trouble importing playlist from Catalina music app

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sakols
Posts: 6
Joined: Sun Jun 21, 2020 4:28 pm

trouble importing playlist from Catalina music app

Post by sakols »

Hi, and happy fathers day.
Im trying to import a playlist from the Catalina Music App into MM, and I get an error no files have been imported. Im exporting the playlist as .m3u. when I look at the entries with text edit all the tracks are listed like:
#EXTM3U
#EXTINF:512,Earwax - Patch Work
/Volumes/R_Drive/iTunes/iTunes Media/Music/Patch Work/Odeon/01 Earwax.m4a
#EXTINF:618,Low - Patch Work
/Volumes/R_Drive/iTunes/iTunes Media/Music/Patch Work/Odeon/02 Low.m4a
...etc

I don't know what else to try. Any ideas would be appreciated.
dan
Lowlander
Posts: 56491
Joined: Sat Sep 06, 2003 5:53 pm
Location: MediaMonkey 5

Re: trouble importing playlist from Catalina music app

Post by Lowlander »

That should work as long as the Playlist file is in the parent folder of the \Volumes\ folder (ie. the same folder the Volumes folder is located in).
sakols
Posts: 6
Joined: Sun Jun 21, 2020 4:28 pm

Re: trouble importing playlist from Catalina music app

Post by sakols »

Im not quite understanding.

I thought you could just import the .m3u file into media monkey from any folder. In my case I put it on the desktop. The volume you referred to is a network drive assigned Rdrive. I don't understand what the parent of the volume is.

thanks
Lowlander
Posts: 56491
Joined: Sat Sep 06, 2003 5:53 pm
Location: MediaMonkey 5

Re: trouble importing playlist from Catalina music app

Post by Lowlander »

The Playlist file you have uses relative Paths, not absolute Paths. With absolute Paths (C:\folder\folder\file) you can have the Playlists anywhere you want as it tells where the file is located exactly. However with relative Paths you're not telling where the file is located, but instead where the file is located relative to the Playlist file. Thus you need to have the Playlist file in that specific location when it has relative Paths.

The Parent folder is whichever folder that contains the Volumes folder.
yarguy
Posts: 394
Joined: Mon Apr 09, 2012 8:34 am

Re: trouble importing playlist from Catalina music app

Post by yarguy »

Also MM misleadingly reports 0 files imported when it actually does import a playlist (which is, after all, a file). You'll have to look through the list of imported playlists to see if it actually did get imported.
Lowlander
Posts: 56491
Joined: Sat Sep 06, 2003 5:53 pm
Location: MediaMonkey 5

Re: trouble importing playlist from Catalina music app

Post by Lowlander »

As MediaMonkey doesn't connect to the Playlist it imports (it doesn't manage it) you could argue it doesn't import it (instead it create a database version copy of it). Unlike music files you can remove the original Playlist file without consequence after import and MediaMonkey doesn't save any changes back to it.
sakols
Posts: 6
Joined: Sun Jun 21, 2020 4:28 pm

Re: trouble importing playlist from Catalina music app

Post by sakols »

Hi, Im still unable to get my playlists to import.

Im putting the exported .m3u file in the RDrive volume, then scanning the entire RDrive with MM. Ive also tried putting it in the iTunes folder, and scanning that folder only (a bit faster). In MM it does show the playlist name, but it contains nothing in MM.

Any further ideas I should try differently?

dan
Lowlander
Posts: 56491
Joined: Sat Sep 06, 2003 5:53 pm
Location: MediaMonkey 5

Re: trouble importing playlist from Catalina music app

Post by Lowlander »

Did you remove the empty Playlists from MediaMonkey before rescanning?
sakols wrote: Sun Jun 28, 2020 12:45 pm Im putting the exported .m3u file in the RDrive volume
Does that contain the Volumes folder as child folder?
sakols
Posts: 6
Joined: Sun Jun 21, 2020 4:28 pm

Re: trouble importing playlist from Catalina music app

Post by sakols »

Lowlander, Im still confused, and think Im not placing the .m3u in the right place. You explained, it must be in the parent of the volumes folder. Im not sure what that means. Rdrive is an external volume attached to my home router. Im exporting the .m3u from my iTunes on a Mac to the Rdrive, a the same level that there is the iTunes folder inside which is all the music files (default structure). I don't understand other than Rdrive where I should place the playlist. I don't see how I can put it in the parent of Rdrive, as I understand that is the physical drive, containing the Rdrive volume or partition.

thanks,

dan
Lowlander
Posts: 56491
Joined: Sat Sep 06, 2003 5:53 pm
Location: MediaMonkey 5

Re: trouble importing playlist from Catalina music app

Post by Lowlander »

Try this, leave the Playlist file in the RDrive, and open it with Notepad. You can use the Replace function to replace /Volumes/R_Drive/ with / so all files on the Playlists start with /iTunes/ do and save the Playlist file.

Then try to import that Playlist. If successful repeat with all other Playlists.
sakols
Posts: 6
Joined: Sun Jun 21, 2020 4:28 pm

Re: trouble importing playlist from Catalina music app

Post by sakols »

Now, Im getting it. the playlist needs to be at the same level as the first level in the path name (/iTunes/...).

to speed up the time spend rescanning the entire Rdrive (which has lot of non music stuff on it) can I place the play list inside the iTunes folder, and then start the path with /iTunes Media/Music/Patch Work/Odeon/02 Low.m4a?

or must I keep the playlist at the root level (Rdrive)?

dan
Lowlander
Posts: 56491
Joined: Sat Sep 06, 2003 5:53 pm
Location: MediaMonkey 5

Re: trouble importing playlist from Catalina music app

Post by Lowlander »

Yes, you can.
sakols
Posts: 6
Joined: Sun Jun 21, 2020 4:28 pm

Re: trouble importing playlist from Catalina music app

Post by sakols »

It seems the problem stems from the path description between OS X and windows. Im exporting from iTunes on OS X and so the path levels are separated by forward slashes, where windows are separated by back slashes, and differences in the header. So the the playlist file I'm exporting from my Mac can't be read by MM on the PC, without conversion. Is there a simple solution to fix this?
Lowlander
Posts: 56491
Joined: Sat Sep 06, 2003 5:53 pm
Location: MediaMonkey 5

Re: trouble importing playlist from Catalina music app

Post by Lowlander »

You can use Replace in Notepad to fix that.
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