Problem with HDZIP/HDMP3G

[ddouglass]

Originally Posted by zzeliminator

Hello. I am using Vista and I upgraded from 3.321 to 4.03. I am having the same issue as Candonnyv and GMANN explained in the beginning of this thread.

Using 3.321, I import probably 15000 songs directly from CD. I import probably 6000 from zip files.

I upgraded to 4.03. I open Hoster 4.03 and it automatically started to build the database and the data base found 21,642 songs. I got the window that said "Some KMA HDZIP files were built into your database. These files must be converted to KMA HDMP3G files. Please close and reopen Hoster now to make this happen". I close this window. I close Hoster. I reopen Hoster. Question: Was something suppose to happen on its own???
I tried removing hoster 4.03 and reinstalling....same things occurred as described above.

If I search for a song and put it into the playlist and if this song show a type of HDZIP, it will play but then it changes into a HDMP3G which won't play as the gentlemen explained at the beginning of this post.

I am overseas and I didn't bring a single karaoke CD with me, so I can't delete songs as many users have mentioned in various threads.

I did backup my 21000 kma files on a external hard drive before upgrading to 4.03.

I did print the entire 4.03 manual and I am trying to make sense out of its directions of converting, but I guess that I am missing something out of its explaination.

Please comment, Kelly

Kelly version 4.02 had a conversion program in it that was supposed to convert (unzip) any zip files you had to MP3+G. In 4.03 this is disabled because of problems that appeared. Unfortunately they missed a couple of parts of this.
The message you get when you rebuild is for you to re-open Hoster to trigger the conversion program. Minor glitch that it was left in there but not a problem. Just click ok and go on.
The changing of your playlists to HDMP3G from HDZIP was also part of this to correct existing playlists so they would play the converted files. Unfortunately this means anytime you want to play those files you will have to enter them into the playlist fresh instead of being able to play from the existing entry until they can fix this.

[zzeliminator]

Morning. So this is a issue that MTU knows about?
Do you do when it is going to be fixed?
Are there any work arounds like GMANN mentioned above?
I looked into my song.mdb folder and there are 10000 HDZIP songs in it?
Do I have to change the extension to them to "zip"?
I have more zip format songs to add to Hoster. What is the best way or format to change them to in order to perform this?
I have tried to attach a copy of my song.mdb by it keeps on failing. The size may be too big as it is 1.2 meg zipped. Thanks, Kelly

[zzeliminator]

I tried again to attach a copy of my songs.mdb, guess its too big.
So, I should be able to play every karaoke song I Have in Hoster, correct?
With the following exception:
Any karaoke song with a "HDZIP" extension in or added to the playlist will only play once.
Once it is played to completion, it will still be a "HDZIP", but wont be playable in that playlist.
I would close Hoster when ready, reopen Hoster, then I could delete that song because it it still not playable and the extension changed to "HDMP3G". If I tried to play this song, I would get a "ERROR" in the status column.
I typed this out to ensure that my thinking is correct, plus I could refer back to this thread later.
Please feel free to comment also about my last reply.
I want to try to fix this issue...if it is fixable at my level.
I have just started looking at the other features and so far, they are pretty cool. And naturally, reading the manual at every step.
Thanks, Kelly

[bryant]

Originally Posted by zzeliminator

Morning. So this is a issue that MTU knows about?
Do you do when it is going to be fixed?
Are there any work arounds like GMANN mentioned above?
I looked into my song.mdb folder and there are 10000 HDZIP songs in it?
Do I have to change the extension to them to "zip"?
I have more zip format songs to add to Hoster. What is the best way or format to change them to in order to perform this?
I have tried to attach a copy of my song.mdb by it keeps on failing. The size may be too big as it is 1.2 meg zipped. Thanks, Kelly

Perhaps you can use Hoster 3.3xx or 3.4 to create hdzips from zips as you have already done before. I have done some of that.

[ddouglass]

Originally Posted by zzeliminator

Morning. So this is a issue that MTU knows about?
Do you do when it is going to be fixed?
Are there any work arounds like GMANN mentioned above?
I looked into my song.mdb folder and there are 10000 HDZIP songs in it?
Do I have to change the extension to them to "zip"?
I have more zip format songs to add to Hoster. What is the best way or format to change them to in order to perform this?
I have tried to attach a copy of my song.mdb by it keeps on failing. The size may be too big as it is 1.2 meg zipped. Thanks, Kelly

The HDZIP is not the file extension but is Hosters way of identifying the type of file it is. The file extension for all Hoster songs after importing is actually KMA.
The only way you can fix this yourself is to re-import them which will automatically unzip them and make them HDMP3Gs. The new ones you want to add will do this too. That way when you re-use a playlist when it says they are HDMP3Gs instead of HDZIP then it will work. It sounds like a lot of work but will be worth it in the end.

[zzeliminator]

Thanks Ddouglas. Would MTU's songverter do any good?
My thought is that songverter could change the kma's currently in hoster to another format, what type of format is to be discussed. Then the format could be be imported back into Hoster. Man, this sounds like more money and more work.

I also have freeware called MP3+G Toolz which can do some converting:
ZIP to Bin, audio+G to Bin, Bin to Zip, Zip to audio+G, Bin to Audio+G, but no KMA to anything.


I cant reimport the zips as I don't have them with me. So....I don't know what to do!

[ddouglass]

You can use Songverter and convert them to any other format. MP3+G would probably be best as BIN files are much larger. Since they are MP3+G inside the zip then that would make the conversion quicker. After you convert them re-import them, so the header gets re-added correctly.

[zzeliminator]

Hello. You chimed in at the right time. I downloaded Songverter demo. I navigated to a kma karaoke song that I knew was build using a zip (opened songs.mdb folder).
On songverter block 2 "Source format" I chose "KMA Karaoke Files (*.kma with audio + lyrics). On songverter block 4 "Target Format" I chose "Zip Karaoke Files (*.zip with mp3 + cdg)". I then pushed "Convert Now" That action bought up the proper artist/title. I imported the song into Hoster as a zip and it played great (for the 45 seconds demo). On block 4, I could have selected "MP3+G Karaoke Files (*.mp3, +*.cdg) like you mentioned and for the same reaseons too!

Two things...Will my headers remain the way that I changed them in their zip format then I imported them into hoster? I added little comments into the zip header and I don't know if those comments go into the titles of the mp3 and cdg files within the zip???

Other thing...I got ten thousands zip songs in hoster to convert using songverter, how could i identify them quickly and run the converter process. I hope that you can understand this. It would be a very slow process to pick one song at a time.

Plus, do I really need to do this or is MTU going to implement a fix in a hurry!!!
Thanks

[ddouglass]

Originally Posted by zzeliminator

Hello. You chimed in at the right time. I downloaded Songverter demo. I navigated to a kma karaoke song that I knew was build using a zip (opened songs.mdb folder).
On songverter block 2 "Source format" I chose "KMA Karaoke Files (*.kma with audio + lyrics). On songverter block 4 "Target Format" I chose "Zip Karaoke Files (*.zip with mp3 + cdg)". I then pushed "Convert Now" That action bought up the proper artist/title. I imported the song into Hoster as a zip and it played great (for the 45 seconds demo). On block 4, I could have selected "MP3+G Karaoke Files (*.mp3, +*.cdg) like you mentioned and for the same reaseons too!

Two things...Will my headers remain the way that I changed them in their zip format then I imported them into hoster? I added little comments into the zip header and I don't know if those comments go into the titles of the mp3 and cdg files within the zip???

Other thing...I got ten thousands zip songs in hoster to convert using songverter, how could i identify them quickly and run the converter process. I hope that you can understand this. It would be a very slow process to pick one song at a time.

Plus, do I really need to do this or is MTU going to implement a fix in a hurry!!!
Thanks

You should convert in Songverter to MP3+G without making it a KMA. Songverter does not add the BookID for Hoster to the KMA files it creates.
The Titles and Artist information comes from the file name inside the zip, not the zip header itself so any comments you add thre will not be included.
Since you know how to open and read the songs.mdb file then you should be able to sort them by type and get all the ZIP files together in one group and determine from that.
I have no idea when MTU will fix this and may not but will get the conversion working right. Zip files will not be used at all in Hoster in the near future because they cause too many problems and save very little space.