I was perfectly happy with ECD 6: it was simple enough and I knew how to use it. I pretty much only used Audio Central, to collect songs in the music library, make song lists, and burn compilation CD's. Oh, I also recorded myself playing my instrument occasionally for long distance music lessons. But for some unknown reason, ECD 6 stopped recognizing CD's as having anything on them; even worse, it seemed to stop My Computer from being able to read CD's. Is that a common problem?

Anyway, I've been trying to use a trial version of ECD 7.5. What a shock! Compared to ECD 6, I couldn't recognize anything! Where was the Music Library, the Song Lists, all the features I was used to? It's #$^@ near incomprehensible to me, I'm not even sure how to start.

So I just bought ECD 9 on ebay. Am I going to run into the same problem? Will it be worse? Is there still a Music Library and the ability to create Song Lists per se? Are they hard to find?

Incidental question: I, perhaps impetuously, uninstalled ECD 6 before installing the trial version of ECD 7.5. Did that mean I lost all my Music Library and Song Lists, or will the new version magically find all that stuff and fit it into its new self?

I'm sure all these questions give me away as a computer retard. All I can say is "Guilty as charged." And that I would very much appreciate any help.

Thanks a lot, Jamey Hall

Trial version of EMC 7.5??? Where did you get that? There never was a trial version as far as I know.

Nothing, that I know of, that you created in version 6 will work with EMC 7, EMC 7.5, EMC 8 or EMC 9. I never could get version 6 to do anything but kill my computer, so I could be wrong.

Hopefully, you purchased your EMC 9 from a legitimate seller, on e-bay.

Yes, all that is lost and there is no more Audio Central. But if you have your music in folders, then Media Manager will be able to index those so you can find them easily. If you thought V7 was a shock, you won't recognize much at all in V9. A lot changed between 7 & 8.

To tell you the truth, I don't know where I got it. From one of those freeware/shareware sites, I guess. But it's definitely 7.5, and it's due to expire soon.



Is there still some sort of Music Library, and can I still sort things into Play Lists to burn my compilation CD's? I typed "library" and "playlists" into 7.5's Help/Index and got nada. Are they now known by some other name, or is there a completely different way of doing things? Finally, for a guy like me who is only interested in storing music and making CD's, is there some more appropriate program out there?

Thanks for your replies!

-Jamey

This is going to be rather long because it is a copy of two help files; I don't know which one would be more suitable for your use: The help files are from Music Disc Creator.
Adding tracks and playlists from your hard disk
To add tracks and playlists from your hard disk:

Tip: You can also add tracks or playlists to your project by dragging them from a folder and dropping them into the project window.

1. In the Add to Project area, click Add Audio Tracks.
2. Use the Media Selector to locate the tracks or playlists you want to add.
   
   Select the tracks or playlists, and then click Add.
   Note: If you are adding a playlist that contains tracks that are referenced from the Internet, you will be asked to select a folder in which to download them.
   The tracks are added to your project.
3. To rearrange the tracks, select and drag them to a new location.
   
   ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
   Creating track lists using Search by Tags
   Music Disc Creator's "Search by Tags" feature automatically generates tracks lists for your projects. For example, you might use Search by Tags to create a track list that includes files of a particular genre or by a particular artist.
   
   Note: This feature creates track lists by searching your Roxio database of media files. If a track on your computer is not found, then it is not in the database. You can add tagged tracks to the Roxio database by checking for unidentified files or by editing the track information.
   
   
   Creating track lists using Search by Tags:
   1. Choose Tools > Search by Tags.
   2. For Tag, choose the type of tag you want to search for (for example, track name or artist name
   3. For Condition, choose how you want to search for the tag (for example, choose, Equals or Contains).
   4. For Value, enter the values of the criteria the search is based on (for example, if you selected "Genre" as a search criterion, you could select "Jazz" as the value).
   5. To add another rule, click the plus sign.
   6. Optional. For Limit track list to, enter the maximum number of tracks, minutes, or megabytes to include in the track list (for example, 25 tracks, 45 minutes, 20 megabytes).
   7. Optional. To add the files to the project in random order, select Shuffle result set.
   8. Choose how to add the tracks to the project:
      • Add tracks to currently selected track list in project
      • Add tracks as a new track list If you chose to add the tracks as a new track list, enter a name for the track list.
   9. To create the track list, click Search
      To add the tracks to the project, click Add to Project.For more detailed information, click Help or press F1 in the Search by Tags dialog box.
   Sorry about the formatting

Omigod, you have GOT to be kidding!? I've got to add every single song I want to have at my fingertips to some kind of project? In ECD6, I had merely to tell it to look for songs, and bring everything on the hard drive (or wherever I told it to look) that had a music file kind of extension. And boom, there they were, in a handy library. I could then go to that library and play songs at will (even had a cool looking psychedelic light show that played at the same time), or make playlists and create CDs, just like Windows media player,

Is it just me, or is it now a lot more laborious to do, with a result that's not as convenient? What's the advantage of the new set-up? Do I need to get a different program for my simple needs? What would you suggest?

Thanks much, Jamey

If all you are using it for is music libraries, go back version 6.

So, your system stopped being able to read CDs, even in Windows, and somehow you think that the problem is/was ECDC 6? It sounds to me like your CD Writer died. Since you uninstalled ECDC 6, did that bring your CD drive back to life? Does it now properly read discs? If so, then I'd suggest maybe reinstalling version 6. If not, then you probably need a new drive, which may or may not work with version 6, which does use dynamic drive detection. It won't properly support dual-layer discs though.

Don't know if that helps or not, but your description sounds more like a hardware problem.

Perhaps I confused the issue with what I posted . Read the pdf manual pinned to the top of the general V9 board. Start around page 219.

Yeah it was weird. But I got a new computer, same story. I've reinstalled a couple of times, same story. My Computer does show there is a music CD there, but if I double click on it, it does nothing. I can play the CD with other programs, but not with Roxio. Also, Roxio doesn't show there is anything there.

In answer to an earlier post, I would like more than anything to stick with 6, but I want to be able to burn CDs. Does anyone know how to fix this problem of not detecting a CD in the CD drive?

Thanks much, Jamey

Well, while ECDC 6 does support dynamic drive detection, it's very possible it won't detect a new drive, I suppose. If you got a new system, then XP will let you write CDs with its built-in burning support, but it doesn't support burning DVDs of any sort, as I recall. (I'm running Windows 2000.) But if you can't use ECDC 6 as you want, then it's probably time to move up.

Uh-oh, you messed up: you gave me a ray of hope! Namely, the possibility that I could fix the problem in ECDC 6. Perhaps others have had this problem? Maybe Roxio made a patch or something for it? Because i would much prefer to use the software i already know and am comfortable with rather than invest the time to learn something new. If you or anyone else is aware of a fix for my problem with ECDC 6, I would LOVE to hear about it.

Many thanks, Jamey