3RC3.1105: Playlist generation for autosync tagged not done

[tobbbie]

When using the autosync and activate the selection to generate playlists for the various selection types (playlist, artist, album, storage), only the playlist works to generate a matching playlist on the device. All others do not generate a playlist for the selected branches.
I use the d_usbmass1.dll for syncing so that I am able to select the drive letter. I have assigned a drive letter for a part of my harddrive to have an easy access to the music-path. It looks like:
d:\some long path to my\music\folders\ = "M" so that
M:\My Music is the storage for the music and
M:\My Playlists\ the one for the playlists
Music is copied, playlist is copied for the "playlist" tagged, but tagging artist or album does not generate the playlist.

Out of MM normal operation selecting a folder and sending it to the sync-device DOES generate the playlist.

bye
tobbbie

[rusty]

tobbie,

I tested 3.0.1.1116 (RC4) using both the USB generic drive and using the MTP driver with USB Mass Storage devices. In both cases, the playlists were correctly generated for Artists/Albums/Playlists.

I did discover that we overlooked playlist generation for Podcasts and Audiobooks, though.

-Rusty

[tobbbie]

Hi rusty,

...I rechecked with RC4 now and the problem looks like:
The following playlists are created as expected:
- Album
- playlist
As can easily be found when having the option active to separate the created playlists by directory.
When tagging from the Artist node, only those Artists get an "Artists" playlist that have no visible Album in that list.
When tagging from the Location Node (which is incredibly SLOW!! when opening folders with many subfolders, 20 seconds for 530 subfolders) then also the playlists are created by Album.

It seems from observation that you have prioritization which lists you create, no matter how the selection of tracks was done:
1.) playlist - a playlist stays a playlists
2.) album - whenever an album can be detected from the selected nodes, then an album-playlist is created
3.) if the album is "Various" or alike - there will as well be artist-playlists

Possibly content of the generated playlists overlaps - did not check this in detail. This is for sure not complete, maybe you can tell the logic?

bye
tobbbie

[tobbbie]

Hi rusty,

...after the testing with some examples as told recently, I did the tagging again for music that I really want to have and it again does not work at all - only the playlist based selection has the playlist copied, all other items are copied, but not a single playlist is created. All the other items are classical music with very long artist names and titles among them.
Can you advise me what symptoms to supply (e.g. debug log, I did not find any) to get this resolved?

thanks + bye
tobbbie

[tobbbie]

Hi rusty,

...once again, the story completes: AutoSync generation of playlists work OK for selection via
- playlist
- Album
- Artist
It does NOT work for any selection by "Location" in the AutoSync Selection. It DOES work for sending it from the location tree.

As you have an option to select from "Artist+Album-Artist" in the main list, could you add this node as well for selection for the AutoSync? For classical Music I use the "Artist" for the Composer as well while I use the "Album Artist" for the performing artist(s).

You may wonder why I don't select by Artist or Album - well the Artist selection seems broken for Artists with very many Albums. I have summarized all Music by "Bach, Johann Sebastian" with this Artist's name and I have a complete works collection + a few other albums - roughly 160. These 160 Albums do not show below the Artist Node in the AutoSync Selection - but they do well in the normal selection.
Just looked it up for a few other Composers/Artist-tagged - same situation there, e.g. for "Mozart, Wolfgang Amadeus" of the 30 Albums in the normal Node-View down from this artist, only 3 survive in the AutoSync Selection list, the 170 tracks visible are shown in the summary-popup of the AutoSync selection as well.


bye
tobbbie

[rusty]

Tobbie,

I'm wondering whether the issue is that the functionality is unclear: the way this works is that playlists are generated based on what nodes are selected in the Auto-sync list, rather than on the track's metadata.

e.g. If Artist=U2 was selected, the a Playlist for tracks by U2 would be generated. BUT if Location/Music/U2 was selected, no playlists would be generated for tracks by U2.

Does that help?

-Rusty

[tobbbie]

Hi rusty,

...well I initially expected something like that:

- select artist
- albums if present
-> get playlist by artist
But I get:
- playlist by album (for this artist)
- playlist by artist (for the "various" Albums)

- select album
-> get playlist by album
What I get is OK

- select location
-> get playlist by location
I don't get this, never - still to check with RC5 - done, still the same

So the function should be clear, it just does not work as expected then selecting from the AutoSync

I think the error comes from the handling in the AutoSync selection, not the playlist generation - see my previous post, problem still present in the RC5.

bye
tobbbie

[rusty]

Retested and found that:

-Artists with 30+ albums correctly populated the Autosync list
-Artists, Albums, Library Playlists correctly generated device playlists, however Locations did not.

Please send a copy of your DB so that we can see why the Auto-sync list may not be populating correctly in your case.

Re. Location-based playlists, we're looking into the issue.

-Rusty

[rusty]

Tobbie,

OK, I looked at the auto-sync list for your DB and discovered the causes of the problem/confusion:

1) In the Auto-sync list, the layout of the library content does not match that of the library. It always shows Location, Artist, and Album nodes regardless of how you've configured your nodes to appear in the default view.

2) The 'Artist' node is mislabelled--it should actually read Artist & Album Artist. If you look at the Artist & Album Artist node, you'll see that it displays the tracks in exactly the same manner as in the auto-sync list (it shows an Album for the Album Artist, and lists tracks under the Artist). This is easy to relabel, however, it doesn't fix the more fundamental issue that it is difficult to select music to sync when that music is Classical.

I'm not sure that we can fix the selection issue for 3.0, but we're looking into it.

-Rusty

[tobbbie]

Hi Rusty,

...could you reproduce the problem that an artist that has very many Albums does not have them listed in the AutoSync list? Using the MM.DB I sent you, just look at "Bach, Johann Sebastian" one time in the normal node view and then select it from the AutoSync list. Similar for Mozart (see also my previous posts).

I don't understand your comment 1.)
The nodes in the default view were not changed, they just show as they are and I use them as they are. I expect that also the AutoSync will list the content below these nodes in the same way that they are listed in the default view, i.e.:

Location:
- Disk
- directory 1
- subdirectory 1.1
- subdirectory 1.2
- directory 2
- subdirectory 2.1
- subdirectory 2.2

and so on nested deep down.
This works as expected, but it is VERY SLOW if you step into a directory that has many subdirectories. Selecting the subdirectories there copies the files, but does not generate any playlist.

Artist (or Artist + Album Artist) also behaves as exepected, but for some artists the Albums don't show up at all.

Your comment on 2.) that classical music is hard to select I cannot follow. Also there we have Artist + Album - so why is it hard to select?

bye
tobbbie

- the one with 3b in the middle

[rusty]

Tobbie,

1) I'm just saying that the bug is that MM's auto-sync list isn't an exact replica of the Tree in the main panel. We'll improve this in 3.1.

2) If you look in the MM's main panel, there's a node called 'Artist & Album Artist' and it behaves exactly as the 'Artist' node in the auto-sync list. By changing the label in the auto-sync list, we'll eliminate the confusion you experienced.

Since 1) is being deferred, you'll have to continue to rely on your workaround of using the Locations node. We _are_ looking into a fix re. its performance and playlist generation for 3.0.

Hope this helps.

-Rusty