Poweramp removes songs with umlauts (äöü) in filename from playlists

[ralfiii]

Hello!

I tested with

• current release: Poweramp V3 build 841-arm32-play
• Device: Samsung Galaxy S8
• Android V9
• standard ROM

When importing playlists that contain songs with umlauts in the file name, these entries are deleted from the playlist.

It seems Poweramp generally has problems with files with umlauts.

You can add an "umlaut" song later manually, but when you then try to move it to a different location in the playlist, the playlist is not updated (where all other actions cause the playlist to be updated). The added item remains in the last place.

I attach a fake-playlist that should demonstrate the bug.

Cheers,

Ralf

UmlautsBug.m3u

[ralfiii]

Uups, sorry, mistyped, not 32 but 64bit.

The version info says:

• v3-build-841-arm64-play [841004-6c22e356]
• Full version
• 64bit

I've got this version from Google Play store. If I need a different version: Where do I get it?

Cheers

[flyingdutchman]

If you got this from playstore I am mistaken, sorry. You have the official version. I will have a look at your playlist though

[flyingdutchman]

 

When importing playlists that contain songs with umlauts in the file name, these entries are deleted from the playlist.

What do you mean by import? Poweramp's import of playlists will import native android playlists. Any external .m3u playlists should be located in a folder that Poweramp can scan. It will pick up your playlist, no need to import.

Secondly, looking at your sample, the issue appears to be with the umlaut in the folder name. It displays correctly in my app and i would expect that Poweramp would have no issue. Have you checked the tracks actually exist on your device? and if they exist, carefully check that the full path matches the entry in the playlist. 

 

[ralfiii]

"Import" might be a misleading expression. I copy my mp3 files and the M3U files on a SD card and plug the card into the android device.

Poweramp then reads the card the builds it's database. That's what I meant with "import".

However, I wanted to create a "real" playlist with a few songs to demonstrate for you and doing that I think I found the problem:

For creating playlists I use MusicBee and when exporting playlists, MusicBee writes the files UTF-8 excoded and not - as Poweramp seems to expect - as UTF-8-BOM.

I'll get in contact with the MusicBee guys, maybe they can address that, as BOM makes sense anyway.

[flyingdutchman]

Yes, to ensure characters are interpreted correctly i added a bom (Byte Order Mark) option in my app when creating m3u playlists

[ralfiii]

Ok, there exporting has deliberately been changed to "without BOM".

See https://getmusicbee.com/forum/index.php?topic=17948.0

referring to https://stackoverflow.com/questions/2223882/whats-the-difference-between-utf-8-and-utf-8-without-bom

I agree with you and would expect BOM because it's smart to define encoding, but as we don't live in an ideal world, could you make that an option?

Thanks a lot in advance!

[flyingdutchman]

Both options are available in my app, without (default) or with bom

[ralfiii]

2 minutes ago, flyingdutchman said:

Both options are available in my app, without (default) or with bom

Really? Cool!

Where can I find that option? I can't find it...

[ralfiii]

 

1 hour ago, ralfiii said:

Really? Cool!

Where can I find that option? I can't find it...

Ok, I understand, It's not Poweramp but a separate app. That doesn't help me.

I'd like to have an option in Poweramp so that it understands playlists that don't have a BOM.

[flyingdutchman]

One approach could of course be to ditch musicbee and create playlists on your device itself. This would very likely resolve your issue

[ralfiii]

21 hours ago, flyingdutchman said:

One approach could of course be to ditch musicbee and create playlists on your device itself. This would very likely resolve your issue

That's unfortunately no option.

I prepare playlists for parties on my PC with the best possible environment (big screen, keyboard), and when everything is done I'd like to transfer everything to the tablet/mobile phone.

For the moment I wrote a little app that scans all m3u files and if the UFT8 prefix is missing, it adds it.

[andrewilley]

Hopefully Max could code around this problem now that it is known what Musicbee is doing. If you could upload one of your problem files for reference, I'm sure that would help.

Andre

[ralfiii]

Ok, attached there's a playlist in "normal" (bad) format, and one where BOM was added.

 

Cheers,

Ralf

UmlautsBug.7z

[TeutonJon78]

You can just set Musicbee to export m3u8 files, and Poweramp will import them correctly. I've been doing this for awhile.

"Menu >  Edit>  Edit Preferences" ---> "Devices" -> "Configure" -> "Settings > Playlist storage > save as format" and pick m3u8. Then you'd sync your device again. You'd want to delete the old m3u playlists off of your phone.

Musicbee actually follows the standard where it output the playlists with the expected character type. m3u is supposed to be ascii, m3u8 is supposed to be UTF-8.

[andrewilley]

I rather assumed that we were already discussing exporting using  UTF-8 encoding (so .M3U8 files), but that MusicBee was not adding the correct BOM when using that format. Could the OP clarify please?

Andre

[ralfiii]

57 minutes ago, andrewilley said:

I rather assumed that we were already discussing exporting using  UTF-8 encoding (so .M3U8 files), but that MusicBee was not adding the correct BOM when using that format. Could the OP clarify please?

Andre

You are right.

MusicBee always exports in UTF-8 (unless you select M3U(ascii)), but fails to add BOM.

And, TeutonJon78, from what I know there is no "standard" file format for m3u. Afaik it's originally by Fraunhofer there never was a specification, the file format just evolved driven by VLC and winamp.

That's always the problem with weak defined de-facto standards.

However, WinAmp can handle m3u in UTF8 as long as there's a BOM.

BOM is NEVER a bad idea, but as MusicBee exports all UTF8 without BOM, Poweramp always fails upon importing. Also with M3U8.

[ralfiii]

But, maybe a good solution: Poweramp sould assume UTF8 format for M3U8 files - even if the BOM is missing.

This way Poweramp can continue to read M3U files w/o BOM as Ansi.

Cheers, Ralf

[TeutonJon78]

I don't know what to tell you, I have zero problem with my UTF-8 playlists coming from MusicBee -- umlauts and all.

[flyingdutchman]

Poweramp does create UTF8 compliant playlist format. That is what the extension ("m3u8") indicates. The BOM is a Byte Order Mark placed at the start of the file, to tell the os how to interpret the content.

Can I suggest to troubleshoot ,  use my app New Playlist Manager to experiment which format actually works

 

(Free version also has this)

[ralfiii]

On 9/6/2019 at 10:37 AM, TeutonJon78 said:

I don't know what to tell you, I have zero problem with my UTF-8 playlists coming from MusicBee -- umlauts and all.

Thanks a lot!!!!

The playlists by MusicBee for m3u and m3u8 are binary identically. Both contain UTF8 without BOM.

Maybe therefore I didn't test m3u8 files properly.

However, I did now and Poweramp reads them correctly.

1000 thanks, just in time, on saturday we celebrate our wedding....

Cheers,

Ralf