Playlist tracks skipping multiple times + Failed to play file error

[jovalleau]

So, I've been using Poweramp for a bit, but it has started acting up.  While listening to my playlists, after playing a few songs just fine (number seems random) the app will skip forward through a number of songs (4, 5, maybe more) with a 'cannot play file' or 'failed to play file' error. The only way to correct this is to force stop the app and start playing again. This will work for a bit, then I run into the same issue, and repeat. The files seem to play fine on their own, individually.

The thing is, I'm on the trial version, and the trial period recently expired. I honestly don't know if this is related, but if it is, it seems an odd way to hamper the performance of the app to convince one to purchase, which I would consider if it literally just stopped working. With it half working, I'm not sure if it's a bug ore a "feature." Also, I can't even get into the app to see what version I'm running (current Play Store version) or change any settings or anything! Is this just a side effect of using the app (via widget) after the trial period? Would the full version fix this?

I'm on Samsung Galaxy A32

Android version 12

Stock ROM, nothing custom. 

Thanks, in advance!

[Bencherished]

@jovalleau Good morning. Sorry for the inconvenience, Poweramp is a feature full music player and the trial version is nothing less than the full version. 

I will strongly suggest you purchase even though it nothing to do with your issue. 

Cases that makes Poweramp to skip songs is 1: Files data base is not up to date (to fix this issue, do a full rescan of library).

2: A play list is containing an unreadable file, or pointing Poweramp to an unmounted directory (mount the director and do a full rescan)

3: A Playlist is containing an edited file name (tags) especially if it was done with a third-party application (just delete the old file that is failing to play from the Playlist and add the new to Playlist again) 

4: A faulty SD Card, an SD card that has virus can cause problems (try removing it and play songs stored on phone memory, if that is cause, backup data and format sd card) 

Please any further issue, feel free to report. 

Bencherished 

[jovalleau]

That's the problem. 

On 8/31/2022 at 2:54 AM, Bencherished said:

@jovalleau Good morning. Sorry for the inconvenience, Poweramp is a feature full music player and the trial version is nothing less than the full version. 

I will strongly suggest you purchase even though it nothing to do with your issue. 

Cases that makes Poweramp to skip songs is 1: Files data base is not up to date (to fix this issue, do a full rescan of library).

2: A play list is containing an unreadable file, or pointing Poweramp to an unmounted directory (mount the director and do a full rescan)

3: A Playlist is containing an edited file name (tags) especially if it was done with a third-party application (just delete the old file that is failing to play from the Playlist and add the new to Playlist again) 

4: A faulty SD Card, an SD card that has virus can cause problems (try removing it and play songs stored on phone memory, if that is cause, backup data and format sd card) 

Please any further issue, feel free to report. 

Bencherished 

That's the problem. I CAN'T get into the app to do any time of rescanning or change any settings or anything. Every time I try, I get a message saying the trial period has expired. Buy or Restore Purchase as options. Then the app just exits to home screen. 

The SD card shouldn't have any viruses. It was formatted before using it in my phone, and the only files on it are my music files. 

And the songs play just fine, normally. It's just that eventually the tracks start skipping ahead (or back) four or five songs. When I force stop the app and replay the tracks that were skipped, they play just fine until the bug happens again.

So, I deleted the cache and data for the app, which unfortunately DELETED MULTIPLE carefully constructed playlists that I have to build all over again. 

If this is going to keep happening, there is no way I can justify purchase of the full app. 

[Bencherished]

4 hours ago, jovalleau said:

 I CAN'T get into the app to do anything like rescanning or change any settings or anything. Every time I try, I get a message saying the trial period has expired. 

Now you are talking.

@jovalleau Do you like Poweramp during your trial period? 

Did You having this problem during the trial period? 

It's a good thing you are using Samsung galaxy phone, I don't know if I should say that Poweramp is optimized for galaxy phones,they hardly have issues unless it is general.

Just get the full version and see what happens, I assure you, that issue will resolved, right now it's difficult to say.

If you are still not convinced, get another, install the trial version to see if same thing will happen, then report back. 

Bencherished 

[jovalleau]

On 9/1/2022 at 11:50 AM, Bencherished said:

Now you are talking.

@jovalleau Do you like Poweramp during your trial period? 

Did You having this problem during the trial period? 

It's a good thing you are using Samsung galaxy phone, I don't know if I should say that Poweramp is optimized for galaxy phones,they hardly have issues unless it is general.

Just get the full version and see what happens, I assure you, that issue will resolved, right now it's difficult to say.

If you are still not convinced, get another, install the trial version to see if same thing will happen, then report back. 

Bencherished 

Okay, so I've been messing around a bit. I haven't recreated the playlists I've lost just yet. Instead, I've had PA play ALL of my music tracks, even video game tracks and the like I normally wouldn't add to a playlist.

Thus far, I have not encountered the skipping issue. This leads me to believe that the issue does have something to do with the playlist function. I'll keep testing things out to see if I can recreate the issue since I basically reinstalled PA. 

As for whether or not I've liked PA during the trial period up to experiencing this problem, YES! It has been a great replacement for MUZIO player I had on my old phone. PA has a lot of the features I want (Homepage widget, easy to make playlists, edit mp3 tags and album art, plays all the file types, etc). This issue just ground everything to a halt. 

[Bencherished]

Are You still using the trial version? 

As for Poweramp playing video games tracks, this is because you have selected such file location to be accessed by Poweramp. The ideal practice is to create a folder, name it music or whatever you like, then move only files you want to be played by Poweramp to the folder. Goto settings, Library, Music Folders, select only the folder you created, if you have an SD card, do the same thing. This will stop any unwanted file from being added to your Library. 

One thing I would like you to know, if you have a large Music collection, whenever you turn on your phone and open Poweramp, it will take some time for your files to be scanned, in that period, songs will be skipping, you shouldn't worry, just wait for the scanning to complete and all will be fine. 

Always feel free to ask questions concerning Poweramp. 

Bencherished 

[andrewilley]

Once the Trial period has expired, you should either purchase the product or stop using it. During the trial period, the app is fully functional, it is purely a time limit allowing you to evaluate all features before deciding whether you want to buy. Currently the trial period is greatly extended beyond the normal 15 days due to issues with purchasing via the Play Store (Russian sanctions related). Once the trial has expired, you won't be able to do much as the app will just exit - I wasn't aware that the widget carried on working, so treat that as an unexpected bonus.

Clearing app data will restore PA to its originally installed state (like an uninstall/reinstall) so yes you should expect to lose all internal settings, internal playlists, ratings, cover art, etc. Unless you had backed them up first using PA Settings>Export Settings/Data of course, which would have allowed you to restore everything after the effective re-install. Any playlists which you created during the trial will unfortunately have been wiped by clearing app data, as they are stored as app data not as files. File-based playlists (e.g. M3U files) will remain, and you can export internally created lists to files too - although sadly that's too late for you to do now. 

As for Playlists, if there are no issues with the storage itself, I suspect the skipping will have been caused by subsequently moving or renaming some of your music files. A playlist is merely a series of links to specific path/filenames (not song metadata details, hard-coded filenames) so if you change the filename or move the folder it's stored within, the Playlist will no longer be able to find the file and will consider it missing. The main library views may still show the song by the way, but as a 'new' file in its rescanned location - which the playlist can't know about as it is looking for the original file. There is a Rescan/Resolve Playlists menu option which will crawl through your music collection looking for matchable items, but it requires both the filename and first level containing folder to be exact matches for what's in the list (the rest of the path is ignored). 

Andre

[jovalleau]

@andrewilley @Bencherished

Okay!

I've done some more experimentation, so hopefully you all might find this useful for bugfixing or anything. 

As I said in a previous post, I basically reinstalled the trial version. This time, however, I didn't create any playlists. I just let PA play any and all of my music in my /Music folder. 

Everything was going great until this "bug" resurfaced! I opened up PA and what do I find? The trial version had expired, and the app quits to the home screen. Working from the Widget just like last time, 4, 5, 6 songs would skip before landing on the next one that would play unless I cleared the app cache (which worked for about a day, maybe).

SO, it does seem that this skipping issue is related to the trial version expiring (and the Widget still functioning), nothing to do with Playlists or Settings, or anything like that. This does make me feel better about purchasing the full version.

Now that the trial period is up, do I just download the Full Version Unlocker App? 

Thanks!

Edited September 22, 2022 by jovalleau

[jovalleau]

On 9/6/2022 at 9:35 AM, andrewilley said:

Once the Trial period has expired, you should either purchase the product or stop using it. During the trial period, the app is fully functional, it is purely a time limit allowing you to evaluate all features before deciding whether you want to buy.

That's not what I thought, at first. I thought it was a trial version that had limited functionality, not limited time, but that point is moot, now. 

[andrewilley]

1 hour ago, jovalleau said:

Now that the trial period is up, do I just download the Full Version Unlocker App? 

Yes, just purchase and download the unlocker from the Play Store and you should be good to go.

I'm actually surprised anything played at all after the trial period expired - perhaps there's a loophole in the widget that needs plugging?

See also:

Andre