Author Topic: Monitored Folders - not adding m3u files to Playlists group ?  (Read 6396 times)

alec.tron

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Heya,
I'm new to Musicbee as I need better playlist management & itunes xml export than my previous foobar player allowed and I am still in the evaluation phase ;)
So the first initial test were great and after a bit of poking it I got most I needed and decided to use it with my real life music collection.
That's where things became a bit less rosy...

This is the first issue / potentially a miss-conception on my end, which in turn potentially created my second problem, so it's worth mentioning I thought:
- when I did my initial test, copying m3u files to/using a monitored folder for all my m3u playlists, all worked (one odd issue - which affected the iTunes xml export I need for various DJ programs (Traktor, Serato, Rekordbox...) - I had 20 files in my library for testing, and 48k in dozens of different playlists which imported fine as a "Monitored Folder" - the resulting iTunes xml would then only set key & track IDs (<key>24</key> / <key>Track ID</key><integer>24</integer>) for the files in the library (i.e 20 files), but add playlist entried for the 48k files found in the playlists, which in turn created a dysfunctional itunes xml - i.e. since the items in the playlist where not added to the collection with an ID - only to playlists [with their own singular ID not found in the collection], so they could not be found when the xml is used in other programs...

After the above xml export experience, I first added all of my music collection as a new Musicbee library, in order to have every file that could appear in a playlist issued with an ID & Key for itunes.xml export... and this is where more oddities happened:
- I created a new library to hold all my data (looks like this created 2, one default library, which lives in the programs portable dir, and my user defined one, which lives elsewhere and holds 600GB of music, roughly 48k files, mostly my own vinyl rops in .flac).
Here I might be using Musicbee wrong, as the whole library sits in the now-playing list as well, and Musicbee has become a lot less responsive (i.e. going from a selected playlist to library "Music" takes about 2-3 seconds for Musicbee GUI to refresh and show the library's contents - if that's to be expected, fair enough - if there's ways to fine-tune this and speed it up, where would I find info as to how ? ).

The actual problem I am trying to solve and fail so far:
- Now I thought I was set to add my m3u files to a monitored folder just as before, and have a functional "iTunes Music Library.xml", with all files in the collection, IDs & Keys, as well as all playlists (about 15years worth of DJ-sets & Radio shows... so a fair few [although, I scaled it down to a few dozen for now (and tested with even 2 playlists only in one instance) to debug this - no success either way though and I do not get the m3u playlist added through a monitored folder - I could work around this - but mass importing edited m3u files is a major feature I need to make Musicbee a viable solution for my needs]...).

So, given the scenario above, does anyone have a hint as to  why the m3us aren't added to the Playlists group ?
Also, any info on how to debug things better are much appreciated - I could not find consoles/error-logs etc...

Cheers.
c.

psychoadept

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Hi, welcome to the forum!  I'm optimistic that we can figure this out with you.

First question: what happens if you use File > Scan Folders for New Files, and tick "include playlists"?

If that doesn't work:

What version of MusicBee are you using?  If you're using 2.5, you might want to upgrade to 3.0 from here: http://musicbee.wikia.com/wiki/Latest_Update

When you say that creating a second library created a "user-defined one" and a "default library" I'm not sure what you mean.  Do you mean MusicBee's library files (.mbl) vs your audio files?  Screenshots might help here.
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alec.tron

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Hi psychoadept!
Thanks for the reply, here's some more info:
I was on 2_5_5804 initially, but in an attempt to debug this issue or at least find a work around, I also installed 3_0_5909.
This made no difference in regards to m3u playlists in monitored folders - for some reason this just stopped working once I populated the collection and I can set this to folders that hold playlist, but they do not appear in MusicBees Playlists folder (anymore).
I did find a way around this though - I switched the library to use m3u instead of mbp files, and now I can swap/update them pre-start in the main library location, which is not the prettiest way, but it seems to work.

MB seems to be a powerful program, but maybe not the most intuitive... so a have a fair few questions/issues I try to find answers/solutions for (in case someone wants to help a newbie out... :D)

- From what I've seen in tests, MusicBee saves (whatever Playlist gets edited inside MB) on top of the same respective m3u file it was imported/created from, so in regards to that, can you lock playlists - i.e. make them completely un-editable in MB ?

- for manual playlist exports, what means do I have to mass-save/export MusicBee's internal playlists ? I found File -> Playlists -> Export Playlists, but this is only for a single playlist (i.e. what is selected)

- the Playlist column in the main library is a godsend! thanks for that... has anyone ever managed to overload that ? i.e. are there users with 100s/1000s of playlist files inside of MusicBee ? or is this just asking for problems... ? (as is, I do have around 250 m3y playlist s imported vua MB's portable install /playlists/location... and there's more to come...
So far I didn't notice any more slowness than before - i.e. the 2-3 sec interval for the Library view to render/display), but thought I'd check...

- I could find a wiki entry for the way MusicBee sets up the colums view - but I could not find where the "default columns" definition actually lives...? i.e. I have set up the columns for the main Library, now I would like to copy it to all other columns views as a starting point. So if anyone could point me to the location where I could find these, that would be great! (i.e. as described here (I might be blind, in case it is described there...)- http://getmusicbee.com/forum/index.php?topic=9684.msg57682#msg57682 )


As for 2 collections - for a clean slate - I used Create New Library functionality - so up top, I now have 2 Libraries, or rather the menu looks as follows:
-------------------------------
Create New Library
-------------------------------
musicBee - D:/data/
Library - C:/programs/
-------------------------------
whereas for the above - "Library - C:/programs/" = default, i.e. MusicBee installation dir (portable), musicBee - D:/data/ = my data/library tree for the  user defined one that was created via "Create New Library" - i.e. I assume this is useful when one wants to manage content as different libraries  to separate them (?) [i.e. single music tracks VS a collection of mixes/audio books/what have you...]. So unless that is a bad idea, I'll probably leave it as is.


By the by, I also had problems with relative/absolute playlist paths... which is mentioned in the forums a few times. The only solution I found was to rebuild the MusicBee library(and the playlist location) on another partition of the HD. i.e. before it was on the same partition as the music, and even though Preferrences -> Library -> 'relative paths' was switched off, it kept writing files locations inside an exported m3u as:
/../../../../music/something/somewhere/123.flac
to get back into the root of the partition, instead of, eg:
D:/music/something/somewhere/123.flac

As for the iTunes xml issue - does anyone happen to know if that's to come or a no-fix issue ? i.e. this:
http://getmusicbee.com/forum/index.php?topic=15165.msg90562#msg90562

And finally - is there a console/log function hidden somewhere - I really like to see what programs are doing, especially when they tend to lock up/freeze occasionally, or/and are very powerful and/or handle precious data... ( i.e. the move-file functionality of  iTunes, which MB seems to have as well, i.e.  auto-sorting/relocatng files, is an absolute nightmare of mine...).

Cheerio.
c.

alec.tron

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Also, I'm not sure if I should add bug reports at this point (as I'm still exploring... then again, a fresh par of eyes might see different things...), so I just mention a few things here.


- Preferences -> Now  Playing -> Playback Follow Cursor setting - this is only working for the Now Playing widget - is this meant to affect the Main Window as well ? or where would the setting be for the main library window (i.e. I'm looking for a setting for the main window (displayed as Tracks) so the cursor/highlight jumps to the currently playing track) or does that not exist...?
ps. Actually, this might be a conscious design decision (since focus/jumping might not work with main panel views other than 'tracks'...). Alternatively, as I struggle to find a work around right now:
- is there a customizeable hotkey for search-album / search-artist ? (on entry playing now - right click -> Search... -> Search Album / Artist)
- can you customize right-click panel (entries) altogether maybe (as a non-programmer...) ?


- Having Now Playing set to AutoDJ, then switching Libraries, keeps AutoDJ adding tracks from the previous library. Going to the AutoDJ tab, and stop/start-ing it, resets this and only tracks from the currently active library are added.


- Library - Tracks - sorting ideally should allow multi degree sorting. As is, it seems to only adhere to the last sorting method. i.e. hitting FileName column for sorting first - then filePath column, I would expect it to be ordered by filepath first, and fileName secondly, i.e.:
albumABC | 01_file.mp3
albumABC | 02_file.mp3
albumABC | 03_file.mp3
Doing the above multiple sorting attempt, what I do see is random / not adhering to the previous/2n degree sorting, eg:
albumABC | 03_file.mp3
albumABC | 01_file.mp3
albumABC | 02_file.mp3


- Playlist Manager can only render 1 nested folder, folders-inside-of-folders get rendered as part of the playlist name.
i.e. what I have on disc (and what is shown in the Playlists Group in MusicBee):
|-/someFolder/
| |-/folder1/
| | | playlist01.m3u
| | | playlist02.m3u
And this is what the Playlist manager shows:
|-/someFolder/
| |-/folder1/playlist01.m3u
| |-/folder1/playlist02.m3u


Column Browser:
- if a track's artists holds comma separated values, the second will appear in the artist column with a space before the name as an additional artist. Is this expected ? Or is there a setting for this ?
i.e. if I have a track tagged as Artist, EG:
Skream;  Fat Freddy's Drop
I get an additional artist named (sorted to the top of the column, due to " " at the beginning sorting higher than any number/letter...):
" Fat Freddy's Drop"
as well as:
"Fat Freddy's Drop" (from other tracks, without the extra space at the beginning of the name)


And another usage question:
- Since I am a bit weary of any program automatically moving/renaming files themselves or adding metadata to existing files with a single & global tick-box - is there a safe-mode that does not allow automatic editing/moving of data ?


Churs.
c.
Last Edit: March 14, 2016, 11:56:43 AM by alec.tron

psychoadept

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Whew.  I don't know that I can tackle all of this, but I will help with what I can. :)

Regarding the playlists and monitored folders, it will help to track down the problem if you can document an example in as much detail as possible.  That would include:
*switch back to mbp playlists
*provide a screenshot of your Library preferences
*a pre- screenshot of where the playlist should appear in the navigator panel
*a screenshot of a test playlist that you have just added to a monitored folder
*When the playlist does not appear in MusicBee (check both the navigator and the playlist manager for good measure), try restarting MusicBee and see if it turns up.
*If it still doesn't, use the file menu to add it manually. 
*Finally, provide a post- screenshot of it appearing in the expected place in MusicBee.

I suggest putting all that in a new thread, so it doesn't get lost in this one. I'm going to save this post because I'm on my phone and I don't want to lose it, but I'll address some of your questions in another post.

Edit: For what it's worth, I just tried it and couldn't get a new playlist (one that I exported from MB and then moved into a monitored folder) to import even on rescan.  I would have thought playlists were supported for monitored folders, but maybe not.  It still should have been imported when I rescanned, though, and it wasn't.
Last Edit: March 14, 2016, 02:44:37 PM by psychoadept
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psychoadept

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- From what I've seen in tests, MusicBee saves (whatever Playlist gets edited inside MB) on top of the same respective m3u file it was imported/created from, so in regards to that, can you lock playlists - i.e. make them completely un-editable in MB ?

Not as such, but if you're using MBP playlists it's shouldn't mess with the M3Us once they're imported.

Quote
- for manual playlist exports, what means do I have to mass-save/export MusicBee's internal playlists ? I found File -> Playlists -> Export Playlists, but this is only for a single playlist (i.e. what is selected)

You'd need to make a wishlist request for this.  Seems like a good idea, though.

Quote
- the Playlist column in the main library is a godsend! thanks for that... has anyone ever managed to overload that ? i.e. are there users with 100s/1000s of playlist files inside of MusicBee ? or is this just asking for problems... ? (as is, I do have around 250 m3y playlist s imported vua MB's portable install /playlists/location... and there's more to come...
So far I didn't notice any more slowness than before - i.e. the 2-3 sec interval for the Library view to render/display), but thought I'd check...

All I can say is no one's ever mentioned having a problem with it.

Quote
- I could find a wiki entry for the way MusicBee sets up the colums view - but I could not find where the "default columns" definition actually lives...? i.e. I have set up the columns for the main Library, now I would like to copy it to all other columns views as a starting point. So if anyone could point me to the location where I could find these, that would be great! (i.e. as described here (I might be blind, in case it is described there...)- http://getmusicbee.com/forum/index.php?topic=9684.msg57682#msg57682 )

The default configurations are in your MusicBeeSettings (MusicBee3Settings) file in your appdata folder.  If you want to "copy" a view between locations, save it as a custom view and apply it to all of them.  They will all stay in sync with any changes made.

Quote
As for 2 collections - for a clean slate - I used Create New Library functionality - so up top, I now have 2 Libraries, or rather the menu looks as follows:
-------------------------------
Create New Library
-------------------------------
musicBee - D:/data/
Library - C:/programs/
-------------------------------
whereas for the above - "Library - C:/programs/" = default, i.e. MusicBee installation dir (portable), musicBee - D:/data/ = my data/library tree for the  user defined one that was created via "Create New Library" - i.e. I assume this is useful when one wants to manage content as different libraries  to separate them (?) [i.e. single music tracks VS a collection of mixes/audio books/what have you...]. So unless that is a bad idea, I'll probably leave it as is.

All the library location tells you is where MB stores its library database and a few other things if you haven't customized the path.  The only settings that are different for different libraries are the ones in Library Preferences.  I would strongly recommend creating library filters rather than multiple libraries as much as possible, though.  The multiple library functionality isn't very well supported.

Quote
And finally - is there a console/log function hidden somewhere - I really like to see what programs are doing, especially when they tend to lock up/freeze occasionally, or/and are very powerful and/or handle precious data...

There's an error log (Help > Support > View Error Log), but not a general log to my knowledge.

- Preferences -> Now  Playing -> Playback Follow Cursor setting - this is only working for the Now Playing widget - is this meant to affect the Main Window as well ? or where would the setting be for the main library window (i.e. I'm looking for a setting for the main window (displayed as Tracks) so the cursor/highlight jumps to the currently playing track) or does that not exist...?

I think you're looking for the Highlight Playing Track in the Main Panel setting, not Playback Follows Cursor.  Playback Follows Cursor will cause whatever song you have selected in the main panel to be played next.

Quote
- is there a customizeable hotkey for search-album / search-artist ? (on entry playing now - right click -> Search... -> Search Album / Artist)
- can you customize right-click panel (entries) altogether maybe (as a non-programmer...) ?

You can filter for any artist, album, etc by clicking on the column with the middle mouse button.  You'd need a plugin to change menu entries.

Quote
- Having Now Playing set to AutoDJ, then switching Libraries, keeps AutoDJ adding tracks from the previous library. Going to the AutoDJ tab, and stop/start-ing it, resets this and only tracks from the currently active library are added.

I've noticed this problem, too.  It does eventually catch on, but it takes a few tracks.

Quote
- Library - Tracks - sorting ideally should allow multi degree sorting. As is, it seems to only adhere to the last sorting method. i.e. hitting FileName column for sorting first - then filePath column, I would expect it to be ordered by filepath first, and fileName secondly, i.e.:

Hold down CTRL to create a sorting hierarchy with more than one column.

Quote
- Playlist Manager can only render 1 nested folder, folders-inside-of-folders get rendered as part of the playlist name.
i.e. what I have on disc (and what is shown in the Playlists Group in MusicBee):
|-/someFolder/
| |-/folder1/
| | | playlist01.m3u
| | | playlist02.m3u
And this is what the Playlist manager shows:
|-/someFolder/
| |-/folder1/playlist01.m3u
| |-/folder1/playlist02.m3u

Please post this in the GUI Changes for 3.0 thread, maybe with a screenshot.

Quote
Column Browser:
- if a track's artists holds comma separated values, the second will appear in the artist column with a space before the name as an additional artist. Is this expected ? Or is there a setting for this ?
i.e. if I have a track tagged as Artist, EG:
Skream;  Fat Freddy's Drop
I get an additional artist named (sorted to the top of the column, due to " " at the beginning sorting higher than any number/letter...):
" Fat Freddy's Drop"
as well as:
"Fat Freddy's Drop" (from other tracks, without the extra space at the beginning of the name)

This is expected.  The semicolon is a standard multiple value separator.

Quote
And another usage question:
- Since I am a bit weary of any program automatically moving/renaming files themselves or adding metadata to existing files with a single & global tick-box - is there a safe-mode that does not allow automatic editing/moving of data ?

not 100%, no.  just go over your library and tag preferences, and be careful about what you edit.
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alec.tron

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Whew.  I don't know that I can tackle all of this, but I will help with what I can. :)
Thanks a ton psychoadept!
This helped a lot!




- From what I've seen in tests, MusicBee saves (whatever Playlist gets edited inside MB) on top of the same respective m3u file it was imported/created from, so in regards to that, can you lock playlists - i.e. make them completely un-editable in MB ?

Not as such, but if you're using MBP playlists it's shouldn't mess with the M3Us once they're imported.

Quote
- for manual playlist exports, what means do I have to mass-save/export MusicBee's internal playlists ? I found File -> Playlists -> Export Playlists, but this is only for a single playlist (i.e. what is selected)

You'd need to make a wishlist request for this.  Seems like a good idea, though.

I'm all good with m3u usage, I actually use this as a feature now - i.e. let MusicBee edit the m3u directly, and grab the edited ones from the MB Library playlist folders for further processing & backup - so I don't necessarily need a mass-export as I found a work-around via dynamic editing.
However - locking playlists would be great (imo). I'll try to make a Feature Request post regarding Playlists the next days.





Quote
- is there a customizeable hotkey for search-album / search-artist ? (on entry playing now - right click -> Search... -> Search Album / Artist)
- can you customize right-click panel (entries) altogether maybe (as a non-programmer...) ?

You can filter for any artist, album, etc by clicking on the column with the middle mouse button.  You'd need a plugin to change menu entries.
Which Plugin is that exactly ?





Quote
Column Browser:
- if a track's artists holds comma separated values, the second will appear in the artist column with a space before the name as an additional artist. Is this expected ? Or is there a setting for this ?
i.e. if I have a track tagged as Artist, EG:
Skream;  Fat Freddy's Drop
I get an additional artist named (sorted to the top of the column, due to " " at the beginning sorting higher than any number/letter...):
" Fat Freddy's Drop"
as well as:
"Fat Freddy's Drop" (from other tracks, without the extra space at the beginning of the name)

This is expected.  The semicolon is a standard multiple value separator.
That's odd ? (i.e. I would classifiy as a bug)... as it doubles up each Artist names in the column browser, once with a space/" " at the beginning of the name, once without...





Quote
And another usage question:
- Since I am a bit weary of any program automatically moving/renaming files themselves or adding metadata to existing files with a single & global tick-box - is there a safe-mode that does not allow automatic editing/moving of data ?

not 100%, no.  just go over your library and tag preferences, and be careful about what you edit.
I'll try to... funny how one mans' dream (auto organization & auto-metadata editing) at the same time can be another mans nightmare (i.e. mine) :D




Thanks for all the help again!
c.
Last Edit: March 14, 2016, 09:28:32 PM by alec.tron

psychoadept

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You can filter for any artist, album, etc by clicking on the column with the middle mouse button.  You'd need a plugin to change menu entries.
Which Plugin is that exactly?

I mean you'd have to write one. :)

Quote
This is expected.  The semicolon is a standard multiple value separator.
That's odd ? (i.e. I would classifiy as a bug)... as it doubles up each Artist names in the column browser, once with a space/" " at the beginning of the name, once without...

Hmm. That does sound odd, because I think MB normally ignores a space like that.  I'll test it myself as soon as I can.

Quote
not 100%, no.  just go over your library and tag preferences, and be careful about what you edit.
I'll try to... funny how one mans' dream (auto organization & auto-metadata editing) at the same time can be another mans nightmare (i.e. mine) :D

I think the only thing that might be changed by default without your direct input is if you run volume analysis (which still requires action on your part, it just doesn't tell you it's changing tags)

Glad to help!
Last Edit: March 14, 2016, 11:50:31 PM by psychoadept
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psychoadept

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Hmm. That does sound odd, because I think MB normally ignores a space like that.  I'll test it myself as soon as I can.

Yeah, I just tested and Artist 1; Artist 2 doesn't produce a thumbnail browser entry with a space.  [Added: it doesn't matter how many spaces I put.] Would you mind messaging me a link to one of the problem files so I can check it out?
Last Edit: March 14, 2016, 11:29:44 PM by psychoadept
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alec.tron

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A link, as in upload a file ?

Hmm. That does sound odd, because I think MB normally ignores a space like that.  I'll test it myself as soon as I can.

Yeah, I just tested and Artist 1; Artist 2 doesn't produce a thumbnail browser entry with a space.  [Added: it doesn't matter how many spaces I put.] Would you mind messaging me a link to one of the problem files so I can check it out?

Not sure what "doesn't produce a thumbnail browser entry with a space" means - I only see this behaviour in the columns view - Artist field. And for me it happens on everything that has a semicolon separated value for "Artist" metadata, i.e. this was copied from a file in queston:
Skream;  Fat Freddy's Drop
(note that there is a double-space after the semicolon - I did try it with 1 space, as well as none, i.e. :
Skream; Fat Freddy's Drop
Skream;Fat Freddy's Drop
none of the above variations made a difference and the doubled up artist name in colums view was still displayed [with a single space in front, oddly enough])

This is a minority, in a library of 48k files, I have about 12 artist double ups from files that list multiple, semicolon separated artist names in the "Artist" field. So I'm inclined to alter the metadata to a single artist, and push the second artist into another metadata field. No biggie.

Churs.
c.
Last Edit: March 14, 2016, 11:47:20 PM by alec.tron

psychoadept

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Yeah, I mean upload it.  But you might not need to after all.

For me it happens on everything that has a semicolon separated value for "Artist" metadata, i.e. this was copied from a file in queston:
Skream;  Fat Freddy's Drop
(note that there is a double-space after the semicolon - I did try it with 1 space, as well as none, i.e. :
Skream; Fat Freddy's Drop
Skream;Fat Freddy's Drop
none of the above variations made a difference and the doubled up artist name in colums view was still displayed [with a single space in front, oddly enough])

I suggest you look at these files with the tag inspector (look for the button at the top of the tag editor).  The fact that even "Skream;Fat Freddy's Drop" shows the second artist with a space in front means that there is probably a hidden tag producing that entry, not the artist separator.  Be sure to check ID3v1 tags, too.
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alec.tron

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You can filter for any artist, album, etc by clicking on the column with the middle mouse button.  You'd need a plugin to change menu entries.
Which Plugin is that exactly?

I mean you'd have to write one. :)
Aw, stink...
Unless there's a python API, I'd be useless with that... yet I'd love to customize the righ-click menues all over the place for my needs...  :D

Yeah, I mean upload it.  But you might not need to after all.
Sweet, will check this out tonight.
Thanks a lot again for all your tips & help!
c.

psychoadept

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alec.tron

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Sweet, thanks for the heads up!
Funny it seemed to have worked for me at some point.... although, seeing Steven's reply, it might have been a case where library = monitored folders when testing around with different setups... :D

Churs.
c.