Importing zip files from HD?

[bryant]

I was wondering what decides the order of files from a folder of say, 18 zip files from the HD, imported into hoster. Although the files are originally listed in alphabetical order on the flash drive and burnt to a custom CD in that order, when the import list is created,
the songs are in some kind of another order.

My songs are listed by title - artist only; and by alphabetical order. How could I get them to appear from track 1 to track 18 in that order on the import screen w/o doing any special renaming of the files?

Question: What decides the order of files as they appear on the import screen?

[hobbit]

I also have this problem...and I really don't want to have to rename each individual file so Hoster recognizes the track numbers. Some of my files are only listed as artist- title. Hoster used to just happily provide track numbers from 1 to 99. Can we get an answer on this?

[ddouglass]

Originally Posted by hobbit

I also have this problem...and I really don't want to have to rename each individual file so Hoster recognizes the track numbers. Some of my files are only listed as artist- title. Hoster used to just happily provide track numbers from 1 to 99. Can we get an answer on this?

Hobbit, what you are referring to is the last 2 digits of the BookID and Hoster does still do that.

[ddouglass]

Originally Posted by bryant

I was wondering what decides the order of files from a folder of say, 18 zip files from the HD, imported into hoster. Although the files are originally listed in alphabetical order on the flash drive and burnt to a custom CD in that order, when the import list is created,
the songs are in some kind of another order.

My songs are listed by title - artist only; and by alphabetical order. How could I get them to appear from track 1 to track 18 in that order on the import screen w/o doing any special renaming of the files?

Question: What decides the order of files as they appear on the import screen?

When you look at the files on the flash drive with Explorer they appear as if they are alphbetical (sorted by Explorer). The actual order on the flash drive is the order they were saved to the drive. When you copy to the hard drive it copies in exactly the same order as the flash drive. So when Hoster looks at the folder it sees that order for the songs.

[bryant]

Originally Posted by ddouglass

When you look at the files on the flash drive with Explorer they appear as if they are alphbetical (sorted by Explorer). The actual order on the flash drive is the order they were saved to the drive. When you copy to the hard drive it copies in exactly the same order as the flash drive. So when Hoster looks at the folder it sees that order for the songs.

Then my question is?

What decides the order on which they are saved to the Flashdrive, can I somehow make it so that the Flash drive will always copy them in order as they are listed alphabetically.

The last couple of Flashdrive imports I did came out the way I expected them (alphabetically), but not sure why?

[ddouglass]

Only way I know of is to copy them one at a time.....rqather tedious though.

[bryant]

Then my question is?

What decides the order on which they are saved to the Flashdrive, can I somehow make it so that the Flash drive will always copy them in order as they are listed alphabetically.

The last couple of Flashdrive imports I did came out the way I would expect, alphabetically, why would that be and not before?

[hobbit]

Here's what I mean (and I apologize...now this thread seems to have split off into two separate questions, I'll start another thread)...

Importing files with Disc ID and Track number in the filename (SC8101-01-pearl jam - black.zip) works just fine. However, if the filename only has artist and title ( "pearl jam - black.zip") Hoster will not populate the 'TRK' field in the import screen, though it will still list up to 99 files. However, I get errors when attempting to import since it can't find a 'track' number. Hoster used to just fill that field on it's own, now it no longer does, it just remains blank. The only way I was able to make it work was to manually change the filename so Hoster could read a track number from it ("1_pearl jam - black.zip). However, that will be brutally tedious for a large amount of files.

[ddouglass]

Originally Posted by bryant

Then my question is?

What decides the order on which they are saved to the Flashdrive, can I somehow make it so that the Flash drive will always copy them in order as they are listed alphabetically.

The last couple of Flashdrive imports I did came out the way I would expect, alphabetically, why would that be and not before?

If you copy a group of files from the hard drive to another location the order they are copied is the order listed in the hard drive FAT (File Allocation Table).
The FAT is hidden on the drive and cannot be seen or changed by the user. This table stores the file information including the location of the first sector of the file and also knows where the next available empty sector is. The files are listed in the FAT in the order they are added to the drive.
When you look at the drive with Explorer it reads the FAT and lists the files. However Explorer lists them the way you want to see them. You can sort the list in ascending or descending order by any field (column) shown but the default is alphbetical ascending.
In order to transfer to another device in alphabetic order you would have to copy one at a time in that order to make sure they are listed in the FAT in that order. Then once you have done that they will be copied to any other location from the second one in that same order.

[bryant]

Originally Posted by ddouglass

If you copy a group of files from the hard drive to another location the order they are copied is the order listed in the hard drive FAT (File Allocation Table).
The FAT is hidden on the drive and cannot be seen or changed by the user. This table stores the file information including the location of the first sector of the file and also knows where the next available empty sector is. The files are listed in the FAT in the order they are added to the drive.
When you look at the drive with Explorer it reads the FAT and lists the files. However Explorer lists them the way you want to see them. You can sort the list in ascending or descending order by any field (column) shown but the default is alphbetical ascending.
In order to transfer to another device in alphabetic order you would have to copy one at a time in that order to make sure they are listed in the FAT in that order. Then once you have done that they will be copied to any other location from the second one in that same order.

I see Dale, but I am still wondering why the last three transfers that I did somehow came out in Hoster in alphabetical order. That just seems to much of a coincidence three times in a row. I didn't load THEM in any specific order to the flash drive.

Unless, I might have songverted those last three folders from zip to zip first, and if sonverter converts (processes) them in alphabetical order does that set them up for "proper" transmission to Hoster afterwards?

[ddouglass]

May have just been luck, but unless a DiskID -Track number is assigned I don't think any of the MTU programs do anything with the order beyond the FAT order.

[bryant]

Originally Posted by ddouglass

May have just been luck, but unless a DiskID -Track number is assigned I don't think any of the MTU programs do anything with the order beyond the FAT order.

Unless, I might have songverted those last three folders from zip to zip first to a different folder, and if sonverter converts (processes) them in alphabetical order does that set them up for "proper" transmission to Hoster afterwards?

Does the above paragraph make sense, anyway, as far as you know?

[admin]

Originally Posted by bryant

Unless, I might have songverted those last three folders from zip to zip first, and if sonverter converts (processes) them in alphabetical order does that set them up for "proper" transmission to Hoster afterwards?

Songverter will process files in some order, and I'd have to get our programmer to search the code to define that order. How they are stored back to the hard drive when converted would make sense it establishes an order in the Windows FAT table for that drive. Then, if you copy that block of files to your Flash Drive, the FAT order determines the order they copy in. That could explain your "right" ordering.

Hoster cannot guess what you want to do. It is given files with filenames. We have done everything... EVERYTHING... possible to make it as flexible as we can.

If your filenames have no DiscID, you are telling Hoster "I don't care" which are grouped together, up to 99 in the order that Hoster and Windows' FAT find them in.

If your filenames have no Track#, you are telling Hoster "I don't care" what track Hoster will then assign, up to 99... soon to be 9,999 in Hoster 4.00x.

These are 2 facts you must deal with. If you want to group by DiscID, you must provide one. If you want to order by Track#, you must provide one. We can't program in ESP to read your mind. We have programmed total flexibility to allow you to define what fields are in what order in the filenames. Beyond that, it's impossible.

FYI: We are beta testing Hoster 3.318 with a number of bug fixes for 3.310 and higher users. We expect to release 3.318 this week. One of the "bugs" we fixed is assigning the Track# from Hoster's Import Hard Drive Files screen, Track List at the bottom. Each "slot" in this list has a track number. If your filenames include a defined Track#, then they are used to place each track into the correct numbered "slot". If there are no Track#'s defined, then we put them in first to last slot positions. In 3.318, we again are assigning the slot number to be the Track# in the KMA file. This will allow you to import again when your filenames don't contain a Track#.

That's the best I can do to define the problem you are struggling with.

The real answer is... add DiscID-Track# entries to your filenames.

That's all I gotta say about that!

[bryant]

Thank you very much Admin. I really didn't expect any changes from the programming side other than trying to
help me out with mechanisms of the process. I can now see what is happening and why I have been getting the order lisings I have been getting. It was all good information for me.
I will plan on using track numbers when necessary, although I think I have a normal work-around with the sonverter conversions first. It is good habit for me to songvert all my zips to rezips anyway with a good compression that my other programs will always read as well.
Thanks to all those that have contributed to this discussion.
For further info, I did hear in my other "DJ program's" forum that there is two format's for zipping files, 2.0 and 2.1. My DJ program recognizes only one of them. Apparently, zip-to-zip conversions in songverter put the more usable zip format in. In fact, the use of Somgverter is mentioned as a work-around product in this DJ program's karaoke operation.
I don't see why anyone would want to use a DJ program for Karaoke when Hoster is available, but some seem to want to stick with their original DJ program.

[admin]

Here are the Hoster 3.318 changes we are now testing:

1. FIXED ZIP Files Error - If ZIP files (MP3+G ZIP or HDZIP) contained .mp3 and .CDG files with the extensions in different UPPER/lower cases, Hoster would not unzip them and display an error message. Hoster 3.318 now ignores the case and will open and unzip files with mixed case extensions.


2. Delete Temp ZIP and HDZIP Files After Used - To play ZIP files requires unzipping the .mp3 and .cdg files to a TEMP folder. It turns out these were not always deleted after playing, which caused this error message: "Unexpected error processing the ZIP file: 0x000002000" The following also appears, but varies depending on your installation: C:\DOCUM~1\OWNER~1.YOU\LOCALS~tEMP\AUOUT.ZZZ. We now unzip to the TEMP/MTU_Hoster sub-folder, which is deleted when Hoster closes normally and when it opens. This insures all ZIP file components are removed before Hoster runs again.


3. Now Auto-Assign Missing Track Number in HDD Import - In 3.317, if the Track# was missing from the filename, it would cause a database error during import, and refused to import. This is fixed.


4. Return Key Change to Zero After Playing - In prior versions, if a Key Change was added to a song in the Playlist or changed live while playing, after it played the Key Change was not being reset to zero. It now returns to zero.


5. Made Playlist Key Field Editable - You can now directly edit the Key field in the Playlist after adding a song. The changes are used when the songs play. If you enter beyond +5/-5, the field background turns pink, the value resets to "0", then the field background turns white after 2 seconds for you to enter a valid entry.


6. Edit Songs Delete Button Messages - If you delete multiple files, a message appeared for each file. This was changed to only display one message for the Delete button. The deleted BookID for each file is saved into a file named DeletedBookIDs.txt in the /Hoster installation folder.


7. Fixed HDD Import Define Field Order Lists - We removed the last delimitor dropdown list in the Define Field Order as it is no longer needed.

[scotobryan]

I have a few discs that are scratched and the words are messed up when playing in hoster. I have lived with this for a long time.

I have a friend who has the discs in zip format that play fine. my thinking was to try to take the discs in zip file and convert them to kma and replace my bad ripps. Im using 3.03 but have paid for but cant register 3.15. (working on that now through suport)

first I moved all the current files out of the songs directory and deleted the songs database. I was going to import the zips and replace the bad kma files and then build song database again.

When trying to import some of the songs import and others dont. it just says error instead of imported. I have actually unziped some of the files to mp3.g and then they would import. i am clueless as to why this is.

If i try to play some of the zips some play and some start to play then stop. again if i unzip them they play fine. I have also gotten an compression rate too high error when trying to play some zip files

My friend uses sax and dottys and all the files play fine.

any reason why this is hapening? I thought updating the software may fix the problem altough i havent read anything like this on the forums or the bugs fixed on the updates.

Karaoke is kinda a low priority right now since we are doing large event production and huge VIP parties and concerts. I dont download the software updates as soon as they come out so i usually miss out because the links are dead.

[ddouglass]

Originally Posted by scotobryan

I have a few discs that are scratched and the words are messed up when playing in hoster. I have lived with this for a long time.

I have a friend who has the discs in zip format that play fine. my thinking was to try to take the discs in zip file and convert them to kma and replace my bad ripps. Im using 3.03 but have paid for but cant register 3.15. (working on that now through suport)

first I moved all the current files out of the songs directory and deleted the songs database. I was going to import the zips and replace the bad kma files and then build song database again.

When trying to import some of the songs import and others dont. it just says error instead of imported. I have actually unziped some of the files to mp3.g and then they would import. i am clueless as to why this is.

If i try to play some of the zips some play and some start to play then stop. again if i unzip them they play fine. I have also gotten an compression rate too high error when trying to play some zip files

My friend uses sax and dottys and all the files play fine.

any reason why this is hapening? I thought updating the software may fix the problem altough i havent read anything like this on the forums or the bugs fixed on the updates.

Karaoke is kinda a low priority right now since we are doing large event production and huge VIP parties and concerts. I dont download the software updates as soon as they come out so i usually miss out because the links are dead.

Since you are using such an old version of Hoster then your first problem is to get up-to-date. This includes updating your Windows too, by using the Custom update from Microsoft's web site and installing all updates available. This will probably take at least 2 or 3 times as many need to reboot when installed.
More than likely some of those ZIP files were done with maximum compression, which until the very latest versions Hoster was not able to handle. To fix this you can rezip them at a lower compression or mearly unzip them and import them that way. If you look at the resulting KMA files they will be very close to the same size.