How To Use
MyLibrary Quick Start
You can export a large list
of songs to a CSV/Tabbed text file which allows MyLibrary to manage an entire
music collection - this file can also be imported into Access, Excel, MySQL or a
music scheduler such as Natural Music or Powergold. To populate the main list viewer, simply load an M3U playlist file, drag audio files
into the MyLibrary window or paste/type a folder location into the dropdown box
at the top and click "Load Folder". This will read the tags and populate
the fields (if found). You can Read only 1 tag at a time but can
Save to multiple (via the Song Card). Any changes made using
the Mass Changer are
NOT saved until you save/export to a
tag using the right-click menu for the selected item/s.
This could be useful if you needed to perform a one-time re-numbering of your Carts
but didn't want to mess-up your own numbering.
There isn't really a "best" way of using the program
- it's more of a multi-tool that offers a variety of actions/features that assist you with
managing, tagging and creating export lists for various broadcast applications.
You can use it to simply tag your MP3 files, or it can be a central database
that keeps track of your music and allows you to export the latest additions
into a playout system - how you use it is up to you!
To get things running - just enable one of the
"Read" options on the "Audio and File Tags" tab
of the Config screen to read either BCX3, CartChunk, FLAC, JMD (JockMaster) or MP3 APE/ID3
tags. If you are starting from scratch, use the JMD method for
storing your data
- these are INI-formatted files that sit alongside the audio
and contain the various data fields you set. This also makes it easier to
spot duplicate audio filenames (because the JMD file matches up), meaning that adding new compilation albums
needn't require lots of cross-checking of existing music!
Miscellaneous Settings
This first tab covers some of the generic settings for
MyLibrary... These should all be self-explanatory - if you wish to read/save data quickly, then set a MyLibrary JMD Folder
location and use that as the read/save File Tag method -
it supports all fields.
WAV Folder is useful if you have an MP3 copy of songs that you wish to compare via the Library Actions>Special Actions menu.
Also Save in CLIENT field tells MyLibrary to also store the Cart Number in the APE CLIENT field which can be used by StationPlaylist to reference a Cart/CutID in a playlist template - useful if you are using SPL Creator to output a Cart-style playlist (as opposed to a standard M3U). The OTHER field is also used to store the Cart Number for use with PlayoutONE which requires this field for scheduling.
Restore Column Widths will reset the columns to a default setting
Next xxxx Cart determines the next numeric Cart Number for the selected ItemType (Advert, Jingle, Song etc). This is where you can reset them.
Cart Number Padding defines the length (up to 8 digits) of the Cart field. Some systems (like Dalet) regard Cart 1 and Cart 00001 and different ItemCodes. With the default padding of 00000, values will increment 00001, 00002, 00003 etc.
Prefix Genesys CartChunks will add a C, J, M, V for audio items Advert/Commercial, Jingle/Network/Package/Promo, Music/Song and VoiceTrack respectively. This will turn a song with Cart value 12345 into M12345 when saving the CartChunk tag.
Audio and File Tags
This tab lets you set the sound device used for the
MyLibrary playback functions as well as determine which file formats/tags are
read/written. It is only possible to read 1 tag at a time but you may
write several when saving - this allows you to use MyLibrary as a central
storage and tagging system with all changes mirrored to the various tag formats
supported.
Please note that MyLibrary does not support saving APE/SPL Tags to M4A or WAV files.
Important - Song Card Data - Please note that the Song Card does not load the data shown in the current list view - it loads whatever tag/meta-data you have set in the Config window. Therefore, if you perform a Mass Change operation and then load the Song Card without saving to the current "read" tag type, the new data will not show up!
Several Cart Chunk formats are also supported - this allows you to use linear PCM WAV files and tag them ready for direct import into a professional playout package such as Enco DAD/Presenter, Genesys, Myriad or RCS Zetta.
Jump mS : The value that the cue-seek up/down buttons in the SongCard will increment by. Holding CTRL when clicking will double the seek value.
End-Type Auto Detect : The value (in mS) to determine whether a song has a Fade or "Cold" ending. eg: If there's more than 8 seconds between the Segue Marker and the File's End, it will assume that is a fade. If it's less, then it's a "Cold" ending. The default value of 8000 seems to get it right most of the time.
AutoCue gets CueIn Position : This will attempt to detect an audible CueIn point based-upon the defined threshold. A higher value will require a louder sound to trigger the detection threshold. Too high a value will cause the CueIn point to "chop" the start of the audio.
AutoCue gets Segue Position : This will attempt to detect an audible Segue point based-upon the defined threshold. A higher value will place the Segue point earlier in the fade out. Therefore, a low Segue Threshold will give you more of a graceful fade-out on a song.
Important Note : Threshold is 0 to 32768 as opposed to a % or dB value so experiment with the values if you like. 500 and 7800 seem to work for me.
File Renaming Structure : Allows you to mass-rename files based on a series of %token% variables. The following are supported: %artist% , %title% , %cuein% , %intro% , %segue% , %year% , %genre% - others may be added in due course. You can also opt to export the cue markers as SS.MS or MS values - eg: 7.25 or 7250 respectively. %segue2% may also be used to provide the relative time of the segue point from the END of the file - eg: for Arrakis.
This %token% method is selected from the right-click menu of the main MyLibrary window, NOT the Mass Changer. The Mass Changer "rename" function is always ARTIST - TITLE.
The default
SS.MS is to 2 decimal places, this setting can be overriden by adding the
following entry to the MyLibrary.ini file:
[Viewer]
Digits=1 (or =2)
CSV Token Export : Creates a CSV file using the following %tokens% : %artist%, %artists%, %relatedartists%, %title%, %cuein%, %hookin%, %hookout%, %intro1%, %intro2%, %intro3%, %segue%, %segue2%, %duration%, %year%, %itemtype%, %style%, %opener%, %endtype%, %gender%, %tempo%, %bpm%, %cart%, %filename%, %album%, %mediaref%, %isrc% and %tab% to enter a TAB delimiter.
Apply a fadeout to songs via Dalet XML : Puts a fadeout marker on items that have a natural fade when using the Dalet XML export. In most cases, you would want to have a segue 'n' fade on overlaps in automation - this option allows that. The example below shows the outgoing track with a FadeOut marker at the same position as the Segue (or xFade) point.
EncoDAD Fade Time : This option will place a Tail Marker at xx milliseconds past the Segue Marker - this is useful when trying to use Enco's Tracker with short IDs like sweepers and liners - if the liner is shorter than the distance between the Segue and Tail Makers then this would be an invalid overlap as far as Tracker is concerned. With the 4000mS setting shown, you would be able to use short IDs greater than 4 seconds.
EncoDAD Tracker - showing an invalid overlap - this is because the outgoing song is still playing after the next item has finished. Although this works fine in automation, you cannot save this type of overlap in the Tracker!
EncoDAD Tracker - showing a valid overlap. The Tail Marker has been set 4 seconds past the Segue
Categories
This is where
you define all of the Categories, Genres and Styles - These are automatically
sorted for you when adding/deleting. In the main MyLibrary view, you can
sort via these Categories as well as use Find/Replace, Mass Change and
Export.
Colours may now be applied for each item "Type", allowing easy viewing of folders that contain different types of audio.
Related Artists
This tab allows you to
manage Artists who have a relationship with a band/group - usually this is where
1 (or more) members release solo tracks. Past/present members of bands are
also examples of where a relationship may exist. A computer doesn't know that Peter
Gabriel and Phil Collins were both in Genesis unless it's told - so we
need to keep track of the Artists via some kind of list/group
system.
"Related Artists" function differently to the "Artists" field as the latter is those on this track, but Related is some kind of link that a scheduler wouldn't know about, such as John Lennon being in the Beatles (unless you told it via Related Artists). Most schedulers will backwards-inherit the links, so for a complex relationship that includes MIKE RUTHERFORD, there is scope to keep GENESIS, PHIL COLLINS, MIKE AND THE MECHANICS plus PETER GABRIEL apart!
Please see the included ArtistGroups.txt file which explains how to include the sample entries into your own MyLibrary as a kick-starter. New installations of MyLibrary include this in the INI settings file to get things started for you.
You'll first need to create a list of all your Artists (to populate the main bottom-left list - this makes it easier to find exact matches. Load all of your tracks into MyLibrary and use the menu option: Library Actions>Special Actions>Create Artist List which creates a text file called RelatedArtists.txt in the MyLibrary program folder. You can also create this file yourself using Excel or a database/text export.
Double-click the left-hand Artist list to add them to the right-hand "Related" list - then click the "Save" button. To remove an Artist, double-click it on the right-hand list. If you wish to manually enter an Artist, use the textbox at the bottom and press <enter> .
When the right-hand list is empty, you can delete the Artist Group (a warning label will appear first).
The main list of groups are not saved until you Save Settings and close the configuration window!
Folders
