Songbird Damaged iTunes Meta Data and Recently Added List. Best way to fix?

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Level 1

5 points

Songbird Damaged iTunes Meta Data and Recently Added List. Best way to fix?

Hello, Apple forums.

A while ago (Long enough to fix some of the broken Meta data), I tried out Songbird as an alternative for when I'm gaming and want a little extra resources.

Unfortunately, I set it up to sync between iTunes and Songbird, and Songbird "updated" my iTunes information and removed META data in the process for any song played on Songbird.

It also had the recently added moved to "Songbird > Recently Added," and proceeded to fill it with every song in my library.

My music is stored on a Western Digital MyBook external HDD (320GB) formatted to FAT32.

I have fifteen playlists, and would like to retain ratings and play counts on the songs.

My library reads "8196 songs, 19:15:40:31 total time, 50.13"

Granted, a couple hundred of these are the ones missing the META data and are broken entries (IE has all the data listed but does not have the file where it should be) and their META-less version added from %library%\music\unknown artists\unknown album\

(The tracks retain their real name with the track number prefixing them, it's just a matter of going through all of the songs and matching them up)

Given that this is as it is, how should I go about this?

I would also like to keep the apps for my 2nd Gen iPod Touch (iOS Pois0ned 4.2.1).

All music is either imported from a CD or an independent artist.

I don't have access to all of the CD's, nor do I particularly want to manually re-add everything.

I am more concerned with the recently added playlist being fixed! I understand that I will have to cut my losses on the META data!

Older (Bought in 2001) Vaio PC-OTHER, Windows XP, WinXP SP3-Professional version

Posted on Apr 13, 2012 11:37 AM

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Answer 1

Owndapwn Author

Level 1

5 points

Apr 13, 2012 11:51 AM in response to Owndapwn

Here is a screenshot of my iTunes.

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/15355292/itunes.PNG

First, notice the pending app-updates.

Those are apps that would no longer work on my iPod if I updated them.

So redownloading is absolutely not an option.

Next notice the playlists. They don't have the smat playlist icon, or whatever it's called.

I also forgot to mention I deleted the recently added, hoping it would remake it after I added some music. :|

And then the music count. I do not want to lose my sorting of that.

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Answer 2

turingtest2

Level 10

278,119 points

Apr 13, 2012 12:05 PM in response to Owndapwn

See this User Tip for starters: Restore Original Smart Playlists

What format are the files in? My FindTracks script might be able to reconnect the broken entries with the original metadata, ratings & playcounts etc. to the "broken" files, but then again having connected them it might read the duff data. It should be OK if the files are guaranteed tag free, e.g. wav or mp3 with no ID3 tag.

tt2

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Answer 3

Owndapwn Author

Level 1

5 points

Apr 13, 2012 12:22 PM in response to turingtest2

I have over eight thousand songs. They're in pretty much every supported format possible.

iTunes still has the META data. Just doesn't want to find the files. >_<

That said, I am running your script. (( PS. If it is a RAT, I'll use it to disable thermal control on your computer. I detest being RAT'd ))

The smart playlists have been remade. Thank you for that, sir. ^^

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Answer 4

turingtest2

Level 10

278,119 points

Apr 13, 2012 12:39 PM in response to Owndapwn

I thought you said Songbird had removed metadata. Most files carry metadata in a tag. If a file "goes missing" because another program chooses to relocate it iTunes will retain an entry in the library with all that information. The FindTracks script makes a bash at locating the moved files in a number of alternate locations, including the unknown artist/unknown album folder or the main Music folder. If the files have actually had metadata removed, but have a tag, then iTunes will read the damaged data and update itself. Not necessarily what you want. For files that are in a logical artist/album layout but don't have tags you could be better off repairing tags first with, for example, MediaMoney's AutoTag from Filename feature.

tt2

I had to look up RAT. I'm guessing you meant something like remote admin/access tool. By all means be wary of anything recommended on this site but to accuse me of being underhand without any evidence is hardly the way to start a fruitful conversation. I thought you wanted help here...

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Answer 5

Owndapwn Author

Level 1

5 points

Apr 13, 2012 12:50 PM in response to turingtest2

I ran the script. Nothing came up on any of my connection monitors.

Found 50, but 90 were missing.

There are WAY more broken than that.

It isn't so much an accusation as it is experience. I have been on all sides of a virus, and I know that VBS scripts are insanely insecure and are used to install a RAT without being detected.

My need for help will not lead me to blindly install a RAT.

Black Hats do what they do by pretending to be a White Hat, after all.

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Answer 6

turingtest2

Level 10

278,119 points

Apr 13, 2012 1:00 PM in response to Owndapwn

Well the scripts on my site are all in plain text and easy enough to read... You can see what they do if you desire, unlike any old .exe that you care to download.

Moving on... Do you know where the files that have been moved are now? You may need to feed a different value in for "Media Folder Location" in the second dialog of the script.

tt2

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