Consolidating Music for a back up system & KMA Vs. KMH

[xxyzz]

I think the whole KMH vs KMA file types have just confused people. At least I am. All my files are KMA direct from CD+G but if I understand correctly if I am going to import any zip karaoke zip files then I will have to put all my zip files into the same folder where my KMA files are stored.

I just tried importing a zip file as a KMA file and it worked just fine. I am not sure what the dirrerence is now. I though the KMH was the only choice you could pick if you were importing zip files. I also thought the KMH will allow a smaller file size but since you have to add the zip files to your destination folder then I don't see what the advantage is.

[Roy Dennis]

Originally Posted by xxyzz

I think the whole KMH vs KMA file types have just confused people. At least I am. All my files are KMA direct from CD+G but if I understand correctly if I am going to import any zip karaoke zip files then I will have to put all my zip files into the same folder where my KMA files are stored..

No you do not have to have them in the same folder as your Kma files.
You can have a seperate folder or multiple folders, it's your choice.

Originally Posted by xxyzz

I just tried importing a zip file as a KMA file and it worked just fine. I am not sure what the dirrerence is now. I though the KMH was the only choice you could pick if you were importing zip files. I also thought the KMH will allow a smaller file size but since you have to add the zip files to your destination folder then I don't see what the advantage is.

The option to allow you a choice of whether to use KMA or KMH again is yours.
The advantage with kmh files is if you already have a lot of zip,mp3+g or even none karaoke files the kmh file uses very little extra storage space to index your files and is far quicker importing them plus KMH files do NOT duplicate the original files which other programs can use. The kma file can only be used in Hoster, and in the case of a zip or mp3+g file if you import them as Kma you now have doubled your storage space unless you delete the original zip or mp3+g file.
Also the importing time is far longer for kma as it is rewriting the whole file, depending on the speed of your computer a KMH file will index a song in about 1.5 seconds against kma taking 30 seconds per song.
If you are only importing about 20 songs not a lot of difference but multiply this by 10,000 and there is a huge difference.

[ddouglass]

To add to that the only ones that must be KMH now are video types.

[xxyzz]

Well I thought I had this whole thing figured out but I don't so here is what I did. I created a folder call karaoke music, I put my folder containing all my KMA files in there then created another folder containing all my zip files. I then went to import, and tried importing all my zip files which it did but with thousands of duplicate book id's.
I thought I would just wind up with a lot of dupliactes then I would try and weed out the KMA ones and keep the smaller KMH files.

Afterward I went to verify all my songs were still there and it seems that some songs were actually gone. I don't know why. Bottom line is I spent all day trying to get my file sizes under control but wound up just deleting all the zip files back out before I lost all my KMA files in the process.

Is this problem because of the duplicate book id's? Could I delete the song database and start all over.

Heck I don't even know if I am explaining this right.

[Roy Dennis]

Originally Posted by xxyzz

Well I thought I had this whole thing figured out but I don't so here is what I did. I created a folder call karaoke music, I put my folder containing all my KMA files in there then created another folder containing all my zip files. I then went to import, and tried importing all my zip files which it did but with thousands of duplicate book id's.
I thought I would just wind up with a lot of dupliactes then I would try and weed out the KMA ones and keep the smaller KMH files. .

By the statement I highlighted it seem you are still misunderstanding the size issue of kma & kmh. There is no real size difference, I was only saying that if you import your zip files as KMA then you have 2 copies of the same song, 1 kma and still the original zip.

If you have all your existing files that you imported via disc as kma then keep them at that. (I hope you haven't deleted these from your hard drive)

Originally Posted by xxyzz

Afterward I went to verify all my songs were still there and it seems that some songs were actually gone. I don't know why. Bottom line is I spent all day trying to get my file sizes under control but wound up just deleting all the zip files back out before I lost all my KMA files in the process.

Is this problem because of the duplicate book id's? Could I delete the song database and start all over.

Heck I don't even know if I am explaining this right.

Assuming you are using 5.05 and have not actually deleted your kma files from your hard drive follow this to get back to your original configuration.
Open the Build songs database dialog (Tools/Songs Database/Build Database) In the bottom left window below the add folders button where your folders are listed, Highlight the folder or folders containing your zip files then press the Exclude folders button, this will remove those folders from the rebuild but not delete any files from your hard drive.
Now make sure the folders containing all your original kma files are still in the list, you can see if any of the folders are empty by highlighting them and their contents will be displayed in the right hand panel.
Assuming all your kma files are still present press the rebuild button.
This should at least get you back to where you were before you tried importing the zips.
Let us know if this is successfull before continuing to try and import zip files. Then we will try and guide you on.

[xxyzz]

Originally Posted by Roy Dennis

By the statement I highlighted it seem you are still misunderstanding the size issue of kma & kmh. There is no real size difference, I was only saying that if you import your zip files as KMA then you have 2 copies of the same song, 1 kma and still the original zip.

If you have all your existing files that you imported via disc as kma then keep them at that. (I hope you haven't deleted these from your hard drive)

Assuming you are using 5.05 and have not actually deleted your kma files from your hard drive follow this to get back to your original configuration.
Open the Build songs database dialog (Tools/Songs Database/Build Database) In the bottom left window below the add folders button where your folders are listed, Highlight the folder or folders containing your zip files then press the Exclude folders button, this will remove those folders from the rebuild but not delete any files from your hard drive.
Now make sure the folders containing all your original kma files are still in the list, you can see if any of the folders are empty by highlighting them and their contents will be displayed in the right hand panel.
Assuming all your kma files are still present press the rebuild button.
This should at least get you back to where you were before you tried importing the zips.
Let us know if this is successfull before continuing to try and import zip files. Then we will try and guide you on.

This was successful.

[Roy Dennis]

Glad to know your back with all your original songs.
If you still want to import zip files to your database bear in mind the Merge duplicates button won't merge files that have an identicle DiscID to files that already exist in your database, it only merges songs that have an identicle Book Id.

Now to avoid the chance of importing these duplicated Disc Id's I would say it's best to import them from the Index HD Files dialog (Import Songs tab then Index HD Files button) rather than the quicker Build songs database dialog, this is more time consuming way but will enable you to check the files before they actually import. Also select the Single rather than the Batch option again so you can monitor what is being indexed.

Now if you don't care if it imports duplicated songs you can set the Field & track seperator boxes for Disc ID and Track to Ignore, then either enter your own unique Disc Id in the box for DscID (this could be the original Disk id but with an added # or letter on the end to make it different from your existing) or leave Hoster to create it's own which would be something like XYZxxxx. It will then import upto 99 tracks per BookID.

Should you not want it importing Discid you already have then select the Disc id and track fields in the seperator boxes correct then check before pressing the import button that the disc ID is not already in your database. I'm not sure, you may see a message that the disc id is already in use other wise manually check before importing. When you find the duplicated files you may want to open the folder in explorer and either move them to another folder or delete them so that they do not keep appearing in the import list.

One other point before you try re-importing these zips, Open the folder containing them in explorer, if they have the kmh files still with them from your previous attempt at importing them, delete the kmh file. To make this easier right click in window select Sort By Choose "Type" if you don't see Type listed select "More" then tick the option in that dialog.
This should list all the kmh files seperated from the zip making it easier to delete multiple selections.