Files missing from playlists

[Claudiu]

Hello,
I'm stuck in something and I don't know how to solve it, I have looked in the forum, but all I found doesn't help me or I don't know how to use the informations in the posts.
My music is on two drives: C and D, in folders. In the Library Tab, I checked all the folders in which the music is stored, both on C and D drives. "Scan on startup and "continuously monitor" also checked. Scanned and rescanned all files, multiple and multiple times. Based on the posts that i have read on Forum, all the moves I made in the database/ folders/drives regarding the music files, I am making it in the MusicBee app, not in the Windows Explorer ( copy/paste/delete/rename, etc).
I depend on playlists since I am organising my musical activity based on them. However, I have thousands of files that MB doesn't find them in the playlists, even if they were not moved form the initial position, since starting MB about 1-2 years ago. " The source file for track ... could not be found" message. It's frustrating to take each track and look it up, there are a lot of tracks missing in the playlists. The tracks are in the folders, but aren't in the playlists...
If I go to the album on the drive - I find the files , but it's a lot of work to take each track and look for it in all the folders with the " Locate missing files" tab. Also, I think that even after I found some tracks and map them, after some time they lose the connection with the ones in the album.
How can I map/ organise the playlist files with the ones in the folders? I'm afraid to do something that can make me lose the playlists, since I am depending on them to play music at some events.
Thank you for your answers.

[sveakul]

Start by Tools/Advanced/Compress Library.  After it finishes, Tools/Advanced/Rescan All Files.  Ok, now how do things look from this base point before we start the Relink file paths stuff.

[Claudiu]

I don't see anything changed...I've done the two steps from your post. Compress and rescan.
I must admit that there are a lot of playlist files missing, maybe there are some changes, but I don't see much of them .
https://imgur.com/a/GpPAS3X

Thank you for your reply.

[tjinc]

Question: Do these 'missing' files exist on your drive?
We can see that you are displaying <Path> and <Filename> fields which is the location and filename that MusicBee is expecting these files to be at (you should see the same information when hovering your mouse pointer over the exclamation mark to the left of each track).
Check to see if these files exist in the exact location and with the exact filename as displayed. If you can find them but they are not exactly the same location and/or filename then what is the difference?

I am a little suspicious due to the unusual filenames which all seem to start with a 3-digit number, some with more numbers. This suggests to me that something else is going on here: Maybe you are copying playlist files to a folder or something similar?

[Claudiu]

Yes, all of them exists on my hdds. In the same folder that the path is: https://imgur.com/a/LhwqZO8
However, MB doesn't link them... https://imgur.com/51XOiLG
I know that is something wrong in the way I am doing things, but I don't know how to deal with this problem. Suddenly, I am entering a playlist which I haven't use for a while and ....maaany exclamation marks. It's ok if there are some, but when you see around 2000-3000 tracks, it is not ok anymore.
I have started yesterday to relink them with the "Locate missing files" function in MB. It is working, is tough to do it for so many, but...I am doing it, because I need them linked. However, I have done it the past and I am still getting those exclamation marks, I cannot relate to when they appear, when they are un-linking or what I was doing in the app that affects the normal function.

Related to the numbers in front of the track filename, briefly, here is how I am using MusicBee:
- from the tracks in HDDs - I am making playlist. Many files from the HDD are on multiple playlists.
- after I finish doing a complete playlist for my purpose, I export the files from the playlist into a folder, with the "Send to folder (copy) - Copy files to folder" function. In a playlist, MB is autonumbering the tracks and the export is the same, which is great, I need the traks to be played in a specific order. I am playing this folder in another player because, in the past, my Music Bee was crashing suddenly and unexpectedly, and I cannot aford to happen this in an event. I really want to play in MB, but I am afraid for that crash.
- after the event, I continue making playlists for another one and, somtimes, I take some new files form the created folder and add them to another new playlist, and so on...So, I think that is the reason there are those multiple numbers in front of the track. I dont't know how to remove them, I wish only the first number exists, so that there will be the same order, but not with "15-034-101-25-etc-Track_name.mp3". I know, but I cannot do anything else....  If I am playing the same track on multiple events, I think it gets the position number from the previous folder.
I hope I have explain it correctly...
Thank you!!

[tjinc]

If the files do exist on your hard drive with the same folder path and filename as that which MusicBee is reporting as missing, then I am at a loss. However, we cannot tell for sure from the images you posted - could you post an image of that file (117-24.Ansiedad.mp3) in Windows Explorer, making sure that we can see the full path in the address bar - thanks.


As for your workflow:

Create a playlist and then copy files to another folder to play elsewhere. This is fine, but surely once this is done you would want to delete these duplicate files (keep the playlist maybe for your records), otherwise you will finish up with endless copies of your music tracks.

Whenever you copy playlist files to a folder MusicBee will add the playlist number (# field) to the track name in order to maintain the correct order and to prevent duplicate filenames. If you copy a file in this way and then use that copy to make another, additional numbers will be added to the filename. This is definitely the reason your filenames are getting number-heavy. Stick to using the original copies of files when curating a playlist - this will prevent this from happening (as will deleting the duplicate files created when copying the previous playlist tracks).

[Claudiu]

Thank you very much for your answers. It took me a while to relink them ( that's why I haven't wrote in the meantime), but I did it ( for most of them anyway). I couldn t find that track "Ansiedad", I think that I've already move it.
I know, this is exactly the way I am doing it in the present: copy the files in the playlist to another folder, play it from there. Unfortunately, I cannot delete the new created folder, because I need the files in there, as standalones ( I am adding "silence" to them, I am filtering them, etc), mostly because I need them to be played for another event ( in that form/ order or slightly/major changed). And I want them to be physically on my drive than in a playlist. I will try to make playlist based on the original track.

I noticed something last day. I created a folder on my desktop, copied the playlist files in it, played, everything ok. After the event, I moved the folder with MB ( cut/paste) from C:/Desktop ( where I have created) to D: Drive. And rename it after the "paste" command ( also with/in MB).
In that moment all the tracks in the playlist have been unlinked from the ones in the folder. I think this is the reason for my problem, thanks to your answers I knew where to look . I relinked them to D:/ with "Locate missing files..." command.
Is there another way to move folders within MusicBee, between drives, so that I won't experience that kind of problem?

[tjinc]

I do believe you are right here Claudiu - MusicBee does not seem to maintain the links to files when using cut and paste across drives in the computer node (I don't use the computer node so I would never have looked at that).

I don't know if Steven would have the time (or the inclination) to look at this - remember MusicBee is primarily designed to be used with tag metadata and not as a folder browser/player.

What you could try is using another tool:
 • Right click on folder to be moved (note that this method will move the files in the folder and not the folder itself).
 • Send To > Folder (Move) > Move Files To Folder.
 • Navigate to target folder (or create new) and select.

I think this method will maintain the links but obviously satisfy yourself that it does with a small playlist first.

[Claudiu]

Thank you very much for your help, I will try to do this. I think you are right, it should maintain the links with this method.
Thank you again!!