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sonic stage lost database

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discoinferno70

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hi, out of the blue sonic stage told me it had to'update its database'.

on re-starting it's now empty of all the tracks i had in there (although they're still happily on my hard-drive)

and on trying to import a CD it fails to do so as it can't 'locate' or 'add to' it's database.

it probably just needs pointing in the right direction but i'm bonzoed if i can find how.

it's never done this before in the 4 years or so i've used it.

can anyone help?

thanks, Alan.

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Probably you did a System Restore (malware threat level is high at the moment) and when you came back they got excluded. If Sony's server was down when you tried, the DB probably did not get re-authenticated. You might need to try this starting Sonic Stage) a couple of times. Not sure if the "initializing" it does is terminal. Ouch.

I hope you ran File Conversion Tool on all the tracks, otherwise they may be lost. If you DID (and most are now ".OMA" extensions, although AAL tracks are not treated this way) then you should be able to re-import them. If you can play then in Windows Media Player, then this is NOT the problem, although the converse does not necessarily apply.

I and many others run FCT every week (or after every upload) to avoid getting zapped by the infamous Sony encryption-DRM.

Sorry if this is no help.

(last thought.... perhaps you inadvertently MOVED the database pointers - they are under Tools->Options->Location to save imported files in the main SonicStage menu. If anything eg access permissions changed about the location pointed to, you may be in trouble).

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thanks for getting back. no, i didn't do a system restore and the machine has never been on the internet so there's no malware. i've never looked at file conversion tool - wouldn't know why! i did try to use SS to play some tracks off an audio CD and that seemed to precipitate the crisis. i'll check the database pointers as you suggest...

thanks again, A.

Probably you did a System Restore (malware threat level is high at the moment) and when you came back they got excluded. If Sony's server was down when you tried, the DB probably did not get re-authenticated. You might need to try this starting Sonic Stage) a couple of times. Not sure if the "initializing" it does is terminal. Ouch.

I hope you ran File Conversion Tool on all the tracks, otherwise they may be lost. If you DID (and most are now ".OMA" extensions, although AAL tracks are not treated this way) then you should be able to re-import them. If you can play then in Windows Media Player, then this is NOT the problem, although the converse does not necessarily apply.

I and many others run FCT every week (or after every upload) to avoid getting zapped by the infamous Sony encryption-DRM.

Sorry if this is no help.

(last thought.... perhaps you inadvertently MOVED the database pointers - they are under Tools->Options->Location to save imported files in the main SonicStage menu. If anything eg access permissions changed about the location pointed to, you may be in trouble).

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Argh what CD? Not a Sony Music CD from about 2005 by any chance?

FCT is what will save you when someone eventually mucks up the machine for you.

The dreadful irony is that it is too late - the exact thing you can be saved from (by FCT) has already happened, probably. I wish I knew exactly how to save you. But rest assured almost anything you do CAN make it worse. Under NO circumstances should you reformat your computer. Running System Restore MAY put back things to the state just before you inserted that CD. You WILL lose all tracks you uploaded from MD between that restore point and now.

First of all look at the files (*.oma) and see if they are playable with Media Player. Go very carefully indeed if there are tracks on your PC you cannot get from anywhere else.

Be VERY careful of anything that "cleans up" your registry. There are things in there that only SS knows about.

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Argh what CD? Not a Sony Music CD from about 2005 by any chance?

FCT is what will save you when someone eventually mucks up the machine for you.

The dreadful irony is that it is too late - the exact thing you can be saved from (by FCT) has already happened, probably. I wish I knew exactly how to save you. But rest assured almost anything you do CAN make it worse. Under NO circumstances should you reformat your computer. Running System Restore MAY put back things to the state just before you inserted that CD. You WILL lose all tracks you uploaded from MD between that restore point and now.

First of all look at the files (*.oma) and see if they are playable with Media Player. Go very carefully indeed if there are tracks on your PC you cannot get from anywhere else.

Be VERY careful of anything that "cleans up" your registry. There are things in there that only SS knows about.

ok, all good advice. it's not so tragic - there's nothing irreplaceable involved. it seems that SS insists on going online to authenticate the database, and it cant possibly do that. what if i uninstalled it and put it back on again - started over from scratch, any problems with that, do you think? A

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As long as you don't mind losing all your music, then you can clean up and start over.

However probably more effective to drop the 4.3 Ultimate download over the top, without trying to uninstall anything.

It sounds like you have given up.

If you're not in a hurry, don't give up yet.

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hmm - windows media player will indeed locate and play the files that sonic stage refuses to admit exist, so i can probably burn them off from there. nothing else on the hard drive is difficult to replace, so i was going to re-install till i realised that the discs i got with my 2 HiMDs are version 2 - and there are some unfortunate limitations to the programme. i've been using a later version that a friend installed by download and i don't see how i could do that again - unless perhaps i got a mobile broadband dongle and put the machine online just for that purpose - in which case maybe i can upgrade completely... what is this '4.3 ultimate download' you mention? the best ever version of SS? in which case i should go for that, and you seem to suggest that uninstalling is unneccessary. what do you think? A.

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it's pinned here in the downloads section. You can copy it to CD and then install from there, methinks.

The fact sonic stage won't recognize a file but WMP will play it means it's safe to "delete" from SS (don't "delete the music file from the computer") and reimport the oma file. DO NOT System Restore or reformat etc until you are quite sure that you have decrypted the files. Only way to test that... copy some and try to play on another machine that has SS.

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hi again. ok, i've now tried 5 times to download and install the 'ultimate' SS and every time BOTH my computers tell me the files are corrupt and the install fails. i'm running ME on one machine and XP on the other - maybe i'm just going about it the wrong way? i have included those 'microsoft system requisites' but it's made no difference - perhaps they need to be put somewhere in the system first?

it's SS version 3.3 thats gone wrong on me and i'd be perfectly happy to continue using it, maybe i could download that version instead? A.

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But you haven't told us the exact error. My guess is that for conversion to 4.3 you need to be connected to the internet, just as you mentioned in post #5.

Trust me, you don't want to live with 3.3 much longer. But you will have to he online to get anywhere. And it seems you are online as we are having this conversation.

However somewhere on here (search all posts by Avrin, and holler if you don't find it) there's a nice description of how to purge your machine of absolutely everything related to SS.

Stephen

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a-ha, here's some interesting developments. i downloaded the slightly earlier version ( without the 'cosmetic tweaks') of 4.3 to a memory stick ( i get online at my local library, which the council are trying to close but that's another story...)and have successfully installed it on one machine - this one is running XP professional version 2002 service pack 3 - and it works beautifully.

on the original machine though ( running ME 4.90.3000 ) it installs 'music server controller' and 'open mg secure module' but then opens a window which says

'installation process for sonic stage 4.3 has been terminated ( 2051, 20689 ) '

it HAS had the effect of largely removing the original 3.3 programme though, so you'd probably consider that a bonus! it may not be great but this particular machine/programme has served me well for some years and i'm a bit stuffed without it. is there anywhere else i could get a copy from?

cheers, Alan.

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Well done!

Thanks for the info that the original Ultimate worked better for you, we will bear that in mind.

You can't really mix the versions, as I *think* but am not sure, that the format changed at some point and the data is converted by the installation.

Now you have it working, make sure you run that File Conversion Tool to get your files unlocked as soon as possible. Otherwise they vanish in a puff of smoke at the first sign of trouble.

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wise words. so the ME machine HAS accepted version 2 (!!!) which was the only one i had on CD, it runs well enough BUT of course that early version wont burn audio CDs, which is the most important thing i want to use it for.

it seems that the relevant point is between V.2 ( which creates openMG - or OMG aka OH MY GOD... - files that don't work with bl##dy anything else) and V.3.3 which creates openMG AUDIO (.OMA) files, which do - and can be burnt off as audio CDs. i make live recordings of music performances and spoken word from my mixing desk ( i'm a sound engineer ) and produce these for the artists to use, so it's vital i can burn CDs, so i'm still tucked up like a kipper, unless i can...

make the ME system work with V4.3

or

make a fresh installation of V3.3 ( which always worked well for me before this hiccup )

any further thoughts?

oh BTW, i've just scored 25 brand new ( well, unopened ) mini-discs for

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I'm sorry, but I will have to give up at this point. You seem to have multiple machines, multiple versions and multiple music file collections. A mess, to be honest. And the objective seems to have changed - we started by you asking about importing CD's, now you want to manufacture them.

Anything you do with 2.x or 3.x is likely to be completely beyond my competence. Any attempt by you to move data from oma files that were not created by the original installation will fail due to encryption.

There's no reason why Windows ME shouldn't work with the SS 4.3. But I think you have to stop and solve one problem at a time.

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I'm sorry, but I will have to give up at this point. You seem to have multiple machines, multiple versions and multiple music file collections. A mess, to be honest. And the objective seems to have changed - we started by you asking about importing CD's, now you want to manufacture them.

Anything you do with 2.x or 3.x is likely to be completely beyond my competence. Any attempt by you to move data from oma files that were not created by the original installation will fail due to encryption.

There's no reason why Windows ME shouldn't work with the SS 4.3. But I think you have to stop and solve one problem at a time.

fair enough, thanks for your time, A.

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