Sync Playlist to a Single Folder - SOLVED

[MattTown]

<UPDATE - see solution in post at end>

Hi,

I'm using MM5 to write a playlist fiiles to a folder on a USB stick, and then use that USB stick to play the files in playlist sequence on a PC media player other than MM. MM is not available for playback is because of software limitations in the environment that I'm playing the files in. I use the one USB stick for multiple iterations of that process.

My problem is that music files for a playlist that have been written to a previous playlist's folder don't get written to the new playlist's folders, such that the contents of the one playlist can be physically distributed through two or more folders, which makes non-MM playback a complex process.

The process I use is to sync the files of a playlist (eg "PlaylistV1") to a USB stick (via device > configure > sync), then update the playlist with some additions and deletions and an updated playlist name (eg "PlaylistV2") and sync that to the same USB stick, generally on a later day. I am using a filename pattern (Devices&Services > USB > Sync Profile > File Locations > Music > Configure) to write the filename of the playlist files with a sequence number so that Windows can easily display the files in their play order.

What happens (reliably) is that the updated playlist gets a new folder on the USB stick (which I do want) but only the files that are unique to V2 get put into that folder, and files that were previously written to the PlaylistV1 folder do not get replicated in the V2 folder (which I don't want). Before I can play the songs in the intended sequence I have to find where the other files omitted from the v2 folder are located amongst the previous playlist folders, which is doable but not what I intended.

Is there some control available to force MM to write all files to a specific folder even if they already exist in another folder in the USB stick, or do I need to do a better job of making the filenames absolutely unique between playlists, like adding the Vnumber to the filename pattern?

Cheers
Matt

[IanRTaylorUK]

Hi Matt,

I am not certain I totally understand what you are trying to achieve BUT you might want to take a look at Convert Files.

This allows you to set the folder structure e.g.

.\<Album Artist>\<Album>\<Track #:2> <Artist> - <Title>

I think I would try to get the same structure on the USB pen drive as on the MMW5 computer. In this way, you can check the Playlist on the PC (e.g. D:\Music\Artist\Album\....) and it should work on the pen drive (e.g. U:\Music\Artist\Album\....) particularly if you can get your Playlists in a "Relative Path" format.

Another thought is to synchronise to an old Android device using the Playlist option under Sync List (Lib ---> Device). This could create the "right" folder structure and correct format detail in the Playlist files. Then the content of the Android device could you copied to the USB drive.

Finally, for some / many USB storage devices, it is possible to get them to appear as a device so you can sync (again using the Playlist approach). On my MMW5 machine if I put a USB device in, it will display a "Configure" button i.e. "Connected USB Device Name [Configure]"

Hope this helps.

[Rob_S]

I think you are asking MM to do something a bit different than it was intended

Playlists are designed to find files in their relative paths, so there would be no need to duplicate files if you other player was actually using the playlists to locate the files.

If you are using the folder itself to tell the player what to play, you may not need the playlist at all, but how you would make them play in order might be an issue.

To achieve this you might be able to use the send-to function to copy the files from the playlist to the device without copying the playlist itself.

You might be able to create a mask to preface the file name with a sequence number.

[MattTown]

Ian and Rob

Thanks for the responses, and sorry for the convoluted explanation. Basically I want all files from a MM playlist on one folder on a USB stick in a sequence that Windows can respect, even if MM has written the same file to another folder on the USB stick.

Ian - yes I am already using a Convert Files pattern in the device sync controls to control where the files get sent to.
I can't use the MM5 file structure because it would not sort into the sequence that I want in Windows.
I'm not sure how I'd copy content on my Android device onto a USB stick, didn't know that was possible.

Rob - Thanks for confirming my suspicion that MM had been designed to not duplicate files when syncing, and assumes use of the DB functionality to allow MM to play the playlist in sequence wherever the files were stored. Unfortunately, the playing environment doesn't make my MM database available and I have to rely on Windows and its media player, so having all files in one folder becomes important.
I already use a filename mask (Devices&Services > USB > Sync Profile > File Locations > Music > Configure) with the playlist as folder and file tags as the filenam to preface the file with a sequence number and that works well, but when I subtly change the content of the playlist (ie v1 --> v2) then some of the sequence/taglist combinations end up the same and those files don't get re-written to the v2 playlist folder. I think that I'm going to have to update the mask with a Vnumber to make each export filename unique and so get the entire playlist contents in one folder.
Thanks for the hint about send-to, I'll check that out.

cheers

Matt

[Lowlander]

If you're using WMP you should be able to use Playlists themselves Synced to the device.

[IanRTaylorUK]

Ian - yes I am already using a Convert Files pattern in the device sync controls to control where the files get sent to.
I can't use the MM5 file structure because it would not sort into the sequence that I want in Windows.
I'm not sure how I'd copy content on my Android device onto a USB stick, didn't know that was possible.

Hi Matt,

1). If you install File Manager + on the Android Device, then choose Access from Network you start an FTP service. Pop the FTP address / username and password into Windows Explorer... Wireless approach!

2). Connect Android Device to a USB port and you should see the device's internal storage and Micro SD card in Windows File Explorer.

3). Use and OTG cable to connect a suitable storage device and switch between Windows and Android. For example, you could get an NVMe style case / enclosure with USB C to USB C cable, drop an M2 card in and with luck you have a 120GB + storage device that should work with Windows and Android

I recall that there can be a sequence prefixed to the filename when you convert etc.

Hope this helps.

[IanRTaylorUK]

Hi Matt,

It is not Sequence but Auto Number.

In MMW5 create a Playlist with your files in the correct order. Select them ALL.

Ctrl+Shift+C with Convert file to new destination. Use something like U:\Music\A<Auto Number> - <Title> for the first PL then U:\Music\B<Auto Number> - <Title> for the second etc.

Files will be in right order on U: whether sorted by Name or Date Modified.

Hope this gets you part way to what you want.

[MattTown]

Hi Ian,

Ctrl+Shift+C with Convert file to new destination. Use something like U:\Music\A<Auto Number> - <Title> for the first PL then U:\Music\B<Auto Number> - <Title> for the second etc.

I have used Auto Organise and Sync with various patterns but I was not aware of the Convert functionality and its own file pattern. Thanks for the keyboard shortcut of Ctrl+Shift+C - I eventually found the menu path as Tools > Convert format.

I probably won't use Convert because I've got my playlist sync mostly working again and can probably fix my uniqueness problem by a combination of the Auto Number with a an updated version number in each subsequent sync as you suggest. And with Convert I am stuck with, well, actually converting each file which will both take time and reduce audio quality.

Thanks

Matt

[IanRTaylorUK]

Hi Matt,

Glad you found a solution and the suggestions were useful.

Short Cut keys are really handy and can speed up your work flow. This is a work in progress!

https://octoberclub-my.sharepoint.com/: ... Q?e=7Mhowl

I also find a "PC Media Remote" handy as I play most new downloaded / created tracks in order to get the lyrics.

I agree that "Convert" is probably a last resort as many devices are offering much better "HQ" audio now. I am in the process of migrating my library to FLAC for this reason.

[MattTown]

< SOLUTION: >

Found that MM already has the functionality needed for what I want. The thing I was missing was the control to "Enforce use of the sync mask for files already on DEVICE", which I found at the bottom of the file locations mask screen at Devices and Services > DEVICE > Sync Profile > File Locations.

Turned that on and I got the playlist in a single folder as intended.

I imagine that this option is less useful for active devices running MM - where the MM Playlist functionality abstracts the correlation between file location and play sequence - but for dumb file stores such as USB sticks it is necessary if organising play by folder is desired.

Cheers

[Peke]

Hi,
If that is not enough you can use http://www.anerty.net/software/file/DriveSort/ to sort it directly in partition table.

[MattTown]

Thanks Peke, its working well enough for me to stay out of the drive internals. Cheers