Adding Media to a Library

Before you can search or organize your media files, you'll need to add them to a media library.

When the Sony Sound Series Loops & Samples reference library is installed and set as the active reference library in the Media Manager Options dialog, tags and custom properties from the reference library will be applied to media from existing Sony Sound Series Loops & Samples or Loops for ACID collections when you add media to your library.

The Sony Sound Series Loops & Samples reference library is not installed by default, but you can install it from the application CD or download it here. After installing the library, go to the Media Manager Options dialog and choose the reference library from the Reference library drop-down list.

Tips:

• To quickly add media to the current library, drag files or folders from another application (such as the Windows Explorer) to the Media Manager window.

• If the Save media-usage relationships in active media library check box is selected on the General tab of the ACID or Vegas Preferences dialog, you can add individual files to a library by previewing the files in the Explorer window. For more information about media relationships, click here.

1. Click the Add Files to Media Library button . The Add Files to Media Library dialog is displayed.

2. Choose the folders that will be searched for media:

a. If it isn't displayed automatically, click the Add Folder button to display the Browse for Folder dialog.

b. Select the folder you want to search.

c. Click OK.

Tips:

• If you want to remove a folder from the list, select it and click the Remove Folder button .

• If you want to change an item in the folder list, select it and click the Browse button in the Folders column.

3. Repeat step 2 for each folder you want to search.

4. Select the Include subfolders check box if you want to search folders within the selected folders.

5. Select the Audio, Video, Images, or MIDI check boxes to indicate the types of media you want to add. Clear a check box to exclude that type of media file.
   
   Files that contain audio and video streams will be added if either or both of the Audio or Video check boxes are selected.

6. Specify whether you want to search for new files or all files:

• Select the New files only radio button if you want to search only for new media files. Files that already exist in the media library will be skipped.

—or—

• Select the All files radio button if you want to search for all media files in the specified folder. New media files will be added, and files that already exist in the media library will be searched to determine whether their properties have changed.

7. Select the Add tags and custom properties from files check box if you want to add tags and custom columns saved in the media files to your library. For more information about tagging media, click here. For information about adding custom columns to the Search Results pane, click here.

8. Select the Use file and folder names to apply tags automatically check box if you want to automatically tag files based on the file path.
   
   For example, if the tags Drums and Hi-Hats exist in your tag tree, a loop saved in the d:\loops\drums\hi-hats\ folder would have the tags Drums and Hi-Hats applied when it is added to the library. The path is split at each backslash, and each portion of the path that starts with a tag name will cause that tag to be applied.

This option does not create new tags. The file path is compared to tag names already in the tag tree.

Changing the selection of the Add tags and custom properties from files and Use file and folder names to apply tags automatically check boxes also changes the settings in the Media Manager Options dialog.

9. Click the Search button to start adding files to the library.

10. Click the Close button when you're finished.
    
    A tag is automatically added to the Tag tree when you search. The tag name will include the date and time of the search, and all files that were added or updated in the library are marked with this tag.

If you want to scan the media files in your library and compare them to the files on disk to look for updated media properties, use the Update button on the Media Library tab of the Media Manager Options dialog.

If the values stored in the media library and the files on disk do not match, the Media Manager will prompt you to choose the values you want to keep.

Select the Ignore file dates when checking for changes check box if you want to scan all files. When the check box is cleared, only files that have been modified since the last update will be scanned.