Starting fresh with retagged files

[Pacoinmass]

Core Machine (Operating system/System info/Roon build number)

QNAP/Roon Version 1.7 (build 667)

Network Details (Including networking gear model/manufacturer and if on WiFi/Ethernet)

Asus Router/Ethernet connected

Audio Devices (Specify what device you’re using and its connection type - USB/HDMI/etc.)

Aurelic Aries streamer connected to NAS through Ethernet cable
NAD DAC connected to Aurelic through USB

Description Of Issue

I’ve been using Roon now for about two years and love it. I have a mix of uncompressed .mp4, FLAC, and DSF files and decided to clean up my library by reripping CDs to FLAC so I will only have FLAC and DSF file formats moving forward. I will also clean up my tags (current files reflect inconsistent tagging practices over the years).

To start “clean” I’ve ripped my CDs to a new folder (“FLAC” for now) that is not watched by Roon. (I’ll copy by DSF files here and fix their tags also.) My current Roon folder is “Music”.

My approach is to clean up tags for the files in the “FLAC” folder, change the current “Music” folder’s name to “Old Music” using my NAS’s file browser (QNAP…File Station), and rename the FLAC folder to “Music”. [I would delete the “Old Music” folder after I’m comfortable that the switch worked.]

I had a couple of questions because it’s hard to follow the articles in the knowledge base and would like to make sure that the import process goes smoothly.

1. Is this the best way to start “fresh” with the retagged files?

2. Before changing the current “Music” folder’s name, should I “Remove” the path in the Storage menu or simply “Disable” it?

3. Will this approach delete the few edits I’ve made to Roon tags…which is what I want to make sure happens…don’t want any “leftover” edits when I start clean…in other words, have Roon use the settings as set in the “Import Settings”.

4. Will this approach let me keep my history, playlists, radio stations?

5. I assume that my DSP settings, extensions would not be affected, correct?

6a. If the answers to the above are yes, do I simply force a rescan of the new “Music” folder once I’ve deleted the old one and renamed the “FLAC” folder to “Music”?

6b. Is that in essence a “new” import in this case so that the “Import Settings” will be applied?

6c. Or do I have to somehow delete the current library and start fresh (and lose my history, playlists)?

7. Is there another approach that woudl work better, be simpler?

Thx in advance for help…reading the Knowledge Base articles to determine the best approach has my head spinning!

PS, I posted this to the software category but didn’t hear from the Roon team so moved the previous post to Support. I posted this new with the technical details requested above. Sorry about the double post.

[Robert_van_Riel]

Retagging existing files with your own custom tags will not affect play history etc.

Roon cannot combine play history on different files, so the fresh start younhave in mind would be close to starting over completely. Adding new artwork or other metadata to files has the same effect. Roon will treat it as new files.

You do not have to delete the old path, just disable it.

Playlists will lose files that are on moved, disabled or deleted storage locations. But if your playlists are valuable to you, you can restore them but that would take some time, probably.

You may want to look into the Focus function when you decide to actually start retagging your files. It can be easier to sort tracks, albums, artists etc. using Focus, which you can then tag or add to a playlist or Bookmark.

[Pacoinmass]

Robert,

Thx for the reply however I wasn’t clear…I’m not retagging within Roon but using Yate to retag the files.

I was wondering if I can restore playlists and history from my library after I begin using the newly ripped and tagged files.

[Robert_van_Riel]

I see. The main idea stands: when you rerip tracks, those will be new files which you probably have to restore manually to your playlists.
Retagging files in Yate will affect metadata which will sometimes make Roon interpret this as new files.