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Topic: How to have a hidden but accessible library in Foobar? (Read 1357 times) previous topic - next topic
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How to have a hidden but accessible library in Foobar?

Hi all

I rip all of my CDs to FLAC and mp3.  As it stands, they are all on the J partition of my hard drive, with separate parent directories for FLAC and mp3.  So, on the Album List window on the left of the player, with View by Folder Structure selected down below, I have the FLAC and mp3 folders showing as expected.  

I would like to hide the mp3 folder - or for it to not be there - so that when I do a search, or when I changed view to "by genre" (etc), it just brings up FLAC files and not the mp3s.  But at the same time, after ripping a batch of CDs I like to check the rips in Foobar to make sure everything is correct with the tags, etc.  And I like to check both the FLACs and mp3s. 

So is it possible to have the mp3 folder hidden but accessible, and if so how?  Any other workarounds? 

Many thanks

Max

Re: How to have a hidden but accessible library in Foobar?

Reply #1 –
Afaik, album list cannot hide files. I see two possible options. Assuming the path to those mp3 folders contains the string '\mp3_folder\':
- You can exclude those mp3 folders from the library, such that they no longer appear in Album List. To do this add the string
Code: [Select]
*\mp3_folder\*
in Preferences/Media Library/Files Typs Exclude:
Though, when verifying tags, you will have to add the mp3s manually from windows explorer or by drag'n'drop or ...
- You can modify all Album List views to contain a branch where you put in all 'hidden' files, e.g.
Code: [Select]
$if2($strstr(%path%,'\mp3_folder\'),_hidden|)
...
where ... represents the current Album List view titleformatting.

Re: How to have a hidden but accessible library in Foobar?

Reply #2 –
Quote from: MaxDread on
But at the same time, after ripping a batch of CDs I like to check the rips in Foobar to make sure everything is correct with the tags, etc.  And I like to check both the FLACs and mp3s. 

If that is only once, why slow down your library by including them all the time? You could of course have a second (portable) fb2k install whose library has the mp3 folders too.

Re: How to have a hidden but accessible library in Foobar?

Reply #3 –
Thanks zimjo - I'll take a look at those options. 

Porcus - thanks for the suggestion.  I like to check the mp3s about once a month or so.  But apart from that, they are just sitting there in the way.  I only rip to mp3 for use with my iPod.  For listening back on my PC I use FLAC.  I'll take a look at the portable install, although after a quick look I could not find it on the downloads page.  But is it compatible with a PC running WinXP?

Cheers

Re: How to have a hidden but accessible library in Foobar?

Reply #4 –
It is the same installer, you just choose a portable in the process.

But if you do it only "once a month", you could have an exception in your library, and remove that exception once a month (leave it time to index the mp3s) to check.
 

Re: How to have a hidden but accessible library in Foobar?

Reply #5 –
Hi again

Sorry - I've been I total dumb ass!   :-[   I totally forgot that my FLAC folder also contains some mp3s.  All of my CDs are ripped to produce a FLAC and mp3.  But I also had quite a large old mp3 only library (i.e. no FLAC versions) and with those I did all of the tagging and then put a copy both in the FLAC folder AND in the mp3 folder.  I'm sure there would have been more efficient ways to do that which did not result in duplicates.  But it just felt right and I've got more than enough storage...

Anyhow, the bottom line is that my FLAC folder also has mp3s and therefore the "Exclude *.mp3" route doesn't work. 

Zimjo - to be honest, I didn't quite follow all of your suggestions.  The first one sounds like it could be useful but I'm not sure I've understood it properly.  I have two folders, and they have the following paths:

J:\_FLAC
J:\_Mp3

So are you saying there's a way to exclude the J:\_Mp3 folder and if so what exactly do I need to put into the Exclude field to do that? 

Your second suggestion also sounds interesting, but I don't follow it fully so if you or anybody could explain it in a bit more detail (and as if explaining it to an idiot  :)) that would be most helpful. 

For now, I have taken the simple route and changed Music Folder > Path from J:\ to J:\_FLAC.  I can just add the J:\_Mp3 path when I want to check he mp3 folder, or revert it back to J:\.  The downside is that it takes a few minutes "initializing" but I can go make a cup of coffee when that happens.  Are there any other potential downsides to doing it like this?

Thanks again for all the help.  Really appreciate it.