bnylin
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Posts: 18
Registered: 6-10-2003
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posted on 6-11-2003 at 01:09 AM
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Access to Popularity Data
I am unsure how Popularity data is stored in eJukebox. It seems to be stored outside of the mp3 files since I have re-ripped some tunes and just
copied over the old versions with exactly the same names with no effect on their popularity ranking. (I did this on 3.0, not 3.21 yet).
I would love to be able to export the popularity data to a text, CSV, or Excel file so that I can see the actual play counts, as well as see further
ranking of songs beyond just the Top 10, for example.
In addition, I would like to be able to manually UPDATE the play count on a song. There are several reasons for this: 1) If I have to delete and add
back a song I don't want it to lose its stats; 2) I may replace several tracks with a single combined track (e.g., Dark Side of the Moon in one
.mp3 file!) and want to give the new file the play count of the previous files; and 3) if I play songs outside of eJukebox (in the car!) I'd like
an easy way to update the popularity count by hand.
Any chance this kind of access to the stats is in the works?
Thanks,
Bryan
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Audiosoft
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posted on 6-11-2003 at 01:46 AM
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Bnylin,
The popularity counts are stored in eJukebox's database file AND in encoded into each of your MP3 files. So if you re-build your eJukebox
database your popularity counts will be restored.
We plan to at some point extend the stats capabilites. Right now however, only the number of times picked and the last date/time played are saved.
Each individual playdate/time is not saved only the last date - which is used by the "Last Played Songs" item on the SPECIAL menu.
We are currently working on adding a new 5 star rating system. Which would allow you to set a star rating for the song on the main display and a 1-100
rating in the editor. Then we plan to allow the user to pick if they want popularity mode to use the popularity counts or the users star rating to
select the songs. Also, probally having a play mode that combines the 2 methods.
This 5 star 1-100 rating system should cover your needs in regards to rating the songs for use with popularity mode. Would it not?
 Audiosoft |
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bnylin
Junior Member
Posts: 18
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posted on 6-11-2003 at 03:03 AM
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Hi, thanks for such a quick response!
I view popularity and 5-star rating as two distinct things. Both are valuable.
Popularity shows which Artists/Albums/Songs are listened to most on the Jukebox. The 5-star Rating shows which Songs are "best" and should
be used to view or filter song lists, and in auto-play modes, creating playlists, etc. For example, when viewing all "Alternative Rock"
songs a filter should be available to say "only 4 stars or higher". I especially look forward to this even on Album selection, as some
albums I would like to "play all 3 star or higher" and omit the weaker tracks.
The Rating only *influences* the Popularity, the actual number of times a song is played is likely to be higher when it shows up more often in
"4+ star" or "5 star" lists, that's all.
The main problem I have to solve is how I can change the file names in my collection and preserve the play count and date/time for the old file(s).
Prime example: I have played Dark Side of the Moon 7 times. I've re-ripped the CD with EAC into one single mp3 file. I want to delete the
current songs in the database, and add the 1 new one while adding the stats to the 1 file that the album has been played 7 times. I am planning to
re-rip MANY albums like this where songs cross tracks to remove the annoying gaps. How do I preserve their popularity stats???
As for the rating system, it will be great to have, I'm looking forward to it! In fact, nearly all my 6000+ files have already been tagged in
MusicMatch using the "Excellent/Very Good/Good/Fair/Poor" comments for Preference. I know a lot of people that use this, will there be a
way to just incorporate or transfer these ratings into your 5-star system???
Thanks,
Bryan
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Audiosoft
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posted on 6-11-2003 at 03:53 AM
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It is very likely we will be able to have eJukebox import the musicmatch ratings.
Also, you can rename your mp3 files if you want and rebuild the eJukebox database and all the stats will be restored. In regards to replacing tracks
with a single mp3; there are Winamp Plugins that will effectively get rid of the gaps between tracks (individual mp3s) so you don't really have
to Rip a whole CD to 1 track to do this.
Check out the Crossfading plugin posts under the Recommend a Winamp Plugin section of the forums.
When we do get the new 5 star rating system implemented...we will most likely also allow you to edit the populairty count from the Song Editor.
Audiosoft |
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Demnos
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Posts: 207
Registered: 3-11-2003
Location: Berlin, Germany
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posted on 6-11-2003 at 11:49 AM
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...and in the meantime, you could also use Magnus Bradings MP3/Tag Studio which allows you access to the hidden fields that eJukebox puts into your
MP3s such as "ejplaycnt=7" or something.
However, I also recommend you use the SQRSOFT Advanced Crossfader with the crossfading set to 0, this will effectively play consecutive MP3s totally
gapless.
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bnylin
Junior Member
Posts: 18
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posted on 6-11-2003 at 06:37 PM
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Thanks for the suggestions. I am really looking forward to the ratings feature, especially if it can use the MusicMatch ratings I've already
set.
I will try the Crossfading plug-ins. Maybe I will leave the files as they are now for eJukebox if I can use the Winamp plug-in. However, this
solution doesn't help me when I need to burn the album onto an MP3 CD to play in the car. So, I still have to re-rip into a single file (with
EAC) for that purpose. I just may need to keep that version outside of eJukebox.
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jhlurie
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posted on 6-12-2003 at 02:15 AM
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The one thing is that I'd bet that the MusicMatch compatibility would be only one way--an import. I wouldn't necessarily count on it being
bidirectional, because then that would hurt the flexibility of what Audiosoft has been working on (the part about how the real rating will actually be
on a 100 point scale and the 5 Star part just a visual shortcut easier to show in the interface)
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bnylin
Junior Member
Posts: 18
Registered: 6-10-2003
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posted on 6-12-2003 at 07:17 AM
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Understood. One way only from MusicMatch is fine, I've stopped using it anyway. I happen to have rated 5500+ of my 6000+ songs there before
switching to eJukebox, so it would be nice not to have to re-do all of them! 
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