File and folder name synchronization is a powerful feature of this software that sets it apart from the competition and makes it more that just a song book program. This feature, when used as directed, enables Pilot Song Book Creator to act as a full music library management program and can help you to ensure the song files in your music library match your song book, which can also help when it comes to importing your song files into another program such as many popular karaoke hosting solutions.
| • | After you perform this import, you must not change the names of your song files or folder from outside of this software. Doing so will permanently "break" the link from the song to the song file. It may be possible to re-establish this link by re-importing the song file using the Merge option, however. |
| • | None of your disc numbers should have been edited in a way that violates these rules. |
| • | If Pilot Song Book Creator detects that there are no links to from your song book to your song files, then the option to perform this synchronization will not be available to you on the ribbon. (It will be grayed out). |
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Types of synchronization
You can synchronize the entire song book, or just the current disc. Synchronizing the entire song book is typically performed once, after you've completed editing your song book. Synchronizing the current disc is useful as you add new discs and songs to your song book enabling to synchronize just what was added, rather than the entire collection again.
Synchronization Instructions
| 1. | Please read the cautions below and make a backup copy of your song files before continuing. |
| 2. | Decide what you want to synchronize: |
| 2.1. | If you want to synchronize the entire collection, click Synchronize All on the Tools group of the Home tab on the ribbon. |
| 2.2. | If you want to synchronize just the current disc, click Synchronize Disc on the same ribbon group. |
| 3. | Either way, you will see the following window: |
| 4. | Specify the NEW File Name Format by clicking the Edit button. If you intend to import your songs into Siglos Karaoke Professional, we recommend using "{Disc}_-_{TrackNumber}_-_{Artist}_-_{Title}" for best results. |
| 5. | Specify the ZIP Conversion Options as follows: |
| 5.1. | No ZIP Conversion - Leave all files as they are with no conversion. The song files in the MP3+G format will remain MP3+G and the song files in the ZIP format will remain in the ZIP format. |
| 5.2. | Convert MP3+G to ZIP - Convert the MP3+G files to the ZIP format during the synchronization process and leave existing ZIP files in the ZIP format. This does not affect BIN files. |
| 5.3. | Convert ZIP to MP3+G - Convert the ZIP files to the MP3+G format during the synchronization process and leave existing MP3+G files in the MP3+G format. This also does not affect BIN files. |
| 5.4. | MP3+G is a common karaoke file format that consists of an MP3 file for the audio and a CDG or MCG file for the graphics (lyrics). The ZIP format for karaoke simply packages these two files into one file taking slightly less space on your hard drive. |
| 7. | If the Disc Number of the disc or discs you are renaming have changed since you imported or last synchronized, you'll see this screen: |
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| Click to Expand |
| 7.1. | Verify the New Folder Names are as expected and click Rename. If you click Ignore, the synchronization process will continue without renaming the folders. If you click Cancel, the entire synchronization process will be canceled. |
| 8. | After renaming the folders (if you clicked Rename in the above step) or if there were no folders to rename, Pilot Song Book Creator will begin to gather information from your song book database. This may take from a few seconds to a few minutes depending on the size of your song book database. During this process, you may see this window if a potential issue exists with the new file name for a given song. |
| 9. | When song data has been analyzed, you will be presented with the following window and a simulation of the song file renaming will take place: |
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| Click to Expand |
| 9.1. | Before clicking Proceed, review the new file names to ensure they are as expected and review the status, to ensure no potential rename errors have been discovered. Once you are satisfied, click Proceed. |
| 10. | Now your song files will be renamed (and converted if you specified above). Note that if you elected to convert your files to or from the ZIP format, this may take some time. (Depending on the size of your database, and the speed of your computer, this process can take 5-20 minutes per 1,000 songs.) While your files are being renamed, the program may occasionally appear to have locked up. This is normal. DO NOT exit the program! |
| 11. | When the processing is complete, you will see the following report: |
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| Click to Expand |
| 12. | Click OK after you have reviewed the report and the synchronization is now complete! |
| • | This function will PERMANENTLY rename the corresponding song files and folders on your hard drive. This can not be undone, although it can be re-done, with a different Song File Name Format if you do not get the desired results. |
| • | We HIGHLY RECOMMEND making a backup copy of your digital songs before performing a synchronization just in case an unanticipated problem occurs.. |
| • | When editing the Disc Number of a disc in your database, be sure to follow these rules to avoid an error during the synchronization process. |
| • | If you maintain more than one song book data file for the songs which you are synchronizing with this process, then performing this function from within one of the song book data files will "break" the links in the others. For this reason, we recommend maintaining only one song book data file from which to perform this synchronization function. |
| • | The synchronization process will ignore songs in your song database have changed only by case (upper case, lowercase, etc) unless the synchronization file name template also changes. The reason is that Windows is not capable of renaming a file when the old and new file names vary only by upper or lower case letters. |
| • | If you have already imported your song files into a program like Siglos Karaoke Professional and perform this process, you will have to re-import your song files into that other program as all the file names will have changed. |
