Importing New Mp3+g Files

[kiwisinger]

Hi All,
I'm trying to understand the process of Importing New MP3+G files.
After purchasing Karaoke "zip files" online, I "unzip" them, then rename them to: "Disk # - Song title - Artist title" (only so they make more sense without all the numbers & letters etc).
I then use: Import Songs / Index Song Files.

Please correct me if I'm wrong. By doing the above, this creates .KMA files? Is this correct or not?

For some reason, when I want to add "NEW FILES", it now creates .KMH files in the folder of the MP3+G file. So now I have 3x files in the folder:
1. MP3 file
2. CDG file
3. KMH file.
It never use to do this?

Also, it's not adding the new .KMA files into the ".KMA" Folder with the rest of the .KMA files.

Q.1. Why does it create KMH files?
Q.2. Do I need these KMH files?
Q.3. If not, how do I stop it from creating them?
Q.4. Why isn't it creating NEW .KMA files? If it is,
Q.5. Where is it putting the NEW .KMA files?

I know I must be doing something wrong. Please help.

Thanking you in advance

Lani.

[Roy Dennis]

Which version of Hoster ?

When you view the import the import hard drive files dialog the top row shows "As" with two choices KMH or KMA, have you got the KMA choice selected ?
When you select KMA another window appears On the right side of that dialog you should see "Save To" box, use that to set the destination. You wont see that option appear unless you selected KMA option.

Hope that helps.

[WaltR]

If you import as a kma file it rewrites the file using much more disk space. In other words you will have your original cdg/mp3 files plus a new kma file which also contains a graphic and audio file. So now you have used approximately double the hard drive space. If you select kmh you only add a small file that recognizes your original cdg/mp3 files and uses very little additional hard drive space.

[kiwisinger]

Hi Roy,
thank you so much for your reply.

* The version I'm using is 5.10.
* Thank you for helping me locate my .KMA files

I have another question.

After I Import new files, I go to:

Import Songs/Build Database

This opens the "Build Songs Database" window, that shows the Folder containing my ".KMA files".

Q. What does the "Build Database" actually do?

Again, thank you in advance

Lani.

[Roy Dennis]

Originally Posted by kiwisinger

Hi Roy,
thank you so much for your reply.

* The version I'm using is 5.10.
* Thank you for helping me locate my .KMA files

I have another question.

After I Import new files, I go to:

Import Songs/Build Database

This opens the "Build Songs Database" window, that shows the Folder containing my ".KMA files".

Q. What does the "Build Database" actually do?

Again, thank you in advance

Lani.

You basically only ever need to use that if your existing database gets corrupted, or starting from scratch.

It actually stores all the songs data and path for Hoster to quickly find the song. If you list a song in the edit dialog you will see multiple columns of data apart from just title and artist.

The Extra KMH file you see accompanying the other files contains all that data for the individual track. A KMA file contains all that data as well but its hidden inside that one folder.
When you rebuild the database it reads all those files and just compiles them all in a list for Hoster to easily find and list.

[kiwisinger]

[You basically only ever need to use that if your existing database gets corrupted, or starting from scratch.]

Oh I see. I thought I had to "Rebuild the Database" every time I imported a new song haha Ok, I got it now

So, and correct me if I'm wrong, every time I import a new song, Hoster update my "Database" automatically?

Thank you Roy, much appreciated

[kiwisinger]

Originally Posted by WaltR

If you import as a kma file it rewrites the file using much more disk space. In other words you will have your original cdg/mp3 files plus a new kma file which also contains a graphic and audio file. So now you have used approximately double the hard drive space. If you select kmh you only add a small file that recognizes your original cdg/mp3 files and uses very little additional hard drive space.

Hi Walt,

thank you for your reply and explaining the kma/kmh files. From day dot, I've always just used kma files. I can only say that's how I've always done it, and certainly not because I decided to do it that particular way haha it just happened that way.

Q.1. Does Hoster use the kma files or the cgd+g files to play the song?
Q.2. If I was to delete all my kma files, will Hoster still work?
Q.3. How does Hoster work with kmh files?

At the moment, I now have kma files(in a sperate folder), & kmh files with all my cdg files.
Q.4. Whats your advise?
* Do I delete one lot and just use the other?
* If so, which one would you advise me to use? kma or kmh?

Thank you again Walt for your help, I really appreciate what you guys do

Lani

[WaltR]

Originally Posted by kiwisinger

Hi Walt,

thank you for your reply and explaining the kma/kmh files. From day dot, I've always just used kma files. I can only say that's how I've always done it, and certainly not because I decided to do it that particular way haha it just happened that way.

Q.1. Does Hoster use the kma files or the cgd+g files to play the song?
Q.2. If I was to delete all my kma files, will Hoster still work?
Q.3. How does Hoster work with kmh files?

At the moment, I now have kma files(in a sperate folder), & kmh files with all my cdg files.
Q.4. Whats your advise?
* Do I delete one lot and just use the other?
* If so, which one would you advise me to use? kma or kmh?

Thank you again Walt for your help, I really appreciate what you guys do

Lani

The kma files are stand alone. They do not need anything else for them to play. They contain the audio and video files.

As far as deleting what you have, I don't know what to tell you based on the info you provided. The cdg files are just the video (lyrics) portion of the song. They need an audio file to go with them such as mp3. Unless you are running out of disk space, I don't see the need to delete your kma files since they are already part of Hoster and have been indexed into your database as such. The KMH file stores with the CDG and MP3 for example, as a reference to these files for Hoster to recognize them and use very little disk space. If you have zipped files they contain the CDG and MP3 files and if used with KMH they are referenced by the KMH as well.

I only use KMH now because as mentioned earlier, they save so much disk space. At one time when importing cdg disk, KMA was the only option. With later versions of Hoster you have options as to what type of file you want these imports to be. When I import CDG disks now I import them as mp3+g which are audio and graphics files and they are associated by KMH files instead of the KMA. I hope I have answered your questions and explained things clearly.

[kiwisinger]

Originally Posted by WaltR

The kma files are stand alone. They do not need anything else for them to play. They contain the audio and video files.

As far as deleting what you have, I don't know what to tell you based on the info you provided.....Unless you are running out of disk space, I don't see the need to delete your kma files since they are already part of Hoster and have been indexed into your database as such.

The KMH file stores with the CDG and MP3 for example, as a reference to these files for Hoster to recognize them and use very little disk space. If you have zipped files they contain the CDG and MP3 files and if used with KMH they are referenced by the KMH as well.

I only use KMH now because as mentioned earlier, they save so much disk space.....

Ah, thank you Walt for explaining that.

I just checked my HD and I've got heaps of space left, so I wont delete my kma files.

Q.1. Now that I've got all those kmh files in my cdg folders, is there any way of deleting them all in one go, without having to go in there and delete them 1x1? There's a few thousand! :(

Q.2. Is there a difference in the performance between kma & kmh? Is one format better than the other?

Thanx Walt