Minim not understanding m3u files

[windbag]

Just installed Minim on a new QNAP containing my music in a directory tree:
Typical structure:
artist group/artist/music files/more tree/*.mp3
artist group/artist/playlists/more tree/*.m3u

The m3u playlists are all relative so the whole "artist" chunk can be relocatable.

Using Bubble uPnP as the controller.

It sees the directory where the m3u files are, but then seems to interpret each one as another folder. When clicked on directly, it says "This folder is empty"
When the 3 dots to the right brings up the sub-menu and Play or Play next is selected, it says "No item was found in the direct subfolders of the selected folders"

Why does it think the m3u files are folders ?

For info, I have a copy of the music on my Android (Samsung) phone.

Bubble sees this OK and plays the playlists OK, which seems to point to a server (ie Minim) issue.

Anyone got ideas ?

[simoncn]

Are there any error messages in the MinimServer log related to the .m3u playlist files?

Also, please post an example of one of your .m3u files.

[windbag]

Thanks for the prompt response.
The only messages on the phone are as detailed in my OP.
The log file errors are somewhat depressing, as there are thousands of them.
So I copied the log locally to this PC and extracted just the relevant entries to the first playlist I tried & failed with.
For "Strawbs" entries - there are 112 of them, all warnings of one of 3 types:
Warning: ignored conflicting DISCNUMBER value 1 in file _MainArtists/S/Sti-Sty/Strawbs/Music Files/Main Band Live/1974-04-11_BBC Golders Green Hippodrome/Heroes are forever (Disc 2)/09_Lay a little light on me.mp3

Warning: ID3v2 APIC frame has invalid MIME type 'image/' at offset 355 in file _MainArtists/S/Sti-Sty/Strawbs/Music Files/Main Band Live/1978-02-18_Golders Green Hippdrome (BBC R1 Sight & Sound)/01_Lay Down.mp3 (length 9478142)

Warning: ignoring additional ID3v2 tag at offset 35262 in file _MainArtists/S/Sti-Sty/Strawbs/Music Files/Main Band Live/1978-02-18_Golders Green Hippdrome (BBC R1 Sight & Sound)/01_Lay Down.mp3 (length 9478142)

But none of them cited the tracks in the (short) playlist I tried:
A short (3-track) example of my m3u files would be (the bit between the "===" lines:
===
#EXTM3U
#EXTINF:-1,05_Mother Luck
..\..\Music Files\_Solo & With Friends\1_Dave Cousins (& Friends)\08_The Boy In The Sailor Suit(2007)\05_Mother Luck.mp3
#EXTINF:-1,07_Skip To My Lou
..\..\Music Files\_Solo & With Friends\1_Dave Cousins (& Friends)\08_The Boy In The Sailor Suit(2007)\07_Skip To My Lou.mp3
#EXTINF:-1,08_Lonely Days, Lonely Nights
..\..\Music Files\_Solo & With Friends\1_Dave Cousins (& Friends)\08_The Boy In The Sailor Suit(2007)\08_Lonely Days, Lonely Nights.mp3
===

I tried searching for "Solo", "Sailor", "Cousins", "Skip", "Lonely" (ignoring case) and none were found in the log.

[Charles7]

Not sure I grasp the issue, but my setup (on a Windows PC) might suggest a workaround for you. I too use BubbleUPnP on an Android tablet.

My Minimserver contentDir property has only several lines of the form
c:\stuff\somefolder
somefolder may have subfolders. I don't need to list them separately. The subfolders have .flac files and .mp3 files and such. I don't need .m3u envelopes. Minimserver scans everything, and BubbleUPnP sees the .flac and .mp3 items (in its folder view).

I only use one or two .m3u8 files. The text of each such file has several entries in .m3u format for actual streams of Internet radio, etc. BubbleUPnP sees these files (under playlists), and I can tap and launch a stream.

I don't know QNAP. If you try this workaround, QNAP might require that you use BubbleUPnP somewhat differently than you are used to in order to do a search.

[simoncn]

Thanks for posting this information.

The log file contains both warning and error messages. Warning messages are less serious problems where MinimServer has been able to continue processing with some loss of functionality or information. Error messages are more serious problems where MinimServer is unable to recover.

In your situation, the problem is caused by using the backslash (\) character as the directory separator in your .m3u files. Because your files are on a QNAP NAS (with Linux as its operating system), a forward slash (/) is needed.

This has been discussed a few times on the forum and the next MinimServer update will add support for using either backslash or forward slash on all platforms including QNAP.

I tried using a backslash on QNAP as you have done and I get the following message in the log:

Error: playlist playlists/test1.m3u: no matching file for ..\429566\Concerto- Audi coelum.flac

In your case, you should be seeing messages like this:

Error: playlist some/path/some_playlist.m3u: no matching file for ..\..\Music Files\_Solo & With Friends\1_Dave Cousins (& Friends)\08_The Boy In The Sailor Suit(2007)\05_Mother Luck.mp3

The update with support for backslash in QNAP playlists will be released very soon. Because of this, you should not spend time updating your .m3u files. I will post back here when the update is released.

[simoncn]

This change is now available in MinimServer update 251. If you install this update, your playlists should work correctly.

[windbag]

Thanks for the responses, Simoncn, it is appreciated having quick info & suggestions to try.
That update is not appearing in my QNAP app centre utility, but I can see the "Latest Change" notice on your website.

Please advise how to proceed

I'll post the different error types next

[windbag]

OK, the log file has 64,090 lines, so I've pasted them into Excel & done a data sort to find the different types of Error & Warning.

There are 41,077 Error playlist entries:
Error: playlist _MainArtists/A,B/Aa-Aj/Abba/_Playlists/_SJBpicks Etc/Best-ofs,Chronology/___Creme.m3u: no matching file for ..\..\..\Sound Files\_Studio\01_Ring Ring\01_Ring, Ring.mp3

The only other error type is:
Error: no valid MPEG header near offset 0 in file SpokenWord-Not4car/Not4Car/Community/University Hall expansion proposals/Nights - all MP3s on CD's/all MP3s on CD's plus others/143 NO 13-11-01 T111-general blurb noise.mp3 (length 1256787)


There are 11 warning types (last is multi-line)
Warning: audio stream corruption at offset 131107 in file SpokenWord-Not4car/Not4Car/Radio4/HistoryOfTheWorldIn100Objects/000 Welcome 11 Jan 2010.mp3 (length 131193)

Warning: ID3v2 APIC frame has invalid MIME type 'image/' at offset 1014 in file _MainArtists/O,P,Q,R/O '-Oi/Oasis/Sound Files/_Studio/03_Be Here Now+/08b_If We Shadows (demo).mp3 (length 5610686)

Warning: ID3v2 'MP3e' frame has invalid size 2020876365 at offset 132 in file _MainArtists/S/St_-Ste/Steinman,Jim/Music Files/Musicals&Soundtracks-Not4car/12_DanceOfTheVampire/JS-com_dotv_MusicDLs/04_BraverThanWeAre.mp3 (length 8753405)

Warning: ID3v2 TDAT frame has incorrect value '2013-07-29' at offset 49 in file _MainArtists/C,D/Do/Doley,Lachy/Best Of-Free Download/06_Love Blinded Fool.mp3 (length 3954198)

Warning: ID3v2 TYER frame has incorrect value '0' at offset 1737 in file _MainArtists/G,H/Ge-Gi/Genesis-Alumni/Peter Gabriel/Sound Files/Demos/FishermansSong.mp3 (length 1938261)

Warning: ignored conflicting DISCNUMBER value 1 in file _MainArtists/I,J,K,L/Ja/James/Sound Files/_Studio-Band/08_Millionaires/23_Pocketful of Lemons.mp3

Warning: ignoring additional ID3v2 tag at offset 100280 in file _MainArtists/A,B/Aa-Aj/Abba/Sound Files/_Studio/02_Waterloo/01_Waterloo.mp3 (length 3809882)

Warning: ignoring incorrect value for DATE tag 01/1 in file _MainArtists/C,D/Co/Coast/MusicFiles/Paul Eastham Solo/03_Something and Nothing/01_Bubbles.mp3

Warning: missing comma on #EXTINF line 10 of file SpokenWord-Not4car/Not4Car/16 Tales Of Terror/16 Tales of Terror.m3u

Warning: unable to complete reading ID3v2 tag data at offset 132 in file _MainArtists/S/St_-Ste/Steinman,Jim/Music Files/Musicals&Soundtracks-Not4car/12_DanceOfTheVampire/JS-com_dotv_MusicDLs/04_BraverThanWeAre.mp3 (length 8753405)

Warning: conflicting ALBUMARTIST values ignored for album The Book Thief
on disc 1
first conflicting value: Allan Corduner
first conflicting item: Death and Chocolate a
second conflicting value: Markus Zusak
second conflicting item: Peace

[windbag]

For info, the header is:
(Can only assume the line;
library contains x audio files and y folders
got updated...)

MinimServer 2.2, Copyright © 2012-2022 Simon Nash. All rights reserved.
Java™ SE Runtime Environment (build 1.8.0_151-b12)
Java HotSpot™ 64-Bit Server VM (build 25.151-b12, mixed mode)
Java runtime options: -Duser.timezone=Europe/London
Platform default charset is UTF-8
System platform is linux-x64
autoUpdate: installed package 'minimserver-update-250'
autoUpdate: relaunching
MinimServer 2.2 update 250, Copyright © 2012-2024 Simon Nash. All rights reserved.
Java™ SE Runtime Environment (build 1.8.0_151-b12)
Java HotSpot™ 64-Bit Server VM (build 25.151-b12, mixed mode)
Java runtime options: -Duser.timezone=Europe/London
Platform default charset is UTF-8
System platform is linux-x64
UPnP port 9791 has been selected
Using platform default language English (en-US)
Current time is Wed Jun 05 12:41:55 BST 2024 in time zone Europe/London
starting MinimServer[NASQ2]
Library contains 2 audio files in 1 folders
MinimServer[NASQ2] is running
restarting MinimServer[NASQ2]
Current time is Thu Jun 06 13:27:44 BST 2024 in time zone Europe/London
starting MinimServer[NASQ2]

[simoncn]

There was a problem with update 251 not being installed automatically. This problem should be fixed now. If you stop and restart MinimServer from the QNAP App Center, update 251 should be installed.