WMP12 and WMP+ to avoid overwriting files?

2014-11-23 20:06:51

First off, let me admit that most of what I've read here is way over my head. 

I had the good fortune to run across Tim De Baets excellent little plug in, WMP+, after hours of frustration trying to rebuild My Music (from XP) on WIN 7 SP1 WMP12 without benefit of an Advanced Edit Tag. But that's another story ...

I am searching for a way to "lock" all the information, including the crappy little 200x200 AlbumArt *.jpg files, I have set in WMP12 Library to the My Music Library so that WMP12 never again takes it upon itself to rewrite that info/art.

Much of the database (My Music) is single songs, not listed each to its own folder and I'm really not up on all this ... in XP it just worked! But it causes me concern that there is no apparent way to attach the AlbumArt *.jpg files to the specific songs. Even WMP+ (thank you Tim De Baets!) gives no option to apply a specific album cover to a specific song.

I'm sure I'm not being particularly clear about all this and I do apologize for it. The key to making something work is knowledge, which I clearly lack. I'm frankly afraid to mess with the permissions thing but if that's what it takes, I'll back up and give it a shot. So my questions are:

Is there any way to backup the WMP library so that it can be restored exactly the way it is?

Alternatively, is there any way to associate/lock each AlbumArt *.jpg file to the specific song?

Thanks in advance to anyone with any suggestions.

WMP12 and WMP+ to avoid overwriting files?

Reply #1 – 2014-11-23 21:25:30

The most drastic way to avoid any change is to set your audio files to read only.
The down side is that any change you make to any tag will be library only, it won't be written to the tags in the audio files.

I suggest to have a good look at media players like MusicBee, Foobar, etc.
They don't meddle with your cover art, offer a wider range of audio formats like FLAC, audio drivers like WAPI/ASIO , etc.

As far as I know MusicBee allows you to store the cover art into each single file.

WMP12 and WMP+ to avoid overwriting files?

Reply #2 – 2014-11-23 22:09:49

Thank you for your response Roseval. I am not ashamed to say I am a dinosaur ... I had resisted leaving XP and (actually got dragged kicking and screaming) into Windows 7 because my needs are quite simple; I knew the OS and it's components inside and out and really had no desire to reinvent a wheel that had been rolling smoothly for well 'nigh onto a decade.

Hence, I really just want to use WMP ... albeit if I had my druthers, it would be WMP 10! I blame M$ who can't seem to prioritize user-friendly, rock solid OS's over their obsessive need to monopolize the globe with s**t that doesn't work in pursuit of the Almighty Dollar. But I digress.

So do I understand correctly that even if I backup, once I need to repopulate the Music Library (because yes Windows 7 is giving me other grief necessitating 2 clean reinstalls and counting) ... there is NO WAY to guarantee it will set itself up as I have it now?