Just an update for visibility to the outside world should anyone else have a similar situation.

Ludek looked at my .LOG file and noted there were lines reading “Using Old Path” which apparently means that my files were originaly transferred/uploaded using the location (old path) and therefore preserved, with the "old path" information is stored in MMW database (corresponding to the device profile).

He said that I could use the option that overrides this behaviour:

[x] Enforce use of sync mask for files already on ...

After checking this checkbox, clicking [Apply] and syncing with MMA files were transferred to the “new location” intended and most importantly, the file names respected what I had defined in the profile mask (<filename>).

Thanks for everyone’s help.

Chep

Please capture this test (delete files from MMA, then Sync) in a debug log (step 4b) and attach the log to a Support Ticket: viewtopic.php?t=86643

Hopefully this will show why this happens on your setup.

No improvement. Thinking this would kick things in the pants, I renamed the Titles to a ‘different’ different in MMW, hit okay. Deleted the files on the phone, both explorer and MMA. Synced. Sync says it downloaded two files. I look in file explorer and the file names have been copied, but re-named, and again use the old test tags for the naming convention. I go to MMA and the tracks have today’s test naming scheme.

So tags get updated, great, but why is MMW/MMA (I don’t know which handles this task) re-naming the files, and to the old test tag-only rename? (remember, at no point did I re-name the file itself, just the tag)

I have scoured my MMW library, there are no dupes of these files someplace else .. I even used wildcard searches looking for just a few letters of the song titles in case they were truncated, but each and every time the only source songs are the ones where they belong, in the Artist / Album folder I expect them to be.

File Location Settings seem fine to me.

sync profile file locations
https://imgur.com/a/BbgFMDd

sync profile tagging
https://imgur.com/a/LJIy7P7

tag versus filename
https://imgur.com/a/IJjznNy

MMA tags
https://imgur.com/a/24a9F8b

file explorer file renaming
https://imgur.com/a/R516jnw

Verify your File Location settings, maybe something is misconfigured?

Otherwise, check the files in MMW, maybe they're copies still in the MMW Library with the incorrect filenames?

Updated to 2024.1.0.3110, no improvement, files still get copied over with changed file names reflecting the old tags.

And to add to the pile, I just included a new file added to my MMW library whose tags are fully filled out and visible in MMW (Title, Artist, Album, Album Artist, Genre, etc.), but the file gets copied to MMA into an Unknown (artist) Unknown (album) folder. Oddly enough, the file name for this file remains untouched by the sync process.

Can you please try again with the latest MediaMonkey 2024.1 build? Do remove the problem files from the device first.

I was able to get MMW -> MMA to put my music files where I want them. However, now I have another issue.

I deleted the two test files on the phone (file explorer and MMA) from where they didn't belong. Also confirmed they were not in the folder where I wanted them to be. Their tags in MMW were updated back to their originals - ALL CAPS removed in th eone, back to Title Case again, and the extra letters were removed from the other. Note, the filenames for these files were never touched during my test.

But now, when I sync, the files get copied to the phone into the folder I want them to live in - great - but the file are re-named (even though my sync profile for my phone uses the <filename> mask), and the filename that the songs are re-named to (wait for it) are based on the test tags I had made for each in MMW - one has the ALL CAPS test, the other the extra letters test. I looked at the tags for the songs in MMW and they do not show these names at all because I had restored them. I brought the files into other media players and they also show the tags as restored names.

-> Why are the files being re-named on sync in the first place (though I’m using <filename>)

-> And why is this re-naming process using the old, test tags?

MMA is on a phone that was updated to Android 13 (from 11)

Does Android 13 allow for control over where files are synced, or did I lose that capability by updating and this partly explains why I have been having a difficult time getting things back to the way they were?

It depends on the Android version if you have actual control over where files are Synced.

And going with the settings I set up with the reinstall has music now being synced to a “Music” folder, removed from the specified folder my files had already existed in - Destination File Locations has my specified folder right alongside “xxxx-xxxx:Music” and “xxxx-xxxx:Video”. I stopped that sync.

Sync started syncing to a folder outside the folder I want my music in on my phone's SD card. Set long ago, I cannot for the life of me figure out how to say “Here. This is the ONLY place I want my server library copied/synced to on the phone.”

Lost, I gave up and uninstalled / reinstalled MMA just to get back to square one thinking there'd be a “Where?” prompt .. and while there were Grant Folder Permission popups, I left the setup wizard even more confused since it was putting generic “Music” and “Video” folders out there as well, which I do not want. When MMA said that folders I was trash-canning on the phone would be replicated because they'd been specified in MMW, I tried to uncheck those folders in the sync profile for the SD card in MMW only to get Application Error popups as MMW threw exceptions and prompted restarts. I'm a mess and I'm spiraling.

Can someone direct me to the step-by-step process for telling MMW? MMA? precisely where I want my library copied to on my SD card?

(I promise I tried to solve this myself but hit a lot of walls including “Search found 0 matches: how specify phone destination folder” when I looked for similar posts)

Honestly, I didn't even think to try that assuming that if there was no file in the directory that MMA would not be able to play it BUT.... not only are the songs listed in MMA, their titles reflect the changes made, and they play (instead of being broken links).

When I look at their properties for Path they now differ from the other song files (I show untouched Track #12 here)

When I file explorer to Android.Data.Com.ventismedia...... it appears empty despite Show Hidden Files being checked but my guess is the two changed files are “in” there somewhere, like light entering a black hole.

Now I have to figure out why the re-route.

Chep

File Property Paths Screen Capture
https://imgur.com/a/mBLX4DH

Can MMA find them?

Thanks - yes, my Sync List (Library -> Device) is set to sync Music, Classical Music, Podcasts, and Playlists. Great.

But something is definitely wackadoodle somewhere. In MMW I changed the titles of two songs, Tracks #2 and #3. Track #2 I added characters. Track #3 I changed the case. I then synced via MMA - I did see the names of the two songs flash by. “Oh good,” I thought. But when I browsed for them with a file explorer, I found that those two song files had disappeared from the directory. The songs now went Track #1 .. and then Track #4, #5, etc... I then ran a search for the track names and nothing came up. I know search is working because search is finding other unrelated songs that have the same word in the title. Thinking that maybe the “where songs are stored” directory was changed, I backed out and searched the phone’s internal memory ... no dice ... but same results suggesting that the search was going through both the internal and SD card in the first place. Songs with the same keyword on the SD card showed up in the results even when starting the search from the internal root.

Feel like I've done something dumb somewhere without knowing what and my MM experience has gone from Great to Bizarro World. So sorry.

Chep wrote: ↑Thu Feb 27, 2025 5:45 pmWhat exactly determines if files are selected to be Synced?

The Sync list.

Yes, changing something like Title would do the trick. You should see the change in MMA after Sync.