Importing

Ah this is a simple problem. This means that either these files are no longer on your computer or they are not in the same spot that MC9 thinks they are. There are two things to do. One is to put them back on your pc in the same spot if they are missing. Second see if the file location is right in MC9.

Ok, you can try two things:

1. Rebuild database from ipod.

2. If that doesn't do it, you're going to have to clean up your ipod (you've already cleaned up your library). Do a full restore with the ipod updater, then initialize for MC9, and synch. That should do it. From here on out, do all your file/tag management in MC9--this should prevent this from happening again..

Well, there are a number of ways to do this...But first give us a little info--is all your music already in your MC9 library, but scattered all over the place on your computer's HD, or is your music scattered all over the place on your computer's HD, and not all in your MC9 library? There are solutions to both situations, but I'm too lazy to write out both...:D

Well Guys, I guess I'm not! :D

OK Tracey, time for a little education in file organization. We're gong to get you organized...

Make sure you have the latest version of MC9 9.1 available on their Interact Boards.

1. First, to fix your iPod, right-click the iPod and select Rebuild iPod Database. That will get the music back on there. It should take about 5 minutes.

2. Next, Open up you program that you download music from the net with. Check in the Options. Somewhere is going to be an option to set your "Download folder". This is where all music is saved to when you download it. Not where that is. If you want to change it, you can. but remember where it is. You don't want it to be you My Documents\My Music folder. Make it something else, like "Downloaded Tunes" or whatever.

3. Now, I'm guessing you're music is stored all over the place on your PC. Not a good thing. First, since it's scattered, you don't know what to import and what not to import into MC9. So, for now we're going to store everything in the My Documents\My Music folder OK? We'll use MC9 to move everything there. Don't worry if you've already got stuff in there, just make sure that all your music is in the MC9 library.

4. We're going to set it up so that in the My Music folder there is a folder for each Artist. In each Artist folder there will be a folder for each Album, in each Album folder will be the tunes, nicely named.

5. Before we do that, you need to make sure your songs are tagged right in MC9. So, I need you to make sure the the following tags are all filled in for each song: Artist, Album, Track#, Track Name. You can do them in batches (Artist and Album anyway), but make sure they are completed. If you have incomplete albums, use whatever you want as the Album name. Get creative, doesn't make a difference.

6. Now, when all of your songs are tagged, click on Media Library in MC9. Then, select all the songs. Right-click, select Library Tools>Rename Files From Properties.

7. In the dialog box that comes up, put a check mark in the "Base Directory" checkbox, make sure the Base Directory is your My Documents\My Music folder. Next put a check mark in the Directory Rule checkbox, select from the list of Presets "[Artist]\[Album]". Next, select from the File Name presets, "[Artist] - [Album] - [Track#] - [Name]". Click OK.

8. MC9 will rename (essentially move) all the tracks to the My Documents\My Music folder and organize them into nice folders for you. When it's done, it will prompt you to delete empty folders if any are left. Say OK to delete those folders (they are empty now because you moved the files).

Now, from now on, when you download music, when you're ready to import, click on Import Files, and search only the Downloaded Music folder for new tunes. This is the folder we set up at the beggining. Once the songs are in your library, clean up their tags and then do the Rename Files from Properites thing again. This will move the tunes into your My Documents\My Music folder.

Hope that helps you out.

Oh, and once you have this all organized, I would suggest one thing. Right-click the iPod, select Initialize. This will delete everything on the iPod, and resync. This will just help prevent any problems with what you've done (missing library files etc). It's just good housekeeping after a lot of changes.

Adam

Nah, he's just a stud...I really didn't want to type all that...:D

Adam my hero!!

:D .

Seriously, it's making sense, when I have a moment to breath (I actually work, believe it or not) I will do as instructed.. thanks for your patience...

Tracey