i ran mp3tofid w/ drive letters (e:/mp3 e:/empegfids)instead of using /cygdrive/e/.

Ok, now I understand you're using cygwin. I was not aware windows-type paths worked at all in cygwin ...

theres a blank files that aren't connected to files everywhere

You mean zero-sized files? There should not be any.

You'll see three types of files:
- tag files, ending with "1". These are small (unix) text files.
- playlists, ending with zero. These are small binary files.
- symlinks, ending with zero. They point to you mp3's.

symlinks can only be seen as such by cygwin apps. Native windows apps see them as shortcuts, but they are twisted. Dont try to edit the shortcut properties. True shortcuts do not appear as symlinks on cygwin, but as plain files with a .lnk extension.

Pim