Messages

1

Questions / Can playlist be restored that I accidentally deleted?

« on: February 26, 2022, 05:30:44 AM »

Hi, I searched this forum and the guide but couldn't find an answer. I meant to delete just one song on a playlist but didn't realize I had the whole playlist selected. I don't recall if there was a warning, but of course the playlist is gone and I'm wondering if there is any kind of 'recycle bin' like Windows has, or a way to "un-delete" it. I did try the undo keyboard shortcut but that's about it. I can import it from my phone but I had just made a lot of changes to it in MB.

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Portable Devices / Re: Syncing to Android, puts new copies of existing MP3s on my phone

« on: February 18, 2022, 02:30:53 AM »

enable "delete files that are not on the auto-sync list from the device" and let it go through the process of deleting these older duplicate files and synching to the location you have listed now, and then going forward it should not be a problem.

That seems to have worked, twice now. Thank you!!

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Portable Devices / Re: Syncing to Android, puts new copies of existing MP3s on my phone

« on: February 09, 2022, 02:27:28 PM »

The older synced versions are in the correct location on my phone, the one that I have them set to go to in my MB settings ("\Internal Storage\Music\<<FILENAMEASONCOMPUTER>>,"). The NEWER duplicate synced versions are the ones that go to the wrong location (they go to internal/storage/emulated/0/Music/ and then after that follow the same paths as the other ones).

When I choose the delete option, it will delete any songs that aren't in my list of things that I've chosen to sync. So to avoid that I have to choose to re-sync my entire library. But then it will still just add duplicates of the entire library. So it seems you're saying that my only option is to do what I've been doing, which is to first manually delete all the  music and playlists off of my phone, and then sync my entire library, re-adding ALL the files.

Oh I think you're saying that if I check the delete option and then sync the whole library it may get rid of those duplicate songs. I think I already tried doing that and it worked for that one time, but when I went back to just syncing certain playlists the same thing happened again. I will test it again when I get home.

4

Portable Devices / Re: Syncing to Android, puts new copies of existing MP3s on my phone

« on: February 09, 2022, 03:16:10 AM »

It's probably worthwhile to post a screenshot of the full device settings page so we can see what you're doing wrong.

Here's a screenshot of the settings. https://1drv.ms/u/s!Alm3BgFNATpPm58Y_8RiC4UbEznk_Q?e=jsRs6u

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Portable Devices / Re: Syncing to Android, puts new copies of existing MP3s on my phone

« on: February 08, 2022, 07:06:06 PM »

phred/frankz thanks in advance for your help.. i'll post the screenshots later

6

Portable Devices / Re: Syncing to Android, puts new copies of existing MP3s on my phone

« on: February 08, 2022, 06:15:06 PM »

I tested checking that box, and if I am not syncing my entire library but only certain playlists, the preview shows that it would delete all the files that aren't in the particular playlists I'm syncing (both the MP3s and all my other playlists files). If I AM syncing my whole library but most songs are already on the device, it doesn't make sense that it has to delete them all and then re-add them to the phone, and it's a waste of time. I mean I guess if deleting and then re-adding my entire library even for small changes is the only way to get it to work correctly, I will do that. But it takes a lot more time and I shouldn't have to.

If you have changed your storage settings in between syncs so that the files are due go to a different folder, or are saving files to playlist folders with one playlist the first time and a different playlist the second time, then they will be recopied and the originals will be left unless you tick that option. 

If the file currently exists on the device in the location where MB is sending it and is not older than the one currently on your computer (by date modified), then it will not be deleted and will not be resynched.  It will be left alone.

It's probably worthwhile to post a screenshot of the full device settings page so we can see what you're doing wrong.

Reply to your first sentence: I haven't changed any storage settings in between syncs, and my sync setting is for the songs to be arranged in the same folder structure as they are on my PC, not into any playlist folders.

Reply to the second sentence: Yes MB is leaving the current file alone, but it is duplicating that file in another location on my phone even though I haven't changed settings in between syncs.

Reply to the third: I will do that later today.

7

Portable Devices / Re: Syncing to Android, puts new copies of existing MP3s on my phone

« on: February 08, 2022, 06:10:32 PM »

I mean I guess if deleting and then re-adding my entire library even for small changes is the only way to get it to work correctly, I will do that. But it takes a lot more time and I shouldn't have to.

I just finished a sync that involved existing tracks, and some of those tracks were also in playlists. I simply changed the artist''s name from "&" to "and". When I did a preview, MB showed me the files that would be deleted, along with the (same, but renamed) files to be copies. So yes, even small changes need to have the original file deleted and replaced. As far as MB knows "Me and the Yous" is not the same artist as "Me & the Yous".

If your changes have be "small" and you're seeing what appear to be duplicates, this is more than likely the reason.

I guess I'm not being clear. By "small changes" I mean to playlists, not to files. I'm not making any changes to any song information-- any tags, titles, etc. ONLY to their arrangement in playlists. Sometimes only one playlist. In that case then only the playlist file should need to be updated and there's no reason to overwrite the song file. (But it's not even overwriting; it's duplicating, as I said.)

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Portable Devices / Re: Syncing to Android, puts new copies of existing MP3s on my phone

« on: February 08, 2022, 05:43:35 PM »

I don't need any songs that are already on my phone to be deleted (unless I've deleted them from MusicBee); I need them to not be duplicated with each sync. So for example if I add a new album to my library, if I were to then sync my library, it would want to copy not only the new album, but my entire library again. Or if I sync just the playlists that contain the new album, then it wants to copy all the songs on those playlists, even the ones that are already on my phone.

I tested checking that box, and if I am not syncing my entire library but only certain playlists, the preview shows that it would delete all the files that aren't in the particular playlists I'm syncing (both the MP3s and all my other playlists files). If I AM syncing my whole library but most songs are already on the device, it doesn't make sense that it has to delete them all and then re-add them to the phone, and it's a waste of time. I mean I guess if deleting and then re-adding my entire library even for small changes is the only way to get it to work correctly, I will do that. But it takes a lot more time and I shouldn't have to.

9

Portable Devices / Re: Syncing to Android, puts new copies of existing MP3s on my phone

« on: February 08, 2022, 05:26:39 PM »

What version of MB are you using? (Help > About) - 3.4.8033 Store

How was MB installed? (Store, Installer, Portable) - Either Store or Installer; I don't remember.

What Android version? 10? 11? 12? "Latest version" means nothing. - Android 12

Are you sure it's creating duplicates and not just overwriting the existing music files? - Yes, it creates duplicates. I see the duplicate files on my phone (both looking on the phone itself and in Windows Explorer). They have been copied to a different folder (but still in internal storage, which is where the original MP3s are). The songs that then show in the synced playlist are the new duplicate ones, not the originals.

Do you perform a 'preview' before doing a sync? Does the preview show the same file being deleted and then copied? - I do a preview. It only shows songs to be copied, none to be deleted.

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Portable Devices / Syncing to Android, puts new copies of existing MP3s on my phone

« on: February 08, 2022, 03:28:21 PM »

Hi, when syncing, MB always wants to re-copy all the music that is in the playlists I'm syncing, even though the MP3 files are already on my phone. (Sometimes I sync all playlists, sometimes just a few that have changed, and it will want to copy all songs on the synced playlists.) I can't find a setting to prevent this. So whenever I sync I have to delete all those music files on my phone first; I don't have enough storage space for duplicate files nor do I want them. Help!

I have the latest Android OS on a Galaxy S10 Plus. I am using the desktop app to sync because I couldn't get the WiFi app to work.

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Questions / Missing tags after relinking paths-SOLVED

« on: November 08, 2021, 10:05:49 PM »

There are some songs MB couldn't find the files for in my playlists. After doing "Relink Music File Paths," the songs were found, but without their tags--except in the Title tag, their names were changed to be the same as the filenames. And I can't find a way to revert the relinking action and instead use "locate missing files" which only works for me doing one song at a time. Is there a batch way or somewhat easy way to fix/find the missing tags? I'm pretty sure all my songs have embedded tags from before using MB.

UPDATE -- I guess I just needed to wait a few minutes. They suddenly all showed their tags!

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Questions / Re: Can the music/playlists on my Android be imported/reverse synced into MusicBee?

« on: November 06, 2021, 03:33:28 AM »

When I do a library backup, that contains everything I need to recreate the library besides the MP3s, correct?

Not necessarily
If you're using the portable version of MB, just copy the entire MB directory to a flash drive and/or another partition on your PC. -That- will back up everything except your music files unless you're keeping them under \MusicBee (which I don't recommend.)

In addition to File > Library > Backup Library you should also do:
Edit > Saved Settings > [Save] or [Load} Settings snapshot
AND
View > Import/Export > [Export] or [Import] Panel Arrangement

Thank you! (and I was going to try your suggestion of using those two phone apps if I hadn't found another solution today.)

13

Questions / Re: Can the music/playlists on my Android be imported/reverse synced into MusicBee?

« on: November 05, 2021, 10:49:42 PM »

Here's a couple of things you might find helpful:

https://musicbee.fandom.com/wiki/Importing
https://musicbee.fandom.com/wiki/File_Organization

Note that when you're moving files between drives, you have to make a specific rule for files coming FROM whatever drive letter.

After reading the above and experimenting with various things based on it, I found a way!!

File > Playlists > Import playlists. Then import the playlist files from the phone. The songs are listed in MusicBee but shown as missing. Recreate the exact path MusicBee shows for the MP3s, which in this case is C:\storage\emulated\0\Music\[the subfolders they're in on my phone]. Then copy the phone's music subfolders into it, and then add that C:\storage\emulated\0\Music\ folder to the Music Library. ALL of my playlists are restored!!

My last question is to make sure this never happens again: When I do a library backup, that contains everything I need to recreate the library besides the MP3s, correct?

14

Questions / Re: Can the music/playlists on my Android be imported/reverse synced into MusicBee?

« on: November 05, 2021, 02:23:29 PM »

It depends on the playlist format, but in this case your idea of importing the files directly to MusicBee might work. You can scan them into the library where they are. MusicBee should automatically copy the playlists to its own Playlists directory. If you then use File Organizer in MusicBee to move the files themselves to your PC, the playlists will be updated to reflect that.

There are still some big ifs here, so proceed with care.

Thank you! I'm still relatively new to MusicBee. How exactly do I "scan them into the library?" (i.e. where do I go... like File > Library > ? or somewhere in the sync settings?)  I do know how to use File Organizer, sort of.

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Questions / Re: Can the music/playlists on my Android be imported/reverse synced into MusicBee?

« on: November 05, 2021, 01:50:14 AM »

Are you able to access your music and playlists through the computer, if your phone is hooked up?

Yes