WMP10 - slow searching across network

Logan09 · 26 Apr 2006 at 10:52

I have quite a large WMP10 music library on my HTPC (about 6000 songs). I have setup my laptop to stream music from the library. However when I add songs onto the HTPC library, and then try to update the library on my laptop (searching for just new files) it takes hours to complete, and seems to scan every single song again, rather than just the new ones.

Is there some way to speed this up? A setting I've missed or something? Or is it just WMP10 being rubbish?

Before anyone suggests another player I can't because I have to use WMP10 to be able to access the music in MCE.

Pyrosoft · 26 Apr 2006 at 11:20

Well it does take a while when I do it on my own machine (30,000) or so tracks, but not THAT long. One way to speed it up I suppose would be to tell it to be less exact in what it takes from the ID3 tag of the song.
I dont know if this is possible in WMP mind you, I am just speaking as a WinAMP user and I know it can be done in that.

Other suggestions, how fast is the PC? What is the CPU usage like?
Try and work out of it is high process usage that is slowing it or is it a slow network?

afraser2k · 26 Apr 2006 at 11:21

Logan09 said:
I have quite a large WMP10 music library on my HTPC (about 6000 songs). I have setup my laptop to stream music from the library. However when I add songs onto the HTPC library, and then try to update the library on my laptop (searching for just new files) it takes hours to complete, and seems to scan every single song again, rather than just the new ones.

Is there some way to speed this up? A setting I've missed or something? Or is it just WMP10 being rubbish?

Before anyone suggests another player I can't because I have to use WMP10 to be able to access the music in MCE.

I have the same problems with WMP10, even when just looking at the local disk collection. I think it might be the player looking for album information online.

Logan09 · 26 Apr 2006 at 14:13

Pyrosoft - there's no other network usage, and my System (see sig) should be ample to cope with it.

afraser2k - It must be doing something. It took it 4 hours to search for 1 new album's worth of music yesterday. It seemed like it was going through all the files (i.e. those already in the library) even though it was set to just search for new files. It's absolutely ridiculous that it would take 4 hours to add all that music from scratch, never mind adding one album! Bring on WMP11.

Pyrosoft · 26 Apr 2006 at 14:21

I want expecting there to be a network problem, but best to cover all bases

As for your PC, it looks like a nice box, more than enough to cope.
1 more thing, is the hard drive on the server defragged? that could have an impact on it too.

And in your reply to afraser2k, you say it takes 4 hours to search when you want it to just look for new tracks. The thing is that it wont know what is a new track and what is already there untill it looks at the ones that are already there if you get what I mean. I know that WinAMP is the same, get it to scan when I get another 5-6 albums and it just isnt worth it as it has to re-scan ALL foles and folders in the search path, and take the ID3 information from them all again incase that has been changed too.

One option...is there any setting in WMP to allow it to automatically add any played file to the Library? that way all it would take is playing every new track for 5 seconds and it would add it to the library.

Sorry i cant be of more help, I'm all out of ideas

Logan09 · 26 Apr 2006 at 14:38

Pyrosoft said:
One option...is there any setting in WMP to allow it to automatically add any played file to the Library? that way all it would take is playing every new track for 5 seconds and it would add it to the library.

I think there is. Hadn't thought about that. Might be a quicker solution. Thanks.

Pyrosoft · 26 Apr 2006 at 14:54

Logan09 said:
I think there is. Hadn't thought about that. Might be a quicker solution. Thanks.

If it works then it works

Doesnt explain why it's so slow in the first place mind you, but it's a workaround at very least

Logan09 · 26 Apr 2006 at 17:24

Well it does seem to work doing it that way. I think for some reason that even though I'm only asking it to search for new files it appears to be re-checking every file. TBH I think it's just WMP being pathetic. It rockets through about the first 500 tracks, then slows, and by the end it wa taking 5 mins to process each track into the library.

afraser2k · 26 Apr 2006 at 20:55

Pyrosoft said:
If it works then it works
Doesnt explain why it's so slow in the first place mind you, but it's a workaround at very least

Well I've turned off the option to replace file details from the Internet and it seems to have spead up WMP10 a lot when working with large amounts of files. I have also removed the monitor folder option now that the files have been added.

Logan09 · 26 Apr 2006 at 21:45

afraser2k said:
Well I've turned off the option to replace file details from the Internet and it seems to have spead up WMP10 a lot when working with large amounts of files. I have also removed the monitor folder option now that the files have been added.

Nice one. Must have missed the option when I was looking. I've just turned the internet option, and the monitoring off and done a test, and it's loads faster. Took about 5 mins to add some new albums (it still seems to re-scan the whole library, but 5 mins I can deal with).

Been bugging me for a while now. Glad to have it sorted. Thanks.