Problem with playlists in Naim App after migrating Asset

[RobP]

My apologies if this query goes over old ground but I couldn't find a relevant thread on the forum.

I've migrated Asset (and my audio library) to a new Windows PC and in the process it upgraded from R4 to R7.4. I disabled Asset on the old PC, and the Naim app (on an iPad) which I use as my control point, can find and play the audio tracks on the new PC in the normal Asset structure of Dynamic Browsing, etc. However, the playlists which were built in the Naim app, can't be played. The tracks in the playlists will not load with the error message "This track is not available as the server is offline". If I re-enable Asset on the old PC, the playlists can be accessed and played as normal. It is as if the playlists are linked to the tracks on the old PC and won't connect with the same tracks on the new PC.

I've read (on the Naim forum) that playlists on the Naim app won't play following an update to a later version of Asset. Is this correct, or am I doing something wrong? If it is correct, is there a workaround? The prospect of having to rebuild all the playlists on the Naim app is daunting.

Any help appreciated. Thank you.

[Spoon]

The playlist would include the IP address of the server, if you have moved asset to a new pc then the IP address would change.

[RobP]

Thanks for the quick response and the advice, Spoon, I'll have a look at that. Am I wrong to think that the IP addresses of the PC's and other devices will change on a daily basis depending on allocation from the router?

[Spoon]

Many routers are smart and keep the same.

[Dat Ei]

Am I wrong to think that the IP addresses of the PC's and other devices will change on a daily basis depending on allocation from the router?

Most routers allow to assign static IPs to specific network devices (defined by MAC addresses), while assigning random IPs for the others.

Dat Ei

[simbun]

As @Dat El says, you should be able to go into your router settings and change the IP address of the new machine to that of the old. You'll obviously need to turn off your old machine before you do so, and you may need to release the old assignment too, although you shouldn't need too.

I've read (on the Naim forum) that playlists on the Naim app won't play following an update to a later version of Asset. Is this correct, or am I doing something wrong? If it is correct, is there a workaround? The prospect of having to rebuild all the playlists on the Naim app is daunting.

Whilst it's trivial to change the IP, if AssetUPnP has changed the way it serves the files then this won't help.

An example of AssetUPnP naming convention (in 7.4):

http://192.168.XX.XX:26125/content/c2/b16/f44100/d8955692836086728906-coB31469C69E80FEFE.flac

I assume it's:
c2: channels
b16: bit depth
f44100: sampling frequency

That leaves the last part which is, I assume, some kind of hash of the filename and location in the content directory. If that has changed between versions then changing your IP address won't help. You can view this address with BubbleUPnP in the 'Show Metadata' screen.

[RobP]

Thanks all for your help, and Simbun for the detail, much appreciated by non-technical folk such as myself.

I'll have a look at the IP address fix and the file references.

[RobP]

An update on this issue.

It appears that playlists created in the Naim app can't cope with any change to the location of the audio files (for reasons beyond my technical knowledge).

So, I've decided to recreate the playlists in the music folders on my PC. I've started testing this with a test m3u playlist created using Music Playlist Creator. At the moment I can't get Asset to recognise the playlist. I've checked the file path and audio track/playlist settings in Asset's audio library, but no joy.

Any advice or please direct me to another thread if that is more appropriate.

Thanks again.

[simbun]

Did you manage to change the IP address of your new PC to that of the old? If you did, did the error message change as the old message ("This track is not available as the server is offline") inferred that it couldn't connect to the server, I'd expect that message to change.

I've just had a quick test and the AssetUPnP URL appears to include a hash of the path specified as your 'Audio Library' in the Advanced Settings config, is the path to the files on your new PC the same as that on your old? If not, I'd start by changing that if possible.

If you include the first 10 lines of your new playlist we can take a look.
Are you creating the playlist on the same PC as Asset is running?

[simbun]

Regarding the playlists you've created using Music Playlist Creator, have you defined this location in your Audio Library settings?
For more info look here and search for playlists.

[RobP]

[QUOTE=simbun;215212]Did you manage to change the IP address of your new PC to that of the old?

No I didn't, Simbun. I found that the ability to do that on my ISP's router is disabled by my ISP for home users(!). I looked at setting the address manually in Windows 10, but I was not confident in my technical knowledge for some of the fields (eg "subnet mask prefix length") and was unsure how a manual change would interplay with the router's settings. In the meantime, I got a very strong steer from the Naim Forum that the Naim app is not a good place to hold permanent playlists. Hence the decision to try to recreate my playlists on the new PC.

I've made some progress with my test playlist. I hadn't appreciated that Asset won't find playlists in sub-folders (I don't think this is in Spoon's guidance notes). I've moved the test playlist to a main folder and it can now be found and played by Asset via the Naim app on my iPad, albeit without any album art.

Apart from the album art, my main issue now is with Music Playlist Creator. I'm struggling to get the manual creation of new playlists to work. My test playlist was created using its automatic playlist creation function.

If you (or anyone) know of a better alternative, or any guidance on using Music Playlist Creator, that would be appreciated. Perhaps there's a more appropriate thread?

Thanks again.

[simbun]

Did you manage to change the IP address of your new PC to that of the old?

No I didn't, Simbun. I found that the ability to do that on my ISP's router is disabled by my ISP for home users(!). I looked at setting the address manually in Windows 10, but I was not confident in my technical knowledge for some of the fields (eg "subnet mask prefix length") and was unsure how a manual change would interplay with the router's settings.

You're locked out of that config! I've used my ISPs router in modem only mode for the last 15+ years so I haven't had to struggle with that nonsense.
Running ipconfig from the command prompt will tell you your Subnet and Gateway, and setting a static IP should be absolutely fine.

In the meantime, I got a very strong steer from the Naim Forum that the Naim app is not a good place to hold permanent playlists. Hence the decision to try to recreate my playlists on the new PC.

They're correct, it's not advisable to store them in the control point, especially if your music server hashes the file paths and names so there's no use in exporting them. I use MinimServer and it serves the tracks using the actual filenames, and whilst that's not as compatible with poorly implemented renderers it makes creating playlists in control points much more powerful, as I can just export and then convert them into .m3u which I then save to my music server.

Apart from the album art, my main issue now is with Music Playlist Creator. I'm struggling to get the manual creation of new playlists to work. My test playlist was created using its automatic playlist creation function.

If you (or anyone) know of a better alternative, or any guidance on using Music Playlist Creator, that would be appreciated. Perhaps there's a more appropriate thread?

Have you tried Playlist Creator? It hasn't been updated in 10+ years but it's only generating a text file so I think it should be fine.

You might want to go into settings and change:
Playlist Details > Saving playlist entries: Do you want to save the playlist entries absolute or relative? to 'Relative (e.g. ...)'. (as long as the relative location of your playlists and audio files stays the same)
Extended Information > Processing of extended information: Uncheck 'Write extended information'

[RobP]

Thanks Simbun. The ISP hurdle was exasperating. I've made do to now to keep the equipment to a minimum, but I agree that the time is ripe for a shift to a modem and mesh system.

Once I've sorted the playlists on the PC, and there's no risk of losing them, I'll revisit changing the IP address using your ipconfig advice.

Thanks for the suggestions on MinimServer and Playlist Creator I'll have a look at them.

In looking elsewhere on this Forum, I've come across Playlist Writer available under dBpoweramp's Music Converter. As I already have Reference, might this be a way to go? Have you used/tried it? Any advice on pros and cons?

[simbun]

In looking elsewhere on this Forum, I've come across Playlist Writer available under dBpoweramp's Music Converter. As I already have Reference, might this be a way to go? Have you used/tried it? Any advice on pros and cons?

I had never actually heard of the Playlist Writer DSP, but I've had a quick look and I would have thought it's mainly for building a playlist during ripping; it can be used as part of batch conversion, but that would be a bit cumbersome.

Do you use any other tools for tagging or browsing your collection, if not I'd give Playlist Creator a look as it seems like it will do what you need, a playlist is after all just a text file containing paths to audio files.

Would be nice if someone from illustrate were to tell us if it was possible to decode the AssetUPnP URL scheme.

[simbun]

One other option that might be worth considering is MusicBee.

I've used and recommended it before mainly because of its Tag Inspector (it shows you the actual ID3 frame being used) but it looks like it handles playlists quite well, and it's portable (if desired) and lightweight.