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Importing an iTunes Library captures metadata and no media.
My iPod died this weekend so I decided to install iTunes on my work computer to no avail. My PC has the 64-bit version of Windows XP and is not supported by iTunes. I had heard about Songbird from a co-worker several months ago and downloaded version 1.2.0 build 1146.
To my dismay, Songbird could not import my library from my portable drive so I copied the media files into the Songbird Music folder created by Songbird in the My Music folder. I also copied the iTunes Music Library.xml file over to the My Music folder and edited the paths in the XML file to point to the Songbird Music folder. Yet, when I attempt to import the iTunes library, Songbird imports the metadata from the XML file, but always fails to link to the media files. It is evident that the XML file was scanned properly as all 14,893 tracks are listed and the playlists appear in the source list on the left side of the application window.
When the installation process ends, I always get the message indicating that 14,893 of 14,893 files were not found. If I use Songbird's media management, the media is imported, but without my playlist structure, Songbird is useless to me. (I also noticed that Songbird does not have a way to select/de-select songs making it even more useless as my collection is of CDs ripped in their entirety.) If I cannot import my music with the playlist structure that I painstakingly created in iTunes to organize my music, there is little point to me using Songbird.
Any suggestions for rectifying this issue would be greatly appreciated.
To my dismay, Songbird could not import my library from my portable drive so I copied the media files into the Songbird Music folder created by Songbird in the My Music folder. I also copied the iTunes Music Library.xml file over to the My Music folder and edited the paths in the XML file to point to the Songbird Music folder. Yet, when I attempt to import the iTunes library, Songbird imports the metadata from the XML file, but always fails to link to the media files. It is evident that the XML file was scanned properly as all 14,893 tracks are listed and the playlists appear in the source list on the left side of the application window.
When the installation process ends, I always get the message indicating that 14,893 of 14,893 files were not found. If I use Songbird's media management, the media is imported, but without my playlist structure, Songbird is useless to me. (I also noticed that Songbird does not have a way to select/de-select songs making it even more useless as my collection is of CDs ripped in their entirety.) If I cannot import my music with the playlist structure that I painstakingly created in iTunes to organize my music, there is little point to me using Songbird.
Any suggestions for rectifying this issue would be greatly appreciated.
I’m frustrated
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Inappropriate?Hey MikeD,
Maybe you're pointing to the wrong iTunesMusicLibrary.xml file in the Importer options?
And check where the files "want" to be located in Songbird by selecting the "File Location" sort option in the library.
1 person says
this solves the problem
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Inappropriate?Thanks for the response, Michael. I am pointing to the correct iTunes Music Library.xml file, as the only such file on the computer is in the My Music folder on this PC. I go to Tools > Options, select Media Importer, select the appropriate XML file, check "Import tracks from iTunes" and "Import playlists". Is there something that I am missing?
And check where the files "want" to be located in Songbird by selecting the "File Location" sort option in the library.
The last thing you wrote makes no sense. I do not see any "File Location" sort option in the library; the ;library is simply the media list so it has no options. Please provide detailed specifics about the option to which you are referring.
I’m confused and frustrated
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Inappropriate?Right Click on the sorting bar on the top of your Library:
1 person says
this solves the problem
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Inappropriate?OK. Now it makes sense. I will give it a try. If Songbird is pointing to the wrong directory for files, which is obviously the case, how do I perform a global fix? I am not about to go through roughly 1300+ album folders to reset paths. This matter also begs the question as to why Songbird is getting all of the metadata read correctly except the fie path.
I’m approaching appeasement
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Inappropriate?I'm not sure to what extent you used managed mode(but that would be best used for after you import your iTunes library - it will rearrange your music based on the metadata)..
Songbird is getting all the metadata from the iTunesMusicLibrary.xml
But lets say in Songbird the file location says:
C:\Documents and Settings\Mike\Music\old folder\[music files and folders]
But your music is actually located
C:\Documents and Settings\Mike\Music\Songbird Music
Open up the iTunesMusicLibrary.xml file and reflect accordingly:
Doing a "Find and Replace All" in wordpad or whatever text editor you choose, there's going to be 14,893 occurrences in the xml file, so make sure you got all of them with "Replace All".
If you used Managed Mode to rearrange your files, then you might have a little more editing to do (e.x. If you used the default setting in Managed Mode, it is nearly the same as iTunes except track numbers aren't padded with 0s and the is a " - " between the Track Number & Song Title. So doing a Find for "\01 " and replacing it with "1 - " will be needed used (02,03,04,05 etc. also)
So basically make sure all the 14,893 occurrences in your .xml library are pointing to the exact place where they should be.
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Inappropriate?OK, Songbird is really starting to p--- me off. I created a File Location column and saw that the path string was staring off with:
file:////file://C:/...
so I removed "file://" from the path strings in the XML file. Now Songbird id ignoring the drive designation and indicating the path of the files as
file:///documents%20and%20settings/...
This is ridiculous.
I’m peeved.
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Inappropriate?I just saw you message. The problem seems to be more an issue with Songbird correctly importing the path from the XML file. In the XML file the path for the music folder was globally changed to:
C:/Documents And Settings/Michael Dawson/My Documents/My Music/Songbird Music/
(with the appropriate %20 in place of spaces).
Yet, when I import it into Songbird the drive designation is stripped off so the path is
file:///Documents And Settings/Michael Dawson/My Documents/My Music/Songbird Music/,/blockquote>
When I had "file://" at the front of the path in the XML file, Songbird read it in correctly, but the issue appeared to be the extra file designation resulting in Songbird starting each path as:
file:////file://...
Now that I have taken the file header out of each path string in the XML file, Songbird is ignoring the first few characters of the string, thus dropping the drive designation.
So, as it stands, I cannot eve get to the point of using the Manage Music option becuase the paths are completely frelled. I do have that feature turned off as the music files have already been organized by iTunes.
I’m frustrated
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Inappropriate?P.S. I just got out of a meeting, but I wanted to thank you for all of the input, Michael.
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Inappropriate?At least for an iTunes 9 library, The file paths should start like this in the xml file:
file://localhost/C:/
Maybe try changing it to those if you are running iTunes 9.
Also I'm not sure what you mean by globally, but just in case, I want to re-stress you need to replace/fix all 14k+ file paths in the xml file, not just the top {<key>Music Folder</key><string>[music path]</string>} one. -
Inappropriate?Correct, iTunes has always started off the path string with
file://localhost/volume/...
where the volume in this case is the C drive (C:) on my office PC. That was what was originally in the XML file when I first did a global find and replace to change the file path from the original path written by iTunes to the external drive on my Mac at home.
The first time I tried to import the XML file into Songbird, I edited the XML file in order to change the path from what it was on my Mac to the Windows path with “localhost/” intact. In fact, I had someone else in the office look at the contents of their XML library file to verify how a Windows iTunes path should look, but the import process did not work. I will try adding “localhost/” back into the string when I get back to the office on Monday and see how it goes.
As to what globally means, I guess you do not have any kind of programming background. :) Replacing all of the path strings in the XML file is a global replace operation, as opposed to changing one path, which would be a local replacement. So, yes, I replace all 14,000+ paths in the media file’s Location keys when I modify the string as well as the one in the Music Folder key.
Thanks again for all of your help. -
Inappropriate?Adding localhost was a bust. In fact, it is showing the file path to be,
file:////localhost/C:/...
as if there are two directories prior to localhost that are unknown. I also tried going back to the way iTunes sets up the path for Windows in the XML file,
file://localhost/C:/...
to no avail. The resulting path in Songbird is,
file:///C:/...
The one thing I am noticing is that Songbird keeps adding extra slashes to the beginning of the path string. It should start with "file://", but instead 3 or 4 slashes appear after "file:", which is improper syntax. It is as if Songbird is expecting additional directories ahead of the volume, which is never the case on a Windows PC. UNIX-based systems such as OS X have file paths that include the host, but Windows file paths start with the volume, so the path for the music files should be,
file://C:/Documents And Settings/...
Songbird seems to be incorrectly parsing the XML file path string.
I’m miffed
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Inappropriate?
I also tried going back to the way iTunes sets up the path for Windows in the XML file
file://localhost/C:/...
making it file:///C:/... in Songbird.
That is correct, and Songbird should read your files at that point. You might want to check if your file structure or names got rearranged between the move and now... -
Inappropriate?Also, one thing that just hit me. You moved from Mac to Windows, so your "/"'s might be backwards... (Might have to change all the \'s to /'s)1 Comment Add a comment
This solves the problem
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...but that shouldnt be the case/problem -
Inappropriate?
Michael Purses wrote:
Also, one thing that just hit me. You moved from Mac to Windows, so your "/"'s might be backwards... (Might have to change all the \'s to /'s)
Well, not really moving I would never choose Windows over OS X. Also it would be switching from a forward slash (*NIX/OS X) to a backslash (MS-DOS/Windows), not the other way around as you wrote, but your point is taken.
I actually though that the slashes may have been the issue when I first attempted to import my iTunes library into Songbird. That was actually why I had a co-worker check their XML file created by iTunes for Windows. The same person just passed me a string from his XML file:
<string>file://localhost/C:/Documents%20and%20Settings/xxxxxxx%20xxxxxx/My%20Documents/My%20Music/iTunes/iTunes%20Music/Compilations/Band%20Of%20Gypsys%20%5BLive%5D%20%5BBonus%20Tracks%5D/07%20Hear%20My%20Train.wav</string>
So, it appears that forward slashes are always used in the iTunes database XML file regardless of the platform.
I will try changing the string again when I have a chance, but I am in the middle of analysis right now. I will let you know how it goes. Thanks again for all of the help.
I’m pending a mood
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Inappropriate?OK, so I tried changing the forward slashes to backslashes. As there are nearly 15,000 unique paths, I only changed the unique paths in the first three track definitions. Songbird simply interprets the \ as a / based on what I saw in the imported metadata; still not a single track was properly linked to a media file.
At this point I am beginning to think that Songbird is a complete bust for anyone wanting to import their iTunes library structure. My music collection is far too large for me to even think of attempting to rebuild the playlist structure that I have in iTunes. Realistically, it is not possible to do so anyway as Songbird does not appear to support playlist folders anyway, but having the playlists and smart playlist would have at least been something.
Given that the average person does not know squat about database design or XML, it stands to reason that Songbird would be able to use the XML file created by iTunes as is without requiring the user to edit the paths manually, but clearly that is not the case and nothing that I have tried results in Songbird creating a proper path string. I am still open to suggestions, but after a week of trying to do what ought to be a straightforward process, I am not the least bit hopeful at this point.
I’m confused, frustrated and peeved.
CHAMP
