How to migrate podcast eps to new computer if subscription link is unreachable?

[cag8f]

TL;DR How do I migrate podcast episodes from COMPUTER-A to COMPUTER-B, if the RSS URL of the subscription is no longer reachable?

Hi all.  To give some background, years ago I installed MusicBee on COMPUTER-A.  At that time I added several different podcast subscriptions, using their RSS URLs. Over the years I downloaded new episodes into MusicBee, and added meta data to them (star ratings, grouping values, etc).  Eventually the subscription for one stopped (call it PODCAST-A), i.e. the maintainers stopped adding new episodes and the RSS URL eventually became unreachable.  But in MusicBee, the subscription remained visible and the episodes I downloaded remained playable. 

My question:  On COMPUTER-B I have now installed MusicBee fresh.  Apart from PODCAST-A, I plan to migrate the podcast episodes by first creating the subscription on COMPUTER-B, then copying and pasting episodes from COMPUTER-A to COMPUTER-B.  But what are my options towards migrating the episodes from PODCAST-A (and their meta data)?  When I try to create a new podcast subscription in MusicBee on COMPUTER-B, it fails, saying the URL is unreachable. 

Thanks in advance.

[Mayibongwe]

How do I migrate podcast episodes from COMPUTER-A to COMPUTER-B, if the RSS URL of the subscription is no longer reachable?

That's a very difficult question which was supposed to have one simple answer (to copy the old folders to the same path on the new machine).

However, on the linked thread below, it appears that you weren't able to replicate the old folder structures on the new computer, and that's a huge hindrance.
https://getmusicbee.com/forum/index.php?topic=40410.0

I think copying over this file as is would have bypassed the "unreachable url" message ...\MusicBee\Library\Podcasts\Subscriptions.dat"
Other than that, I really doubt there's a way.

[Mayibongwe]

The only thing we can suggest is that going forward, you install the portable version on the new computer.
So that in the future, a simple MusicBee restoration would consist of simply copying over a single folder to the new pc.

[tjinc]

For your 'PODCAST-A' episodes you could try this:
Copy the episodes' audio files over to your new PC and manually add these files to your library (MB menu > File > Add Files To Library...)
This will add the files to your MUSIC node. As there will be no more episodes to download, you could just leave them and listen to them from here.
Alternatively Right-Click > Send To > Podcasts. This will put them in an 'Unknown Subscription' in the podcast node.
Not perfect as you cannot edit the name 'Unknown Subscription', but is an option.

Most metadata is saved in the files so should come across (play count, last played date, date added and any custom tags not stored in the file will be lost).

Strongly agree with Mayibongwe's suggestion to use the portable version.

[cag8f]

OK thanks to both.  I didn't realize that the portable version could be a viable option for me in this case.  From the name I guess I assumed it was for a use case other than mine.  So let me pause here and look into the option of going that route. 

So there are only two installation options:  the installed version and portable version. And the difference between the two is only in how the files are installed--there is now difference in the features available to me as an end user, or how those features are used.  Am I understanding that correctly? 

As a fall back, it sounds like the approach offered by @tjinc, which installs the podcast episodes to the 'Unknown Subscription' folder, could be viable.

[phred]

So there are only two installation options:  the installed version and portable version. And the difference between the two is only in how the files are installed--there is now difference in the features available to me as an end user, or how those features are used.  Am I understanding that correctly?  

Actually there are three types of installations: Installer, Portable, and Windows Store. But most seasoned users do not use the Store version for a number of reasons. Including that it's not updated as frequently as the other two, and that its file paths are hidden and not easily accessible.

But the answer to your question is yes, there is absolutely no functional or feature difference between Installer or Portable.

[cag8f]

Great thanks.  I will try to do this using the portable installation then.  Is there a guide/tutorial to migrating my muisc/podcasts from an Installer installation to a Portable installation (on a different computer)? I don't immediately see in the support section.

Earlier someone mentioned,

> That's a very difficult question which was supposed to have one simple answer (to copy the old folders to the same path on the new machine).

In my case, the new computer (with the Portable installation) will not have the same folder path as the old computer (i.e. the one with the Installer installation).

[boroda]

Great thanks.  I will try to do this using the portable installation then.  Is there a guide/tutorial to migrating my muisc/podcasts from an Installer installation to a Portable installation (on a different computer)? I don't immediately see in the support section.

this topic could help you.

[cag8f]

OK thanks.  That should be enough for me to get started.

[karbock]

To summarise the problem, cag8f wants to transfer:

• podcast files
• and bookmarks in those podcasts
• to a location on computer-B different from that on computer-A

Migrating to a portable install might not be sufficient,
since both the podcast index and the bookmark index contain absolute paths to the podcast files
(thus not relative paths from the portable install's folder or the library's folder).
 
It's possible to adapt the paths in the podcast index file,
but I haven't found a way so far to do the same for the the bookmark index file (binary, not editable).

Podcast index file

• It's plain text, thus editable.
• It contains absolute paths to the podcast files.

So there are two ways to successfully migrate the files from computer-A to computer-B, even with different locations:

Method 1:

• Copy the podcast files from A to B.
• Copy the podcast index file from A to B.
• On computer-B, open the podcast index file with a text editor and adapt the file paths (location on A -> location on B).

Method 2:

• On computer-A, migrate the podcast files so that they have the same location as on computer-B,
  by using Preferences -> tab 'Library' -> section 'podcasts' -> 'naming template' -> button 'Reorganise...'
• Copy the podcast files from A to B.
• Copy the podcast index file from A to B.

Bookmark index files

• It's a binary file, thus not editable.
• It contains absolute paths to the podcast files.

The bookmark index file is untouched after:

• a relink operation
  File -> Library -> Relink Music File Paths...
• a podcast reorganisation
  Preferences -> Library -> podcasts -> Reorganise...

So, for the time being, I haven't got any automated solution to propose for the bookmarks.

I will add a topic to the wishlist and include the link here.

---

EDIT:
Whishlist topic
https://getmusicbee.com/forum/index.php?topic=40448.0

[cag8f]

Thanks for all that.  Let me just be sure I'm understanding.

> So, for the time being, I haven't got any automated solution to propose for the bookmarks.

So if MusicBee on COMPUTER-B is installed using the portable version, there is no way to migrate the bookmarks from COMPUTER-A to COMPUTER-B.  The only option would be to manually re-make each bookmark on COMPUTER-B.  Am I understanding correctly?  I'm not trying to complain or be snarky--just want to make sure I'm understanding before taking the next step :-)

In my case, I have ~50 bookmarks.  Manually re-making them wouldn't be the worst thing in the world.  Alternatively, using the installed version on COMPUTER-B instead of the portable version could be viable as well.  So I have options that work for me.  Thanks for your help!

[boroda]

doesn't matter if MB is portable or installer on computer-B. what matters is if absolute paths to podcast files are the same on A and B.

[cag8f]

> doesn't matter if MB is portable or installer on computer-B. what matters is if absolute paths to podcast files are the same on A and B.

I carried out a test of each installation method on COMPTUER-B (installer or portable), and I experience a slight difference. Maybe I'm misunderstanding something though, or doing something wrong.

* Installer method: I copied the bookmarks.dat file from COMPUTER-A to COMPUTER-B, opened MusicBee-->Bookmarks, and it displayed all 50 rows of bookmarks.  For each, the link to the source podcast file was broken.  To resolve that for a bookmark I could double click the bookmark, then make a few clicks to locate the new path to the podcast file.  If I had to do this to migrate each of my 50 bookmarks, that would be fine.

* Portable method: I copied bookmarks.dat to COMPUTER-B, into the same folder that houses the MusicBee installation (in my case, %APPDATA%/Music\MusicBee).  I then opened MusicBee-->Bookmarks, and there were zero bookmarks displayed.  It seems like I cannot migrate any bookmarks at all.  If so, I would have to manually re-make all 50 bookmarks on COMPUTER-B.  I think that would be fine with me too though.

But maybe I've done something wrong with the Portable method.

[boroda]

no, by "doesn't matter" i only meant that there will be no automated way to migrate. of course, there will be some difference anyway.

glad to hear that "installer solution" worked almost fine for you.

[cag8f]

OK gotcha.  Yes, there's no full start-to-finish automated way to migrate.