Thanks, Dale.
I have discovered that the best way for me to to achieve imports, both into Hoster and into Microstudio is to perform the following on them:
- Rename the ZIP file(s) to the following format Artist_-_Title
- Convert the ZIP file to BIN (this changes the file name in the ZIP file to the same format Artist_-_Title
- Convert back to ZIP, then import to Hoster (or Microstudio)
For the conversion, I use MP3G Toolz 4 or Songverter, the latter generally being slower, but every bit as good if not better. Doing this may seem like quite a bit of work, but it achieves several things:
- Ensures that the binary files are in tact (no CRC errors). This practically guarantees that all files will be read corretly
- Standardizes the file naming protocol (for large blocks, I use "Better File Rename" which is a great program, by the way)
- Ensures that when you print the songbook from Hoster that you get a nice, neat & clean product. I print a single book, sorting by Artist in the front and Title in the back using Microsoft Word to add header & footer, duplex print them with 2-columns and get 11,000+ songs in a book that is 144 pages on both sides. All this takes me about 20 minutes to set up & the laser printer about 8 minutes per book. I can produce, print & bind 13 books in an afternoon.
- Permits storage of archives on an external drive for future recall.
Again, thanks for your insight & help
DC
