Possible to bulk export playlists without confirming overwrite?

[guptaas]

I'm really new to Musicbee though I did try it once and joined the forum a long while back. And all I can say is wow. The program has become one of the best music library managers ever. I think I'll be discovering a lot of features over the next many days. I suspect there is already a solution to my problem that has escaped me.

I use Musicbee on a Windows desktop but the rest of music consumption is through a Logitech Media Server (LMS) on a linux machine. The Auto-playlits generated in Musicbee are perfect for my purpose and Unix paths are correct.

What I wish to achieve is  periodically export a lot of auto-playlists without confirming an overwrite. Or at least once when exiting the program or even manually but an entire group. Searching through the program preferences and this forum hasn't shown me a way yet. In fact checking the auto export box when creating a new playlist generates an error if the destination already has a playlist by that name! It kind of defeats the point of "auto" and "dynamic" for me. Ideally on starting the program I'd like to first update stats from LastFM (affects my playlists), add and tag new files and then bulk export playlists.

If that is possible, a small additional improvement could be the choice to skip creating a playlist folder on the remote computer. That would permit one to separate sets of "Local (not for export)" and "Remote (to be exported)" playlists. This is of course a non-essential desire.

[guptaas]

Mistakenly thought I found a solution 

[phred]

Take a look at SyncBack Pro (which I think has a free version.) I have it set on a schedule to backup (export) all my playlists (auto and static) to two different locations/devices once a day. It simply overwrites the existing files and adds/updates any new or changed files. I also have it set to send me an email when it's done.

[guptaas]

Thanks for the response. I do use Syncback. It’s a vital part of my file management.  However, unless there is a difference between exporting playlists from Musicbee to a local drive versus a network folder, it doesn’t solve my export problem. I’ll still have to individually export each auto-playlist and confirm an overwrite over older files. These playlists with Unix paths serve no purpose on the Windows machine anyway.

[frankz]

In fact checking the auto export box when creating a new playlist generates an error if the destination already has a playlist by that name!

I do not understand what you're saying here. Ticking that box does exactly what you want.

If it won't let you initiate that setting because a static playlist copy is already there (I've not seen this), why not delete or at least move the static playlist copy that's already there and then initiate the setting knowing the static copy will be regenerated next time you close MB?

[phred]

Using SyncBack Pro I sync/backup/export over 100 playlists from my main PC to two other PCs. One of those PCs (running Win10) is my "server" for LMS. I'm copying both my music files and my 100+ playlists to it using SyncBack Pro. I do not get asked for permission to overwrite a file (and that's the way I want it.) Check your SBP settings under Decisions - Files

[guptaas]

Thank you frankz.
Sorry for failing to be clear. Yes a static copy on the remote machine will always be there because I wish dynamically generated playlists in Musicbee to update static playlists on the network folder every time I open Musicbee. I tried deleting the static copies first, then started and closed MB. The playlists were not exported automatically. If that was to work, my problem will be solved. I’m happy to manually delete the entire set every time I want a refresh.

I’m looking for a ‘set it and forget it’ These auto-playlists will be impacted by new files/edits and updated play counts from LastFM. The main purpose is to avoid including anything played in the last few months and incorporating any changes in the library.

[guptaas]

Thank you for your help phred.
I have no problems with file decisions in Syncback. I also do not really need it for this purpose, unless it’s part of a workaround. The static copies of these auto-playlists are only needed on the remote machine. So no need to save copies in two places.

The problem is Musicbee not automatically updating static copies in the target folder. I do not know if there is any difference between auto export of a Unix formatted playlist to a local windows folder vs directly exporting to the network folder. That would be a workaround solved by Syncback.

In the past, I have enjoyed the convenience of daily automatic playlist exports with automatic overwrites of static copies to this Linux machine with a plug-in in Mediamonkey. All I had to do is choose how frequently I want to auto-export. MB in all other respects is working better, so I figured, it’s some mistake on my part.

[frankz]

The playlists were not exported automatically. If that was to work, my problem will be solved. I’m happy to manually delete the entire set every time I want a refresh.

Then the actual problem is figuring out why "automatically export a static copy," a feature that absolutely works, is not working for you.

I'm not sure how we get there (maybe a screenshot of edit->edit preferences->Library that shows the "playlists" section would be a good start), but at least we've filtered out the noise and gotten to the signal here.

[guptaas]

[frankz]

I can't see any obvious reason why your playlist would not auto export to that location each time you close MB.  Besides the unix paths and mapping options, mine is set up the same way (my main export folder is even called \\HTPC!), and it works fine.  I just closed MB and checked and the auto-playlists were exported as they should be.

Maybe try without the additional options (unix paths and mapping) and see if that works.  At least to narrow down where the problem is (or isn't).

This is assuming of course that the lists you're looking at have actually updated in MB since the last export.

[guptaas]

This is assuming of course that the lists you're looking at have actually updated in MB since the last export.

If the auto-playlist is based on random picks, shouldn't it be updating every time one restarts MB? I would expect it to give me a new set every time I clicked on it as long as the library can come up with more songs than the set item limit. And if a periodic export was ever to be added as an option, I would expect a new randomization.

[frankz]

You would expect that to be the case, and that's the way it works for me (mine update each time I click from one to another and back again), but something is not working correctly on your end and that seems like a logical first point of failure to at least check.

[frankz]

Without having to go back and forth, here's how I'd use basic troubleshooting (start at the most basic and add complications until something breaks) to find out what the problem is.

1. Do the playlists auto-update as they should?  If yes, then...
2. Take off all the other options in the Exported Playlists and just try to export them to a local folder you know the account you're using has access to. Close MB. Did it work? If so, then...
3. Try to export them to the \\HTPC folder you ultimately want. Close MB.  Did it work?  If so, then...

...and so on, adding complications until you get to the point where it no longer works.  Then you know what the problem is.

[guptaas]

Odd behavior. There must be an explanation but its beyond me. I'm not a programmer:
1. Woke up a sleeping computer. MB, which had been on, happily exported on exit to an empty network folder with correct Unix paths in the playlists
2. Starting and exiting the program after a couple of minutes did not output anything to empty folders
3. Same failure to a local folder without formatting Unix paths
4. Running MB as an administrator made no difference

This tells me that MB won't overwrite old playlists (not even as an admin) and perhaps needs to be running long enough (hidden process) to fully refresh all the playlists before exporting to an empty folder. So the correct strategy for me would be to: delete old playlists > Run MB for a while > Exit

5. Interesting discovery! If I make a change in Preferences>Library>Playlists (e.g. path) and hit apply, MB quietly overwrites all the old playlists in any (local/network) folder

So what I want can be done by making a change in preferences, apply, reverse the change and apply/save again.
I would think the same behavior is needed for auto-export outside the preferences. That to me would be the difference between auto and manual export. In fact right clicking a playlist and choosing export should only mean manual export. Auto should be silent behind the scenes. Furthermore an option to auto-export will be far more useful combined with specifying when to do it, on start, on exit or every so many hours/days. This last paragraph is just my thoughts. Others may not see it that way and programming this is something else altogether. If it sounds reasonable to some more, maybe I'll post it in the feature request section.

@frankz. Thank you so much for taking the trouble to patiently read my posts and suggest a way forward.