All ratings and playcount etc lost

[Aenonar]

Just noticed that the entire database of rating, play count and everything had disappeared when trying to refilter the playlist so I would only have unrated music left again... The filtering didn't even work, nothing happened at all.

The playlists were still there, but the playlist manager didn't acknowledge the existence of any of the music on it, only the player would. Although it happily played it all.

It appears to have happened a week ago, for the playlist manager says that's when I started playing music again (although not all tracks I've listened to were displayed) and all the new ratings are in there... But the ~10.000 tracks I've rated before are just gone.

Tried rebooting thinking it was just some weird bug, but still the same. Upgraded to the latest version and nothing. Thinking it was all screwed up anyways I imported all the music back into the playlist manager and the data was indeed wiped. But not only that.. Some tracks I've never even listened to before had 5 star rating and usually around ~20 in a row here and there with that happening.


I literally did nothing at all for this to happen, no ipod plugged, no moving files or anything like all the other threads had done. I weren't even at home at that date, no one were. No viruses or anything either.. Everything looked exactly like when I left it (never shut off the computer, only reboot once in a while) same playlist and filter on it, same track selected etc.


Is there any way at all to restore anything of it? -.- And any explanation to why it even happened?

[MrSinatra]

can't speak to recovering past info, but winamp can now write ratings to tags and you can search the forums for "winamp backup tool" for future data.

[Aenonar]

Hmm... Picked up the database backup. But the file rating doesn't seem to be working properly... No change whatsoever to MP3 files, can't even see any section for it in the ID3 tag.. Checked several MP3 files but nada, and the majority of my collection is in MP3. : /

A .flac file worked on the ~3rd try though. But when copying the file to the desktop and adding it to the playlist winamp didn't recognize the rating, even though it had been properly copied and displayed in the file info... Playlist manager did recognize the rating of it though after I imported it there, but it didn't know the file existed in the all audio tab even after playing both version once..


Winamp started to get fairly laggy in general as well when I tested this out :s

[MrSinatra]

writing ratings needs to be turned on in prefs, if it is, it should work fine. it always works for me. there are some quirks, but if you add your files to your watched folders and rescan, and change views or quit winamp, it should work them out.

use mp3tag to examine your files, remove any tags except id3v2.3 ones. use popularimeter to see the rating info winamp writes to the POPM frame; RATING for flacs.

[dockdweller]

Mr. Sinatra,

Are you perhaps using an older version? You advised another member to scroll down to see rest of the 'extended fields' list just before the post was closed and this has come up again in this thread. I'm having the same problem. Popularimeter DOES NOT appear in the list.

Pardon me if I'm missing something here.

Thanks

[MrSinatra]

i don't like being told i'm wrong.

http://www.mediafire.com/imgbnc.php/...7beb99c06g.jpg

[ryerman]

MrSinatra,
dockdweller,

I've seen this disagreement (it's there, no it's not, yes it is, no it's not etc.) before and I may have an explanation/workaround.

When you create a new tag field in MP3tag it will be entered into the list of extended tags. For example, I can create a tag named "qwqwqwqw" and use it to record the middle name of the bass guitar player. Of course, it will be useless in most (all?) applications/players.

In the same way, you can create a tag field called "popularimeter", which is useful.

So, dockworker, I believe it when you say Popularimeter is not shown in the list of extended tags. I had the same experience until I created the tag myself. You could do the same if you want

MrSinatra, is it possible that, after an MP3tag clean installation, "popularimeter" is not a default item on the extended tags list? I know you are extremely interested in ratings tags. Maybe you created the tag yourself when you were investigating and testing MP3tag.

I'm just trying to keep the peace by proposing a possible explanation. No offence intended.

Jim

[MrSinatra]

my only intention here and in the other thread was to help the afflicted. i know what i am saying is true, and its easy enough to prove what i am saying is true. find a virgin machine, DL and install mp3tag to it, and then setup a column in it doing what i showed in the picture link above. this really isn't rocket science, nor is it too complicated.

http://help.mp3tag.de/main_tags.html

that link should remove any remaining doubt.

if someone can't do it, they can of course enter it manually, but that doesn't make what i said incorrect.

perhaps people are confused when i say "scroll down"? well, notice the little arrows in the last column in my picture, thats how you scroll.

[dockdweller]

Thank you both very much! Simple end-user here is getting closer. However,

I created a field called 'ratings' in the add column section and used '%popularimeter%' in the two boxes beneath and rated a bunch. Mp3tag shows:

rating@winamp.com|255|0

Is this correct behavior..if I lost my ratings in winamp are they stored in the tag though not showing clearly? And I'm unclear about the relationship between the 'Tools\Tag Panel' and what it means to create a 'new' field 'Customize Columns' section. Do you have to do something in the Tag Panel first or at all to 'create'...and then use Customize Columns to 'view'?

I recognize some of this may seem elementary to a more advanced user but I can't find guidance on how to use this feature in the documentation/help of either winamp or mp3tag.

P.S. thought it'd be clear I wasn't questioning Mr. Sinatra's correctness but letting you know some of us need more help in understanding and getting there.

Regards and thanks again,

[dockdweller]

oh..forgot to mention that the 'field' I created called ratings with the value of 'popularimeter' does not appear in the 'Extended Fields' list still. This really baffles me..I've shut both winamp and mp3tap (and even the pc lol) and re-scanned the folder numerous times...

[MrSinatra]

Originally Posted by dockdweller

Thank you both very much! Simple end-user here is getting closer. However,

i'm a simple end user too.

i think its important to note that this is the winamp forums, and that you would probably find more help/support for mp3tag in their forums. i really don't understand the problem you're having tho, b/c everything i've said is so simple.

Originally Posted by dockdweller

I created a field called 'ratings' in the add column section and used '%popularimeter%' in the two boxes beneath and rated a bunch.

do not conflate terms. that is the easiest way to get everyone confused. you created a column NAME, not a field. the column NAME has two properties, "Value" and "Field"

my column name is "Rating" and Value/Field have both %popularimeter% in them. it can be typed in manually, but as i've made clear if you navigate as i did in my picture above, you can get this entered just by clicking.

Originally Posted by dockdweller

Mp3tag shows:

rating@winamp.com|255|0

Is this correct behavior..

yes. thats what it looks like when winamp rates a file.

Originally Posted by dockdweller

if I lost my ratings in winamp are they stored in the tag though not showing clearly?

if mp3tag sees them, they must be stored in the tag. i don't know what you mean when you say "not showing clearly."

Originally Posted by dockdweller

And I'm unclear about the relationship between the 'Tools\Tag Panel' and what it means to create a 'new' field 'Customize Columns' section. Do you have to do something in the Tag Panel first or at all to 'create'...and then use Customize Columns to 'view'?

i think thats for their forums. you have a column you can use in mp3tag.

Originally Posted by dockdweller

I recognize some of this may seem elementary to a more advanced user but I can't find guidance on how to use this feature in the documentation/help of either winamp or mp3tag.

P.S. thought it'd be clear I wasn't questioning Mr. Sinatra's correctness but letting you know some of us need more help in understanding and getting there.

Regards and thanks again,

i'm not trying to be snotty but honestly i don't understand your problems or why you are trying to seek answers to some of them here.

Originally Posted by dockdweller

oh..forgot to mention that the 'field' I created called ratings with the value of 'popularimeter' does not appear in the 'Extended Fields' list still.

this makes no sense. you created a COLUMN NAME first of all. secondly, where do you mean? viewing extended tags from the main window or are we back to setting up the column?

Originally Posted by dockdweller

This really baffles me..I've shut both winamp and mp3tap (and even the pc lol) and re-scanned the folder numerous times...

it has nothing to do with anything beyond mp3tag.

[dockdweller]

to take your points in order:

1. Clarification on NAME vs FIELD helped. thx

2. For some reason (i reinstalled mp3tap just to try it) I CANNOT navigate as you did in your picture. The fact that I cannot navigate to it now (even after I manually created it) is still baffling. Why am I bringing it up? Yes, I do not need to navigate to 'popularimeter' at this point but I assumed that the ability to navigate to it would indicate whether it had been properly created and until I had clarification that all was working correctly this seemed important. Granted, this may be more for the mp3tag forum and not winamp.

All by itself the fact that I cannot get 'popularimeter' to appear in the extended files list in column setup view makes this NOT SIMPLE.

3. Sorry for the confusion on 'not showing clearly.' Until I (just now) re-rated some files with 1 star instead of 5 I did not realize the 255 correlated to 5 starts-- my test rating group all contained 5 starts. In addition 'rating@winamp.com|255|0' is an awful lot of verbage. It is CONFUSING as none of the other fields show what appears to be extra and extraneous information. They simply show the year or title or artist etc. I would only have expected to see a single integer here.

4. All I want to do is rate my music like everyone else and have it stored in the tags. All the other information that I use stores there without jumping through hoops. It is intuitive for me to think that this should be handled automatically by winamp or that if it is not that there should be clear instructions on this feature in either winamps documentation or it's help or its forums. I am starting to appreciate the fact that some of this may in fact fall outside of its scope.

The fact is I couldn't think of a way to know for sure (after I selected the checkbox in winamps preferences) that the feature was working-- i'm sure you can appreciate that I didn't want to start re-rating my whole collection only to find out it could be lost once again. So I went to mp3tag as a way of verifying and it looks like consequently mistook that programs quirks as a possible indication that winamp was itself not storing the info in the tags.

--- Maybe this will help another user.

Thanks again

[MrSinatra]

Originally Posted by dockdweller

to take your points in order:

1. Clarification on NAME vs FIELD helped. thx

2. For some reason (i reinstalled mp3tap just to try it) I CANNOT navigate as you did in your picture.

mp3taG not mp3taP

www.mp3tag.de/en

Originally Posted by dockdweller

The fact that I cannot navigate to it now (even after I manually created it) is still baffling. Why am I bringing it up? Yes, I do not need to navigate to 'popularimeter' at this point but I assumed that the ability to navigate to it would indicate whether it had been properly created and until I had clarification that all was working correctly this seemed important. Granted, this may be more for the mp3tag forum and not winamp.

you should be able to do what i show in my picture, pre and post creating.

Originally Posted by dockdweller

All by itself the fact that I cannot get 'popularimeter' to appear in the extended files list in column setup view makes this NOT SIMPLE.

your problem, afaik, is odd and unique to you.

Originally Posted by dockdweller

3. Sorry for the confusion on 'not showing clearly.' Until I (just now) re-rated some files with 1 star instead of 5 I did not realize the 255 correlated to 5 starts-- my test rating group all contained 5 starts. In addition 'rating@winamp.com|255|0' is an awful lot of verbage. It is CONFUSING as none of the other fields show what appears to be extra and extraneous information. They simply show the year or title or artist etc. I would only have expected to see a single integer here.

your problem is with the spec then, not winamp or mp3tag, b/c what you see is correct by spec.

www.id3.org

Originally Posted by dockdweller

4. All I want to do is rate my music like everyone else and have it stored in the tags. All the other information that I use stores there without jumping through hoops. It is intuitive for me to think that this should be handled automatically by winamp or that if it is not that there should be clear instructions on this feature in either winamps documentation or it's help or its forums. I am starting to appreciate the fact that some of this may in fact fall outside of its scope.

well, thanks to me bothering Benski, egg and the devs to death, you can. all you have to do is enable in winamp prefs the option/ability to write the rating to the tag.

you have confirmed you did this by seeing the info in mp3tag.

i'm not sure what about winamps role in this wasn't easy?? winamp simply doesn't have "write ratings to tags" on by default, b/c a lot of users don't want ratings to be stored in the tag. one click, you've enabled it. easy.

Originally Posted by dockdweller

The fact is I couldn't think of a way to know for sure (after I selected the checkbox in winamps preferences) that the feature was working-- i'm sure you can appreciate that I didn't want to start re-rating my whole collection only to find out it could be lost once again. So I went to mp3tag as a way of verifying and it looks like consequently mistook that programs quirks as a possible indication that winamp was itself not storing the info in the tags.

--- Maybe this will help another user.

Thanks again

np.

[Darcey76]

/agree

I've thought for years, what a great tool winamp is but what a dumb idea not to save star ratings on the mp3 tags.

I started googline if winamp had sorted this out this time and I found this thread... Yey!!! I thought... So I selected all in my local media library and right clicked and choose rating and choose none to wipe all those rating I never done and crash lol (fresh download of winamp from site 22/06/2011).

So tried it on a small list... On about 50 tracks... and it worked but windows did say it had stopped responding. But it got there in the end..... Now I should remove winamp, del all its settings from everywhere it touches on my OS and re-install and see if it's done it's job on music folder scan. But I can't be bothered and I got no time, I got work to do.


The only feature they need to sort out now is load and export local media database and playlists. Winamp for me then would be complete but if they took a couple of years to sort out the save star rating then... Maybe summer 2024. I dare say I will be checking every 3 months or so. Till then..

Long live winamp.

[MrSinatra]

Originally Posted by Darcey76

/agree

I've thought for years, what a great tool winamp is but what a dumb idea not to save star ratings on the mp3 tags.

I started googline if winamp had sorted this out this time and I found this thread... Yey!!! I thought... So I selected all in my local media library and right clicked and choose rating and choose none to wipe all those rating I never done and crash lol (fresh download of winamp from site 22/06/2011).

So tried it on a small list... On about 50 tracks... and it worked but windows did say it had stopped responding. But it got there in the end..... Now I should remove winamp, del all its settings from everywhere it touches on my OS and re-install and see if it's done it's job on music folder scan. But I can't be bothered and I got no time, I got work to do.

if you wanted to delete all the existing ratings, mp3tag would do it fast np. winamp shouldn't crash tho.

but there's no need to uninstall winamp. in prefs > local media, you can "clear ML" and scan in fresh from scratch, if thats your goal? (i'm unclear on what exactly you want to do or why)

when you do have your ML the way you want, remember to enable "save ratings to file" in prefs. it should work except on m4a, mp4 files which don't have tag fields for it (yet).

i don't know why winamp took so long to do this, but i am forever grateful they did.

Originally Posted by Darcey76

The only feature they need to sort out now is load and export local media database and playlists. Winamp for me then would be complete but if they took a couple of years to sort out the save star rating then... Maybe summer 2024. I dare say I will be checking every 3 months or so. Till then..

Long live winamp.

again, not sure what your goal is, but the "winamp backup tool" can do it, (search the forums for it). also, there is a ml export tool for itunes built into winamp, and DrO has a export txt file maker.

[Darcey76]

I tend to format my machine every 2 or 3 months, my OS gets clogged up fast with all the work my machine sees.

I only setup bigbento, 150% on main player ui and increase the font for the whole thing to 14 or 15. Then I set the drive and folder to my mp3s and scan. Job done and back to listening. Just used to be with no star ratings again. But now all good

The play list and local media library I would like to have in some form of csv / text editable format so when I change drives I can just re-path files with my code editor and just import these back into winamp.

D