BR Song Librarian - new software for the BR

[64Guitars]

 

BR Song Librarian
by 64Guitars

I've written a new program for copying individual songs between the BR and the PC. This is something that I've wanted for several years, and I know that a few others have been waiting for this too. I had originally planned to build it into BR Explorer. I'll probably still do that eventually, but it proved easier to develop it as a standalone program first.


Which BR is it for?

BR Song Librarian is designed to work with any current or past BR that uses a memory card for storage. So that's the Micro BR, BR-80, BR-800, BR-600, BR-900, BR-864, and BR-532.


How does it work?

The left side of BR Song Librarian will list all of the songs on any compatible BR attached via USB or any compatible BR memory card in a card reader. When you select any of these songs and click the "Copy to PC" button, the corresponding song folder will be copied to your computer's hard drive. You will be prompted to enter a descriptive name for the song folder.

The right side of BR Song Librarian lists all of the songs currently stored in the song library folder on your computer. When you select any of these songs and click the "Copy to BR" button, a new song folder will be created on the BR with a unique name in the required "SONGxxxx.BR0" format, and the files will be copied from the computer into this new folder on the BR. The folder name will always be unique, so you don't have to worry about overwriting an existing song on the BR.


Where is the song library folder?

By default, the song library folder is "C:\Boss BR Songs". This folder will be created automatically the first time you run the program. If you want your library stored somewhere else, you can change it in Preferences which can be found on the File menu. Just enter any valid directory path. The path must already exist except for the folder name which will be created if it doesn't already exist.


What is the "Title / Description" column on the BR side?

Initially this column will be blank. When you restore a song from the PC to the BR, you'll be prompted to enter an 8-character song name as well as a more descriptive Title / Description. The 8-character name will be displayed in the BR when you select the song. The longer Title / Description will not be displayed in the BR. However, it will be displayed in the BR side of BR Song Librarian the next time you use it to view the songs on that memory card. It will also be displayed in BR Explorer in the "Song Title" field, and any Song Titles entered or edited in BR Explorer will be displayed in BR Song Librarian.

When you copy a song from the BR to the PC, the song library folder name will default to the Title / Description if one has been previously entered, saving you a lot of typing. Of course, you can change it if you'd rather use a different name for the song library folder name. Also, when you copy a song from the PC to the BR, the Title / Description field will already be filled-in if it exists in the saved song. Otherwise, it will default to the name of the song library folder.


Other features

• Clicking any column heading sorts the songs by the data in that column. Clicking the same column again reverses the sort order.
• Right-clicking on any song gives you the option to open the corresponding song folder in Windows Explorer where you can then rename, delete, copy, or move files and/or folders. However, I wouldn't recommend doing so unless you're certain that you know what you're doing.
• The Help menu has a link to a web page about BR Song Librarian. There's nothing much there at the moment, but I plan to add some info about the program and basic instructions. You will also be able to download new versions from this page.

Note:  I can't seem to post this message in full so I've split it into two messages.

[64Guitars]

... continued from previous message.


Is it safe to use?

BR Song Librarian is designed to safely copy your song data. However, it has not yet been thoroughly tested. That's why I'm releasing it first as a beta version. As with any beta software, you should be cautious and make a full backup of your memory card before using BR Song Librarian with it. I've done a small amount of testing on my BR-864 and it worked reliably in my tests. Geir and cuthbert kindly did some testing for me on their BR-800, BR-80, and Micro BR, and they've reported that it worked reliably for them. But it has not been tested at all on the BR-600, BR-900, and BR-532.

I expect it to work reliably on all of the BRs for which it was designed. But if you discover any problems, please report them here so that I can fix them. After the program has been in use for a sufficient time with no reports of major problems, I'll re-release it as version 1.00 since it will have then been adequately tested by a good number of users on all of the BRs for which it was designed.


Installation

First, download the latest version of the program from the BR Song Librarian web page and unzip it.

https://songcrafters.org/64guitars/BR/software/BRSongLibrarian/index.html

The zip file contains only one file, "BR_Songs.exe". Copy this file to any suitable folder. I'd recommend "C:\Program Files\64Guitars\". Then right-click on the file and select "Send To - Desktop (create shortcut)".

That's it! The program is now ready to use by double-clicking on the desktop shortcut you created.

I hope you find BR Song Librarian useful.

[Oldrottenhead]

looks fabulous 64, this is gonna be a real help to me as i generally fill my sd card at least once a week so back up the entire  br folder to my hard drive quite often, then reformat the card and start anew, problems arise when i have to go back to a song and it can be difficult to find it.

i think this is gonna be a very useful tool for me, muchos gracias.

[Oldrottenhead]

looks to be working ok on my mbr cheers 64.

[Oldrottenhead]

works a treat. made the error of dragging the saved folders straight onto my sd card, mbr didn't recognise them, due to their names. but when i transferred them using the software all went well. bloody brilliant. in my excitement i thought i could scroll the songs via their individual title but still have to scroll them as song00021 etc.

best thing since sliced bread.

[Geir]

best thing since sliced bread.

I agree !

[Oldrottenhead]

three cheers for 64guitars

[Oldrottenhead]

wow i have just discovered i can name the song folders doh! this is fabulous.

[Greeny]

three cheers for 64guitars

Make that 64!

[Bluesberry]

I'm excited by this development.............can't wait to try it.