Can't reset database?

[CaptBret]

Last month my external hard drive that held all of my music died. I have been re- organizing my music on a new hard drive. I tried to Reset the Database. Now I get this message:
"there was an error reading the local database. This could be due to the database becoming corrupted or having been removed. If the database files (main.dat and main.idx) have become corrupted then unless you have a backup, you will need to reset the database then re-add any media files required back into the data base. By resetting the database, any custom ratings and play counts not already stored in the media fil(s) will be lost which will also have happened if the database was corrupted? "

IS there a way I can add new media to the library without uninstalling and reinstalling Winamp? I have about 30 extensive playlists that still show the songs withing the playlists, and I'd like to rebuild these lists with the new media.

Thanks

[DJ Egg]

Hi

With Winamp closed, manually delete the main.dat & main.idx files from the %appdata%\winamp\plugins\ml folder.
Reopen Winamp, and add your files to the library again.

[CaptBret]

Thank you DJ, that worked!
Now, I have these old playlists....is there any way to have winamp search for the songs from my old playlists in the new music library? Is there any way to rebuild these playlists without manually adding each individual song?

If not, is there a way to copy the playlist song titles into a spreadsheet like MS Excel?

Thank you,

[ryerman]

...Is there any way to rebuild these playlists without manually adding each individual song?...

See here: http://forums.winamp.com/showpost.ph...87&postcount=4

[CaptBret]

Cool, Thanks, I'll give it a try!

[Aminifu]

The post ryerman linked to is referring to fixing external playlists, not the copies of them imported to the media library.

The current version of Winamp allows you to either import copies of external playlists or import links to the external playlists. If you import copies and make changes to the external playlists, the copies are not automatically updated to reflect the modifications. You must delete the media library copies and re-import copies of the modified external playlists to keep things in sync. If you import a copy of a modified playlist without deleting the older copy of the playlist, you will have multiple copes of playlists with the same name in the media library. This is because Winamp will show you the name you gave the playlist, but internally each copy is saved with a unique alphanumeric name.

If you link to the external playlists and make changes to them, the changes are not reflected in the number of items and total playlist playback time shown in the medial library (but the changes will show up in the Playlist Editor when you actually play the playlist). You must delete the media library link and re-import it to have the info be correctly shown in the media library. However, deleting the link in the media library also deletes the modified external playlist. So you must must retrieve the modified playlist from the Recycle Bin before you can re-import a link to it. Hopefully the next version of Winamp will not delete an external playlist when the link to it is deleted.

Whether you import copies or links, it is always a good idea to make a backup copy of your external playlists (and any other computer files you don't want to take the chance of losing).