Author Topic: Empty playlists from wired and wifi sync  (Read 9606 times)

Madmaxneo

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The reverse sync now skips auto-playlists and if you haven't updated musicbee.exe since I made the comment about the 90 minute buffer then that would explain the file modification time not working

https://getmusicbee.com/patches/MusicBee34_Patched.zip
i will have a look at the other issues later

edit:
i can reproduce the unexpected characters in the filenames when using android 10 and should be able to fix that

What am I missing here?

It seems others are having difficulties with reverse sync whereas I can't seem to even get wired sync for playlists to work with or with out wifi syncing on Android.
Last Edit: November 01, 2020, 07:44:30 PM by psychoadept

Madmaxneo

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Are they truly not synching (you look at the phone storage folder view in Windows Explorer or your phone's file manager and the playlist files are not there), or are these playlists just not being seen by whatever (unspecified) music program you're using on your phone?

Thanks for your reply!

I checked the location on my SD Card where the files should be located both via my laptop and the phone's file explorer and the files aren't present.

Additionally, I also just found out about the MusicBee Wifi Sync app earlier today; so I tried that and all of the playlists were copied correctly per my sync settings. So this issue seems to occur exclusively with when I sync my device via USB connection.

I am unable to get my playlists to sync either wired through USB or through the Wifi sync. I get the playlist itself to my phone but the playlists have zero tracks in them.

Maybe it has something to do with my settings which are:
Reverse Sync to computer: None selected.
From player: GoneMad (which I believe is the default).

What are your settings in the wifi sync app?

phred

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whereas I can't seem to even get wired sync for playlists to work with or with out wifi syncing on Android.
More information please. Starting with
What version of MB are you using? (Help > About)
How was MB installed? (Installer, Portable, Store)
What are you syncing to?
Perhaps a screenshot of your device preferences settings would be helpful. Specifically the 'settings' tab and the 'music' tab.
Download the latest MusicBee v3.5 or 3.6 patch from here.
Unzip into your MusicBee directory and overwrite existing files.

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psychoadept

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Madmaxneo, I've brought your two posts together in a new post, since the issue doesn't necessarily seem to be the same as either of the other threads. This way all the discussion of your problem can happen in one place.
MusicBee Wiki
Use & improve MusicBee's documentation!

Latest beta patch (3.5)
(Unzip and overwrite existing program files)

Madmaxneo

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whereas I can't seem to even get wired sync for playlists to work with or with out wifi syncing on Android.
More information please. Starting with
What version of MB are you using? (Help > About)
How was MB installed? (Installer, Portable, Store)
What are you syncing to?
Perhaps a screenshot of your device preferences settings would be helpful. Specifically the 'settings' tab and the 'music' tab.

MB Version: 3.3.7491

MB was installed using an installer

I am trying to sync to my Samsung Note 10+

Following are the screenshots you requested. I only have one playlist selected for now because it hasn't worked. Once I get that playlist to sync properly I will add the others I want on my phone.
Settings 1
Settings 2
Music

phred

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Thanks for the screenshots and additional information.

What I'm seeing is that you're only syncing playlist(s) and not your entire library. And that you're syncing to the phone's internal memory and not a memory card on the phone. Is that correct?

I'm a little confused about your first post where you say that you're reverse syncing. Reverse sync is from the phone to the PC. If the playlist exists in MB and you want it on the phone, then you are not reverse syncing. I see in your first screenshot that you have 2-way sync disabled, which is correct if you're going from MB to the phone.

If my assumptions based on your screenshots are correct, I don't see anything wrong with the settings. I would disable the option to automatically sync when connected. Disconnect the phone from the PC and restart MB. Connect the phone with the USB cable and wait for it to show up in the Devices node in the left sidebar. If you have a screen lock on the phone, unlock it and try a preview from MB. If the preview shows the correct tracks and playlist(s) disconnect the phone from the PC. You can right-click on the device in MB and click 'eject' device. (I'm not in front of my PC right now so the wording may be slightly different.) Make sure your phone and MB are on the same WiFi network. Keep MB open and launch MB's WiFi Sync app on your phone. Do a preview. Perform the sync. When the sync is complete, use an Android file explorer to look at your Playlists folder and make sure the playlist(s) are there and have the correct file extension. Then navigate to your Music folder on the phone and see if the tracks are there. If so, open GoneMad and in Preferences > Scanner > Start Scan. Wait for the scan to be finished and you should be all set with the playlist and the related tracks in GoneMad. You won't have to scan every time you add files once you set up "Setup Auto Scan" in the scanner settings.

So how'd you make out?
Download the latest MusicBee v3.5 or 3.6 patch from here.
Unzip into your MusicBee directory and overwrite existing files.

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The FAQ
The Wiki
Posting screenshots is here
Searching the forum with Google is  here

Madmaxneo

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Thanks for the screenshots and additional information.

What I'm seeing is that you're only syncing playlist(s) and not your entire library. And that you're syncing to the phone's internal memory and not a memory card on the phone. Is that correct?

I'm a little confused about your first post where you say that you're reverse syncing. Reverse sync is from the phone to the PC. If the playlist exists in MB and you want it on the phone, then you are not reverse syncing. I see in your first screenshot that you have 2-way sync disabled, which is correct if you're going from MB to the phone.

If my assumptions based on your screenshots are correct, I don't see anything wrong with the settings. I would disable the option to automatically sync when connected. Disconnect the phone from the PC and restart MB. Connect the phone with the USB cable and wait for it to show up in the Devices node in the left sidebar. If you have a screen lock on the phone, unlock it and try a preview from MB. If the preview shows the correct tracks and playlist(s) disconnect the phone from the PC. You can right-click on the device in MB and click 'eject' device. (I'm not in front of my PC right now so the wording may be slightly different.) Make sure your phone and MB are on the same WiFi network. Keep MB open and launch MB's WiFi Sync app on your phone. Do a preview. Perform the sync. When the sync is complete, use an Android file explorer to look at your Playlists folder and make sure the playlist(s) are there and have the correct file extension. Then navigate to your Music folder on the phone and see if the tracks are there. If so, open GoneMad and in Preferences > Scanner > Start Scan. Wait for the scan to be finished and you should be all set with the playlist and the related tracks in GoneMad. You won't have to scan every time you add files once you set up "Setup Auto Scan" in the scanner settings.

So how'd you make out?
I finally found the preview button on the PC. I clicked it and the only thing that shows up is the playlist, but no tracks. Same thing happens in the preview for the app on my phone.

phred

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I finally found the preview button on the PC. I clicked it and the only thing that shows up is the playlist, but no tracks. Same thing happens in the preview for the app on my phone.
For the time being, forget about a WiFi sync from your phone. The phone app will not sync until one preview has taken place from MB to the phone. (This only needs to be done once unless you change the device.)

If you're seeing the playlist in the preview but no tracks, check your phone with a file explorer and look for the tracks. I just test by adding a previously unsynced playlist and it showed the tracks first and at the bottom of the tracks, it showed the playlist. I removed the playlist and did another preview and it showed the eight playlists I had synced the other day. Only the playlists showed because no new tracks had been added to the playlist. So it's quite possible the tracks exist on the phone already.

Does the playlist play as expected in MB?

The only other thing I can think of is to update to the latest 3.4 patch - see my sig. It can be put right over your 3.3 installation.
Download the latest MusicBee v3.5 or 3.6 patch from here.
Unzip into your MusicBee directory and overwrite existing files.

----------
The FAQ
The Wiki
Posting screenshots is here
Searching the forum with Google is  here

Madmaxneo

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I finally found the preview button on the PC. I clicked it and the only thing that shows up is the playlist, but no tracks. Same thing happens in the preview for the app on my phone.
For the time being, forget about a WiFi sync from your phone. The phone app will not sync until one preview has taken place from MB to the phone. (This only needs to be done once unless you change the device.)

If you're seeing the playlist in the preview but no tracks, check your phone with a file explorer and look for the tracks. I just test by adding a previously unsynced playlist and it showed the tracks first and at the bottom of the tracks, it showed the playlist. I removed the playlist and did another preview and it showed the eight playlists I had synced the other day. Only the playlists showed because no new tracks had been added to the playlist. So it's quite possible the tracks exist on the phone already.

Does the playlist play as expected in MB?

The only other thing I can think of is to update to the latest 3.4 patch - see my sig. It can be put right over your 3.3 installation.

The tracks seem to all be on my phone. When I sync the playlist it shows up in my phone's music player, but the playlist is empty. The phone even has a message that tells me how to add music to the playlist.

When this first started back in February of this year (2020 strikes again) I deleted my entire music library out of my phone to see if I could get it to work, and at first it didn't and I was a little upset cause I use my phone for music in my car. I basically manually populated one playlist and used that for a bit. Then maybe a week or two later it started working again as I had been trying all kinds of fixes. A month after that I was unable to sync playlists again but this time nothing I tried would fix the issue.

I will try the patch below and see what happens.

Madmaxneo

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@phred
I decided to try deleting some of the files already on the phone to see what would happen. When I clicked preview those same files I deleted showed up.

So I went and did the sync again and it added the files back to the phone along with the playlist, but the playlist was still empty.

FYI, in reply to a question you had when you first started helping me. The thing about reverse sync was moved from a previous topic to this topic of mine by a mod. In that topic people were able to sync but were having difficulties with reverse sync, when I can't even sync in the first place.


Could there be some setting somewhere that isn't set properly?


EDIT: to answer your question if the playlists play in MusicBee on my PC, yes they do play just fine.

phred

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@phred
I decided to try deleting some of the files already on the phone to see what would happen. When I clicked preview those same files I deleted showed up.

So I went and did the sync again and it added the files back to the phone along with the playlist, but the playlist was still empty.
Where are you seeing that the playlist on the phone is empty? In GMMP? or with a file explorer? If a file explorer, is it a zero byte file? If not, open the playlist on the phone with a text editor. What does it show?

My guess is it's something simple that we're both missing. I've double-checked my settings against yours and the one or two differences I see would not cause what you're experiencing.

I'm just about out of ideas pending your responses to my latest round of questions.

Download the latest MusicBee v3.5 or 3.6 patch from here.
Unzip into your MusicBee directory and overwrite existing files.

----------
The FAQ
The Wiki
Posting screenshots is here
Searching the forum with Google is  here

Madmaxneo

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@phred
I decided to try deleting some of the files already on the phone to see what would happen. When I clicked preview those same files I deleted showed up.

So I went and did the sync again and it added the files back to the phone along with the playlist, but the playlist was still empty.
Where are you seeing that the playlist on the phone is empty? In GMMP? or with a file explorer? If a file explorer, is it a zero byte file? If not, open the playlist on the phone with a text editor. What does it show?

My guess is it's something simple that we're both missing. I've double-checked my settings against yours and the one or two differences I see would not cause what you're experiencing.

I'm just about out of ideas pending your responses to my latest round of questions.
The playlist shows up as being 12.33kb in size in the "MyFiles" file explorer on my phone.

When I open the playlist in a text editor the songs are all listed.

Madmaxneo

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I did discover something odd. I found the other playlists I had deleted (that had a zero track list) still listed in there and the songs were listed on those playlists. I went and deleted the 80's playlist I am working through this with you and deleted it first in the music player, then I found I had to delete it in the file explorer.  Is it possible the player is storing a different version of the playlist somewhere else?

phred

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The playlist shows up as being 12.33kb in size in the "MyFiles" file explorer on my phone.

When I open the playlist in a text editor the songs are all listed.
This is good!
Your settings show that the playlist destination folder is Music\Playlists\. Does that folder exist and if so, is anything in it?

I went and deleted the 80's playlist I am working through this with you and deleted it first in the music player, then I found I had to delete it in the file explorer.  
Deleted in both places on the phone, yes? While I use GoneMad myself, I don't use the phone for creating/adding/deleting playlists. I do it all on MB and sync to the phone. But I would think that perhaps deleting the playlist from GoneMad and still having it in a folder, is sort of a safety measure. It's only -removing- it from GoneMads's sight, but it's not deleted. There's another user (psychoadept) here who's pretty knowledgeable with GoneMad. He can probably confirm this.

Quote
Is it possible the player is storing a different version of the playlist somewhere else?
I don't think it's storing a different version. I think it's storing it in the wrong place. (MyFiles vs Music\Playlists.) And I'm lost as for why that's happening. Until we can get someone to offer an opinion on that. make sure there are no playlists in either of those folders. Then sync from MB to the phone. If they wind up in MyFiles again, move the entire folder over to Music\Playlists and see what Gone Mad does.
Last Edit: November 02, 2020, 04:13:47 AM by phred
Download the latest MusicBee v3.5 or 3.6 patch from here.
Unzip into your MusicBee directory and overwrite existing files.

----------
The FAQ
The Wiki
Posting screenshots is here
Searching the forum with Google is  here

Madmaxneo

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The playlist shows up as being 12.33kb in size in the "MyFiles" file explorer on my phone.

When I open the playlist in a text editor the songs are all listed.
This is good!
Your settings show that the playlist destination folder is Music\Playlists\. Does that folder exist and if so, is anything in it?
Yes, that is where I am looking at the folder where the playlists are populated.
Quote
I went and deleted the 80's playlist I am working through this with you and deleted it first in the music player, then I found I had to delete it in the file explorer.  
Deleted in both places on the phone, yes? While I use GoneMad myself, I don't use the phone for creating/adding/deleting playlists. I do it all on MB and sync to the phone. But I would think that perhaps deleting the playlist from GoneMad and still having it in a folder, is sort of a safety measure. It's only -removing- it from GoneMads's sight, but it's not deleted. There's another user (psychoadept) here who's pretty knowledgeable with GoneMad. He can probably confirm this.
Yes, deleted in both places. I don't usually create playlists on my phone either cause it takes way to much time and is so much easier to do on the PC.
Quote
Quote
Is it possible the player is storing a different version of the playlist somewhere else?
I don't think it's storing a different version. I think it's storing it in the wrong place. (MyFiles vs Music\Playlists.) And I'm lost as for why that's happening. Until we can get someone to offer an opinion on that. make sure there are no playlists in either of those folders. Then sync from MB to the phone. If they wind up in MyFiles again, move the entire folder over to Music\Playlists and see what Gone Mad does.
I did find another folder that had a playlist (in the same location the 'Music' folder is in) that is only in that location (not in the Music\Playlist location) and it was included in the music player.