DGee
Hi Folks,
Greetings from Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. I am a new user of VDJ and this is my first post. I have been DJing now for 30 years this year. I started out using a BOGEN tube amp, a BSR ceramic cartridge turntable and a reel-to reel player. My how times have changed. I am presently trying to get my music collection into digital form and I came across a wonderful little program that may be of value to others on the list.
I subscribe to one of the music subscription services. I wanted to convert the cds into MP3s but there is no track info available on the freedb/CDDB music database services. If you put one of these discs in, it just comes up as "CD not found on server". I had no intention of inputting by hand all the track info for over 100 discs. I can download from the music subscription site, a complete database file for each CD shipped. I wanted to combine the two to populate the tracks. I searched high and low but found nothing using search strings for music oriented stuff. Then I altered my thinking and started searching for database records releated tools and I found "RenameFromList" from MonkeyJob Systems. This program allows you to change the filenames of a list of files using the filenames you put into a text file.
It is done like this, I download a comma separated (.CSV) file from the music subscription service for the CD of the month. I open this file directly in Excel and remove all the info I don't want, leaving just the Track numbers, Artist and Song Title. I leave in the Track numbers for a reason as you will see. I then save this file as a Comma Separated Text file once again with a new title. I open this file in a text editor and I then have the Track Number, Artist and Song Title all separated by a comma. I use the Search and Replace function of the text editor to replace the commas with a " - " and save it as a text file. I then rip the CD and store the tracks in a folder where I know where they are. The tracks are all labled track01, track02 etc. I open the program "RenameFromList" and on the left side of the display open the folder where my CD tracks are. On the right of the display I select "Populate" which opens up a window where I search for the text file I created. I tell it to load. I then see the nameless tracks on the left and the names to be on the right. Again in the right panel I tell it to add the "wav" extention to each file and I click the "Start" button. In a matter of seconds, all the Cd tracks now have Artist and Title info. The left hand window will automatically sort alphabetically which makes it hard to see that all the changes are the way they are supposed to be. I left the tracks numbers in so that the list sorts numerically and I then can see that each name lines up across the display. I can then remove the track numbers using any file renaming software at a later time and in bulk.
I'm so glad I found this. The cost was $16.00 for a 4 machine license. I hope you find it useful too. I will write back when I am ready to do my first gig with Virtual DJ.
-DGee
Greetings from Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. I am a new user of VDJ and this is my first post. I have been DJing now for 30 years this year. I started out using a BOGEN tube amp, a BSR ceramic cartridge turntable and a reel-to reel player. My how times have changed. I am presently trying to get my music collection into digital form and I came across a wonderful little program that may be of value to others on the list.
I subscribe to one of the music subscription services. I wanted to convert the cds into MP3s but there is no track info available on the freedb/CDDB music database services. If you put one of these discs in, it just comes up as "CD not found on server". I had no intention of inputting by hand all the track info for over 100 discs. I can download from the music subscription site, a complete database file for each CD shipped. I wanted to combine the two to populate the tracks. I searched high and low but found nothing using search strings for music oriented stuff. Then I altered my thinking and started searching for database records releated tools and I found "RenameFromList" from MonkeyJob Systems. This program allows you to change the filenames of a list of files using the filenames you put into a text file.
It is done like this, I download a comma separated (.CSV) file from the music subscription service for the CD of the month. I open this file directly in Excel and remove all the info I don't want, leaving just the Track numbers, Artist and Song Title. I leave in the Track numbers for a reason as you will see. I then save this file as a Comma Separated Text file once again with a new title. I open this file in a text editor and I then have the Track Number, Artist and Song Title all separated by a comma. I use the Search and Replace function of the text editor to replace the commas with a " - " and save it as a text file. I then rip the CD and store the tracks in a folder where I know where they are. The tracks are all labled track01, track02 etc. I open the program "RenameFromList" and on the left side of the display open the folder where my CD tracks are. On the right of the display I select "Populate" which opens up a window where I search for the text file I created. I tell it to load. I then see the nameless tracks on the left and the names to be on the right. Again in the right panel I tell it to add the "wav" extention to each file and I click the "Start" button. In a matter of seconds, all the Cd tracks now have Artist and Title info. The left hand window will automatically sort alphabetically which makes it hard to see that all the changes are the way they are supposed to be. I left the tracks numbers in so that the list sorts numerically and I then can see that each name lines up across the display. I can then remove the track numbers using any file renaming software at a later time and in bulk.
I'm so glad I found this. The cost was $16.00 for a 4 machine license. I hope you find it useful too. I will write back when I am ready to do my first gig with Virtual DJ.
-DGee
Mensajes Tue 25 Sep 07 @ 5:40 am
Steve Lynch
this needs to be a sticky post! :)
Mensajes Tue 25 Sep 07 @ 7:27 am
djbabylon
I Use Helium In The Same Way Sort Of.
Helium Music Manager Has A Built In Spreadsheet Tag Mode That I Could Never Do Without. You Can Set Up All The Columns You Want, Art, Tit, Remix, Etc.... And Then tag From There All Your CD's, Singles Or What Not. Now Also As Stated Above U Can Download The CSV, Or Txt Files From Certain Subscription Sites ie. Promo Only, And Open Them In Excel, Or For Those Who Don't Own Excel, Google Documents Spreadsheet works just fine, then Copy Just The Columns You Want And Paste them Into The Spreadsheet Of Helium And Viola It Tags All The Files For You Perfectly. And Also Helium Has Its Own Rename Mp3 Funtions For Easy Renaming After All Items Are Tagged.
I Have been using helium for 5 years, and was the best 40 dollar investment i ever made, since i tag music day in and day out!!
Check It Out
Helium Music Manager Has A Built In Spreadsheet Tag Mode That I Could Never Do Without. You Can Set Up All The Columns You Want, Art, Tit, Remix, Etc.... And Then tag From There All Your CD's, Singles Or What Not. Now Also As Stated Above U Can Download The CSV, Or Txt Files From Certain Subscription Sites ie. Promo Only, And Open Them In Excel, Or For Those Who Don't Own Excel, Google Documents Spreadsheet works just fine, then Copy Just The Columns You Want And Paste them Into The Spreadsheet Of Helium And Viola It Tags All The Files For You Perfectly. And Also Helium Has Its Own Rename Mp3 Funtions For Easy Renaming After All Items Are Tagged.
I Have been using helium for 5 years, and was the best 40 dollar investment i ever made, since i tag music day in and day out!!
Check It Out
Mensajes Tue 25 Sep 07 @ 12:46 pm
djbabylon
This Is The Helium Spreadsheet Mode Interface, Now Before I Go Into Editing Mode, I Remove All Tags (an Option in Helium) from The Mp3s so That Way There Is A Clean Slate And No Unwanted Tags Show Up In The Files.
Capture 2 Shows Me Copying The Database File For Mainstream Club Right From Promo Only's website, Just highlight It all, and click copy
Capture 3 Shows Me Pasting The Data I Just Copied Into Excel, I Paste In Unicode Text Format To Seperate The Tabs, So Each Field Has Its Own Column.
Capture 4 Shows The Pasted Text Into Excel, Then I can Move Around Columns If I Want To, Delete Unwanted Columns, Etc..... Now I Highlight Just The Artist Column or Any Column You Are Trying To Copy Over, Then Right Click Copy....
Capture 5 Shows After I Have Pasted All The Fields In, Now To Paste In each Individual Column U Just Goto The Top Of The Correct Field example Artist, Then ctrl+shift+v will paste in column mode, so all your copying goes downward.. do that for the few fields you want, then edit any text u may, for example promo only likes to put the artist, LAST NAME, FIRST NAME. Me personally i go into each field and change it back, but finish all your fields, then hit ok in helium and it will tag...then your done!! Unless you wanna use rename files and all, that is all built into the program.
IF ANY ONE WANTS MAYBE A BETTER EXPLANATION, JUST ASK!!! :)
Capture 2 Shows Me Copying The Database File For Mainstream Club Right From Promo Only's website, Just highlight It all, and click copy
Capture 3 Shows Me Pasting The Data I Just Copied Into Excel, I Paste In Unicode Text Format To Seperate The Tabs, So Each Field Has Its Own Column.
Capture 4 Shows The Pasted Text Into Excel, Then I can Move Around Columns If I Want To, Delete Unwanted Columns, Etc..... Now I Highlight Just The Artist Column or Any Column You Are Trying To Copy Over, Then Right Click Copy....
Capture 5 Shows After I Have Pasted All The Fields In, Now To Paste In each Individual Column U Just Goto The Top Of The Correct Field example Artist, Then ctrl+shift+v will paste in column mode, so all your copying goes downward.. do that for the few fields you want, then edit any text u may, for example promo only likes to put the artist, LAST NAME, FIRST NAME. Me personally i go into each field and change it back, but finish all your fields, then hit ok in helium and it will tag...then your done!! Unless you wanna use rename files and all, that is all built into the program.
IF ANY ONE WANTS MAYBE A BETTER EXPLANATION, JUST ASK!!! :)
Mensajes Tue 25 Sep 07 @ 1:05 pm