get most things working. I figured out how to export the library (@9k songs, 800 albums, 70gig), and as far as I see the music is all in there. I have a few questions for other users of the script:

1. When importing the XML, in Home Edition, I got many, many messages saying that director was not responding, and would I like to wait. It appears that whenever this message comes up, the import pauses, and no additional work is completed. Anyone else have this, and if so, has anyone figured out a solution to make this run unattended? I was thinking about finding a utility to automatically click the button on the dialog.

2. I've imported about 45 playlists from MM, and all songs in the list appear to be sorted alphabetically. When I open up the XML, it looks the same as it does in Media Monkey. Is C4 sorting the tracks? Is there a way to shut this down? Is there a way to make C4 randomize tracks?

Any help would be much appreciated.

Scott

[Naveris]

Tim great script. As luck would have it I've been using Media Monkey for years, and recently got C4. I was excited to see integration with the two.

I managed to get most things working. I figured out how to export the library (@9k songs, 800 albums, 70gig), and as far as I see the music is all in there. I have a few questions for other users of the script:

1. When importing the XML, in Home Edition, I got many, many messages saying that director was not responding, and would I like to wait. It appears that whenever this message comes up, the import pauses, and no additional work is completed. Anyone else have this, and if so, has anyone figured out a solution to make this run unattended? I was thinking about finding a utility to automatically click the button on the dialog.

2. I've imported about 45 playlists from MM, and all songs in the list appear to be sorted alphabetically. When I open up the XML, it looks the same as it does in Media Monkey. Is C4 sorting the tracks? Is there a way to shut this down? Is there a way to make C4 randomize tracks?

Any help would be much appreciated.

Scott

I too am delighted to find a Media Monkey integration for C4. I will be giving this a try as soon as I clear up a couple of other issues (there are always issues...). Regarding your questions, I have experienced the 'Director Not Responding' delay but it hasn't been too frequent and I haven't bothered trying to find a cure. For your second question, you can select Shuffle mode in Navigator under the Queue menu. I think that should accomplish what you're looking for. That being said, I have found that the Shuffle mode is not truly random - it seems to play the playlist in the same mixed up order everytime - at the very least, I know it always starts on the same song.

[nortont]

I am having a problem with this script where I am getting extra unwanted stuff imorted to C4

What is happening is when I look at albums, the start of the list is filled with 4 digit numbers like 3499:

when you select this album, it has a song(s) inside of it.

I searched the song name in the XML generated by the script and forun this to be the casue for one entry but non of the others seem to follow this pattern.

<name>This Time Of Year</name>3499

In composer1.7 I do not see the listings. Only from the remote or 4 menu.

If anyone wants to look at the full xml, I can send it.

Additionally the playlists I imported to C4 show the lists but no content

      <album>
         <id>803</id>
         <title></title>
         <playlist>False</playlist>
         <artist>Brook Benton</artist>
         <genre></genre>
         <sql>SELECT Albums.ID, coalesce(Albums.Album, Songs.SongTitle) AS Album, Albums.Artist, Songs.Genre, Songs.TrackNumber, Songs.ID AS SongID, Songs.SongTitle, Songs.SongPath FROM Songs LEFT JOIN Albums ON Albums.ID = Songs.IDAlbum JOIN Medias ON Songs.IDMedia = Medias.IDMedia AND Medias.DriveLetter = 24 WHERE (((Songs.SongPath) Like '%:\%')) ORDER BY Albums.ID, coalesce(Albums.Album, Songs.SongTitle), Songs.TrackNumber + 0 </sql>
         <large_cover_art></large_cover_art>
         <songs>
            <song>
               <track_no></track_no>
               <id>6179</id>
               <name>This Time Of Year</name>3499
               <location>Q2hyaXN0bWFzL19YTUFTL1hNQVMgLSBWYXJpb3VzIEFydGlzdHMgLSBCaWxsYm9hcmQgR3JlYXRlc3QgUiAmIEIgQ2hyaXN0bWFzIEhpdHMgQDE2MC9UaGlzIFRpbWUgT2YgWWVhciAtIEJyb29rIEJlbnRvbi5tcDM=</location>
            </song>
         </songs>
      </album>

Edited November 18, 2009 by nortont

[chicagoskiguy]

A Quick follow-up to my question from above. When importing the xml generated from mediamonkey (9000+ songs), I constantly got a message about "director was not responding" and would I like to wait. I had originally assumed that the import was still taking place even if the message box was up, but I'm fairly certain that the import pauses and waits for a response. As a result, I had to sit in front of my computer, and always hit "yes"

To avoid this the next time I imported my music, I wrote a script for Autohotkey (free download at http://www.autohotkey.com). Install Autohotkey, create a new text file called "ComposerMediaOk.ahk" and save it on your desktop. Open the file in notepad, and paste the following code in it:

Loop

{

Sleep 2000

WinWait, Director not responding,

IfWinNotActive, Director not responding, , WinActivate, Director not responding,

WinWaitActive, Director not responding,

MouseClick, left, 104, 98

}

Save the file and close notepad. Now double-click the file on your desktop, you’ll see it run in your taskbar. Import your mediamonkey xml and every time the popup appears, Autohotkey will automatically click the "yes" to wait button for you.

FYI, Autohotkey is a great little utility. It has a “recorder” that will watch your mouse/keyboard input and save them to a script, allowing you to save that action to a hotkey, and then automate that process... A wonderful program for anyone that wants to remove repetitive tasks from their life.

Hope this helps someone out.

Scott

[ILoveC4]

Just curious, why do you keep importing your music?

[chicagoskiguy]

Media Monkey allows you to create playlists based on any number of criteria (genre, rating, artist, etc). So every time you add more music to media monkey, and rate it, new music will show up in any playlists it fits into.

This particular time, I was trying to add (I used import media) 300 mp3's of Christmas music to play on Christmas day. Doing this seemingly wiped out my previous import. All 9000 mp3s disappeared, and all that was shown was the new list I had imported. Only way I could figure to get everything back was to clear out the media, and re-import the media and playlists.

Is there a better way to update playlists from MediaMonkey, or be able to import only new music which has been recently updated?

Scott

[Tim]

Media Monkey allows you to create playlists based on any number of criteria (genre, rating, artist, etc). So every time you add more music to media monkey, and rate it, new music will show up in any playlists it fits into.

This particular time, I was trying to add (I used import media) 300 mp3's of Christmas music to play on Christmas day. Doing this seemingly wiped out my previous import. All 9000 mp3s disappeared, and all that was shown was the new list I had imported. Only way I could figure to get everything back was to clear out the media, and re-import the media and playlists.

Is there a better way to update playlists from MediaMonkey, or be able to import only new music which has been recently updated?

Scott

Scott -- When I rewrote and tested the script, I had the same issue of the library getting re-written when adding new music. This issue seems to be in the method which C4 manages the import. It treats the import as a backup recovery. I haven't been able to figure out a way around it. Maybe some of the guys of this forum may have an idea.

Thanks,

Tim

[Tim]

Here is an updated script. I fixed a few bugs which I received through emails.

Tim

[chicagoskiguy]

Tim,

Thanks for the updated script, and thank you for the information on the import. I assumed by ILoveC4's comments that there may be an easier way.

Scott

[myopic]

Does playlist exporting from mediamonkey work for 2.x systems with this script?

[chicagoskiguy]

Can't help you there. I have been using it with much success on 1.7.3

[Tim]

Sorry for not responding. Been out of pocket of a good while. I have not tested the script on any version greater than 1.7 at this time. It will be this summer before I have the chance to test on the updated versions. That said, as long as the newer versions have an import media list function it should work. The only thing could be a problem is if the html file layout has changed. If so, this can be adjusted in the script.

Edited July 4, 2011 by Tim

[poobar]

Can't seem to get it working with version 3.2.5. All i get is the "<media/>" tag.

I'm using an external NAS (named Norfork) which I select in "My Computer->Network->Microsoft Windows Network->Home->Norfork->Media-Music.

Any help would be much appreciated.

[JP Rizal]

Can't seem to get it working with version 3.2.5. All i get is the "<media/>" tag.

I'm using an external NAS (named Norfork) which I select in "My Computer->Network->Microsoft Windows Network->Home->Norfork->Media-Music.

Any help would be much appreciated.

Poobar,

Did you manage to get this to work?

Or anyone else manage to make it work on the latest MediaMonkey 4.0.6

Thanks