New Media Library Organizer (ml_org)

[AlanS]

Hey everyone! I have a plugin that will physically move and organize all of your media library files for you, much like what iTunes does.

This plugin was originally developed by Jason Heddings back in 2005 (His post about this is http://forums.winamp.com/showthread....hreadid=211918). I contacted him and he gave me permission to continue his project after sending me his code. So now after two weeks of messing with it, it's finally ready to be posted and tested here.

To run the plugin and organize your files, all you have to do is click on the big "Library" button and go to "Organize Media Library". I also added the feature to right click on a track or artist and go to "Send To -> Organize Files" to organize certain files. Also make sure to check the configuration dialog because it contains lots of cool features.

In case you are an old user of ml_org and you would like to know what changes I made, here they are:

*Updated for Winamp v5.3
*Added the "Send To -> Organize Files" feature
*Added the ability to use a "Base Path"
*Added the ability to copy the files instead of move them
*Added the Bath Path Cleanout feature (With Confirmation)
*Included a fancy folder select for the Base Path
*You can now delete duplicate files (With Confirmation)
*It continues to organize if there is a trivial error
*Fixed various bugs
*I also got rid of the SYS_CHAR replacement, the replace spaces and the remove empty folders in the configuration dialog -- but left them in the winamp.ini so they still work if you wanted to use them. Removing empty folders works by default.


The only thing I don't know how to do it create an installer for it, so that I can submit it to the plugin section. If you know how to do that, please tell me.

Tell me what you think! If you have any suggestions just post them here and I will probably include them in the project. And if you find any bugs, be sure to let me know.

The source code is included with the dll.

You NEED at least Winamp 5.35

[AlanS]

Hmm...it looks like the upload failed. I'll try again.

Note: Latest version is here

[siebe83]

Nice, especially the new send-to item.

For the interested reader, the earlier threads by Jason Hedding:
http://forums.winamp.com/showthread.php?threadid=211918
http://forums.winamp.com/showthread.php?threadid=211805

[jheddings]

Great to see this brought back to life!

As for the installer, check out the Nullsoft installer: http://nsis.sourceforge.net/

They have some examples specifically for WA plugins: http://nsis.sourceforge.net/Winamp_P...taller_Scripts

[Koopa]

AlanS:

I can make an installer for you, just contact me via PM.

[AlanS]

Originally posted by Koopatrooper
AlanS:

I can make an installer for you, just contact me via PM.

Thanks, but I already figured it out with NSIS. The only problem is the website wont let me submit it. I try and it just goes to a blank page...oh well. I'll just try in a couple days. I guess some things aren't working right with the new site.

[TwilightInZero]

This plugin's just about perfect for me. Well, it would be perfect for me, except I don't know how to use the file format area of the rules thing. When I click "Format Help", all I get is "NOT IMPLEMENTED" or somethin' like that.

Would you perhaps be able to tell me what all the file formatter can do? I used Tag&Rename to put my songs into a Genre\Album Artist\Album\Disc.Track. Name format, but that program's SLOW, and puts 0s in front of the disc #. I'd also like to be able to do everything from within Winamp.

I'd also like to know if there are conditional format tags, and if the plugin supports Unicode.

[AlanS]

Originally posted by TwilightInZero
This plugin's just about perfect for me. Well, it would be perfect for me, except I don't know how to use the file format area of the rules thing. When I click "Format Help", all I get is "NOT IMPLEMENTED" or somethin' like that.

Would you perhaps be able to tell me what all the file formatter can do? I used Tag&Rename to put my songs into a Genre\Album Artist\Album\Disc.Track. Name format, but that program's SLOW, and puts 0s in front of the disc #. I'd also like to be able to do everything from within Winamp.

I'd also like to know if there are conditional format tags, and if the plugin supports Unicode.

The plugin can't change the song tags like Tag&Rename can. It just reads the tags and sorts the song into artist\track title by default. To sort the music by the way you described you can make the Condition type = "0" to sort only mp3s, and you can make the Format String <Genre>\<Artist>\<Album>\<Track2> <Title>

I hope this helps. Reply if you need anything else.

[djpete1959]

can someone pls tell me how to install?
Added files to Winamp folder but no go...

[flocksoft]

Originally posted by djpete1959
can someone pls tell me how to install?
Added files to Winamp folder but no go...

not in Winamp main folder, but in Winamp\Plugins folder, after this you'll find a new entry clicking on the Library button in the Media Library (the pattern file name can be fine-tuned in plugin preferences)

anyway this plugin is pretty useless for you, because it use tags to rename the songs

Originally posted by djpete1959

I don't use tags.

[TwilightInZero]

I've already got the queries I need down. I've got like, 7 genres that go Genre\Album Artist\Album\Disc.Track. Name

And then one genre goes Genre\Name

It's how I want my filenames to go. It would also be nice if there was some way for it to omit the disc # or track # along with the following period if it's not present, but I don't NEED it.

But I do need to use the Album Artist tag and the Disc tag.

[AlanS]

Originally posted by TwilightInZero
I've already got the queries I need down. I've got like, 7 genres that go Genre\Album Artist\Album\Disc.Track. Name

And then one genre goes Genre\Name

It's how I want my filenames to go. It would also be nice if there was some way for it to omit the disc # or track # along with the following period if it's not present, but I don't NEED it.

But I do need to use the Album Artist tag and the Disc tag.

The plugin should be able to use the Album Artist tag and the Disc tag, it just doesn't show up in the preview. I will make some changes tonight and make sure that it works. I will also include omiting the period for you.

[TwilightInZero]

The plugin would be more flexible if you could be able to use conditional tags like you can in Foobar2000 (which sucks at reading tags) or like when you edit the song info ticker. Y'know, this dealie:

[%artist% - ]$if2(%title%,$filepart(%filename%))

It would actually be really cool if it worked the same way. But it's your plugin, you can make it how you want. I'm just making suggestions.

[djpete1959]

Originally posted by flocksoft
not in Winamp main folder, but in Winamp\Plugins folder, after this you'll find a new entry clicking on the Library button in the Media Library (the pattern file name can be fine-tuned in plugin preferences)

anyway this plugin is pretty useless for you, because it use tags to rename the songs

i see flocksoft...
i thought I'll try anything re media library add on...lol
Maybe I will pass....
So thats all it does its functions are based around tagging....oh well.

[AlanS]

I looked into adding the other tags, like Album Artist and Disc. It's going to be more work than I thought it was going to be, so It might take me a while. I'll keep you updated.

[TwilightInZero]

Thank you very much. :]

[narfnarfsilly]

This plugin is the last blow against iTunes that allows me to *completely abandon it*

THANK YOU!

[TwilightInZero]

It's not totally complete yet. At least not for me.

It's been almost 2 months... What's going on with this thing?

[AlanS]

Originally posted by TwilightInZero
It's not totally complete yet. At least not for me.

It's been almost 2 months... What's going on with this thing?

Sorry, I don't think it's going to happen. I played around with it for a long time. I have to convert all the functions that grab the tags to "Extended" functions that aren't fully supported in the SDK yet. I tried to get it to work for a couple days and I can't do it. I posted a couple times in the help forums and no one could answer my questions. It may happen further down the line when they develop the SDK more. I'm sorry dude.

[TwilightInZero]

Oh well. I guess I'll just keep using Tag&Rename.

Thanks for the effort.

[ncowboy]

thank you very much for this plugin!it is so useful!

but can you add a menu item Organize Files the playlist window?

thank you again!

[Alex89]

does this plug-in work with the new winamp (v5.5)? because i just installed it but when i try to use it it shuts down winamp? anyone else having this problem?? i really want to get it sorted out co i have been looking for this plug-in for ages!!

[AlanS]

Originally posted by Alex89
does this plug-in work with the new winamp (v5.5)? because i just installed it but when i try to use it it shuts down winamp? anyone else having this problem?? i really want to get it sorted out co i have been looking for this plug-in for ages!!

Yes, or at least it should. It works with mine and I haven't heard of anyone else having problems.

I will be releasing v2.0 of this plugin next month that will be fixing some things, so if it doesn't work for you then maybe the next version will.

If it doesn't work when you hit the "Organize Library" button, then make sure all your tracks have an artist. If they don't just tag them as "Unknown" or something. I had some problems with it shutting down once it reached a track that didn't have an artist.

Hope this helps.

[Gsusnme]

Perhaps maybe someone can help me reset this plug in to it's default state? I tried setting it up in the Organizational Rules option to have it sort/rename my files in this format.

<Artist>\<Album>\<Artist> - <Album> - <Track2> - <Title>

Set it and then, the plug in simply doesn't work anymore. It does nothing when clicking the organize button. Doesn't move the files, rename them, nothing. Guess it could be worse and do something I didn't want it too but, ho well. So I tried uninstalling the plug in via WinAMPs plug in window, tryied manually deleting all the files in the plug in folder, and every time I reinstall the plug in it has the same settings and still does not work. Any thoughts? Your help is much appreciated.

Just a side note, using the very latest version of WinAMP Pro.
Vista Ultimate x64

The plug in worked fine before I tried changing any settings. *shrug*

[AlanS]

Originally posted by Gsusnme
Perhaps maybe someone can help me reset this plug in to it's default state? I tried setting it up in the Organizational Rules option to have it sort/rename my files in this format.

<Artist>\<Album>\<Artist> - <Album> - <Track2> - <Title>

Set it and then, the plug in simply doesn't work anymore. It does nothing when clicking the organize button. Doesn't move the files, rename them, nothing. Guess it could be worse and do something I didn't want it too but, ho well. So I tried uninstalling the plug in via WinAMPs plug in window, tryied manually deleting all the files in the plug in folder, and every time I reinstall the plug in it has the same settings and still does not work. Any thoughts? Your help is much appreciated.

Just a side note, using the very latest version of WinAMP Pro.
Vista Ultimate x64

The plug in worked fine before I tried changing any settings. *shrug*

Wow, not sure why that happened to you, but I will look into that problem for the next release.

To reset your settings, find the file winamp.ini in your Application Data (not the one in your program files). I'm not completely familiar with Vista because I'm still running xp, but for me it's:

C:\Documents and Settings\<username>\Application Data\Winamp\Winamp.ini

A search for winamp.ini should do the trick too (you might have to show hidden files).

Once you found the file, open it up and scroll down to the bottom. You should see a [ml_org] section. Mine is:
[ml_org]
path=
query=type = "0"
syschar=
replace_spaces=0
use_base_path=0
remove_empty_dirs=1
clean_base_path=0
delete_duplicate=0
copy_files=0
num_rules=1
rule_0=type = "0"|<Artist>\<Album>\<Track2> <Title>
loglevel=5
logfile=C:\ml_org.log

To reset everything to default, just delete the whole section.

Hope this helps!

[Gsusnme]

Thanks, that reset it for me, I'll just have to use it on default settings, I don't wanna break it again :P

[aRne]

Great Plugin. But is there any way to use die DISC Tags in the Format String? <Disc> will not work

[aRne]

oh i see it's not yet implented in november u announced the version 2. how is ur work yet? and did u find a way to implement the disc number and album artist things?

[IndieRockSteve]

bump on waiting for Version 2!

thanks!

[RegW]

Hi - anyone of you interested in helping to develop a plugin for a network-based music recommendation engine?

It's really something that is missing in Winamp - so many tracks on your PC, no time to create hundreds of playlists...

Not sure whether this is the best place to post this message - let me know if you know a better place.

[AlanS]

OK OK! I have been working on version 2, or rather 1.1. I'm just trying to fix some crashing issues with certain files and tags. As of right now it's not going to support things like Album Artist, however the Disc number is a possibility. When I tried to implement these things a couple months ago the SDK didn't even support it (it was still in beta or something). I'll see what I can do.

I will post my progress at the end of this weekend. I promise.

[AlanS]

Hey everyone!

Here's an the update. I have figured out how to include all of the extended tags such as Album Artist and Disc. This will be included in 2.0.

I am basically going through all of the suggestions that have been posted and I will be implementing most of them. I have nothing to do this weekend, so much of my time will be spent on this project.

If you guys have any more ideas on how I can improve the plugin then please post them now.

So far:
"but the plugin do not work at winamp 5.52 It shut winamp down during organizing."
** Fixed

"Great plug-in. Seems speedy and effective. The one sad thing that it is missing is the ability to use the field in Organization Rules. I organize all my music in folder by album artist, so without the feature, the plug-in is kind of useless to me. Any chance of adding it?"
** Yes!! I just figured this out and it will be included.

"I like this plugin a lot, but it has some points of improvement.* the grid that contains the rules should be a little bit bigger, you can only see 2 or 3 rules at a glimpse, and so it is difficult to sort and to compare rules.* Should be nice to add an key, to keep same album with different artists together. Nice work, keep going!"
** I made the rules window bigger and now you can use Album Artist

"Great Plugin. But is there any way to use die DISC Tags in the Format String? <Disc> will not work "
** <Disc> works now.

There also seems to be some problems with Windoews Vista and I do not own Vista (I'm on XP). If anyone is on Vista 32bit or 64bit and would like to beta test then let me know.

I will submit a new version tomorrow. (Sunday Feb 24)

[AlanS]

Ok guys, here is ml_org v2.0 as promised. It has all of the features I talked about above. I hope this fixes any issues you were having before.

If anyone wants the source just let me know.

[neocryptek]

Could you please make the delete window resizable or horizontally scrollable? It's pretty hard to figure out what file(s) it is referring to when you have a long base path (like I do).

Thanks for continuing the project AlanS.

[d.vertz]

WARNING!!
To all users who want to try this pluggin. Be sure you know what it does first. The misleading name "organizer" is not what it is all about. This thing RENAMES ALL your files!!

It's a file renamer.

Crap. My nice neatly organined and properly named files have been detroyed!! Every file (7,443) have been renamed without any extension (mp3 dropped) and all cover art is gone. Plus all the folders had special icons on them which requires each folder to be system folder, is now gone. The desktop.ini files are gone, the icon files are gone and the folders are no longer a system folder.

Weeks worth of work is gone in about 2 minutes of scanning files.

Where's the undo button?

[AlanS]

Originally posted by d.vertz
WARNING!!
To all users who want to try this pluggin. Be sure you know what it does first. The misleading name "organizer" is not what it is all about. This thing RENAMES ALL your files!!

It's a file renamer.

Crap. My nice neatly organined and properly named files have been detroyed!! Every file (7,443) have been renamed without any extension (mp3 dropped) and all cover art is gone. Plus all the folders had special icons on them which requires each folder to be system folder, is now gone. The desktop.ini files are gone, the icon files are gone and the folders are no longer a system folder.

Weeks worth of work is gone in about 2 minutes of scanning files.

Where's the undo button?

I'm very sorry you had a bad experience with it, but I thought it was clear. This plugin DOES rename your files for you, but it renames them to what you specify.

Also, it will only delete files if you check the clean out base path box. It will also give you a confirmation telling you what files it wants to delete before actually deleting them.

If I may ask, what did you think this plugin was going to do?

[AlanS]

I updated the plugin again. All I did this time was add a "What is this plugin?" that explains how to use it and what exactly it does, so that no one will be surprised when it renames their files.

Please upgrade to this version if you can.

Extract ml_org.dll from the zip file and place it in:
/Program Files/Winamp/Plugins/

[Grandchild]

hey, it's a plugin i wanted to have for a loong time, so it's good it's here BUT: can you please (pleeeease!!) add a thingy that will bring up the configuration dialogue BEFORE it does anything? had the same thing as d.vertz....
well i know it's supposed to be renaming/relocating them, but when the progress bar showed i thought it was just prescanning them!
oooh man! yes, and something like remembering the previous folder/naming structure would be nice too (maybe a backup txt file in the plugin folder for your plugin to read if an undo is wanted).
but first thing is really, bring up the config screen when you press "organize" for the first time, or actually it should bring it up every time!

grandchild


//edit: and it crashed the first time because i had some dead entries in my library, i guess there's a quick fix to that one...

[Grandchild]

btw, does the offer with the source code still stand?
i will not publish a version i *might* make without your consent!
pm me...
grandchild

[d.vertz]

Well, my apologies AlanS. I went back to the top of the thread and saw where I messed up. Somehow I missed the FIRST paragraph that did say it PHYSICALLY MOVED the files. Somehow all I had originally read was organize like iTunes. And since I was unfamiliar with how iTunes does it, I figure whats the harm, I'll give it a try.

Turns out you are also correct about the MOVE. In the jumbled up mess, I found the original folders still in tact. But that really didn't help any. My biggest problem was the lack of the MP3 file extension. I think the default configuration should include keeping the extension. Without it, Winamp can't find the files and neither could Tag&Rename. I had no way of getting the extension added back on 7,000 files. Somehow I would think the ml_org might add the extension back if configured correctly. But then can ml_org find the MP3's if the extension is missing?

After a little over a day,I was able to track down a backup copy across town. I had written the files to a portable drive just two weeks prior. So it turned out not much editing of ID3 tags was lost.

You asked what I thought it did. Thats the biggest problem, I wasn't thinking. I was looking for a replacement for Dynamic Library since it wouldn't any longer "see" the folders that had custom icons added. Adding custom icons to a folder forces that folder to be a system folder which DL would not read. So I was basically looking for a ML plugin that displayed the song list as filenames. Trying out everything I could find. There are no other plugins like DL.

I have not tried the new ml_org. Too scared. Now that I have all my files back in place, I think I'll stop playing with new toys. However, I think "GrandChild" had a good suggestion with bringing up the configure dialog prior to running is a good idea.