Plex rename playlist

Per the question, I set iTunes Preferences/Media folder location to be "\\Volume1\Music" [which is my NAS]. Songs in my library that are located there play just fine. iTunes sees the songs obviously. But every time I close iTunes [and/or shut off my computer and then open iTunes again], it keeps defaulting back to the C: drive iTunes Music folder. It's like it can't find or see the NAS. Odd, since the NAS is always on.

I've searched all over and I cannot find an answer so I'm hoping the community can provide help here.

I posted this question the other day but it was deleted for some reason so I'm re-adding it.

[Re-Titled by Moderator]

turingtest2 wrote:

Say your existing path to a track was:

Y:\iTunes\iTunes Music\Beatles\Abbey Road\01 Come Together.m4a

Which the XML file would record as:

file://localhost/Y:/iTunes/iTunes%20Music/Beatles/Abbey%20Road/01%20Come%20Together.m4a

What does localhost stand for? Why does XML create this in its file? Do all XML files have that? Not biggie, I'm just curious.

and you wanted to correct things such that the XML was using the media folder /volume1/iTunes/iTunes Media then you would need to use %20 instead of a space in the replacement text where it appears in iTunes Media. I.e. replace "localhost/Y:/iTunes/iTunes%20Music" with "volume1/iTunes/iTunes%20Media" so the resultant path becomes:

file://volume1/iTunes/iTunes%20Media/Beatles/Abbey%20Road/01%20Come%20Together.m4a

I follow the last examples [I think].

The point is that you must not put spaces in XML file location strings. There won't be any there already, they only way they would be added is if you didn't consider them if they feature as part of a replacement string, in which case use %20 where you would otherwise want a space.

This last paragraph though still leaves me confused, sorry. I won't do anything I don't need to do. You're saying there won't be any there already, I understand that. But this I don't understand:

"they only way they would be added is if you didn't consider them if they feature as part of a replacement string, in which case use %20 where you would otherwise want a space. "

I realize I'm probably making this more complicated than it needs to be, right? haha

I think the gist is that I should change each of the nearly 15,000 songs and remove the "localhost" from the song. I can do a replace all and hopefully that would work [though I'd probably do in stages instead of all at once]. The other part of the location with all the %20 I would just leave alone, right?

So on this song, I would only change the localhost and leave the rest of the song with the %20s alone?

file://localhost//volume1/music1/Beach%20Boys/Little%20Duece%20Coupe/Beach%20Boys%20-%20409.m4a

I noticed at the very start of the XML file it looks like sort of a setup for the whole file? So I see this highlighted in yellow below [MUSIC FOLDER]"

Do I change that as well as each of the almost 15,000 songs?

SIDE NOTE: He says: You will need to scan the file and remove all smart playlist entries.

I did a search in the XML file for a regular playlist I manually created and found it. I then did the same for a smart playlist and found those too. For the smart playlist I noticed a bunch of data at the end which isn't a part of the manually created playlist:

Here's a regular playlist:

That's likely why he's saying to remove the smart playlists? [all that data that shows up that I didn't see on a couple of manually created playlists. You know this I'm sure, but I was just trying to understand this all.

Thanks!!!

tt2

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Yes, I think you are overthinking it.

I don't know for certain as I haven't tried to make this work, but I would assume you do a standard global search and replace where you replace localhost// with nothing throughout the XML in a single action.

The contents of smart playlists are determined by rule sets which Plex won't know how to handle, and from what you've reported actually cause it problems. You can remove all smart playlists, and perhaps playlist folders too, from the library that you're going to try to use with Plex. That way the XML will already be clear, or you manually excise the smart playlist data if you can make sense of the XML structure and can easily see what to remove.

tt2

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I'll probably just delete the ten or so smart playlists I have as they serve no real purpose right now and then it won't be an issue for the updated xml file that will be a reflection of that action.

When you mention playlist folders, are you referencing playlist folders that might exist within the Xml? I only make a manual playlist. I don't have any playlist folders that I'm aware of unless making a manual

playlist is actually a folder? One guy on the forum said he makes folders of his playlists but it wasn't really related to this. Just wondering.

So I wouldn't need to worry about it if I've not made any playlist folders?

How does the XML know what songs are in a particular playlist? That's kind of fascinating actually.

Thanks.

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I don't really understand that, but as long as it works, hey, that's all that matters, right?!

I have noticed this for a while now and wonder if you have any insight. I archive a lot of things [captures] and I see I saved this from my desktop:

That was from before. And this would seem to jive with my volume1 setup kind of now? But now it never shows the volume1. Only the DS720. Do you know what that would be? Or what it means? Is there any inherent problem that I might have that I'm unaware of because of this as it relates to the work I'm doing?

Thanks.

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Hard to be absolutely sure without testing things locally. What happens if you type in \\volume1 in the address bar? I'm guessing Windows will find the box because you added an entry for it in hosts file at some point, but if it only advertises itself to the network as DS720 then maybe it doesn't know it is also volume1. Perhaps you should be editing the XML paths to point to file://DS720/etc. rather than file://volume1/etc.

tt2

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If I type Volume1 into the address bar in Windows explorer, it brings up this

//volume1:5001/

but only after I say it's a safe site. My Kaspersky wants to block it. I had to say "I accept the risk" or whatever and let it go to Synology after I entered my credentials.

I then re-read your question and realized I wasn't putting two backslashes in. When I did that, it brings it in as below:

So typing it with two backslashes is what I needed to do. Now that it's showing again, I shouldn't worry about DS720 on your comments, right?

Why would I type this so it comes up? Should I always make sure I have this open on my desktop while using iTunes and/or Plex? Or is it simply a way of letting the computer see it when I want to, kind of thing?

Thanks!!!

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Quick question, do you think Plex would have trouble reading playlists with special characters in them such as those examples below? These are actual playlists from my iTunes....

-pre-1984 1 rating

#1songs on the charts [I-TOUCH]

1967-79 [4-5*][Am/CR]

A4-Rating

AAA-SUMMER !!! redone mixing bunch

AM Pop [63-71] 4 &5

Beatles-/*****

I just tried to find some playlists I named that have these various characters. Or do you think I should go through and rename the ones with any special characters? It would literally be a day or two of work maybe as there's hundreds, but I'd rather make sure they're right.

Thanks!

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Good to know. Thanks.

I am still struggling with importing the music. Plex has brought back the feature they claim. And a forum user who has been nice in trying to also assist me has confirmed its working, yet I don't see it. It's suppose to show up next to the playlist navigation and you click the three dots and it's supposed to say "import playlist from itunes". You have to have other settings such as enable iTunes plugin enabled and the path for iTunes XML - all of which I think I have right. Anyway, I thought I would see if you had any thoughts.

It was pointed out that this path should only have one forward slash after "volume1". The XML had two of them before. I did this on both the song files as well as the Music Folder. Do you think it matters?

file://localhost//volume1/music1/Beach%20Boys/Littl.....etc.

On the XML file for the Y mapped original music library, I noticed that the Music Folder location was:

Music Folderfile://localhost//DS720/music/