Description

It's a well known issue that you can't get file access to unrooted Android devices via Wi-Fi and hence can't sync MusicBee with Android devices via Wi-Fi. One possible solution is to set up a local PC folder as a virtual device in MusicBee and sync MusicBee with that 'device', then you can use 3d party apps (e.g. Resilio Sync (recommended), Syncthing or Cheetah Sync) to sync this PC folder with Android folder via Wi-Fi. But this solution has one disadvantage: all synced files will be duplicated on PC. This plugin can help in this situation. It will create own virtual device 'Sync Links' in MusicBee and will create hard links or symbolic links to original library media files in PC folder on syncing. Hard links/symbolic links occupy very little space on HDD (though Windows Explorer shows the sizes of original files, not the actual sizes of links).

Plugin also can be used to back up MusicBee library, i.e. to sync (back up) all tracks from MusicBee library or only from selected playlists with a folder on a local drive or network share. For this case, there is an option to copy tracks to a virtual device instead of creating links to tracks. Plugin can automatically create playlists named according to album name/disk# on virtual device, containing all tracks from the same destination folder.

SOME NOTES:

• Hard links can be created only on the same volume as original files, only on NTFS volume.
• Hard links are definitely supported by any soft used for syncing files with Android.
• Symbolic links can be created only on a NTFS volume, but can point to original files on the same or another volume (with any file system).
• Symbolic links may or may not be supported by your syncing software.
• If you have decided to use Resilio Sync for syncing with Android, it's recommended to share Sync Links folder on PC as read-only folder on Android device, disable "Selective Sync" and "Preferences> Use archive" options, and enable "Preferences> Overwrite changed files" option for Sync Links folder on Android.
  
  

How to install and use

Extract content of archive to plugins subfolder of MusicBee installation folder (e.g. to "c:\program files (x86)\musicbee\plugins"). To configure plugin, go to "Edit> Preferences> Plugins" (or "Tools> Sync Links Settings", which is the same thing). Note that some settings are moved from Sync Links device properties page (where they are usually located for devices) to plugin preferences.

Uninstallation

Go to "Edit> Preferences> Plugins". Click "Uninstall". MusicBee will delete all files created by the plugin after its installation (e.g., settings), but you need to exit MusicBee and manually delete all files that were included in plugin .zip from "Plugins" folder.

License

Do all you want with plugin binary and source code at your own risk.

Plugin status

Working for all users at the time of posting.

Source code

MS VS 2022 project, C#. Most people don't need this.

Backup download

Google Drive, all my plugins and their sources