Playlist guidance/help

[CharlieClown]

New user here having just configured MinimServer over the weekend - running on a Synology NAS with my music files on the same NAS and using a HEOS iOS app for playback.

I'm using a Windows instance of J River Media Center to manage my music collection and one issue I've hit is exporting m3u Playlists in that the tracks are named as follows:

Z:\[CDs]\M-N\Modern Lovers, The\The Modern Lovers\02 - Astral Plane.flac

where Z is the mapped Windows share I have to my music folder on the Synology NAS (volume1/music). Obviously the NAS/MinimServer has no knowledge of this so I can understand why the playlists are not showing any tracks.

I've tried various config settings in J River (e.g. relative path names, server name instead of mapped drive etc.) but to no avail.

The only working solution I have is where I've manually updated the path in the playlist file to reference the volume/folder name:

/volume1/music/[CDs]/A-B/Bowie, David/Conversation Piece [5] 2019 Mixes - The Space Oddity Album/03 - Letter To Hermione [2019 Mix].flac

Any advice here? I appreciate this isn't really a MinimServer problem but I thought I might be missing something (really) obvious.

[simoncn]

From this page, it seems JRiver can create m3u playlists with relative paths and forward slashes. This should work with MinimServer.

[CharlieClown]

(16-08-2021 19:58)simoncn Wrote:  From this page, it seems JRiver can create m3u playlists with relative paths and forward slashes. This should work with MinimServer.

Thanks Simon. I've taken a look at this (I had to download the latest version of J River) and it seems this is limited to the 'handheld sync' functionality i.e. you can copy (or sync) a playlist in this format but it also copies the associated music files to same location, which is something I don't want (duplicates after all).

It's odd that they've not included this same functionality in their 'Export Playlist' option. I've asked the question over on their forums so will see what feedback I get - I will post here.

If there's not a solution, it's not a deal breaker, anyway. I like MinimServer very much (I was looking for something better than Synology's Media Server) and will be purchasing a full licence soon.

[simbun]

It is a little strange that it doesn't support the / for an export as so much other software does.
If you have no joy on the forum, as long as you save the playlists with a relative path (and that matches where you're storing them on the NAS) then it's just a case of replacing the back slashes with forward slashes.

I'd find it easier to do on Linux, but a quick google and this seems to work in powershell:

Code:

$configFiles = Get-ChildItem . *.m3u
foreach ($file in $configFiles)
{
    (Get-Content $file.PSPath) |
    Foreach-Object { $_ -replace "\\", "/" } |
    Set-Content $file.PSPath
}

Out of interest, do you know if you can use generic UPnP control points to control what's playing on the HEOS speakers, or does the HEOS app itself surface the full MinimServer browse functionality?

[CharlieClown]

(18-08-2021 11:13)simbun Wrote:  Out of interest, do you know if you can use generic UPnP control points to control what's playing on the HEOS speakers, or does the HEOS app itself surface the full MinimServer browse functionality?

Not speakers - I'm using a Marantz amp (PM7000N) that's HEOS enabled. I assume it's connecting via DLNA (there's nothing in the manual for UPnP).

I would say I could check but it seems to have developed a fault - I can't get it working with a wired/wireless connection. One week old so not a real problem.

[simoncn]

UPnP and DLNA are pretty much equivalent these days. Historically there were a few minor differences. MinimServer supports both UPnP and DLNA but is not officially DLNA certified.