Cue files no longer producing virtual folders

[Mike Wintersgill]

build-939-bundle-play [939004-333c8a71] Full Version 64 bit

Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra

Added a new mp3 and cue file and the virtual folder was not created. Went into Settings>Library>Full Rescan, and now all virtual folders have disappeared, leaving only folders with mp3 files.

Under Settings>Library>Scanner the "Parse CUE Files" option is selected, but no matter what I do to rescan, cannot get virtual Cue file folders back. Have tried clearing app data and removing and re-selecting music folder, etc.

 

Help!

[andrewilley]

Has anything else changed, such as files moved to a different storage location, since you last used the tracks generated by your CUE files? Have you checked the CUE file contents manually with a text editor?

That version of PA has been current for three months now (20 May) so there will have been no changes to PA itself, and if CUE files were broken I suspect someone would have reported it by now.

Andre

[Mike Wintersgill]

Hi Andre,

No files have not been moved, and all was working before today. I have checked CUE files are still there, and they play just fine if I transfer them to pc. It's as if the Parse CUE files option was turned off, and I have tried turning it off and back on and rescanning, but not working.

I've even tried uninstalling, restarting phone and reinstalling.

 

Mike

[andrewilley]

Is Settings=>Library=>Lists=>Show CUE Disc Image Files turned off? That controls whether PA also shows the full (un-split) MP3 files when a CUE file is present.

Andre

[Mike Wintersgill]

Yes, Show CUE disc image files is turned off.

[andrewilley]

@Mike Wintersgill and the full raw MP3 files are all showing in your Library, but without any song info?

Andre

[Mike Wintersgill]

Yes, in PA, I usually use the Folder view, as most of the mp3 files are DJ sets which I have made cue files for to be able to play individual tracks. I organize them by DJ into folders, and up until today, the only folders I would see were ones that contained mp3s without cue files. Each mp3 would appear as a virtual folder.

As of now, I see a folder for each DJ with raw mp3 files and no song info.

If I use Root Explorer or My Files (Samsung app) and browse to my music folder, I can see the mp3 files next to the cue files. It's just PA which now seems to be ignoring them.

[Mike Wintersgill]

@andrewilley I have just installed GoneMAD, as a hopefully temporary measure, until we can resolve this. It is seeing and reading the cue files correctly, and allowing me to play individual tracks, which theoretically eliminates it being an android issue or an issue with my cue files.

Having used PA since Samsung Galaxy S2 days (2011) I am a bit gutted, as I much prefer its interface and quality to GoneMAD.

[maxmp]

@Mike Wintersgill If you use Legacy File Access mode to access albums with (standalone separate) cue files, it won't work on modern Androids as CUE file format is not recognized by system and hidden from the app. Yes, Google added that filtering for the legacy mode. Also Google completely removed legacy file access in Android 13 (though they planned to do so in Android 11).

Ensure your CUE folders (or some parent folder, e.g. Music) are added via "Add Folder or Storage" in Settings / Library / Music Folders. 

The folders accessed in legacy mode are marked as such in the Music Folders selection dialog. 
 

[Mike Wintersgill]

@maxmp OK, you're onto something here, but this seems to work in the opposite way to your advice!

I had added the Music folder via "Add Folder or Storage" which results in my library comprising 30 folders and 238 songs all of which are MP3 files with no cue files showing, and no virtual folders.

If I remove my music folder, and enable the setting "File Access Legacy Mode", PA restarts, and now I have 86 folders and 2782 songs, and everything works as before.

If I disable legacy mode, the app restarts and I still have 86 folders and 2782 songs, but under Library>Folders Selection it looks like this:

But everything works as before.

Re-enabling "Mike's S22 Ultra" Music folder results in 30 folders and 238 songs.

Don't know if it helps, but I've had the S22 since April and transferred apps and settings from my old S10+ using Samsung Switch. Could this allow the legacy settings/database with cue folders to work? It was only after I did a Library>Full Rescan that CUE folders disappeared.

Thanks for your help,

 

Mike

[andrewilley]

The fact that you transitioned original settings could be an issue. If you are able to switch over completely to using the new Storage Framework that ought to be more future-proof for you as Google are slowly but surely continuing to depreciate Legacy mode.

Make sure you have any Playlists/etc backed up, then cancel (X) all of the items in the Music Folders menu so nothing is enabled and allow PA to scan down to 0 files. (You may need to leave a single empty location somewhere ticked as the menu doesn't like to have nothing selected). Ensure the Legacy File Mode option is turned OFF. Then go back into the Music Folders screen and enable your music location (not root). Ideally that will be one folder, which then contains all of your music within subfolders, as it's easier to manage and control that way. Let it rescan and see if things get back to normal.

Andre 

[Mike Wintersgill]

Hi Andre. Have tried that (again), but it's not working for me. Is there a debugging or extended logging option to try and figure out what the problem is? I suspect it is a permission's problem with the new storage API writing the virtual folders for cue files, but I'm only guessing.

And again, thanks for your help.

[andrewilley]

As far as I know, these 'virtual folders' only exist inside Poweramp's library database, they are just a notional representation that PA uses to group the newly split elements into 'tracks'. There is never a physical or symbolic 'folder' present that the Android file system would see.

Andre

[Mike Wintersgill]

Maybe, but as you can see from my screenshot above, legacy is given permissions to "storage/emulated/0/Android/data/com.maxmpz.audioplayer/files/Music", which I never selected, and I'm guessing this might be the cause of my issue.

 

Mike

[maxmp]

@Mike Wintersgill on recent Androids (11+) Google reduced file access functionality, so it works this way:

• separate folders can be made accessible to the app by user (this is what "Add Folder or Storage" button, or "Enable" button in Poweramp Music Folders dialog does)
  • this way all formats are supported, but storage root folder and /Downloads folder are not available
• legacy access by raw filenames like /storage/emulated/0/..., but this access is restricted in weird ways, for example, files not known to Android, such as .cue or, for example, .wv won't be available 
  • this way Downloads folder is available
  • this will be changed on Android 13+ when Google will require developers to update app to SDK=33
    (https://developer.android.com/google/play/requirements/target-sdk)

Google market these restrictions as "security and performance improvements that enhance the Android user experience", leaving fallout on devs. I will try to request All Files Access permission from Google for Poweramp, and probably allow that for website (uni) builds - that may improve user experience a bit, provided user gives that permission to the player.

In your case you shouldn't disable Legacy File Access, but add the folders with CUE via "Add Folder or Storage" and uncheck them in the Legacy access folders (so no duplications happen).

[Mike Wintersgill]

I'll give that a try and get back to you. Thanks.

[andrewilley]

So I understand it too for future reference, why would switching to using SAF not solve the problem? Does SAF not allow any access to files without Android-recognised extenders either?

Andre

[maxmp]

@andrewilley SAF fixes the issue. SAF is what is used for “Add folder or storage” functionality. 

[Mike Wintersgill]

@maxmp"In your case you shouldn't disable Legacy File Access, but add the folders with CUE via "Add Folder or Storage" and uncheck them in the Legacy access folders (so no duplications happen)."

As soon as I uncheck folders in legacy access folders, I lose the virtual cue folders and am left with just the mp3 files.

At the moment, the solution for me which avoids duplicates and produces virtual cue folders, is to use the music folder in Legacy Mode, and uncheck the music folder under Add Folder and Storage.

This is not a problem at the moment, but presumably I'll have to see what happens when Samsung updates to Android 13.

Thanks once again for your help.