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Till now I havent delved into playlists much. But looking for ways to solve a problem has made me realise Im not at all sure how playlists are handled by players.
The problem is that I tend to use iTunes to make playlists and have a number of old playlists created in itunes. This means that for tracks that are in my FLAC library, iTunes is pointing at the mp3 conversion folder not the FLAC folder. But LMS (Squeezebox) uses the FLAC folder. Conversely, playlists created in iPeng (which I also do) point at the FLAC folder not the converted mp3 folder.
Question 1: Every track seems to have the disc dsn, among other things. Am I correct that that dsn is the key thing? I can write a program to look for teacks in the conveted mp3 folder, check the FLAC file exists and if so convert the dsn (change folder name and extension).
Qu2: There are multiple m3u records per track with different keywords. where can I find documentation on these?
Qu3: Is there a standard way for players to create m3u files? Id like to think so but playlists created by iPeng and iTunes look a bit different (m3u in both cases).
itunes:
*EXTINF:trackno,track title - album name
dsn [ascii, no *KEYWORD]
iPeng:
*EXTURL: dsn (escaped version, with file/// prefix)
*EXTINF:track* track title [no album name]
dsn [ascii, no *KEYWORD]
iPeng omits album name; includes the URL version that iTunes omits
Is m3u one of those "standards" that can be applied in different ways by different players / programs?
Qu4: Is there a way to organise & manage playlists at a higher level than disc dsn? ie in terms of album and track and let the player figure out where to find it on disc? (Glossing over duplicates here!)
I suppose once I bite the bullet and write my conversion programs it wont be so bad other than I have to actually run the conversion when a playlist is created. I have a bad feeling that the conversion programs fall into the "all you have to do is..." trap where code its easy to deal with 90% of cases but the other 10% take for ever to sort out.
The problem is that I tend to use iTunes to make playlists and have a number of old playlists created in itunes. This means that for tracks that are in my FLAC library, iTunes is pointing at the mp3 conversion folder not the FLAC folder. But LMS (Squeezebox) uses the FLAC folder. Conversely, playlists created in iPeng (which I also do) point at the FLAC folder not the converted mp3 folder.
Question 1: Every track seems to have the disc dsn, among other things. Am I correct that that dsn is the key thing? I can write a program to look for teacks in the conveted mp3 folder, check the FLAC file exists and if so convert the dsn (change folder name and extension).
Qu2: There are multiple m3u records per track with different keywords. where can I find documentation on these?
Qu3: Is there a standard way for players to create m3u files? Id like to think so but playlists created by iPeng and iTunes look a bit different (m3u in both cases).
itunes:
*EXTINF:trackno,track title - album name
dsn [ascii, no *KEYWORD]
iPeng:
*EXTURL: dsn (escaped version, with file/// prefix)
*EXTINF:track* track title [no album name]
dsn [ascii, no *KEYWORD]
iPeng omits album name; includes the URL version that iTunes omits
Is m3u one of those "standards" that can be applied in different ways by different players / programs?
Qu4: Is there a way to organise & manage playlists at a higher level than disc dsn? ie in terms of album and track and let the player figure out where to find it on disc? (Glossing over duplicates here!)
I suppose once I bite the bullet and write my conversion programs it wont be so bad other than I have to actually run the conversion when a playlist is created. I have a bad feeling that the conversion programs fall into the "all you have to do is..." trap where code its easy to deal with 90% of cases but the other 10% take for ever to sort out.
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