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Topic: Same songs in different file types: display FLAC only (Read 3220 times) previous topic - next topic
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Same songs in different file types: display FLAC only

After you guys were so helpful before, I figured I'd ask you a few questions if you don't mind. I've been playing around with Foobar a lot over the past day or two. One problem I've been having coming from iTunes is that I have the same songs in different file types. I like to keep FLAC files, but had to convert the files to MP3's or ALAC files to work with iTunes. Is there anyway I can get rid of all the MP3's and ALAC files without deleting them from my music library? I want to keep them as my iPod is my primary source of music in my car, but I want to refrain from using iTunes whenever possible. Any help would be appreciated!

Also a picture of my problem if I was describing it poorly

Same songs in different file types: display FLAC only

Reply #1 –
Quote from: SophianAsey on
Is there anyway I can get rid of all the MP3's and ALAC files without deleting them from my music library?
You can omit them from foobar2000’s Media Library while avoiding having to delete them from their physical locations on your disk(s).

Here, with green emphasis mine:
Quote
File Types

These settings allow you to make Media Library selectively index only files matching some criteria within the folders you specified above.

For an example, the "exclude" option is commonly used to exclude cuesheets present in your album folders from being indexed, as shown on the screenshot.
So, substituting away cuesheets, simply add the extensions of the types of file that you don’t want to see in the Media Library to the box headed “Exclude”.

Of course, another option in this case would be to keep the other formats in a separate root folder that is not indexed by fb2k. Which to use depends on which you prefer, of course.

Hopefully the other guides in that category on the wiki will help you understand and make the most of the many useful things in the Preferences. Let us know if you really get stuck!

Same songs in different file types: display FLAC only

Reply #2 –
Preferences > Media Library > File Types > Restrict to ... *.FLAC

C.

EDIT: Too slow.
PC = TAK + LossyWAV  ::  Portable = Opus (130)

Same songs in different file types: display FLAC only

Reply #3 –
Yeah, but what if you only wanted to exclude mp3s where there was a FLAC copy, but include mp3s where the mp3 was the only copy?

(FWIW I do it using totally separate folders and music collections, so I'm not looking for a fb2k solution - but it was too interesting a question not to ask it  .)

Cheers,
David.

Same songs in different file types: display FLAC only

Reply #4 –
I have all file formats in my library and I separate various versions with simple titleformat tricks. For example Album List has '['%__codec%']' at the end of first branch keeping different formats separate but close to each other on the list, I have per-codec autoplaylists and when I use simple manual search I type the format on the search field too to get the results I want.
Unfortunately it's not possible to automatically filter away the worse versions when files are sent to playlist but with workarounds things stay manageable.

Same songs in different file types: display FLAC only

Reply #5 –
Quote from: 2Bdecided on
Yeah, but what if you only wanted to exclude mp3s where there was a FLAC copy, but include mp3s where the mp3 was the only copy?

(FWIW I do it using totally separate folders and music collections, so I'm not looking for a fb2k solution - but it was too interesting a question not to ask it  .)

Cheers,
David.


This is my problem exactly. My entire library isn't in FLAC, a majority of it is probably mp3s. But certain albums I'd rather listen to in FLAC, or I only have a FLAC copy. I'm not entirely sure what to do. My best, and probably easiest idea is to dump my entire library into a playlist and just manually take out the mp3 copies of albums that I also have in FLAC. The only problem is that when I search it doesn't search a playlist, but my whole library. Does anyone have any suggestions?

Same songs in different file types: display FLAC only

Reply #6 –
Quote from: Case on
I have all file formats in my library and I separate various versions with simple titleformat tricks. For example Album List has '['%__codec%']' at the end of first branch keeping different formats separate but close to each other on the list, I have per-codec autoplaylists and when I use simple manual search I type the format on the search field too to get the results I want.
Unfortunately it's not possible to automatically filter away the worse versions when files are sent to playlist but with workarounds things stay manageable.


This actually worked fairly well as a temporary fix! I wonder if there is any hope for a component that might be able to do it? I'm not sure how it would work, but I would seriously love to find/make one.

Same songs in different file types: display FLAC only

Reply #7 –
Is there any reason why you can't just populate your main library (monitored by foobar) with the highest quality files and create a separate folder (monitored by iTunes) which would serve as a temporary cache for songs you want to push to your iPod?

Same songs in different file types: display FLAC only

Reply #8 –
Quote from: Daeron on
Is there any reason why you can't just populate your main library (monitored by foobar) with the highest quality files and create a separate folder (monitored by iTunes) which would serve as a temporary cache for songs you want to push to your iPod?


iTunes only supports one music folder at a time. I don't have the space to have 2 copies of every mp3 I don't own. I think I'm misunderstanding your point somewhere.

Same songs in different file types: display FLAC only

Reply #9 –
Unless Apple have gone backwards, iTunes does not have to ‘sync’ with an entire locally mirrored folder. ‘Back in my day’, iTunes allowed users to “Manually manage” and only send files to the portable device on demand and/or from a monitored directory, after which I could completely delete them from the sending computer if you so chose. I would like to assume the same is still true today. Check the options that iTunes provides when your player is plugged in.

Same songs in different file types: display FLAC only

Reply #10 –
This problem can be solved by library management. Example:

- path to my FLAC library is D:\Media\FLAC\...
- path to my duplicated MP3 is D:\Media\MP3\...
- path to my unique MP3, M4A etc (those with no FLAC copies ie bought on iTunes/eMusic etc) is D:\Media\Other\...

All I do is NOT add D:\Media\MP3 to the library - I just add the other 2 paths. The other advantage of this approach is that there should be an exact 1-to-1 correspondence with the files in \FLAC and \MP3 - so if there is not, you have forgotten to convert some FLAC to MP3.

Same songs in different file types: display FLAC only

Reply #11 –
Quote from: SophianAsey on
iTunes only supports one music folder at a time.

In that case, my solution would be to rename files, thus: *.flac.mp3 or *.flac.m4a etc, and then add *.flac.mp3 etc, to foobar2000's library exclusions.