Playback Statistics component: version 3.0.1, Discussion, feedback and beta versions Options

[tpijag]

Unless you write the stats to the files tags the information is in a file on the computer and will be lost.

foo_playcount database files are:
v2.x = PlaybackStatistics.dat (in application folder)
v3.x = "C653739F-14B3-4EF2-819B-A3E2883230AE" (in folder 'index-data')

EDIT: If you have not previously set your configuration to write this information to your tags, you can select all your files and use the context menu to do so.

This post has been edited by tpijag: Jan 26 2012, 17:24

[WilB]

@canuckerfan

In addition to the above suggestion, you can also do the following with v3.x, as taken from the wiki:

http://wiki.hydrogenaudio.org/index.php?ti...oo_playcount%29

XML backup functionality

You can export playback statistics to an XML file and import them later, through Library => Playback Statistics menu commands, or through context menu on specific tracks. This can be used to easily transfer playback statistics between different foobar2000 installations or profiles.

This post has been edited by WilB: Jan 26 2012, 17:54

[wojtek]

I'm noticing a rare, ocasional problem with the database -- some tracks drop the statistics from the DB (playcount/rating) and show up in the autoplaylist (rating GREATER 2 AND (%first_played% DURING LAST 4 WEEKS OR %added% DURING LAST 10 WEEKS)) but with empty rating field (yet the rating is in the file tag thus importing it fix the problem.

[alkasar]

Hi Peter,

Any chance for an improvement to be able to decide in settings which statistics are copied to TAG ?

I have foobar on multiple pcs and sync my music files between them. I'd like to sync files if RATING changed, but not all the played files.
IMHO, RATING is not like playblack statistics. I can understand your opinion is different.
We could both be happy if I could decide to sync to file tag ONLY the Rating

Thanks for considering,
Al

[Mr Broly]

Hi, I've been using playback_statistics_custom for my tags playback statistics and want to start using the official playback statistic component. The playback_statistic_custom plugin saves my tags as play_counter, first_played, and last_played. Is there a way to convert these tags to the ones the official playback statistics component uses somehow? Thanks.

This post has been edited by Mr Broly: May 9 2012, 00:38

[Mr Broly]

Hi, I've been using playback_statistics_custom for my tags playback statistics and want to start using the official playback statistic component. The playback_statistic_custom plugin saves my tags as play_counter, first_played, and last_played. Is there a way to convert these tags to the ones the official playback statistics component uses somehow? Thanks.

Nvm got it thanks.

[MDMA]

XML backup functionality

You can export playback statistics to an XML file and import them later, through Library => Playback Statistics menu commands, or through context menu on specific tracks. This can be used to easily transfer playback statistics between different foobar2000 installations or profiles.

Does this overwrite current playback statistics? I would like to transfer my old playback statistics onto my 'new' foobar (which I have actually been using for around 6 months. I don't want to lose my current playback stats, rather add them together. Is this possible?

[MordredKLB]

Someone can correct me if I'm wrong, but yes, it'll overwrite the old statistics. Here's what I'd do to add the numbers together (you can do something similar for the other fields if you care about %added%, %last_played%, etc.).

On your NEW foobar, I'd select your entire library and then do Playback Statistics >> Write statistic to File tags. Wait several minutes for everything to get written. Then using Mass Tagger I'd write a script that copies PLAY_COUNT to a new field called PLAY_COUNT_NEW and then deletes PLAY_COUNT. Do something similar for the other fields if you want them saved.
On your OLD foobar, I'd export to XML.
On your NEW foobar, I'd import the XML and assume everything got overwritten.
On your NEW foobar, select your entire library and then do Playback Statistics >> Write statistic to File tags. Wait several minutes for everything to get written. You should now have a PLAY_COUNT which was your play count from your OLD foobar and PLAY_COUNT_NEW which is from your New foobar. You can then use Mass Tagger to copy PLAY_COUNT to PLAY_COUNT_TEMP (just in case you screw something up) and then set PLAY_COUNT to $add(%play_count_temp%,%play_count_new%). Then select all your files and do Playback Statistics >> Import Statistics from File Tags.

Afterwards you can delete all the junky tags in your files and your play counts should be good.

This post has been edited by db1989: Jun 5 2012, 10:35

Reason for edit: deleting pointless full quote

[MDMA]

The above described method works perfectly. Thanks!

[anyone]

Hello Peter,

Are there any plans to add options for update timing (eg. update after x seconds/percentage has been played)? I still use the unofficial component solely for this feature.

I do really need this as well!

[klexxy]

Hello Peter,

Are there any plans to add options for update timing (eg. update after x seconds/percentage has been played)? I still use the unofficial component solely for this feature.

I do really need this as well!

+1

[neothe0ne]

Something I discovered recently:

If you use a different tagging program on your music (e.g., Mp3tag), and use Playback Statistics 3.x (based on hashes of tags, not filenames), then you should turn OFF realtime library monitoring. I've found that when I rescan my library after changing tags, foobar will no longer lose tags for files with changed year/date, artist, and/or title.

(With realtime monitoring on, not only would foobar lose statistics on files changed outside foobar2000, but it would also cause Mp3tag to fail to rename files from xxxxx.tmp back to the real filename e.g. 01 song.m4a)


An additional plus is that copying files into my music library folders no longer causes foobar2000 to hang for a couple seconds. (it only hangs for about a second when I hit Rescan folders)

[neothe0ne]

Any chance of half-stars (using the "1/2" unicode symbol is what Apple apparently does) or outright allowing the user to change the scale from 5 to 10?

[Kougeru]

I just did a quick topic search that didnt help at all so I'll ask now, and sorry if it's already been asked which I have a feeling it has been:

Is there a way to manually edit %PLAY_COUNT%? or other fields really. going into properties and changing it doesn't actually change the "Played" under playback statistics. due to bugs and errors, a lot of my plays have been lost (confirmed with last.fm and the fact that some of the songs lost rating and YEARS of plays/all of the plays). If there's even a third party way of doing this that still affects what playback statistics displays, that will be good enough. thanks for the help in advance and thanks for your time

This post has been edited by Kougeru: Aug 11 2012, 14:43

[alkasar]

I just did a quick topic search that didnt help at all so I'll ask now, and sorry if it's already been asked which I have a feeling it has been:

Is there a way to manually edit %PLAY_COUNT%? or other fields really. going into properties and changing it doesn't actually change the "Played" under playback statistics. due to bugs and errors, a lot of my plays have been lost (confirmed with last.fm and the fact that some of the songs lost rating and YEARS of plays/all of the plays). If there's even a third party way of doing this that still affects what playback statistics displays, that will be good enough. thanks for the help in advance and thanks for your time

maybe export to xml, then edit the xml file, and then import from xml ?

[mazzzzz]

Hey Peter,
I'm trying to write a program to merge your export with an Itunes library import so I can get added to library info in Foobar2000, but I can't seem to figure out how you encoded your timestamps in your XML export, mind sharing?

Thanks

[alkasar]

Hello Everyone,

finally found a way to sync file tags and Playback Statitistics database ratings storage!
It is far from optimal, but unless Peter decides to do something about the rating storage, that's the best i could find.

As you know PlaybackStatistics component can store the PB stats (first/last played, playcount,etc.. and rating) either in a database or in the file tags.
You can copy from one location to the other by using the "Import statictics from file tag" or "Write statistics to file tag" commands.

My concern is Ratings. IMHO, not a playback stat. I want to keep it in a tag.

Issue is that I have multiple instances of foobar. I use a filesync utility to sync my music. It works very well, except for ratings.

After copying files around, I ended up having for some tracks a Rating file tag different from the one in the PB database.

Another issue is that I may change Rating at any place.
If I use the playback statistics component with saving in the file tag option, every played file is updated, creating a huge amount of false positive to sync. If I chose the option to keep PB stats in the database, I miss the Ratings updates !


Here is a solution to keep in sync in 3 steps using autoplaylist. (Library > Search and then create autoplaylist)

%rating% is the rating value in the db
$meta(rating) is the value in the file tag. Many query operators consider a field without % as it's meta value.

First two steps are to find orphans on each instance.

1. Search (%rating% PRESENT) AND (rating MISSING)
this query will find the tracks with a db value and no file tag. Select all and run command "Write statistics to file tag"

2. Search (rating PRESENT) AND (%rating% MISSING)
this query will find the tracks with tag value and no db value. Select all and run command "Import statictics from file tag"

Once there is no orphan anymore, we want to find tracks having a different rating in the db and the file tag.
unfortunately, a simple query like this "NOT (rating EQUAL %rating%)" does not work

3. use this_long_syntax to search
(%rating% PRESENT) AND NOT (((rating EQUAL 1) AND (%rating% EQUAL 1)) OR ((rating EQUAL 2) AND (%rating% EQUAL 2)) OR ((rating EQUAL 3) AND (%rating% EQUAL 3)) OR ((rating EQUAL 4) AND (%rating% EQUAL 4)) OR ((rating EQUAL 5) AND (%rating% EQUAL 5)))

this autoplaylist lists all the tracks with a db rating different than the file tag.

a)BEFORE sync the files, on each instance, check if there are some tracks in the autplaylist, select all and run the "Write statistics to file tag" command.
b)Sync the files between the pcs.
c)Then check again the autoplaylist on each instance, and run the "Import statictics from file tag" command.
Now you're in sync, db and tags, on all isntances. Until you change a rating again at some place.


enjoy

[MordredKLB]

Alkasar, I detailed a way to sync playback statistics between multiple foobar instances here, but I don't think there's anyway to make it work with multiple foobars running at the same time without doing something similar to what you're already doing. If that's not an issue for you, then my method might be simpler for you.

[alkasar]

Alkasar, I detailed a way to sync playback statistics between multiple foobar instances here, but I don't think there's anyway to make it work with multiple foobars running at the same time without doing something similar to what you're already doing. If that's not an issue for you, then my method might be simpler for you.

sync the the playback statistics database via the cloud is a good idea I have 3 foobard instances, 2 of them running at the same time that I never stop. I need to figure out a way to "reload" the pbstatistics while running, or stop/restart foobar at least once a day.
As I am mostly interested in ratings, this is probably acceptable.
I don't use dropbox but google drive. Wonder if I can make it work with gdrive and also sync some playlists as well. Will try out

[John Doe]

My observations on Playback Statistics (v3.0.2):

• I have a recurring event of dropped and renewed added_timestamp. Meaning:
  Foobar apparently looses the playback statistics for certain files and/or overwrites it with new ones.
  My database is on an internal drive. And is accessed by foobar on a daily basis. So no chance to drop stuff because auf the 4-week barrier.
• I made a "backup" of my Statistics by writing them to file tags. This way I can restore the old Playback Statistics but it is still a pain to check the database of inconsistencies. PLUS this seems to happen to all filetypes (wav/mpg) and some of them don't HAVE file tags, as you konw. This way my database gets more and more scattered. (At least in the ADDED-panel )
• My own mistake: When I get better quality versions of an album, I copy over the statistics from the old version. (%added_timestamp%). But I started by copying the human readable date. Just copied it in a TEMP tag. Only later I discovered the "Export to file tag" function.
  Is it somehow possible to get that back into the statistics?
• And right now I just tried to use the human readable date in the ADDED_TIMESTAMP for "Import from tags" function. Now its says its "added" 1601-01-01 (don't think I had my PC back there. I used another time stamp, couldn't import. I tried a reset. Didn't work. I tried removing it from the database an putting it back in. No effect. Strange! I cannot change the historical ADDED-date.

This post has been edited by John Doe: Oct 12 2012, 11:31

[s3khmet]

Hi,
I'm not quite sure how to work with Playback Statistics : do I really need to select all the tracks where I want to move the stats to the tags and then chose "Write to file tags" ?
Isn't there a way to write in it directly ?

[marc2003]

you'll find an option under file>preferences>advanced>tools>playback statistics.

[s3khmet]

Ok, thanks, didn't think about looking there

[extracampine]

Hi,

Apologies if this is straightforward - I use the playback statistics plugin to add ratings to music files in Foobar. I understand that the plugin does not use the standard %rating% metadata for some reason.

I also use JRiver to play and rate music - this DOES seem to use the %rating% tag.

What I would like to do, is to fill one from the other, i.e. if there is a %rating% but no rating in the plugin, then copy the value to the plugin. And vice versa, if I rate something in the plugin, to copy this value to the %rating% field.

Any help appreciated!!

[BenB]

The Playback Statistics component now writes a Windows Media Player POPM frame to mp3 files when the "Write statistics to file tags" option is used. With a quick search on Google, I found that JRiver will use the rating. (I don't know how ratings in JRiver work. It likely imports the POPM ratings to its ratings, but you'll need to ask JRiver how their mp3 ratings are stored/written if you don't already know).

The Playback Statistics component writes a RATING tag to flac files when the "Write statistics to file tags" option is used. Again you'll need to consult JRiver on on how flac ratings are handled.

This post has been edited by BenB: Oct 14 2012, 21:04