Creating Poweramp playlists via itunes playlist

[bloodw3rx]

I have a 2k~ songs on my phone, but they are not in a playlist.  Is it possible to arrange them in a playlist based off what I have them set up in iTunes? They're all exactly the same songs, but they are arranged into playlists on iTunes and they are not in Poweramp.  

I previously used TuneSync to auto transfer them from itunes into my phone via wifi, but with Android 11 it does not like where TuneSync is storing the files and new songs do no show up in Poweramp.

So I moved all my music and dumped it into the Music folder on android.  It can be read by Poweramp just fine, but they are not in playlists anymore.  I am wondering if it is possible to rearrange them into playlists based on the playlists I have them set up in iTunes.  

If not, I will have to manually rebuild the songs by hand and I don't want to do that.

Pixel 4xl, Android 11 official

Thank you!

[andrewilley]

That depends on whether iTunes (or another third-party app) can export your iTunes Playlists in regular M3U format. I'm afraid I don't allow iTunes on any of my equipment, so I don't know whether it offers that facility or not.

The other factor is that playlists don't know anything about the music being referenced, all they use to match entries in the list to the linked audio files are the exact folder name and filename. ITunes decides on the folder names and filenames within its music storage location (which is one of the reasons I don't use it) so you need to ensure that your Android device is using the exactly same folder names to store the files. 

Andre

[bloodw3rx]

Yup it can export in m3u.

So I can use a text editor and mass change the file directory from my PC  file path to my android device file path, and then add that playlist file to my device. Then Poweramp should be able to pick it up?

EDIT: So I've tried editing the .m3u playlist file with notepad to change the URL path to match my phone's one, but the playlists are still empty.  Any ideas?

EDIT 2: Actually I figured out the issue.  The file names within the playlist are different than the file names on my phone for some reason.  For example in the exported .m3u playlist, one song is listed like this: 

C:\Users\OWNER\Music\iTunes\iTunes Media\Music\The Green\Ways & Means\10 Love is Strong.mp3

But on my phone, it looks like this:

/primary/Music/_The_Green_-_Love_Is_Strong.mp3

I can fix the formatting and file locations, but for some reason even the title of the .mp3 is different.  I tested it out and changed the .m3u file to match my phone, and then it works. So it ended up looking like this:
 

/storage/emulated/0/Music/The Green/Ways & Means/_The_Green_-_Love_Is_Strong.mp3

Anyone got a better way of doing this instead of one by one.  Well I guess I got my weekend project haha.

[andrewilley]

I wouldn't worry too much about changing the full paths. Previous issues with playlists copied between different devices mean that PA's file-matching algorithm only looks at the full filename and the one folder level that contains it. The higher level C:\Users\OWNER\Music\iTunes\iTunes Media\Music\ and /storage/emulated/0/Music/ bits are simply ignored.

However it is obviously vital that the actual filenames completely match with the entries in the playlist. What software are you using to copy between your PC and your phone, as presumably that is what is causing the reformatting. Or is is all down to iTunes, making storage naming decisions of its own?

Andre

[bloodw3rx]

Thank you.  I just simply dragged my music files from the PC onto my phone via usb cable.  However, it appears that iTunes changed the file names in the playlist.  

So simply by changing only the '\' to a '/' I've been able to get most of my songs and playlists set up.

The only issue left is some songs are missing from the playlist.  For example, my playlist with 1178 songs only has 853 on Poweramp.  I believe this to be the exact same issue mentioned above where the file name was changed by iTunes for some reason, so I probably will have to manually update the .m3u file with the correct file name.

What a bummer, but its a lot better than remaking the entire playlist manually.

[6b6561]

I'm a primarily a Android and Linux user and I prefer to stay faaar away from all "i" products, I have a Gen 1 iPhone SE and the only reason for it's the size of it, I use the old SE as a phone as it fits in my pocket and they are fairly inexpensive with 128GB of memory. All of this means that I'm stuck with one iTunes instance, and I can tell you that this beast is never ever gonna touch my files... it has read-only access to a network share so it can't do any damage to it. So I have had my share of fun trying to keep iTunes happy and playlists in sync between Poweramp and iTunes.

The following is from a test playlist created on my iPhone, synchronized through iTunes to my PC and exported. Actually the result is the same if the playlist is created directly in iTunes. The path is correct.

#EXTM3U
#EXTINF:275,The Wicker Man - Iron Maiden
M:\Iron Maiden\S12 - Brave New World (2000)\Iron Maiden - Brave New World - 01 - The Wicker Man.mp3

Guess what I'm trying to say is that iTunes behaves surprisingly well with playlists.

It sound's more like you have a problem with the way the files where copied to your phone as the files has been renamed and paths has been changed. How did you copy the files?

I have my music files on a file share and I use cloud sync to get the files synchronized from the share to my phone.

[bloodw3rx]

Thanks for the reply.  Yes I agree, most of the songs work fine.  The songs that are not showing up were downloaded a long time ago and that's probably why they are being weird with the file names.

I just dragged them from my PC music folder to the Music folder on my device.  I was able to access the .m3u file and change the music file names to match what their "real name" (from the music folder on my PC and music folder on Android), and then resync the playlist and it works. However that was my small playlist of 42 songs.  I got a bigger one missing like 200 and another missing 300, so I will have to fix that eventually. 

How did you set up the file share folder? I think that would be helpful for me with backing up music in case I lose my phone or something. 

 

[6b6561]

Do you by any chance have two sets of files?

•  The originally downloaded ones and
• iTunes organized ones?

You have two options under advanced in iTunes:

• Keep iTunes Media folder organized, it sounds like this would move the files around and rename them.
• Copy files to iTunes Media folder.

So my guess is that you have dragged the downloaded file with the original file name to your phone, while the iTunes Media folder is organized with directories with artist names and renamed files. If this is the case then the easiest would be to:

• Delete "/primary/Music/" on your phone and
• drag "C:\Users\OWNER\Music\iTunes\iTunes Media\Music\" to your device.

This should give you the same directory structure and file names on both both and in iTunes Media folder.

[bloodw3rx]

I'm not sure if I have 2 sets of files, I think I only have 1.  So what I've done in the past is download the music file and place it in a directory.  Then I click and drag that file into iTunes and arrange it into a playlist.  

I took a look at Advanced in settings and both those options are unchecked, which means I cannot use this method right?

EDIT: okay so I looked at the file path that iTunes says its storing my music and I see the copies (or at least I think they are).  I'm assuming I can just move these copies of music over to my device since the file path will match the same file path as the exported playlist file?

[andrewilley]

I just use the drag & drop method for transferring file from my PC's folders to my phone. I do use a wireless FTP Server on my phone though, so I don't have to attach cables when doing it and can see the phone's SD Card contents on my Windows desktop.

PA understands both "\" and "/" as directory separators in playlists, they can be used interchangeably. Note that PA only looks for matches to one containing folder level though, which works well in 99.9% of cases - although it can have issues with very specific cases such where the track "Music/Back to the Future/FLACs/Main Title.flac" won't be differentiated from "Music/Star Wars/FLACs/Main Title.flac".

Do you have iTunes (still hate it by the way) on both your phone and your PC? If so, is your phone downloading physical local copies of your music independently from your master PC copies, which iTunes might be naming differently? It so it's up to you whether you allow Poweramp to scan the local iTunes cache on your phone by ticking it in  Settings > Library > Music Folders. 

Andre

[bloodw3rx]

I have iTunes on my PC (but will remove it after this whole debacle), but not on my device.  But I think the method 6b6561 told me might work actually.  I will test it fully tomorrow in the morning.

 

Thanks again.

[andrewilley]

Yes, I just drag my folder contents from my PC to my phone, subfolders and all. Well not all of them as some are a bit esoteric, but most.

Andre

[bloodw3rx]

@6b6561 So I think your method works, except that it appears some of the songs were not "backed up" by my iTunes.  In other words when I look in that iTunes folder with the copies of my music, I do not see some songs.  Even when I export the playlist,  it reflects to the main folder that has my music.  So it's like the playlist is pulling half my music from my main library folder and half from the iTunes copy folder.

Do you know of a way for iTunes to copy ALL of the music in the playlist then copy it over to the copy folder, so it will all be in one place (the iTunes copy folder)? 

Edit: Theoretically I could add BOTH folders to my device right, let it create the playlist since it has access to both folders, then delete the duplicates after?

[MotleyG]

43 minutes ago, bloodw3rx said:

@6b6561 So I think your method works, except that it appears some of the songs were not "backed up" by my iTunes.  In other words when I look in that iTunes folder with the copies of my music, I do not see some songs.  Even when I export the playlist,  it reflects to the main folder that has my music.  So it's like the playlist is pulling half my music from my main library folder and half from the iTunes copy folder.

Do you know of a way for iTunes to copy ALL of the music in the playlist then copy it over to the copy folder, so it will all be in one place (the iTunes copy folder)? 

Edit: Theoretically I could add BOTH folders to my device right, let it create the playlist since it has access to both folders, then delete the duplicates after?

I have been using iTunes for a very long time. In the beginning I had struggles it fought it's own file system, versus WMP, and others. What I found early on was to only let one player manage the file locations (which I choose to be iTunes since I had multiple other iDevices and AppleTV units all talking to the main library) and have all others only have read access. Since then I have not had an issue, going on 10+ years.

As mentioned by others already, you can export any playlist from iTunes, even the "Smart" ones. The links.willmpoint to the files in the library, and assuming iTunes is in control they will all be in the right place for copying and pasting to your phone media.

 @bloodw3rx I think what you are seeing is one location where most of your files have been managed, and the iTunes location where the files would be if either you downloaded those from the Apple store, or had them managed by iTunes in the past. You may need to use whatever media player manager you prefer now to consolidate your collection files to one place, then have your iTunes redirected to find those tracks again. Might be a pain, but long term may help.

[bloodw3rx]

I appreciate all the help guys.  I actually got it to work 100%.  Since the playlist was pointing to files in 2 different locations, I basically moved the smaller folder into the bigger folder.  I let the duplicates replace the old files in there.  Now I had all the music files in one location and the file paths were matching the playlist .m3u.

I know that doesn't really make sense unless you understand the whole situation I had with the iTunes copies missing some of the music files compares to my huge music library folder. I just moved the itunes folder into my music library folder, and let it replace the existing copies inside.  All on my phone.

But yeah! Anyway, thank you guys for the help!! I will now enjoy my music.  

Actually I was wondering if its possible when you add a new song to a playlist for it to appear at the TOP rather than the bottom?

[andrewilley]

6 hours ago, MotleyG said:

What I found early on was to only let one player manage the file locations

I don't let any players manage my file locations, that's something I always control myself. And as iTunes doesn't play nicely with my own chosen directory structures (a general complaint about Apple products) it doesn't get a look in on any of my equipment.

5 hours ago, bloodw3rx said:

Actually I was wondering if its possible when you add a new song to a playlist for it to appear at the TOP rather than the bottom?

Not currently. However that was added as an option for the Add to Queue facility recently, and hopefully something similar will be included for Add to Playlist at some point too.

Andre

[bloodw3rx]

Awesome thanks Andre