Foreign Characters In Playlist - MM4 [#8935]

[titanfan]

MM3 used to write m3u playlist entries for songs with foreign characters as follows:

#EXTINFUTF8:121,Bielefelder Kinderchor - Der Christbaum ist der schönste Baum
#EXTINF:121,Bielefelder Kinderchor - Der Christbaum ist der schönste Baum
#UTF8:..\Bielefelder Kinderchor\Stille Nacht, Heilige Nacht\15 Der Christbaum ist der schönste B.flac
..\Bielefelder Kinderchor\Stille Nacht, Heilige Nacht\15 Der Christbaum ist der schönste B.flac

Now, I just get simple playlists without any extended information. I installed the "Export M3Us/Create Playlists for Child Nodes" script by Zvezdan Dimitrijevic, so I can write extended format, but I still don't get the #EXTINFUTF8 and #UTF8 lines I need. FYI - the new version of Logitech Media Server (7.7.1) seems to require #EXTINFUTF8 and #UTF8 lines for every song with foreign characters. I really need this to work like it did in MM3. Any ideas? Help!!

[titanfan]

I just found a workaround. Create the playlist via the "Send to ..." menu in MediaMonkey. The playlist will create in a simple format (non-extended) and the lines containing the foreign characters will be incorrect. Next, read that playlist you just created with MediaMonkey into Playlist Creator (free app) and write it out again. The resulting playlist will be in extended format and the lines containing foreign characters will be correct. This is a good work around until Media Monkey can be fixed to correctly generate playlists with foreign characters.

[titanfan]

Another workaround: Open the playlist with wordpad and save as a text file with the .m3u extension. wordpad writes the foreign characters correctly and fixes the playlist.

[ZvezdanD]

I installed the "Export M3Us/Create Playlists for Child Nodes" script by Zvezdan Dimitrijevic, so I can write extended format, but I still don't get the #EXTINFUTF8 and #UTF8 lines I need. FYI - the new version of Logitech Media Server (7.7.1) seems to require #EXTINFUTF8 and #UTF8 lines for every song with foreign characters.

The Export M3Us script doesn't write those lines, but they are non-standard anyway, supported only but some specific players. The mentioned script write Unicode (foreign) characters very well, I tested it with numerous software/hardware players and its users are using it without any bug report about such problem. I could modify the script to allow writing of those lines, but it seems to me that your player is buggy or you didn't specify something right in the Options dialog box at the Export M3U/Playlists sheet. The UTF-8 option is mandatory in your case, but you should try with another options as well, e.g. you could turn the BOM option on or off.

Maybe you could try with the URL paths option turned on, because it encodes paths using UTF-8 as well, for example. "c:\Звездан.mp3" would be "file:///C:/Temp/%D0%97%D0%B2%D0%B5%D0%B7%D0%B4%D0%B0%D0%BD.mp3", even if you choose ANSI format of files. You could also try to rename .m3u extension of files to .m3u8.

The extended format of .m3u files is unrelated to the character format, i.e. you could have ANSI files in extended format, or e.g. UTF-8 files in simple format quite regularly.

By the way, it is recommended that you post bug reports in the add-on corresponding thread. I found this post only by chance, after searching for another post.

[titanfan]

Yes, you’re correct, #EXTINFUTF8 and #UTF8 lines aren’t the issue. The issue is the encoding of the lines that point to the song file. Here’s an example of output from the "Export M3Us/Create Playlists for Child Nodes" script for a song with foreign characters:

#EXTM3U
#EXTINF:282, M├╢tley Cr├╝e - Kickstart My Heart
..\M├╢tley Cr├╝e\Dr. Feelgood\05 Kickstart My Heart.flac

Here’s the same lines written correctly by wordpad:

#EXTM3U
#EXTINF:282,Kickstart My Heart - M÷tley Crⁿe
..\M÷tley Crⁿe\Dr. Feelgood\05 Kickstart My Heart.flac

Note that I had to use a DOS command shell and type the files to see these characters. The differences are also clear when I do a hex dump of the files. Both the MediaMonkey native and the "Export M3Us/Create Playlists for Child Nodes" script produce the incorrect output in the first example. I have my options set to UTF-8 and BOM (you can see the BOM characters at the start of the first example). When I edit the file with Wordpad, it recognizes the BOM and can then writes the foreign characters correctly (without a BOM).

The application that can’t read the playlist created by MediaMonkey is Logitech Media Server, which is a very popular media server.

The foreign characters were created correctly by MediaMonkey version 3, but not so in version 4. I don’t believe the script has changed behaviour, as it also didn’t write the foreign characters correctly in MediaMonkey version 3.

Okay, I’ll look for the correct spot in the forum to report this bug.

[titanfan]

MM4 no longer can write playlists with foreign characters that are read by Logitech Media Server. I'm referring to native functionality via "Send To ... > M3u/XSPF Playlist" menu. This used to work correctly in MM3. Here's an example of the playlist in MM3:

#EXTM3U
#EXTINFUTF8:282,M├╢tley Cr├╝e - Kickstart My Heart
#EXTINF:282,M÷tley Crⁿe - Kickstart My Heart
#UTF8:..\M├╢tley Cr├╝e\Dr. Feelgood\05 Kickstart My Hea
..\M÷tley Crⁿe\Dr. Feelgood\05 Kickstart My Heart.flac

Here's the same playlist as output by MM4:

..\Mötley Crüe\Dr. Feelgood\05 Kickstart My Heart.flac

Notice that MM4 writes a BOM, while MM3 doesn't. But that isn't an issue - the issue is the encoding of the foreign characters on the line referencing the song file. If I open the MM4 playlist with wordpad and save as a text file with the .m3u extension. wordpad writes the foreign characters correctly and fixes the playlist.

This must be a bug, right?

[Lowlander]

I can reproduce with the same track. Added as: http://www.ventismedia.com/mantis/view.php?id=8935

[titanfan]

Well, after further testing, I don't think this is a bug in MediaMonkey, but an issue with Logitech Media Server (LMS). The test I was using only had a one byte foreign character, and saving that playlist to an ansi file type was all that it took to get LMS to read it. I could use the "Export M3Us/Create Playlists for Child Nodes" script and set the option to ansi, and it will create a playlist that LMS can read. The native MediaMonkey functionality used to save the playlist in ansi in version 3, but I think the default has changed to utf-8 format in version 4. This isn't necessarily bad, but it's just different. When I turned off the utf-8 option, MediaMonkey wrote the example playlist in a format the LMS could read. So, this isn't a bug in MediaMonkey, just a change in the default setting that caused me to notice that Logitech Media Server can't read utf-8 playlists correctly.

[Lowlander]

You're right WMP can play the playlist after disabling UTF8.

[Harlequin]

I don't want to hijack a thread, but is this bug also the reason why UTF characters don't show up in MM anymore in 4.x?

Songs with characters in my library now look like this...just garbage.



UPDATE: Looks like this was fixed in the latest patch, nice