"Ghost" playlists generated beginning with ._

[goodhunterabbie]

Hi all! MusicBee has been generating playlist duplicates that all begin with ._ (see screenshot below)—I am unable to delete them because clicking them crashes the playlist tab, with the error message:

System.IO.EndOfStreamException: Unable to read beyond the end of the stream.
   at System.IO.BinaryReader.FillBuffer(Int32 numBytes)
   at System.IO.BinaryReader.ReadInt32()
   at #=zIm7y8TWsw5WBKF2FMKBbYmM=.#=zLoLNWFziuOgv(Stream #=zywADOTw=, List`1 #=zy$$xdrM=, #=zXd8$nUo= #=zQuseiZw=)
   at #=zIm7y8TWsw5WBKF2FMKBbYmM=.#=zLQSrK_SG7Mde()
   at #=zIm7y8TWsw5WBKF2FMKBbYmM=.#=zdksupnMnZQiQ()
   at #=z0E9gkQzHCOugQ_NHtBifISZYRiBl.#=zlTPqOvUtkzPz(#=zfS4Ofp_dxcXWjI5WvA329Ks= #=zzBfMAFLPgvTM, Boolean #=ztFnRKWDkFaA8, #=zZi3IS18= #=z$2Gmo64=, #=zdokmGxRTHvtRITBX2TnvWj4= #=zA08T0qFtSOUO, Boolean #=zZ7JPKWf2ch8N, #=zBRKwOArJPnMavbYgCDXroEs= #=zn$BXA3aUB_u0, #=zl2VjKJ6Z7PJzhiucsq1Dbh0=[] #=zorSd0omZN7JB, Boolean #=zE50Zoxq7Mzg0)

I'm on 3.6, and saw another post where updating to that version was presented as a solution, but this hasn't gone away. Any help is appreciated!

[phred]

You haven't included the full error log report. It starts with the date and MB's version number.

You need to have a file extension for your screenshot link.

[goodhunterabbie]

My bad on both counts! Full error log with the version is:

MusicBee v3.6.9303.25089P  (Win10.0), 21 Jun 2025 13:57:

System.IO.EndOfStreamException: Unable to read beyond the end of the stream.
   at System.IO.BinaryReader.FillBuffer(Int32 numBytes)
   at System.IO.BinaryReader.ReadInt32()
   at #=zIm7y8TWsw5WBKF2FMKBbYmM=.#=zLoLNWFziuOgv(Stream #=zywADOTw=, List`1 #=zy$$xdrM=, #=zXd8$nUo= #=zQuseiZw=)
   at #=zIm7y8TWsw5WBKF2FMKBbYmM=.#=zLQSrK_SG7Mde()
   at #=zIm7y8TWsw5WBKF2FMKBbYmM=.#=zdksupnMnZQiQ()
   at #=z0E9gkQzHCOugQ_NHtBifISZYRiBl.#=zlTPqOvUtkzPz(#=zfS4Ofp_dxcXWjI5WvA329Ks= #=zzBfMAFLPgvTM, Boolean #=ztFnRKWDkFaA8, #=zZi3IS18= #=z$2Gmo64=, #=zdokmGxRTHvtRITBX2TnvWj4= #=zA08T0qFtSOUO, Boolean #=zZ7JPKWf2ch8N, #=zBRKwOArJPnMavbYgCDXroEs= #=zn$BXA3aUB_u0, #=zl2VjKJ6Z7PJzhiucsq1Dbh0=[] #=zorSd0omZN7JB, Boolean #=zE50Zoxq7Mzg0)

[Steven]

those wont be playlists created by MB. I expect they are empty files. Just delete them from the Playlists folder

[goodhunterabbie]

Unfortunately they don't seem to be present in the playlists folder! All that's present there is the names of the actual playlists, without empty duplicates.

[sveakul]

Unfortunately they don't seem to be present in the playlists folder! All that's present there is the names of the actual playlists, without empty duplicates.

To actually locate them, why not just do a Windows file explorer search for them on the whole drive, incl. "search hidden files and folders"??  BTW, a good FAST, complete search tool that doesn't cache or keep an index is SwiftSearch64, a single exe file, portable, "spartan" interface, and free:
https://sourceforge.net/projects/swiftsearch/files/Version%207.5.1/SwiftSearch64.exe/download
Also free, portable, and no cache/indexing is UltraSearch, more options than SwiftSearch, just updated April 2025:
https://downloads.jam-software.de/ultrasearch/UltraSearch-Free-Portable.zip

[boroda]

@sveakul, "everything"?

[sveakul]

@sveakul, "everything"?

?

[boroda]

the well known program "everything". but it's not portable.

[sveakul]

the well known program "everything". but it's not portable.

I question "well known"!   It IS available as a portable (just check the download page), but uses file indexing and a cache creation.  5 years since last update.

[karbock]

@goodhunterabbie:
you must have shared/used your storage device with a computer running macOS.

macOS creates files whose names start with "._" for indexation purposes.
Under macOS, the dot prefix is used for hidden files, but those files are plainly visible by other systems (not based on Unix) such as Windows.

Options:

• you can safely delete those "._*" files manually.
  But if you later connect your drive to a Mac and browse through the playlist folders, those "._" files may be created again.
• you can keep those files but set the "hidden" attribute to them.
  -> Doesn't work: the files are still listed by MusicBee.

Some more technical details here:
https://kb.synology.com/vi-vn/DSM/tutorial/Why_are_dot_underscore_files_created

[boroda]

the well known program "everything". but it's not portable.

It IS available as a portable (just check the download page), but uses file indexing and a cache creation.  5 years since last update.

it's the very specific and tiny indices; they are indices of NTFS/ReFS MFT indices. Everything creates own small index in a couple of seconds, when a new volume (but not FAT/FAT32) is mounted. last updated 5 years ago just because all is working fine. only UI may (and even must) be improved in case if you want to search inside files along with filenames/folder names/paths. ("along with" because Everything doesn't index file contents)