iTSfv - iTunes Store file validator, A tool to check, validate and fill missing tags Options

[~*McoreD*~]

Jojo

The files should've been saved in the folder path where it says "Export Artwork to following folder as"



By default it is in

H:\Users\Mike\Music\iTunes\Album Artwork\iTSfv

It does not embed iTunes Store artwork into the track but implementing that is not hard. I can finally picture the whole process now:

Select the track/tracks in iTunes
Press "Import iTunes Store Artwork" in iTSfv
iTSfv attempts to the iTunes Store artwork via a dummy file
If there is an artwork, iTSfv embeds that into the selected track/tracks



I think the reason why this wasn't implemented is that iTunes has the "Get Album Artwork" feature which downloads the artwork from iTunes Store. When you validate the tracks using iTSfv, it will then embed/export the artwork anyway.

This post has been edited by ~*McoreD*~: Sep 12 2008, 14:18

[Jojo]

The files should've been saved in the folder path where it says "Export Artwork to following folder as"

the folder is there, but there is nothing inside. I'm using a user defined folder.
I have all the automatic creation of album art disabled (bottom of config page)

I think the reason why this wasn't implemented is that iTunes has the "Get Album Artwork" feature which downloads the artwork from iTunes Store. When you validate the tracks using iTSfv, it will then embed/export the artwork anyway.

right. The only reason for such a function would be to take advantage of iTSfv string filters that makes the tags more compatible iTunes way of matching tags with album art.

This post has been edited by Jojo: Sep 13 2008, 22:00

[Steffen M.]

Hy,

I'm a new user to iTSfv from Germany and I tasting tha different great functions.


I get a problem when using Synchroclean. My iTunes music folder is on a NAS \\01nas\UNTERHALTUNG\Musik and the library files are here \\01nas\UNTERHALTUNG\iTunes.

After starting it shows me that:

Please rewie the following information ...

Music folder Paths:
\\Smcbs01nas\UNTERHALTUNG\Musik\

iTunes Music Library.xml Path:
U:\iTunes\iTunes Library.xml

After continue I get the warning:

iTSfv has found that some or all of your tracks are not in any of the iTunes Music folder locations so iTSfv will not remove tracks out side of music folders.

Most of your music are in:
\\smcbs01nas\
Your iTunes Music folder location is:
U:\iTuines\iTunes Music\

fter pressing OK iTSfv starting delete my tracks out of iTunes. But my music is at the \\Smcbs01nas\UNTERHALTUNG\Musik\ folder? I don not know how to make the settings that it works? At iTunes I have not set 'iTunes manage my music folder'.


Version:
iTunes 8.0.0.35
iTSfv 5.60.15.1


Thanks, Steffen

[~*McoreD*~]

Steffen

iTSfv takes precautions before deleting music that is outside of the default music folder paths. If iTSfv detects that most of your music are located in a folder path which is different to the folder path that is set in iTunes Preferences then iTSfv will not remove tracks outside of the music folder path. iTSfv will however proceed to remove dead files - i.e. paths are invalid.

If your music files are located in

\\01nas\UNTERHALTUNG\Musik

then your iTunes Music folder path should be also set to

\\01nas\UNTERHALTUNG\Musik

You can verify this setting by going to iTunes Preference and then iTunes Music folder location.

iTunes has a bug in Windows where you cannot select a Network folder as a music folder. You have to map it as a Network Drive.

I assume you have mapped \\01nas\UNTERHALTUNG as U:

1. You should then set the music folder location in iTunes as U:



2. Right click a song in iTunes and click Get Info. What does the location of the music file say? \\01nas\UNTERHALTUNG\some artist\some album\some song.mp3 or U:\some artist\some album\some song.mp3?

If it says \\01nas\UNTERHALTUNG\some artist\some album\some song.mp3 then you are going to have problems because you cannot set the iTunes music folder path as \\01nas\UNTERHALTUNG

3. Before trying Synchroclean, make sure the file path links are active. Otherwise iTSfv will think the file is a dead file and proceed to remove it from the library.

4. Backup your ratings / played counts etc. using the Tags tab in iTSfv.



5. Make sure in iTSfv > Options > Explorer > Music folders tab you have U: as the default music folder.



6. Perform a full synchroclean after you have set the iTunes music folder location as U:

iTSfv will remove all the invalid tracks and re-add all the music from U:\

After this is done, you will not get the problem again.

Cheers,
McoreD

This post has been edited by ~*McoreD*~: Sep 13 2008, 12:03

[cubanresourceful]

I get an error with your program. I am running 5.60.15.1, and if I change ANY option within the OPTIONS menu, and try to apply or save, it says this:

Unhandled exception has occurred in your application. If you click Continue, the application will ignore this error and attempt to continue. If you click Quit, the application will close immediately.

Object reference not set to an instance of an object.

I can click continue, and the application will not close, but I won't be able to save the preferences either. Is it an error on my side? Also, running iTunes 8. Thanks you very much, I really love your autorating.

[~*McoreD*~]

cubanresourceful,

Could you please do the following?

Hopefully this won't crash until you do it all:

Open iTSfv

Press F2 to access options

Go to Advanced > Paths > Program



Browse Orginal user.config

Send me the xml file to mcored@gmail.com for analysis.

Thanks,
McoreD

[cubanresourceful]

I've sent the email, I hope you can find the bug (if there is any), and also thanks for the lightning fast response! Such a great software I have found here!

[~*McoreD*~]

cubanresourceful

Thanks for the config file, unfortunately just like you said the config file did not have any abnormalities to figure out where the problem is. When you load iTSfv and it says "Unhandled exception has occurred in your application. If you click Continue, the application will ignore this error and attempt to continue. If you click Quit, the application will close immediately" is there a Details button to copy more information? By that I mean something similar to:

System.NullReferenceException: Object reference not set to an instance of an object.
at iTSfv.frmMain.bwApp_DoWork(Object sender, DoWorkEventArgs e)
at System.ComponentModel.BackgroundWorker.OnDoWork(DoWorkEventArgs e)
at System.ComponentModel.BackgroundWorker.WorkerThreadStart(Object argument)


************** Loaded Assemblies **************
mscorlib
Assembly Version: 2.0.0.0
Win32 Version: 2.0.50727.42 (RTM.050727-4200)
CodeBase: file:///C:/WINDOWS/Microsoft.NET/Framework/v2.0.50727/mscorlib.dll

etc.

Could you please post this information here?



Steffen M.

Could you please install

http://www.sendspace.com/file/glruwp

which is an updated build where I suspect a possible error is:

5.60.15.3 Could not determine the music folder path where most of the music files are in the library when music files were in the root drive


Hvala,
McoreD

[cubanresourceful]

Okay, I'm going to install it and see, also here the error code:

CODE

See the end of this message for details on invoking
just-in-time (JIT) debugging instead of this dialog box.

************** Exception Text **************
System.NullReferenceException: Object reference not set to an instance of an object.
   at iTSfv.frmOptions.sSettingsSaveAdvanced()
   at iTSfv.frmOptions.sSettingsSave()
   at iTSfv.frmOptions.sSettingsReload()
   at iTSfv.frmOptions.btnApply_Click(Object sender, EventArgs e)
   at System.Windows.Forms.Control.OnClick(EventArgs e)
   at System.Windows.Forms.Button.OnClick(EventArgs e)
   at System.Windows.Forms.Button.OnMouseUp(MouseEventArgs mevent)
   at System.Windows.Forms.Control.WmMouseUp(Message& m, MouseButtons button, Int32 clicks)
   at System.Windows.Forms.Control.WndProc(Message& m)
   at System.Windows.Forms.ButtonBase.WndProc(Message& m)
   at System.Windows.Forms.Button.WndProc(Message& m)
   at System.Windows.Forms.Control.ControlNativeWindow.OnMessage(Message& m)
   at System.Windows.Forms.Control.ControlNativeWindow.WndProc(Message& m)
   at System.Windows.Forms.NativeWindow.Callback(IntPtr hWnd, Int32 msg, IntPtr wparam, IntPtr lparam)


************** Loaded Assemblies **************
mscorlib
    Assembly Version: 2.0.0.0
    Win32 Version: 2.0.50727.1433 (REDBITS.050727-1400)
    CodeBase: file:///I:/WINDOWS/Microsoft.NET/Framework/v2.0.50727/mscorlib.dll
----------------------------------------
iTSfv
    Assembly Version: 5.0.0.0
    Win32 Version: 5.60.15.1
    CodeBase: file:///I:/Program%20Files/iTSfv/iTSfv.exe
----------------------------------------
Microsoft.VisualBasic
    Assembly Version: 8.0.0.0
    Win32 Version: 8.0.50727.1433 (REDBITS.050727-1400)
    CodeBase: file:///I:/WINDOWS/assembly/GAC_MSIL/Microsoft.VisualBasic/8.0.0.0__b03f5f7f11d50a3a/Microsoft.VisualBasic.dll
----------------------------------------
System
    Assembly Version: 2.0.0.0
    Win32 Version: 2.0.50727.1433 (REDBITS.050727-1400)
    CodeBase: file:///I:/WINDOWS/assembly/GAC_MSIL/System/2.0.0.0__b77a5c561934e089/System.dll
----------------------------------------
System.Windows.Forms
    Assembly Version: 2.0.0.0
    Win32 Version: 2.0.50727.1433 (REDBITS.050727-1400)
    CodeBase: file:///I:/WINDOWS/assembly/GAC_MSIL/System.Windows.Forms/2.0.0.0__b77a5c561934e089/System.Windows.Forms.dll
----------------------------------------
System.Drawing
    Assembly Version: 2.0.0.0
    Win32 Version: 2.0.50727.1433 (REDBITS.050727-1400)
    CodeBase: file:///I:/WINDOWS/assembly/GAC_MSIL/System.Drawing/2.0.0.0__b03f5f7f11d50a3a/System.Drawing.dll
----------------------------------------
System.Runtime.Remoting
    Assembly Version: 2.0.0.0
    Win32 Version: 2.0.50727.1433 (REDBITS.050727-1400)
    CodeBase: file:///I:/WINDOWS/assembly/GAC_MSIL/System.Runtime.Remoting/2.0.0.0__b77a5c561934e089/System.Runtime.Remoting.dll
----------------------------------------
System.Configuration
    Assembly Version: 2.0.0.0
    Win32 Version: 2.0.50727.1433 (REDBITS.050727-1400)
    CodeBase: file:///I:/WINDOWS/assembly/GAC_MSIL/System.Configuration/2.0.0.0__b03f5f7f11d50a3a/System.Configuration.dll
----------------------------------------
System.Xml
    Assembly Version: 2.0.0.0
    Win32 Version: 2.0.50727.1433 (REDBITS.050727-1400)
    CodeBase: file:///I:/WINDOWS/assembly/GAC_MSIL/System.Xml/2.0.0.0__b77a5c561934e089/System.Xml.dll
----------------------------------------
Interop.iTunesLib
    Assembly Version: 1.11.0.0
    Win32 Version: 1.11.0.0
    CodeBase: file:///I:/Program%20Files/iTSfv/Interop.iTunesLib.DLL
----------------------------------------
McoreIndexer
    Assembly Version: 2.9.7.0
    Win32 Version: 2.9.7.0
    CodeBase: file:///I:/Program%20Files/iTSfv/McoreIndexer.DLL
----------------------------------------
McoreSystem
    Assembly Version: 1.13.1.0
    Win32 Version: 1.13.1.0
    CodeBase: file:///I:/Program%20Files/iTSfv/McoreSystem.DLL
----------------------------------------
Accessibility
    Assembly Version: 2.0.0.0
    Win32 Version: 2.0.50727.1433 (REDBITS.050727-1400)
    CodeBase: file:///I:/WINDOWS/assembly/GAC_MSIL/Accessibility/2.0.0.0__b03f5f7f11d50a3a/Accessibility.dll
----------------------------------------
m-7js8-u
    Assembly Version: 2.0.0.0
    Win32 Version: 2.0.50727.1433 (REDBITS.050727-1400)
    CodeBase: file:///I:/WINDOWS/assembly/GAC_MSIL/System/2.0.0.0__b77a5c561934e089/System.dll
----------------------------------------
Interop.ITDETECTORLib
    Assembly Version: 1.0.0.0
    Win32 Version: 1.0.0.0
    CodeBase: file:///I:/Program%20Files/iTSfv/Interop.ITDETECTORLib.DLL
----------------------------------------
System.Web
    Assembly Version: 2.0.0.0
    Win32 Version: 2.0.50727.1433 (REDBITS.050727-1400)
    CodeBase: file:///I:/WINDOWS/assembly/GAC_32/System.Web/2.0.0.0__b03f5f7f11d50a3a/System.Web.dll
----------------------------------------

************** JIT Debugging **************
To enable just-in-time (JIT) debugging, the .config file for this
application or computer (machine.config) must have the
jitDebugging value set in the system.windows.forms section.
The application must also be compiled with debugging
enabled.

For example:

<configuration>
    <system.windows.forms jitDebugging="true" />
</configuration>

When JIT debugging is enabled, any unhandled exception
will be sent to the JIT debugger registered on the computer
rather than be handled by this dialog box.

Would you like me to enable JIT debugging for further details?

[~*McoreD*~]

Jojo

Good news about Lyrics. Finally there is a cure for supporting UTF8 characters. If you replace this dll

http://www.sendspace.com/file/nw20f1

you will no longer have strange characters and don't have to use the replace-words.txt for that purpose.



cubanresourceful

Thanks for the output! I will look at iTSfv.frmOptions.sSettingsSaveAdvanced() and see what's going wrong. JIT isn't necessary.

Okay, I'm going to install it and see

cubanresourceful,

Last build was for Steffan

I went through the sSettingsSaveAdvanced function and the closest I could think of was an error related to Start with Windows.

Could you please install this build over?

http://www.sendspace.com/file/6mpe2s

[cubanresourceful]

Jojo

Good news about Lyrics. Finally there is a cure for supporting UTF8 characters. If you replace this dll

http://www.sendspace.com/file/nw20f1

you will no longer have strange characters and don't have to use the replace-words.txt for that purpose.



cubanresourceful

Thanks for the output! I will look at iTSfv.frmOptions.sSettingsSaveAdvanced() and see what's going wrong. JIT isn't necessary.

Okay, I'm going to install it and see

cubanresourceful,

Last build was for Steffan

I went through the sSettingsSaveAdvanced function and the closest I could think of was an error related to Start with Windows.

Could you please install this build over?

http://www.sendspace.com/file/6mpe2s

You are a genius! It now saves without an error, though it seems like its a prior version to what I installed? I guess that helps narrow down the code you are going to wade through?

[~*McoreD*~]

cubanresourceful

That's splendid! May I ask what version are you running now?

This is the change I did:

http://code.google.com/p/itsfv/source/diff...2FfrmOptions.vb

[waysid]

Hi,

I recently made the decision to go back to itunes from mediamonkey and was looking for a way to copy my ratings and playcounts from mediamonkey into my itunes library.

I stumbled accross this app and I think its exactly what I need :-). All of my mediamonkey ratings are stored in POPM tags as so I figured I could use the option under "validate" and "library" to do so. I must be doing something wrong though because I am not seeing any results.

Here is what I am doing:

- opening latest version of itunes ( 8.0 )
- opening latest version of itsfv
- highlighting the song or songs in itunes that I want to process
- checking off "Import Rating from POPM... "
- clicking on "Validate Library for Selected Tracks"

Here's what I found in the log file: ( I used an Oasis song as an example )
2008-09-14T00:25:02 Job Started: VALIDATE_TRACKS_SELECTED
2008-09-14T00:25:03 Validating Disc: Standing On The Shoulder Of Gi - Oasis in D:\Music\Oasis\Standing On The Shoulder Of Gi
2008-09-14T00:25:03 Checks? False, Tracks? False, Library? True, File System? False
2008-09-14T00:25:03 Chosen Most Common Artist: "Oasis" with 100.00% confidence
2008-09-14T00:25:03 .
2008-09-14T00:25:03 Duration: 0 Hours 00 Minutes 0.375 Seconds
2008-09-14T00:25:03 Cleaning Temporary Files... in C:\Documents and Settings\user\Application Data\iTSfv\
2008-09-14T00:25:03 Job Finished: VALIDATE_TRACKS_SELECTED

So it seems like it should have worked. I don't see any rating appear though in iTunes?

Am I missing something here?

Thanks for any help.

[~*McoreD*~]

waysid,

Yes it should have worked.

Drag one of the music files to Mp3tag and see if you actually have the POPM frame filled.



You should see the POPULARIMETER there when you right click the song in Mp3tag and click Extended Tags...

I wonder if MM3 has saved it in a different frame? Mp3tag will be able to tell us.

Cheers.

[Steffen M.]

@~*McoreD*~: Thanks for your help.


I let iTSfv delete all my tracks from iTunes because tha path where \\01nas\ ... and then it starts to add my songs again. But there are some new problems:

iTSfv change some tags but I don't want that. For example my two digit track number now is without the 0 in front of 01. In some dirs I have only single titles without album informations. Here they get track numbers and some songs are not synchronised.


Thanks again, Steffen

[cubanresourceful]

I was using 5.60.15.1 before, if I remember correctly, and now you gave me 5.60.16.0, which saves perfectly. Again, thanks you very much. Does this mean you have cornered the nasty bug and fixed him?

[~*McoreD*~]

@~*McoreD*~: Thanks for your help.

I let iTSfv delete all my tracks from iTunes because tha path where \\01nas\ ... and then it starts to add my songs again. But there are some new problems:

iTSfv change some tags but I don't want that. For example my two digit track number now is without the 0 in front of 01. In some dirs I have only single titles without album informations. Here they get track numbers and some songs are not synchronised.


Thanks again, Steffen

Steffen, before adding files to the iTunes library, iTSfv was refreshing tags including TrackNumber. So padding information could get lost during this. This behaviour is now optional in the next upcoming build.

5.60.19.0 Forcing tags to be refreshed while adding new files to library is now an option in Options : Explorer [Steffen M.]

It was cool how you noticed that; in iTunes you wouldn't see the difference: whether TrackNumber is padded or not.

I am not sure why some songs are not synchronized. It could be an once-off error. Hopefully it gets added the next time.

By the way you can use Windows Scheduled Tasks to automate this with iTSfv command line:

itsfv.exe add_files

I was using 5.60.15.1 before, if I remember correctly, and now you gave me 5.60.16.0, which saves perfectly. Again, thanks you very much. Does this mean you have cornered the nasty bug and fixed him?

I would like to think so cubanresourceful!

All,

Latest version of iTSfv beta can be found in

http://code.google.com/p/itsfv/

Cheers,
McoreD

[waysid]

Yes, I did use MP3Tag and confirmed that the POPM tag was filled. Could it be because I am not using the default itunes library?

[~*McoreD*~]

waysid,

I didn't understand what you meant by not using the default itunes library. The library that is accessed by iTSfv should be updated by iTSfv anyhow.

[waysid]

Itunes allows you to create different libraries ( resulting in different .itl files ).

I experimented further and was able to get some of the other features working ( eg I used the app to capitalize every word in the Name ).

I just can't seem to get any of the validate options to work. (eg I tried the "save vaildation result in itunes playlists." It didn't create any playlists for me )

Anyway thanks for your help, I'll keep playing around a bit more.

This post has been edited by waysid: Sep 15 2008, 01:01

[cubanresourceful]

I was using 5.60.15.1 before, if I remember correctly, and now you gave me 5.60.16.0, which saves perfectly. Again, thanks you very much. Does this mean you have cornered the nasty bug and fixed him?

I would like to think so cubanresourceful!

All,

Latest version of iTSfv beta can be found in

http://code.google.com/p/itsfv/

Cheers,
McoreD

Good, glad to hear, especially the latest verion. I love bleeding edge releases.

EDIT: I don't know if this program has this feature, but I went through every setting and didn't see it. Is it possible that, during validation, it renames tracks to however style you want ie "%AlbumArtist\(%Year%) %Album%"? I didn't see it, only an option for importing songs. That way, the iTunes library is updated, without losing playcounts, ratings, etc. (I could do this a longer way, ie using the playcounts/ratings in tags to restore them, but this would be a useful and welcome addition for validation, if its not already there.)

Just a thought maybe.

This post has been edited by cubanresourceful: Sep 16 2008, 01:23

[~*McoreD*~]

EDIT: I don't know if this program has this feature, but I went through every setting and didn't see it. Is it possible that, during validation, it renames tracks to however style you want ie "%AlbumArtist\(%Year%) %Album%"? I didn't see it, only an option for importing songs. That way, the iTunes library is updated, without losing playcounts, ratings, etc. (I could do this a longer way, ie using the playcounts/ratings in tags to restore them, but this would be a useful and welcome addition for validation, if its not already there.)

cubanresourceful,

I appreciate the thought. It is quite possible to do the long way programmatically. With iTunes it is not possible to rename the files without changing the meta data. The option is to backup the ratings/played count and then remove the old files; rename the files; add the new files; restore ratings/played count. This will work if you don't have Keep my music folder organized option disabled. Personally I really encourage to let iTunes organize music. The purpose of iTSfv in the first place was to bridge this gap where people including myself finding it hard to do so. If you have all your music properly tagged, then you can let iTunes do all the work for you and forget about the file structure.

iTunes is designed so that file names or folder structure are transparent to the user. All your music is accessed using their meta tags within the iTunes Library. iTunes offers a standard file/folder structure which is the most compatible

If %DiscNumber% > 1 :

%AlbumArtist%\%Album%\%DiscNumber%-%TrackNumber% %Name%.mp3

Otherwise :

%AlbumArtist%\%Album%\%TrackNumber% %Name%.mp3

Just my 2 cents..

[cubanresourceful]

Your right, I just wish that iTunes would allow custom library placement configurations, or at least place the date in the album folder names. Again, thanks for a wonderful program.

[~*McoreD*~]

Jojo / MetalMessiah78,

http://code.google.com/p/itsfv/

5.60.20.1 Removed dependence from iLyics and ensured lyrics are imported in UTF-8 [pt_ha]
5.60.20.0 Added new command line flag "synchroclean" which is the same as "add_folder remove_dead"
5.60.19.0 Forcing tags to be refreshed while adding new files to library is now an option in Options : Explorer [Steffen M.]
5.60.18.0 ReverseScrobble is now possible using command line interface using flag reverse_scrobble
5.60.17.0 Import PlayedCount from POPM or PCNT Frame for MP3 files using Library tab
5.60.16.0 Lyrics from LyricWiki will support all UTF-8 characters

I have permanently fixed the issue with LyricWiki and the setup is also 200 KiB smaller now because it directly accesses the LyricWiki servers without the need of a 3rd party DLL.

[Jojo]

Jojo / MetalMessiah78,

http://code.google.com/p/itsfv/

5.60.20.1 Removed dependence from iLyics and ensured lyrics are imported in UTF-8 [pt_ha]
5.60.20.0 Added new command line flag "synchroclean" which is the same as "add_folder remove_dead"
5.60.19.0 Forcing tags to be refreshed while adding new files to library is now an option in Options : Explorer [Steffen M.]
5.60.18.0 ReverseScrobble is now possible using command line interface using flag reverse_scrobble
5.60.17.0 Import PlayedCount from POPM or PCNT Frame for MP3 files using Library tab
5.60.16.0 Lyrics from LyricWiki will support all UTF-8 characters

I have permanently fixed the issue with LyricWiki and the setup is also 200 KiB smaller now because it directly accesses the LyricWiki servers without the need of a 3rd party DLL.

great. I'll give this a try