__TOC__
== But First ==
"Importing" in this context refers to "Add to Library", which is very much NOT the same thing as [[Ripping]].

When you use the "Add to library..." function, presently kJams does NOT copy the files into your library. That means, you MUST have your songs stored where you want them to permanently reside. You can NOT move your songs once kJams imports them (unless you [[Consolidating|know what you are doing]]). They can be on an [[Moving|external volume]], but the volume must be online for kJams to be able to play them.

Also keep in mind you can not place them in the "kJams Music" folder before you "Add to Library…" them, you do not own that folder, kJams does. In fact don't mess with that folder at all (You really should [[KJams_Music_Folder|understand exactly about this]]).

Basically, it means that you should copy all your music into some folder of your choice, somewhere where you'll never move them again. Alternately, if your music is already on an external hard drive, and you want to keep it there, just leave it there and add the root folder of your music. If you want your music to live on your internal drive, I recommend you make a folder called "My Karaoke", right next to the "kJams Music" folder (not inside it). Put all your existing music in there. Then Add that folder to your Library. DO NOT go into preferences and change the "kJams Music" folder to point to your folder, if you do you will cause the world to explode.

After you add any songs to your library, DO NOT MOVE OR RENAME the songs or their containing folders, EVER. kJams keeps track of where the songs are and what they are named. You will cause the universe to implode if you change things out from under the kJams database. That means for example DO NOT DO THIS: "Download a karaoke song to your desktop. Add it to your library. Delete the song." Guess what? the song is gone. You can't play it any more. DO NOT DO THIS: "Add a song to the library. Then in the finder, rename the folder that the song resides in, or rename the hard drive that it is on, or rename the song file itself." Guess what? The universe will implode.

kJams requires write access to the disk where your music is. If you use an external drive it can NOT be formatted NTFS. If you're not sure, [[Reformat|YOU NEED TO CHECK]].

==Acesonic==
If you have Acesonic "cdg" files, these are in fact bin files with interleaved CDG streams (aka "raw bin" files). Why on earth it is labeled "cdg" is beyond me, and secondly why they leave the CDG stream interleaved is another technical misnomer, as CDG bin files "traditionally" are pre-deinterleaved. Anyway, to add them to kJams, you will first have to rename them to have the "rbin" file name extension. You can use [http://www.publicspace.net/ABetterFinderRename/download.html ABFR] for this, which is an awesome utility to own. After you rename them, just add to library like normal. You can then convert them to whatever format you want. The only problem with this solution is that kJams can't import Acesonic metadata files. To solve this problem, [[user:11rcombs|11rcombs]] is writing a [http://php.net/ PHP] script to convert all the metadata from the Acesonic format to the CAVS format, and complete the required batch-rename. The script will be posted here in a few days, once it's complete.
==KMA & WMA==
These files require the free [http://www.flip4mac.com/wmv_download.htm Flip4Mac] plugin
==AVI, DivX, FLV, MKV, GVI, VP6, and VFW==
These files require the free [http://perian.org/ Perian] plugin

==Bin/Cue Pairs==
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cue_sheet_(computing) What is it?] 
A pair of files with .bin and .cue extensions can be added as if it were a CD, making it easy to burn bin/cue on your mac. Simply "Add to library" the .bin file, and kJams will automatically find the .cue file next to it (it must be named exactly the same, excluding file extension). kJams will then query the freedb for meta data, and then add all the songs from the bin file as separate entries into the database. Note that all the songs now in the database will just point to the same .bin file, much like all the songs from a CD point to the same CD. Bear in mind that kJams does not save Meta Data in separate files like it does for all other song types. This means if you edit the meta data, then one day you rebuild your library, the editing will be lost.

A naked .bin file does not have a corresponding .cue file to go with it, and kJams assumes it contains only one song. In this case kJams does preserve any meta data you change, so rebuilding your library will recover your edited data.

==Tagged Songs==
If the songs you are importing are tagged (eg: they have ID3 data, Vorbis Comments, or QuickTime Metadata (or if you've used kJams to [[Xattr]] tag them)) then you may simply go "File->Add to Library…", navigate to the root folder, click okay, then click the "Tags" button in the next dialog (if it shows up). kJams will then import everything and you're ready to go.

However if you are importing untagged music, and you hope to glean some meta-data out of the file names directly (and optionally the enclosing folder names) then please read the next section.

==Untagged Songs==
This works for importing pre-existing Audio+G, Zipped Audio+G, QuickTime, MPEG, kar, midi, naked BIN files 

First, make sure you've got preferences->tags->conform song names: set to "L-T - R - S". This is important. You can change it if you know why you want to change it, but i recommend against it 'till you know what you're doing.

In the following explanation, I am going to use these conventions: 
<tt>R</tt> - artist name 
<tt>S</tt> - song name 
<tt>L</tt> - album name 
<tt>T</tt> - track number 
<tt>I</tt> - Ignore this bit of information 
<tt>/x/</tt> - stands for "folder named <x>" (without the brackets), eg: "/R/" is a folder who's name is the artist's name, or "/L/" is a folder who's name is the album name. To extend the idea, "/R - L/" is a folder who's name contains both the artist and the album, separated by a "space dash space".

Okay. As you know, pre existing songs can be named a variety of ways. eg:

LEG086-07 - U2 - Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me, Kill Me.zip 
SC8397-13.zip 
AH2003-03 - Pink Floyd - Time.zip 
BL21-04_-_Every_Breath_You_Take_-_Police,_The 
Adams, Bryan - Cuts Like A Knife - SC-1.zip 

Now, the problem is, it takes a human to interpret these names. Some are laid out "L-T - S - R.xxx", some are "L-T - R - S.xxx", some could be "T S.xxx. Some songs have "pretty" names in the names of the folders enclosing the song!

If you've got all your songs from one source, then they're probably all named the same way. However, if you got your songs from many sources, then you will probably want to sort them into like-minded folders before continuing. If this is the case, you should see below for info on pre-sorting, before cointinuing.

So to get started, just pick File->Add To Library and navigate to the root folder of your songs, select it and hit okay. Go have coffee if you have a lot of songs.

Now, you will spend some time "fixing" songs in batches. Select a group of songs that are similarly broken and right click "Re-interpret names" and pick the right interpretation, or make a new one (with the edit button). Watch the tasks window, after about 10 seconds kJams will attempt to update what is on the disk (renaming the files and updating the tags). Don't get too far ahead of the tasks, you may want to do a batch then let kJams finish pushing the meta out to them and then let it complete saving the database again. Then go on to the next batch.

If you get thru your whole library, and now all the meta is correct, YOU WILL NEVER GO THRU THIS PROCESS AGAIN!! That's because as you went kJams updated the actual files on the disk. If you ever need to rebuild your library from scratch, all the meta is already there, and it will all import in one fell swoop. Yeah!!

Basically this new way lets you do all your work in kJams not in the finder. No sorting necessary. But it helps to read below to understand the reasoning behind this madness.

Click Here to learn more about [[Reinterpret|Reinterpret Names]]

==Song Name Interpretation Dialog==
http://www.kjams.com/screenshots/interpret.gif

The dialog shows the file name to be interpreted (labeled "File:"), plus the two enclosing folders ("Folder" and "Grandfolder"). The interpretations that are available for the file are shown in the "Interpret As:" popup. The box shows what happens when applying the interpretation to the file (and possibly it's enclosing folders). If there is no interpretation that makes the meta info as shown in the box come out correctly, you can edit what appears in the menu by pressing the Edit... button, which will launch your default text editor (likely TextEdit).

The format of the text file is just the interpretation styles, one per line. The ONLY things you should type into a style are the letters <tt>"R", "S", "L", "T", "I"</tt>, the separator <tt>" - "</tt> (that's a "space dash space"), or just a plain space <tt>" "</tt>, or a dash <tt>"-"</tt>, or parentheses: <tt>"("</tt> or <tt>")"</tt>. That's it. If you need something more, let me know. I won't try to predict what will happen if you type something else, you might crash. Anyway, add your new style, then save the file and switch back into kJams, which will update the menu, now you can select the new format you added.

I recommend against using the radio buttons, unless you know what you're doing.

SuperCDG

2010-02-24T22:32:50Z

11rcombs:

SuperCDG discs are a DVD format created by [http://cavsusa.com/ CAVS]. It can store thousands of karaoke songs on a single disc. The songs are in MP3+G format, where the "G" is either MCG or NCG or possibly CDG. They work with kJams just like any CD+G disc except for the following: 
* When you rip the songs, they will *always* rip to MP3. If you want them in another format, you should, after you rip, select the newly ripped songs and use the "Convert Format" option.
* These discs work even without a special DVD drive, since they're just regular data DVD's with certain files in certain places.
==Links==
* Information about the [http://www.cavsusa.com/scdg_disc.htm SuperCDG] format
* Here is an [http://search.ebay.com/supercdg eBay Search] for them, and here is [http://search.ebay.com/super-cd-g another].
==Bad Disc==
If you get a bad disc, sometimes it is simply because the MacOS is not able to read the disc. This is not the fault of kJams. But sometimes you CAN read the disc on a Windows machine, go figure! If this is the case, you CAN get your songs into kJams. Here's whatcha do:

# on Windows, copy the folder "CAVS_MCG" from the disc onto the desktop
# if you have a network
## over the network, copy this folder to your mac.
## make a new folder that has the name of the disc, eg: "CB_ESP5" or something, now drop the "CAVS_MCG" folder into it
## run Disk Utility
## file->new->disk image from folder
## pick that disc folder (eg: CB_ESP5)
## in the Save dialog->Image Format: pick "read-only", no encryption, save it on the desktop
## when it's done, quit Disk Utility, you'll have a "CB_ESP5.dmg" on the desktop, open it
## you're done, run kJams and rip away
# if you do NOT have a network
## if you don't have a network, burn a data DVD with this ONE folder at the root level
## eject the disc from Windows, and go to your mac
## you're done, run kJams and rip away