To begin adding new tracks to your library database, do either of the following:
| • | From the Volumes View, double-click on an existing volume entry to enter the corresponding Volume Contents View for that volume, then press the Insert key (or select New Track from either the Edit menu or the right-click menu). |
| • | From any of the list views, add a new volume by selecting New Volume from either the Edit menu or the right-click menu. Adding a new volume entry automatically leads into adding its track entries. |
You will be presented with a dialog box similar to this:
At a minimum, you'll need to fill in the Title, Artist, and Category fields to create a valid track record. You can enter anything you wish for these fields. Each of these fields also contains a drop-down list of entries you've made before (useful primarily for category and artist).
The optional Subtitle and Composer fields can be especially useful for classical music or similarly organized material. For example, use the Subtitle field where you have a group of tracks comprising a single symphony (title), with each track containing a movement (subtitle). [Hint: When printing classical music listings, you may prefer listing the Track Title field without the Subtitle field, and the Grp Time field rather than the Time field. Grp Time is an automatically calculated total of times for all tracks having both subtitles and identical titles; for tracks with no subtitles, it is the same as Time.]
| Hint: | To quickly shift names around in the Artist or Composer field, simply double click on that field. For example, this could be used to change "John Smith" to "Smith, John", or vice versa. This feature also works in the Title field. |
The two optional Notes fields support text of arbitrary length. Both fields show the same information, but merely in different formats. The single-line Notes field lets you select from a drop-down list of all existing volume notes entries, and also can also be useful for entering very brief notes. Typically, these fields are used for miscellaneous information about the track. For CDs, these fields map to the Track Notes field in the CD Player view.
The File Name field is used to link the track record to an MP3 or other playable audio file. Click on the Browse button to locate the folder and file for the track of interest. (If Winamp v5 is installed on your PC, you can use the Playlistview to play sets of tracks containing file links.)
The Index (if not left blank) can be any value from 1 to 9999, A1 to A9999, B1 to B9999, or 1A-9999B. More than one track can be assigned the same index if desired. A and B are useful for two-sided media such as phonograph records or DVDs. The "A1" form is for media containing multiple tracks on a side; the "1A" form is for boxes or trays of singles (e.g. 45 RPM records).
The Year field can be any valid non-zero year, or you can leave it blank. Entering "0" is equivalent to blank, or "no year defined".
The Time field is used for the track's elapsed playing time. Any value under 10 hours (10:00:00) can be used. As an alternative to a colon, you also can key in times using a semicolon, comma, or period (full stop).
The Intro field is used primarily by DJs to indicate how much talk-over time is available (in seconds) at the beginning of the track. (This is sometimes called lead-in time.)
The BPM (beats per minute) field is used primarily by DJs to optimize continuity from track to track. To accurately determine a track's tempo, you can tap the "clock" button at the right of this field in time with the beat of the track as you listen to it. Continue tapping the button until the value shown settles to (or close to) a stable value, typically 8-12 taps.
Once the needed fields have been filled in, click the Add button to add this new track entry to the current volume and begin adding the next one. Once you have no more new tracks to add, click the Cancel button.
A couple of shortcuts:
| • | The "+" and "-" keys can be used to increment or decrement numeric fields. |
| • | Typing "T" in the Year field will enter the current year ("This year"). |
| Note 1: | If the Add button's caption is colored dark red, it means at least one data field is incomplete or contains invalid information. Yellow data entry fields mean the same thing. More specific information will be displayed if you click Add in this situation. |
| Note 2: | Don't forget to save your changes periodically. |
| See also: | Updating a Track |