[SOLVED] Syncs to MMA, but skips random FLAC files

[neilr8133]

"Forgive me, Admins, for I'm sure I'm about to screw something up..."

SUMMARY:
After MMW wireless sync to MMA, FLAC files started to skip with the message "Skipping inaccessible files". VLC can play them. The problem has gotten worse to the point where only a random couple of files will play but others from the same album(s) will not, for example I had a 2-hour playlist and less than 5 songs would play. MP3s are not affected.

ENVIRONMENT:
* MediaMonkey for Windows 4.1.21.1875 (debug build)
* MediaMonkey for Android 1.3.2.0824
* MMA logs: IBJMQPQBCA (gathered after I try to play all Tracks and it skips a lot then finally starts playing, then I skip to the next track after a few seconds).
* Android version: Currently "P" but problem began before OS upgrade from "O". (This problem has been occurring for a couple of months.)

ADDITIONAL DETAILS
* I tried uninstall and reinstalling MMA, no change.
* I have performed multiple syncs to see if it would fix the problem (either auto-magically or by leveraging some "randomized" playlists to rotate out files that may have become corrupt during transfer), no change.
* No problems streaming via UPnP from MMW server.

PLEA:
"Help, please?"

EDIT: ADDENDUM:
I tried to check the forums for existing reports but the only posts I could find were not relevant, or from long-ago fixed bugs.

[martin.bohac]

Hi,
VLC has own codecs, please try to play unplayable FLAC in Google Play Music to get know whether it is supported by the system natively.
If yes, can you provide one of these tracks?

[neilr8133]

Interesting about VLC, good to know, thanks!

I went to Google Play Music, scrolled over to Songs, and found a number of the songs were listed as having length "0:00". However I found some others that *do* play. (I've also confirmed the 'non-playing-ness' by going into the file browser, navigating to the file, and trying to open with Google Play Music and MediaMonkey for Android and having them both give errors.)

Before I attach one of the non-playing files (since they're FLAC so they're pretty big), let me ask: How do you want me to submit the sample(s)? Just attach to a message in this forum?


Thanks!
-Neil

[Lowlander]

Upload to any File Sharing you like (like Dropbox) and then include link here. Or if you prefer to keep it private open a Support Ticket and include the link to the file in your ticket.

[neilr8133]

Thanks!

I've uploaded it here, it's a ~14MB .FLAC file: https://drive.google.com/open?id=1pdVUL ... t1EjWFRagy

In case it helps, I copied the file off of my Android and compared the sha256 value for it against the master file, and they matched: c850bea9029ef0e10a7505377255c6f7eb678116e68e107e0835ef1ae9b52a09 so it looks like the file is getting copied to the device intact. I then used MediaMonkey for Windows to open the version that I had just retrieved from the phone and it was able to play successfully.


-Neil

[neilr8133]

Apology and clarification: The previous sample does not play in either MMA nor in Play Music. (Although in Play Music, all of the tracks that report zero-length show the filename as the song title and have the artist name as "Unknown artist", however they seem to have the correct album art; but that sounds like a different bug than the one I'm reporting here.) My apologies for this confusion.

I found a number of other songs that won't play in MMA but I'm unable to find them in Play Music (!).

I'll keep looking for one that plays in Play Music but not in MMA and will report back.

[Peke]

Hi,
File that you sent Contain both ID3v2 and ID3v1.1 tags along with Vorbis tags (native FLAC Tags).

My Moto X4, Alcatel Idol 3, HTC Desire 820, Huawei P20 Lite play it without any problems and MMA see the file.

Here is what you will do:
1. Use ES File explorer to navigate to problematic file
2. Initiate playback and Select MMA as player

If it fails to play Send log and write down LOG ID Here.

Not You can do that on any file you find not playing in MMA so that we have more info from multiple logs.

[martin.bohac]

Really the file "03 Captain Jack - The Race.flac"? I have tested it on my Moto G5 Plus(Android 7) and Nexus 5X(Android 8.1). This file is unplayable on both devices also unplayable in Google Play Music, so the issue is that these files are not supported by a system.

[Peke]

Hi,
Stripping ID3 Tags from Flac make it working again for Martin.

This is long time issue see http://forum.mediamonkey.com/viewtopic.php?t=30217 only way to do that is to tell some app to Strip ID3tags from all of your FLAC files if they exist.

Not sure that MP3Tag can do that, maybe some other apps can.

[neilr8133]

Based on my understanding of the replies so far, I took the following actions:

In MMW, went to Tools | Advanced Tag Management | Synchronize tags for the previous sample; it modified the file and produced one with sha256 value 2ba29b34c36244f00bb3f6968c3a357137d7a0af777bc9c330527d79110aee7e, but this one also does not play in either MMA or Play Music even though it again has the same hash as the on-computer version. Log ID: 5ICY363JXB. Link to file: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1eDgoOv ... sp=sharing

Then I went Advanced Tag Management and "cleaned tags", but the hash did not change (nor did the file magically become playable). Log ID: 7MWLTWHVBX.

In case it helps, here is a song that plays just fine in both Play Music and MMA: https://drive.google.com/open?id=1uccGi ... NaLmldcGEu As far as I know, I manage both files the same (only modifying the FLACs in MMW and MMA) so if it's a tag problem I don't understand why A) the tag-management tests I performed for the other file didn't work, or B) why this file would be different.

[neilr8133]

(Informational, to close the loop for anyone who read this in the future and as cross-reference.) Found two more files from the same album, one plays and one does not:

This one does not play (MMA log ID BUSPU6N8UN): https://drive.google.com/open?id=1Pvuts ... 0FOoJk6mfp

This one DOES play in MMA: https://drive.google.com/open?id=1vyasi ... lSflmbeKPK


Since all of these files were ripped by me using MMW, managed in MMW, and now will not play back in MMA, if there's a problem with the FLAC/ID3 tags as Peke says then it sounds like I need to file a bug against MMW for either A) not having a correct sync profile for an Android device, or B) not managing the ID3 tags correctly.


Thank you.

[Lowlander]

FLAC files should not have ID3 tags in them in the first place, ID3 is used for MP3.

[Peke]

Hi,
I developed first iteration of MMW FLAC TAG plugin back in 2003 and MMW never included ID3 Format Tag Writing in plugin, at that early time of FLAC adoption we closely worked with FLAC devs to directly follow the standard and not break it. Over the time we made it robust to compensate errors and non standard implementation from other apps, but we never included ID3 Tag writing as it breaks FLAC Format.

[neilr8133]

Some progress: it now plays in Google Play but not MMA.


With the feedback so far I did more digging and found viewtopic.php?f=7&t=15124&p=450463&hili ... d3#p450463 which in turn linked to https://www.ventismedia.com/mantis/view.php?id=14949 ("MediaMonkey can fail to tag Artwork on occasion with FLAC files. Only seen on 4.1.21.") Turns out there was a MMW bug where FLAC files would be "damaged".

I checked with MP3Tag and sure enough, it reports both FLAC and ID3v2 tags for the files that are configured to synchronize to MMA.

However, after I used MP3Tag to "Remove tags" and then "Undo" to restore just the FLAC tags (as I've seen recommended in several places), the files now will play in Google Play Music but not MMA. Debug log LJ1AD6JU5V.

We're almost there--a little more help please?

edit: Clarifications:
1) I had MMW (4.1.23.1881) re-scan the edited FLAC files to ensure the MMW database was current.
2) MMA and Play Music can both play the FLAC if I manually copy the updated FLAC over to my phone and browse to it. However even when I removed it and re-synchronized it using MMW (4.1.23.1881), Play Music will still open it but MMA will not.)

Thanks,
-Neil

[Peke]

Hi,
Are you sure that MMW send correct track? Compare both tracks by size and if they are not same can you please upload them somewhere and send me DL link in PM?