|
| AudioManage: FAQs |
| Table of Contents |
 Which file formats does AudioManage support?
|
|
Where's my collection?
|
|
Where's the tag editor?
|
|
Why is there no 'Add to library' option in the context menu of supported files?
|
|
Why does Winamp show junk in my ID3 tags?
|
|
Why is there a small delay sometimes in opening a folder in AudioManage?
|
|
Why do I see a 'Starting database server' occasionally in the top-left of the screen?
|
|
What's the difference between 'by Similarity' and 'Duplicates'?
|
|
What's the 'Compilations' view?
|
|
What other information can I get related to my tracks?
|
|
When using Unicode text, AudioManage shows 'boxes' or '?' instead of each character.
|
| |
| Which file formats does AudioManage support? |
While the list of formats we support keeps growing, at the time of writing this FAQ, we support:
Audio Files
MP3, WMA, OGG, AAC, ASF, MAC (Monkey Audio), FLAC. A lot of other mp* files are also supported. Many mpeg video files (such as mpeg, mpg, etc.) are also supported, where AudioManage indexes the audio stream of the video files.
Playlists
Winamp's M3U, as well as Windows Media Player's WPL playlists are fully supported. Any folder or playlist (which are treated like folders) can be dropped to any other application or location, and converted to playlists. You can configure AudioManage to either create M3U or WPL playlists. The 'Favorites' playlist is internally stored in the database, but managed like a WPL. Preferably, WPL playlists should be used as they support Unicode - which is not supported by Winamp.
|
| Back to Top |
| Where's my collection? |
No-where. Your existing collection remains exactly where it is. AudioManage makes it easy for you to stop worrying about filenames and paths, and where each file is located. Instead, you think of the files as 'Logical' tracks... the path to each track being [Album Name]\[TrackName] or [ArtistName]\[AlbumName]\[Trackname] etc. As you can see, using this way, each track can be accessed using many different paths (even though the track is the same). Finally, when you find your track, you can simply launch it from the Audio Library itself. Note that when you launch this 'virtual track', AudioManage automatically finds the actual, real, physical location of the track (for example c:\my music\whatever.mp3) , and passes that internally to the desired application: you never have to worry about where the file was (it remains whereever you kept is, so you can still access it in the old way, in the same location).
Remember that at any time, the only 'copy' of the track is the one you originally had: AudioManage only shows you virtual folders containing the track in many possible locations, only to make it easy for you to organize and search for the track. When you finally use the track, your original track gets used. When you change the properties of a track, the tags of the original file get updated.
|
| Back to Top |
| Where's the tag editor? |
AudioManage has a built-in unicode compatible tag editor (also known as a 'tagger'). However, you never get to see it: at least, not as a conventional tagger. The complexities of editing tags is hidden from you by the virtual interface, so you don't even need to know about the existence of tags:
When you rename a folder, let's say, the folder of an Artist, then the files 'inside' that folder (which means, all tracks by that artist) also automatically get updated. This is completely independant of the format: the appropriate tags of all the affected files instantly get updated.
Let's say you select a few files from the 'Rock' genre folder, and drag and drop them into the genre folder 'Classic Rock', then the genre tags of all those files also automatically get updated.
You can even drag/drop across different categories. For example, dragging an artist folder, say 'Norah Jones', into the Genre folder 'Jazz', will change the genre of all tracks by Norah Jones to 'Jazz'. In this case, the artist, of course, remains Norah Jones.
Of course, if you only want to edit tags of a certain file (or a set of files) instead of all files in a 'folder', you can always select the file (or files) and modify it's properties (tags!).
You can use any language you want in any of the fields... artist, album, genre, comments, lyrics etc. The most appropriate encoding will be selected by AudioManage, depending upon each individual file that's effected. For example, for WMA files, Unicode will be used, while for OGG files, UTF8 is used. For MP3 ID3v2 tags, Unicode is used, while for older ID3 tags, ANSI encoding is used.
|
| Back to Top |
| Why is there no 'Add to library' option in the context menu of supported files? |
AudioManage supports many file formats, and the list keeps growing. Not adding to the context menu of the support files (MP3, WMA, OGG etc.) was a concious design decision, as we found that most users already have a cluttered context menu for audio files, what with multiple programs adding their 'Play', 'Enqueue', and 'Playlist' options etc.
Since AudioManage is geared to handle collections, we found it to be better, and more useful, to add a single option right in the folder that contains all the files. This way, AudioManage will check each file, and index the ones it supports. Since most people keep their music files inside a folder (or folders), it should be much more easy to add content to AudioManage this way than to add a file-at-a-time.
|
| Back to Top |
| Why does Winamp show junk in my ID3 tags? |
If you use Unicode in your tags, Winamp may not be able to show those tags properly. This is a known issue with Winamp: it doesn't support Unicode (and doesn't plan to, according to posts in Winamp's forums). UPDATE: Winamp supports Unicode from version 5.3 onwards. The following applies to versions older than that.
Also, Winamp's ID3v2 tag editor is buggy as it stores ANSI text but marks it as Unicode. This is against the ID3v2 standard.
However, AudioManage tries it's best to get around these problems, considering a lot of people use Winamp. Firstly, when Unicode is used, AudioManage saves the original, Unicode version of the tags in the ID3V2 fields, and stores an ANSI version, if possible, of the same tag in the ID3V1 fields. This takes care of older, non ID3V2 compliant players, as they will be able to read the fields to get more information. Note that for ANSI to work, your Windows must be changed for a language. This means it's not possible to mix multiple languages. Unicode tags do not have this limitation.
AudioManage also handles ANSI ID3V2 tags incorrectly marked as Unicode by Winamp. However, AudioManage fixes these tags when they are written.
Note that Windows Media Player, among other players, fully supports Unicode, and has absolutely no issues with the tags AudioManage adds/modifies.
|
| Back to Top |
| Why is there a small delay sometimes in opening a folder in AudioManage? |
AudioManage uses a complex database engine, which is extremely efficient. It is not only fast, but also intelligent, using our own on-demand technology. Due to this, the engine loads itself when data is needed (which is when you see 'Starting database server' in a small window on the top left), but when it's not used for some time, it shuts itself down. Of course, you never have to start or stop the engine: it's all done automatically for you, so that you always have the maximum amount of memory available for your applications.
When you don't use the library for some time (typically, a few minutes), the engine unloads itself from memory. When you again start using it, the engine loads itself back if data is needed, which is why you might experience a small pause. Usually, this pause is insignificant - less than a fraction of a second - and feels like a little 'jerk' in the otherwise smooth process.
|
| Back to Top |
| Why do I see a 'Starting database server' occasionally in the top-left of the screen? |
'Starting database server' appears when our on-demand database server loads itself. Please see the previous topic (above) for more details on this.
|
| Back to Top |
| What's the difference between 'by Similarity' and 'Duplicates'? |
Both are methods to remove duplicates. However, they work differently: for details on which method to use, check out the faq 'How do I remove duplicates?'
|
| Back to Top |
| What's the 'Compilations' view? |
Compilations are collections of files, from the same or different albums, that have been put together on a CD. A typical example is a set of favorite songs that you burn on a CD to listen to in your car audio system.
Compilations are special, because they are held together by a single bond: the media they are on. However, each of the tracks could actually be a part of some album as well. Hence, these tracks are normally accessible in the 'by Album' view. Simply put, you can think of compliations as 'super albums' that have been created by you.
Compilations make it easier for you to locate which particular disc a song is on, when you regularly burn a lot of discs containing assorted tracks. Many people do this to save on hard-disc space, as CDs are much cheaper to use.
Since compilations are on discs, you can track them just like Audio CDs using the loan manager. You can keep a tab on who a disc has been lent to, or from whom a disc has been borrowed.
|
| Back to Top |
| What other information can I get related to my tracks? |
AudioManage not only does a great job of organizing and tagging your music, but can also find additional information for you, such as a particular AudioCD that is you might want to buy, which contains a specific track, or your favorite artist's posters, etc. It can even take you to sites where you can legaly download mp3 tracks.
All the above can be conveniently accessed from the context menu of AudioManage virtual folders and files. AudioManage determines the most appropriate links to show in the menu, so you always get relevant options. For example, clicking on an artist folder will give you the option of looking for that artist's CDs, posters, or finding mp3 tracks by that artist.
You might also want to look at the 'Related Links' folder in the main folder view. This view will always give you links to direct pages for the latest in audio and video releases from many different online sources. This view will also provide some great deals for you from online resellers, again related to audio and video, or downloading mp3 files etc.
|
| Back to Top |
| When using Unicode text, AudioManage shows 'boxes' or '?' instead of each character. |
When AudioManage displays a 'box' character, or a '?' character instead of the correct characters in tags or filenames, that means that your Windows is not configured to handle that language.
All Windows later than Windows 2000 - Windows 2K/XP/2003 etc., have Unicode support built into them, but may need additional files to be able to display the text is a particular language. Click the link to find out more about configuring your system for Unicode. |
| Back to Top |
|
The comments are owned by the poster. We aren't responsible for their content.
|
|
Home
Features
