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[This2ShallPass]

I've used MC for years. Been pretty happy about it, but, really... it's complicated.

I just - after over a year - successfully setup an Id. I'd been using, somewhat successfully, a Win10 machine to serve, with a NAS that holds all my music (I'm an audio-only guy).

I setup the Id. I use JRemote A LOT, and it's easy to connect, by using the "Add Server" feature. Added the Id, running great.

Realized that I could not get my Win10 machine to successfully connect to my Id as a client. MC is really pretty complicated if you don't know all about it! I would love to just "Add Server", as JRemote makes it so easy! Where's "Add Server" in the MC client? It's nowhere. It's what I want to do RIGHT NOW, and I don't know how. Library Manager? Bah. Sync Server? Is that the same? Please explain.

To be clear, I'm also DYING to connect my already-existing dozens of playlists. How do I make sure my new Id can see them? How do I set it up so that NEW playlists I create in my NEW Win10 CLIENT get to my Id?

UPDATE: Tried adding my Playlists to the same folder I've set for auto-import, and then I've run import. Brought in my Playlist files, but no corresponding music IN those Playlists. Then I tried again to edit a Playlist in a text editor to make the path read the same as the music files, and that didn't work either. The Playlist name shows up in "Imported Playlists", but there's no contents.

[RoderickGI]

Yes. If you have successfully set up the Id as a MC Server, and transferred the MC Library from your original Windows 10 machine which was acting as a MC Server to the Id, then on your new Win10 PC under Library Manager, Add Library, give it a name so you can identify it as a Client of the Id Server, then with Library Server selected, enter the Access Key, click Ok, and you are done.

MC should connect to and open the Library on your new Id Server. Actually, it copies the Library from the ID Server to the Windows 10 machine each time you open the Client, and it synchronises the Libraries while the Server and Client remain connected.

The Playlists you have on the Id Server will appear in the Windows 10 MC Client.


The above is assuming that I understood what you have set up correctly. That is, the Id is now your MC Server with a current copy of your original Library on installed. It connects to your NAS for media files, and you control it with JRemote. The Windows 10 PC you are attempting to connect to the Id will act purely as a MC Client, for playback of media from the NAS locally ("Player", under Playing Now), or to control playback of media on the Id ("There", under Playing Now).


Note: If you were actually talking about Playlists that exist on your original Win10 machine, and not those already on your Id, let us know and we will sort that out. It should just require a Library backup from your Win10 machine, and a Library restore on your Id, but since the Id is UNIX, there may be some issues, such as the path to the media files. But if you are using a NAS, you should be okay, depending on how you address the media files. You may want to search the forum for how to move a Library from a Windows PC (your original MC Server) to an Id if you haven't already done that.

Note also that any Playlists created on your new Win10 Client will need time to synchronise to your Id Server. So you can't just create a Playlist on the Win10 Client, immediately close the Client, and expect the Playlist to be on the Id. You will need to either wait a few minutes (usually it is just a few minutes, if not near immediately), or manually sync the Client to the Server, also done under the Library Manager or Playing Now.

[MikeO]

Daft question , if the Id is the server, have you switched off the media server on the PC

It shouldn’t matter BUT it may confuse things

Mike

[This2ShallPass]

Thanks MikeO, I did. 

Thank you RoderickGI, but something's not right. I can create playlists on my Win10 client, and they work perfectly! Picked up by the Id, propagated to JRemote on the iPhone.

But I tried to import the playlists that lived on the NAS (with the path \\BYTOR\SongVault\), and that didn't work. Having had to move playlists before, I tried editing one to match the path that my music files now have, since setting up the Id as server (with the path /mnt/SongVault/), and that didn't work either. None of the imported playlists show any contents, and don't work.

Help?

[RoderickGI]

So, you now have your new Win10 Client connecting to your Id MC Server, correct?

I don't do heaps with Playlists, but what are the Playlists on your NAS? Where did they come from?

The Playlists that MC uses are stored in the MC Library, and not in separate files on the hard disk or a NAS. Sure, you can export them to a file, and import them into an instance of MC, but then they reside inside the MC Library. Besides, if you moved your original MC Server Library to the Id when you set it up, as I mentioned above, then any and all Playlists in that original Library will now already be in the Library on the Id. I assume that the actual Library that the Id uses is stored on the Id, and not on the NAS, which would be the normal implementation.

So, what are you doing, importing Playlists into the Id MC Library? Why?

If you really do need to import Playlists into the MC Library on the ID MC Server, then it would be best to import them into the MC Server on the Id directly, rather than import them using the Win10 MC Client. But I guess that should work, if the Win10 MC Client is connected to the Id MC Server, and the Playlist files are one of the supported formats shown in the import dialogue, and the Library in use has the media files referenced in the Playlists.

I suspect that if the location (path) of the media files in the Library doesn't match the path in the Playlist file, MC may ignore them and the imported Playlist files would be empty, but I haven't tested that. If that is the case, you might need to do a mass edit on your Playlist files to change the path to your media files, so that it matches the path to the files on your NAS.

If you were to use the Auto Import function (manually or automatically) and dropped Playlist files into a watched folder, rather than using the "Files > Import Playlist..." menu item, I'm wondering if the "Fix broken links" setting of "Yes" or "Yes (protect files on missing drives), might delete records from a Playlist if the media file doesn't exist in the location that the Playlist says it is in?

A search of the forum may clarify what's happening.

[This2ShallPass]

I've used MC on my Win10 desktop for years, using the desktop as the server. Always had all files stored on my NAS, including the library files. I've created playlists over those years, because that's what music people do. They represent the labor of love, creativity and frankly: since they took time to make, and since the data (music files, libraries, etc.) are safe, they end up being the thing I care about the most.

Moving the server from Win10 desktop to Id did not move my playlists. So, I tried to import them. No dice (the playlist files imported, so the names appear under the "Imported Playlists" tree, but they're empty). I edited one, as indicate in my post, to change the file path to match the music files, and imported it, but I got the same result.

If someone can point me to a pre-existing thread that might help, I'd be much obliged!

[This2ShallPass]

Any help greatly appreciated! Merry Christmas all!