CDpedia can hand your collection over in two ways, and Music Tracker reads both:
- The library file (
.cdpedia) - A CSV file
Which one to choose
Choose the library file. It is the only one that brings your covers, and it also brings your track listings with their times, your videos, your loans, and the day you added each album.
A CSV cannot carry any of that. It also carries only the columns you happened to have visible in CDpedia’s list when you exported, which is CDpedia’s own warning: “The Tab and CSV exports are
based on the columns shown in the list view.” A hidden column is a column that will not be in the file.
Use a CSV only if you already have one, or if you want to bring over part of your collection rather than all of it.
How to export the library file
- In CDpedia, choose File > Export Collection.
- Select .cdpedia.
- Click Export and choose where to save it.
CDpedia writes a single item with the name you gave it. On your Mac it looks like one document, though it is a folder holding an index and your covers.
How to export a CSV
Show every column first
CDpedia exports the columns that are visible in the list view, and nothing else. If a column is hidden, the data in it never reaches the file.
- Open CDpedia and press CMD + J to open the Columns panel.
- Turn on every column in the list.
- Close the panel.
This is the step people skip, and it is the one that decides how much of your library arrives.
Set CDpedia to English
CDpedia names its columns in the language it is running in, and Music Tracker reads a German export as readily as an English one. Any other language, though, and it will ask you which program the file came from. Switching to English before exporting avoids that.
- Click the Apple menu in the top left corner of your screen and choose System Settings.
- Choose General in the sidebar, then Language & Region.
- Scroll down to Applications. If CDpedia is not in the list, click the + button and add it.
- Choose English from the menu beside it.
- Quit CDpedia and open it again.
Export your library as a CSV file
- Open CDpedia and choose File, then Export Collection. You can also press CMD + S.
- Choose Text, then CSV.
- Click Export and save the file on your Mac.
Importing into Music Tracker
- Open Settings, then Import.
- Tap Choose file and pick what you exported.
- Tap Continue. The app reads the file and compares it with what you already have.
- The review screen shows what will happen, album by album. You can leave out anything you do not want, and for an album you already own you can choose whether the file fills in what is missing or replaces what is there.
- Start the import. Music Tracker copies your library first, every time, before it writes anything.
What each export brings over
| CSV | Library file | |
|---|---|---|
| Titles, artists, labels, genres | yes | yes |
| Your rating, price, purchase date | yes | yes |
| Notes, tags, where the album is kept | yes | yes |
| Composer, producer, conductor and the other credits | yes | yes |
| Covers | no | yes |
| Track listings, with track times | no | yes |
| The artist of a single track on a compilation or a split | no | yes |
| Videos you linked to an album | no | yes |
| Loans: who has an album, since when, and until when | no | yes |
| The day you added each album | no | yes |
| The album description | no | yes |
| The country the edition came from | no | yes |
| What kind of edition it is, such as limited or a repress | no | yes |
| Only the columns you had visible | yes | no: everything is there |
If something does not look right
At the end of an import Music Tracker offers a report to take away, saying what it wrote, what it skipped and what it could not read. Send it to support@musictracker.app along with your file and I will look at it.