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Topic: Problem with m3u playlist (Read 4227 times) previous topic - next topic
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Problem with m3u playlist

I have some strange problem when I create m3u.

I have m3u for every album in my music collection and sometimes I can't load complete playlist.

When I try to create m3u8, everything is ok, all files is loaded and all works great but when I create m3u, foobar load only few files.
I try to open m3u file with Notepad and all files is there but foobar is not opening them.

But, that's only with some albums, not every time.

Here is  example of one m3u file:

01. Suite bergamasque, L. 75 III. Clair de Lune (Transcribed for Harp).flac
02. Introduction et Allegro, M. 46.flac
03. Gymnopédie No. 1.flac
04. Comptine d'un autre été l'apres-midi.flac
05. La Valse des monstres.flac
06. La Fille aux cheveux de lin, L. 117.flac
07. La Valse d'Amélie.flac
08. Gnossienne No. 1.flac
09. Gnossienne No. 2.flac
10. Gnossienne No. 3.flac
11. Gnossienne No. 5.flac
12. Bruyeres, L. 123.flac
13. Dances for Harp and Orchestra, L. 103 1. Danse sacrée.flac
14. Dances for Harp and Orchestra, L. 103 2. Danse profane.flac
15. Sur le fil.flac

When I try to play that m3u, I get only this in foobar:

01. Suite bergamasque, L. 75 III. Clair de Lune (Transcribed for Harp).flac
02. Introduction et Allegro, M. 46.flac
03. Gymnopédie No. 1.flac
05. La Valse des monstres.flac
06. La Fille aux cheveux de lin, L. 117.flac
07. La Valse d'Amélie.flac
08. Gnossienne No. 1.flac
09. Gnossienne No. 2.flac
10. Gnossienne No. 3.flac
11. Gnossienne No. 5.flac
13. Dances for Harp and Orchestra, L. 103 1. Danse sacrée.flac
14. Dances for Harp and Orchestra, L. 103 2. Danse profane.flac
15. Sur le fil.flac

Anyone know why's that and what is problem?
I really don't know what to do because that is happened only for some files, not every time and only for m3u.
When I try to create playlist with any other format like m3u8 or fpl, everything is ok.

Thanks!


Re: Problem with m3u playlist

Reply #1
04. Comptine d'un autre été l'apres-midi.flac

ascii code maybe ?
try without him (replace é by e) for check

after it's this, look your codepages (or simimilar)

by défault, i never use no standart ascii (à é ê etc...)
because the car radio ou portable player not print this caracters after i have into for exemple:

04. Comptine d'un autre ?t? l'apres-midi.flac

(or other character stange)

Re: Problem with m3u playlist

Reply #2
04. Comptine d'un autre été l'apres-midi.flac

ascii code maybe ?
try without him (replace é by e) for check

after it's this, look your codepages (or simimilar)

by défault, i never use no standart ascii (à é ê etc...)
because the car radio ou portable player not print this caracters after i have into for exemple:

04. Comptine d'un autre ?t? l'apres-midi.flac

(or other character stange)

Yes, that's diference between m3u and m3u8.

In m3u, I have this name in Notepad:

12. Bruyeres, L. 123.flac

In m3u8 is this (like original file name):

12. Bruyères, L. 123.flac

I try to manually rename m3u file but I can't. Every time i get "Bruyeres" insted of "Bruyères".
Same problem is with other song with that "è".

I have really huge collection with classical music and there is same problem with that characters.

Can I fix that somehow that for m3u or I need to save that playlist's in m3u8?

Now I was just for test install MusicBee and when I play there that album and when I export playlist, all is ok in MusicBee and when I try to play m3u created in foobar, MusicBee ask me to manually add this two files.
From that, in MusicBee all is ok when is created in that player.
Playlist from MusicBee is not ok in foobar (even more songs is missing).

I don't want to use MusicBee because I really don't like that player and is there any fix for that in foobar? Or just tu use m3u8?

Re: Problem with m3u playlist

Reply #3
"I try to manually rename m3u file but I can't. Every time i get "Bruyeres" insted of "Bruyères"."


same when you editing  with your "notepad.exe" ("bloc notes" in french) or other text editor and say me.
Have you look so about "codepages" (or this types of ideas)

Ps i just use m3u, i not use m3u8
Ps2: I check in m3u mode, with His name
02 - Société tu m'auras pas.flac   (two é) and all is good
i have my 13 files and no this bug.

look your codepage i not see others options ?
os use you & version of foobar ?

Re: Problem with m3u playlist

Reply #4
I don't know how to fix that.

I even try with "foo_chacon" but no luck.

OS: Win 10x64 Pro
foobar2000 v1.4 beta 6

Even if I write new tags, use "foo_chacon" for charset, I always loose same two files (file 4. and 12.).

If I open files in Clementine and save playlist from Clementine, all is ok in that player but if I open that playlist in foobar I get same thing or same missing files.
If I make m3u in foobar and then open that m3u in Clementine then I get huge mess in player.

This is m3u from foobar (copy/paste from Notepad):

01. Suite bergamasque, L. 75 III. Clair de Lune (Transcribed for Harp).flac
02. Introduction et Allegro, M. 46.flac
03. Gymnopédie No. 1.flac
04. Comptine d'un autre été l'apres-midi.flac
05. La Valse des monstres.flac
06. La Fille aux cheveux de lin, L. 117.flac
07. La Valse d'Amélie.flac
08. Gnossienne No. 1.flac
09. Gnossienne No. 2.flac
10. Gnossienne No. 3.flac
11. Gnossienne No. 5.flac
12. Bruyeres, L. 123.flac
13. Dances for Harp and Orchestra, L. 103 1. Danse sacrée.flac
14. Dances for Harp and Orchestra, L. 103 2. Danse profane.flac
15. Sur le fil.flac

This is m3u created in Clementine (copy/paste from Notepad):

#EXTM3U
#EXTINF:278,Lavinia Meijer - Suite bergamasque, L. 75: III. Clair de Lune (Transcribed for Harp)
Lavinia Meijer - Voyage (2015) [24-96]/01. Suite bergamasque, L. 75 III. Clair de Lune (Transcribed for Harp).flac
#EXTINF:601,Lavinia Meijer - Amsterdam Sinfonietta - Introduction et Allegro, M. 46
Lavinia Meijer - Voyage (2015) [24-96]/02. Introduction et Allegro, M. 46.flac
#EXTINF:216,Lavinia Meijer - Gymnopédie No. 1
Lavinia Meijer - Voyage (2015) [24-96]/03. Gymnopédie No. 1.flac
#EXTINF:126,Lavinia Meijer - Comptine d'un autre été: l'après-midi
Lavinia Meijer - Voyage (2015) [24-96]/04. Comptine d'un autre été l'après-midi.flac
#EXTINF:214,Lavinia Meijer - La Valse des monstres
Lavinia Meijer - Voyage (2015) [24-96]/05. La Valse des monstres.flac
#EXTINF:160,Lavinia Meijer - La Fille aux cheveux de lin, L. 117
Lavinia Meijer - Voyage (2015) [24-96]/06. La Fille aux cheveux de lin, L. 117.flac
#EXTINF:158,Lavinia Meijer - La Valse d'Amélie
Lavinia Meijer - Voyage (2015) [24-96]/07. La Valse d'Amélie.flac
#EXTINF:273,Lavinia Meijer - Gnossienne No. 1
Lavinia Meijer - Voyage (2015) [24-96]/08. Gnossienne No. 1.flac
#EXTINF:126,Lavinia Meijer - Gnossienne No. 2
Lavinia Meijer - Voyage (2015) [24-96]/09. Gnossienne No. 2.flac
#EXTINF:202,Lavinia Meijer - Gnossienne No. 3
Lavinia Meijer - Voyage (2015) [24-96]/10. Gnossienne No. 3.flac
#EXTINF:174,Lavinia Meijer - Gnossienne No. 5
Lavinia Meijer - Voyage (2015) [24-96]/11. Gnossienne No. 5.flac
#EXTINF:185,Lavinia Meijer - Bruyeres, L. 123
Lavinia Meijer - Voyage (2015) [24-96]/12. Bruyères, L. 123.flac
#EXTINF:293,Lavinia Meijer - Amsterdam Sinfonietta - Dances for Harp and Orchestra, L. 103: 1. Danse sacrée
Lavinia Meijer - Voyage (2015) [24-96]/13. Dances for Harp and Orchestra, L. 103 1. Danse sacrée.flac
#EXTINF:279,Lavinia Meijer - Amsterdam Sinfonietta - Dances for Harp and Orchestra, L. 103: 2. Danse profane
Lavinia Meijer - Voyage (2015) [24-96]/14. Dances for Harp and Orchestra, L. 103 2. Danse profane.flac
#EXTINF:264,Lavinia Meijer - Sur le fil
Lavinia Meijer - Voyage (2015) [24-96]/15. Sur le fil.flac

How is m3u from Clementine and other players look so different than foobar?

Here is screenshots for some other album (Bedřich Smetana - Má Vlast (James Levine, Wiener Philharmoniker)):

m3u created with foobar and played in foobar:

https://imgur.com/a/qA9pt

m3u created in foobar and played in Clementine:

https://imgur.com/a/fsAu0

m3u created with Clementine or any other source and played in Clementine:

https://imgur.com/a/1WQZ8

If I make playlist with app like Mp3tag or Clemntine, I get m3u like this:

#EXTM3U
#EXTINF:945,Bedřich Smetana - Vyšehrad
01 - Vyšehrad.flac
#EXTINF:725,Bedřich Smetana - Vltava (The Moldau)
02 - Vltava (The Moldau).flac
#EXTINF:573,Bedřich Smetana - Šárka
03 - Šárka.flac
#EXTINF:735,Bedřich Smetana - Z českých luhů a hájů (From Bohemia's Woods and Fields)
04 - Z českých luhů a hájů (From Bohemia's Woods and Fields).flac
#EXTINF:752,Bedřich Smetana - Tábor
05 - Tábor.flac
#EXTINF:856,Bedřich Smetana - Blaník
06 - Blaník.flac

If I make m3u with foobar, it look like this (same files, same Notepad, just m3u from foobar):

01 - Vyšehrad.flac
02 - Vltava (The Moldau).flac
03 - Šárka.flac
04 - Z českých luhů a hájů (From Bohemia's Woods and Fields).flac
05 - Tábor.flac
06 - Blaník.flac

I really don't know what's wrong, why I loose always same two files from first album (Lavinia Meijer - Voyage) but is there problem with creating m3u in foobar because it look so different of all other m3u files created in any other app.









Re: Problem with m3u playlist

Reply #5
Those #EXTM3U and #EXTINF lines are part of Extended M3U. I'm not certain of the format's inventor but it was popular during Winamp days and handy there as otherwise the player would have only shown a meaningless track name or wasted a lot of time parsing metainfo.

foobar2000 doesn't use the extended format for anything. The extra lines won't cause harm though as they are just ignored.

M3U playlist is old and predates unicode. It requires using system ansi codepage so it has very limited character support. The M3U8 format is otherwise identical but uses UTF-8 encoding so it supports all characters and emojis.
The problem names you have pasted to this thread don't show any unsupported characters though. I copied your names to test files here and created an m3u playlist from them with foobar2000 and there were no character changes or loading problems.

One explanation I can think of is that your filenames use different unicode normalization and ansi doesn't have the characters to support them. This forum could have normalized the encoding so my copy/pasted names were problem-free. There was a thread about such a problem half a year ago.

Re: Problem with m3u playlist

Reply #6
@wi32
Hello, thank's for you'r copy paste, easy for your explain now

@#EXTM3U
#EXTINF:945,Bedřich Smetana - Vyšehrad  <<< here you're put the name with non ascii standart eg š
01 - Vyšehrad.flac             <<< Here no, must always for 100% compatible, you must use only ascii standard (no š etc...)

why, the day ou you change of player, or system audio, you're have bigs problems.

With russian flacs for example, same with others softwares for converting *.cue i have this bugs
(file *.flac not see and no loaded by per exemple VUPlayer249(Converter flac & ape)
my reader car, or my nomade player.
Use always name of file standard ascii, after make your choice (no standard) in tags.

regards,

and + 1 with case top with bugs about unicodes, 99% case if this.

Re: Problem with m3u playlist

Reply #7
Thanks for clarifying the difference between m3u and m3u8.
It was confusing for me because m3u created in foobar2000 is complete different of m3u created in other players.
From all this, m3u8 is better and in my case works great.
Maybe is problem in my OS (Win10 Pro x64) but that will be first time ever.
Language of my OS is English, only settings for my keyboard is for Croatian language.

Funny thing, today I was tagging some music and when I want to create m3u from this files:

01 Tribulations (Radio Edit).flac
02 Tribulations (Album Version).flac
03 Tribulations (Tiga's Out Of The Trance Closet Mix).flac
04 Tribulations (Lindstrom Mix).flac
05 Tribulations (Instrumental).flac

...and of course I get only this in m3u:

01 Tribulations (Radio Edit).flac
02 Tribulations (Album Version).flac
03 Tribulations (Tiga's Out Of The Trance Closet Mix).flac
05 Tribulations (Instrumental).flac

Problem in this track is probably tags and file with character ""ø":

Tribulations ( Mix)

In m3u I get this:

04 Tribulations (Lindstrom Mix).flac

I try to remove "ø" from file name and tags but problem is still here, I can't play it with m3u.

m3u8 save the day and with m3u8 is all ok.

m3u8:

01 Tribulations (Radio Edit).flac
02 Tribulations (Album Version).flac
03 Tribulations (Tiga's Out Of The Trance Closet Mix).flac
04 Tribulations (Lindstrøm Mix).flac
05 Tribulations (Instrumental).flac

I never see that problem on my previous OS (Win 7).
When I was using XP and OS before XP, I was using Winamp.

From now I will use only m3u8 and that's it.
I'm really sorry for all this but I don't like when something is wrong and I can't fix it. :)

P.S.

Is there any settings in Discog tagger to convert that characters to normal English or something to convert files?
I have large collection of classical music and that will be really useful (there is file names with all kind of characters).






Re: Problem with m3u playlist

Reply #8
So what you want it to do, is scan an entire directory for possible Unicode simplifications of Unicode filenames, so that it can handle M3U playlists that have simplified character substitutions in their names? Or maybe instead, you'd like it to know when a path can't be saved as an ANSI string properly for .m3u playlists, and refuse to save such a file? I think the latter would be a better option.

Re: Problem with m3u playlist

Reply #9
So what you want it to do, is scan an entire directory for possible Unicode simplifications of Unicode filenames, so that it can handle M3U playlists that have simplified character substitutions in their names? Or maybe instead, you'd like it to know when a path can't be saved as an ANSI string properly for .m3u playlists, and refuse to save such a file? I think the latter would be a better option.

I really don't know what's best solution because I have in collection plenty of names like "György Ligeti", "Arvo Pärt" etc. with file names like this "13 12 Études - 2e livre – 10. Pour les sonorités opposées".

Maybe if I can somehow convert that from ""György Ligeti"" to ""Gyorgy Ligeti" or to normalize all in English?
That's first part of problem, to convert all that in normal English characters.

Second part is when I'm writing tags with Discogs Tagger (foo_discogs) can I get somehow normal English words, not original ones like they are in tags at Discogs?

Here is one example:

https://www.discogs.com/Various-2001-A-Space-Odyssey-Original-Motion-Picture-Soundtrack/release/10047398

Can I make foo_discog to write in this case "Gyorgy Ligeti" instead "György Ligeti"? Or I need to rename all that manually?

I can make new m3u playlists. I don't need to save it like m3u, I can use m3u8 but from all that, non English words are sometimes problem and maybe to prevent all that with renaming all files to standard English words and to automatically write tags without characters like "ö", "é", "š" etc.

Thanks!

 

Re: Problem with m3u playlist

Reply #10
You can try writing filenames using the $ansi() function, I'm not sure if it will follow all of the substitutions you'll need, though.

Re: Problem with m3u playlist

Reply #11
Your latest example strings seem to confirm it's unicode normalization issue. I have suggested Peter to add the ability to fix these to the tag clean up feature. We'll see if he does.

Below is a screenshot showing your names vs how the file should be named. The properly normalized name is perfectly valid for m3u.

Re: Problem with m3u playlist

Reply #12
Latest foobar2000 v1.4 versions have improved this situation as the player now warns user when trying to save an M3U playlist that contains Unicode characters.

In addition I wrote a component that allows normalizing the Unicode characters used in tags. Download link: Tag Normalizer.

To use the component select all the tracks you wish to operate on, right click and select Tagging -> Normalize Unicode characters.
Once it has finished processing it will show a dialog window listing all the tag fields that will be normalized if "Update tags" button is pressed.

By default it uses Normalization Form KC but there's a toggle under advanced preferences -> Tagging -> Tag Normalizer to switch to Form C.

Once the tags are normalized you can use the File Operations tool to rename the tracks to normalized form from the new tag values.

Re: Problem with m3u playlist

Reply #13
Hello,

since foobar2000 v1.4 Beta 7 M3U playlists always contain the absolute path. Previously, the relative path was used if possible (e.g. only the filenames, when playlist only contains files of the same directory and was saved into this directory).

Is that intended? I find the behavior with the relative path better.