iTunes reports 90% of songs as missing after running SongKong

[gryphonent]

Just registered SongKong and let it loose on my 6,000 song library. The library was both managed and organized by iTunes so far and I duly UNCHECKED both options under the advanced menu as instructed.

Once SongKong had done its job - excellent from what I can tell on the first impression - iTunes shows an exclamation mark next to 80%-90% of all my songs and reports them as missing.

I remember reading about other users having the same issue… but those didn’t uncheck the two options in iTunes. I did! My library is now completely messed up. Where did I go wrong?

[paultaylor]

Hi, the key things are

1. Did you configure SongKong to Save Changes to iTunes
2. Did you change Rename Files form Metadata to Yes

Basically as long as you don’t changes SongKong to rename files then iTunes willnot lose files even if save changes to iTunes is disabled. But if you change SongKong to rename files then you must ensure you have it configured to inform iTunes of changes or iTunes wont know the files have moved/been renamed.

I guess you did 2> without doing 1> ?

But don’t worry, you can use Undo Changes to undo the changes. SO I would advise doing this, then rerun SongKong without renaming files and iTunes should then be able to find the files.

[gryphonent]

Thanks for your reply, Paul, and sorry for posting twice. I didn’t realize you’re probably moderating posts before they show up in the forum.

Anyway, here’s what I did now. I moved a backup version of my library to iTunes and deleted the rubbish version that resulted from SongKong. I then pointed iTunes to the new (i.e. original) library and everything was back to normal.

Now, I ran SongKong again following your advice with BOTH options under advanced tab in iTunes disabled (organize & manage). I also used the wizard in SongKong to prepare your app for iTunes. Double-checked that BOTH “Save to iTunes” and “Rename Files based on Metadata” (I use “Yes, if matched to release or song”) are activated. I then went to the naming tab and selected all the iTunes specific formats (as I thought this might cause a problem).

Thing is, after 4h of working on my library, that SongKong produced the same crap. Approximately 80% of songs are reported as missing. My guess is that the ones that work weren’t renamed because they didn’t match a release or song. The majority though seems to be lost by iTunes.

The question now is WHY? Because SongKong should notify iTunes of the changes and iTunes should act on them accordingly.

[paultaylor]

Yes it should, perhaps there was an error talking to iTunes but I don’t quite understand why you set Rename Files based on Metadata to Yes since I was quite clear the safest thing to do is set it to No. But if you send your support files (Help:Create Support Files) I can see more clearly if an error did occur.

Also, please note if you just click on the Undo Changes then SongKong should revert all the changes, there should be no need to restore a backup.

[gryphonent]

Hi Paul,

I already had the 2nd run started before reading your post. Also, I wanted my music files to be renamed and follow a proper syntax… makes it easier when copying to non-Apple MP3 Players and identifying tracks. This is why I selected to rename the files. Also, reading your blog posts and the manual, I thought there shouldn’t be a problem once the advanced tab options in iTunes are taken care of.

I’ll give the undo function a shot now. Don’t trust the app much at this point though. Please understand. And I don’t want to manually verify whether all my tracks are indeed properly referenced. A simply drag and drop from the backup does the job faster and more reliable. At least for me.

I’m going to send you the support files and hope we can track down the error(s). Would love to see and experience SongKong as advertised.

[paultaylor]

Hi, I have identified the error, the issue is specific to some installs of OSX Sierra and is caused by a missing applescript library that used to be automatically installed by system

https://jthink.atlassian.net/browse/SONGKONG-1322

This was already fixed for next release which is to be released later this week. Until then you should get good results if you use SongKong without file renaming. After FixSongs has finished running Select all files in iTunes and do Get Info to make iTunes check for changes.

You could actually re-enable keep iTunes media folder organized if you are happy with the way iTunes renames file. This breaks Songkongs Undo task if iTunes renames a files but since you are not using that anyway I think it will be okay for you.

[gryphonent]

That’s great news, Paul. Looking forward to the new release. So, you’re going to install the missing Apple script library then? I’m wondering whether that broken OSX installer might be causing other problems too.

Yes, I was wondering as well if I should enable the manage & organize options again after SongKong has done its job. It should merely go back to managing the files then. And if I need SongKong again I always can disable the options while your app is processing the music library. Or simply create a watch folder and only add new music files once they’ve been properly tagged by SongKong. Gotta think about what’s the best approach.

Thanks for your help! Much appreciated.

Last question: Selecting all music files and clicking on Get Info brings up a summary of all files. Will it tell me whether files are missing? Under what tab?

[paultaylor]

[quote=gryphonent]That’s great news, Paul. Looking forward to the new release. So, you’re going to install the missing Apple script library then? I’m wondering whether that broken OSX installer might be causing other problems too.

Yes, I was wondering as well if I should enable the manage & organize options again after SongKong has done its job. It should merely go back to managing the files then. And if I need SongKong again I always can disable the options while your app is processing the music library. Or simply create a watch folder and only add new music files once they’ve been properly tagged by SongKong. Gotta think about what’s the best approach.
[/quote]
You don’t have to disable these iTunes options, that advice is sort of old. Personally I don’t see the point of getting iTunes to make a copy of files that are not in its media folder but you can if you want, and certainly for now letting iTunes do the file renaming is probably the best option.

[quote=gryphonent]
Last question: Selecting all music files and clicking on Get Info brings up a summary of all files. Will it tell me whether files are missing? Under what tab?[/quote]
I mean within iTunes:

• Select Songs view
• Cmd-A to select all songs
• Get Info

that should make iTunes update with latest information

But I see no summary so I think perhaps you are doing something else.

[gryphonent]

Yup, that’s what I’m doing in iTunes. On my Mac a window pops up with all the metadata tabs for Detail, Artwork, Options, Sorting. It shows the total number of tracks and artists. But I’m wondering if tracks are missing if it will show them too. Otherwise I’d have to scroll through the library and look out for the exclamation mark next to a track. Unfortunately iTunes doesn’t allow for sorting in that column.

[paultaylor]

Thats all you have to do and if you havent renamed anything nothing is going to be missing.

[gryphonent]

Hi Paul, I’m confused now. You said in your last post that I won’t have a problem if I don’t rename the files. Well, that’s my whole purpose (other than identifying them). But I understand from your reply further above that the issue will now be fixed with the next release. In other words, SongKong will work as advertised and identify and rename songs and update iTunes accordingly (provided that the two manage & organize options are disabled).

I further understand that once the library has been processed I can reenable the manage & organize options. I reckon that future additions to the iTunes library will be fixed and renamed before they’re being added to iTunes.

Just to verify, am I correct with the above?

[paultaylor]

I was saying if you don’t rename the files in SongKong then you wont have a problem with missing files in iTunes. And that if you enable iTunes keep iTunes media folder reorganize the iTunes will rename the files for you as it picks up the modifications.

So, unless you need a rename mask different to the one iTunes uses this is the best option for you.

In the new version SongKong should inform iTunes of changes, and allow iTunes to track files even when they are moved or renamed by SongKong. But of course if there is any other issue with SongKong communicating to iTunes then there is the possibility of an error, so it is safer to let iTunes handle the file renames itself.

[gryphonent]

Gotcha. Then I don’t know if my iTunes isn’t working properly. Because my original files don’t have a unified naming syntax. They’re all named differently, which was one of the key reasons other than identifying the music tracks, why I looked to SongKong for a solution.

What I’m saying is: Are you sure that iTunes renames the files? My song files only show the track number and the song title. No album or artist information in the filename. And yes, both organize and manage options are switched on (if SongKong isn’t running).

[paultaylor]

Right, okay Im not totally sure about this maybe it only renames them when they are first added or when changed. So if option was disabled when added and they havent changed since it would not rename when put option back on, Im not sure.

Well. perhaps just wait for new SongKong and let SongKong rename shod be released before end of the week.

[gryphonent]

Thanks Paul. Will try out the new version once released.