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[hcm3]

Most newer automobiles today support some sort of digital media playback via a thumb drive connected to a USB port, or an SD card in an SD card slot. Unfortunately, most of these stock entertainment systems in modern cars do not support .M3U type playlists - they only browse and play back files in a folder hierarchy.

To build a playlist type listening experience while driving, there is a workable solution. Instead of filing each song in a traditional structure like: \Artist\Album\tracks.mp3, save them to the removable drive like \Playlist\tracks.mp3.

So in a traditional scenario of \Artist\Album\tracks.mp3, one would have to listen to the music in this order:

Code: [Select]

Artist A, Album 1, Song 1
                   Song 2
                   Song 3
Artist B, Album 1, Song 1
                   Song 2
Artist B, Album 2, Song 1

This can get very tedious and encourage distracted driving while one searches for different music to listen to.

A better solution would be so save them on the removable device like this:

Code: [Select]

Playlist 1/
          001_Artist_Track.mp3
          002_Artist_Track.mp3
Playlist 2/
          001_Artist_Track.mp3
          001_Artist_Track.mp3
And so on. This encourages picking one folder to play, and letting it play - no other interaction is needed. The beauty of this numbered sorting method is every time the same playlist is synced, the order can be randomized.

Unfortunately, I haven't found a way to accomplish this in Media Center.  There is no [Playlist] variable to use when setting the path in "File, Paths & More".

Is there a way I can get this to work?

[RoderickGI]

Are you sure your car doesn't support some format of playlist? MC supports other formats, or one of the supported formats could be converted to something the car handles.

If a newer car only played music by folder and filename listing, I wouldn't call it modern. What is the car, or head unit in it?

A [Playlist] field wouldn't help, because a file can belong to multiple Playlists. Unless it just returned the current Playlist being synced, internal to the Handheld Sync process. But I don't think Sync works quite like that, as a file could exist in multiple Playlists that are being synced, and wouldn't be copied twice. So I think MC just gathers a list of files to sync and never has a one to one relationship between a file and a Playlist. Then syncs the Playlist file to retain the playing sequence. Note that your solution could result in multiple copies of a file being synced, if they appeared in two or more Playlists.

There is a function called FilePlaylists() which might be helpful: https://wiki.jriver.com/index.php/Miscellaneous_Functions#FilePlaylists.28.29 But no.


You could try a bunch of stuff to emulate Playlist functionality, but my first approach would be to get the car to handle Playlists.

[gtandzi]

I have a different problem with this. My car has two USB ports that connect to the entertainment system, and I connect an iPod Touch to one and a 250GB USB drive to the other. I like to have only classical music on the Touch, and only non-classical music on the USB drive. I can easily use iTunes to set up a sync for only classical music (and its various sub-genres). But although I have set up a counter-playlist in JRiver that has only non-classical music, when I sync to the USB stick using that playlist, I seem to just a get a random selection of all my music. I attach the appropriate page from the options>handheld menu. What am I doing wrong?

[BryanC]

Could you post your smartlist rules?

[gtandzi]

Unfortunately I’m not at that computer for the next four days. However, I can tell you that the playlist has two rules: Media = audio; and genre is not Classical, concerto, chamber etc. And that when I check the contents of the actual playlist no tracks with those genres appear - but they do get synced to the thumbdrive.

[BryanC]

I just noticed that you also have "all audio" checked in your selective sync settings. Uncheck it.

[gtandzi]

Ahh! So that’s an OR not and AND?

[hcm3]

Are you sure your car doesn't support some format of playlist? MC supports other formats, or one of the supported formats could be converted to something the car handles.

If a newer car only played music by folder and filename listing, I wouldn't call it modern. What is the car, or head unit in it?

A [Playlist] field wouldn't help, because a file can belong to multiple Playlists. Unless it just returned the current Playlist being synced, internal to the Handheld Sync process. But I don't think Sync works quite like that, as a file could exist in multiple Playlists that are being synced, and wouldn't be copied twice. So I think MC just gathers a list of files to sync and never has a one to one relationship between a file and a Playlist. Then syncs the Playlist file to retain the playing sequence. Note that your solution could result in multiple copies of a file being synced, if they appeared in two or more Playlists.

There is a function called FilePlaylists() which might be helpful: https://wiki.jriver.com/index.php/Miscellaneous_Functions#FilePlaylists.28.29 But no.


You could try a bunch of stuff to emulate Playlist functionality, but my first approach would be to get the car to handle Playlists.

Upon re-examination, my truck's uConnect does indeed play .M3U playlists if the playlist is at root and relative. So that's awesome. I found this on some random Jeep forum talking about uConnect stereos.

My work car has this aftermarket stereo: http://www.us.jvc.com/car/indashreceivers/kd_t900bts/

It supports all the basic audio formats plus FLAC, which is great. Although I can't get any type of playlist format to be recognized in this device, which is odd because it's fairly new. I did manage to find an old thread on this forum I had forgotten about where I ran into this same issue: https://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php/topic,74393.msg504707.html#msg504707

Basically I just created a handheld device profile in MC for each playlist I wanted to sync, and had them sync automatically when connected.

[RoderickGI]

  You asked almost exactly the same question, almost seven years ago, and got almost the same answers. 

I would be very surprised if the KD-T900BTS didn't support Playlists in some form. After all, it does support playlists when using Spotify, so it knows what they are. See Page 11 of the manual. I think that is a question for JVC Support.
Best Buy seems to think you can play Playlists with it.


There is an alternative though; Use your phone and Apps on it to play music to the KD-T900BTS via the USB port. That seems to be supported, and you would have a pick of Apps that would run on the phone and could use any playlists synced to the phone or the microSD card used in it.

For example, JRiver for Android (I am assuming you use an Android phone as you posted in the "Androids and other portables" forum) could be run on your phone, based on files synced from your MC installation. You could then just use the built in Panel User Interface to play Playlists that had been synced. Or you could use JRemote, MO 4Media, or Gizmo to connect to and control playback from your phone, with output via the USB port to the KD-T900BTS. That way all music would be on your phone, and not plugged into the car, needing to be transferred to your truck, or collected to do new syncs. Your phone, I assume, is always with you.

Given the limitations when using the KD-T900BTS with Android (Page 7 of the manual), I would think driving music from the phone would be much preferable. The KD-T900BTS seems to be much more functional when using an iDevice, at least based on the manual.

Hmmm, take a look at this short YouTube video. At 1 minute 8 seconds, the demonstrator shows Playlists being selected as the source when the unit is in "For Android" mode, and a phone is connected to the USB port. While not shown, if it can do that when connected to a phone, I think it could do it from a USB drive as well.

[hcm3]

Yes, I asked this 7 years ago, and it still is missing from the feature list.

I don't want to mess with my phone while driving. Both my vehicles accept some form of flash storage for music playback. My Uconnect system does recognize m3u playlists, so that's a great feature for that system. My JVC will not recognize any form of playlist. It only plays back by the folder structure.

I've since moved to MusicBee, because that program does what I need. I want to love back to MC, because it has more powerful database features.

Plugging my phone into anything in my vehicles is a no go. I have Qi charging in both, and I don't mess with my phone while driving.

[RoderickGI]

Did you ever ask JVC about the ability to play Playlists stored on a USB drive?

The Crutchfield video shows playlists being used extensively with other sources, as I mentioned above. It just seems very strange that the KD-T900BTS can't handle playlists on a USB drive, even if it isn't documented anywhere. It looks like you should be able to select USB as the source, then select Playlists using the Volume Knob. That's what you do when selecting Android as the source.

Maybe any Playlists need to be in a specific directory for the KD-T900BTS to be able to see them?


Also, the KD-T900BTS supports "Audio/Video Remote Control Profile (AVRCP) {page 15 of the English manual}, so when you connect your phone (is it an Android phone?) to the KD-T900BTS it should be able to control the phone and select music and Playlists from it. No connected wires. No messing with the phone while driving. Just use the KD-T900BTS to select a Playlist and play the music. (Note that it looks like the KD-T900BTS only supports the AAC codec when the source is connected via Bluetooth, but MC can convert your music to AAC when transferring to your phone using Handheld Sync, using the QAAC external encoder.)

Specifically, on Page 21 of the English manual, when Bluetooth - Audio has been selected as the source, the manual refers to "Select a file from a folder/list". I suspect that the "list" the manual refers to is a Playlist.

The KD-T900BTS is capable of controlling Pandora, Spotify, and iHeartRadio using its own controls, so you don't have to touch the phone. It is only logical that it could also control audio playback of local files on the phone via Bluetooth AVRCP.

Have you really, thoroughly, investigated these options?

[hcm3]

I have synced about five playlists to a micro thumb drive and set MediaCenter to create playlists at root. All the different flavors of playlist. My head unit did not recognize any playlists. Only folders.

From page 32 of the manual:

Code: [Select]

REFERENCES
Playable files
• Playable audio file:
For disc: MP3 (.mp3), WMA (.wma), AAC (.aac)
For USB mass storage class device:
MP3 (.mp3), WMA (.wma), AAC (.aac), AAC (.m4a), WAV (.wav), FLAC (.flac)
• Playable disc media: CD-R/CD-RW/CD-ROM
• Playable disc file format: ISO 9660 Level 1/2, Joliet, Long file name
• Playable USB device file system: FAT12, FAT16, FAT32
Even when audio files comply with the standards listed above, playback may be impossible
depending on the types or conditions of media or devices.
The AAC (.m4a) file in a CD encoded by iTunes cannot be played on this unit.
No mention of any type of playlist. In fact, searching the manual for the keyword "playlist" only return playing Spotify playlists. Searching for ".m3u" returns nothing. Sure, I can play playlists synced to my phone over bluetooth or over USB. I don't want to do that. I have a 256 GB thumbdrive specifically for music in my car for this stereo to always have music playing without touching my phone, wondering about it's level of charge, or even having it on me.

What you're describing is not my preferred method of consumption. Hence my feature request. I've paid for JRiver MediaCenter and have kept it updated for years, and I would very much like to fit it into my own workflow. I only ask for a simple feature that other music management applications provide. MusicBee, Mediamonkey, and Helium Music Manager all support this.

I didn't think this was a big ask, but it kind of breaks MediaCenter for me.
I've tried ways around it:
Setting up an external device in for each playlist folder in MC which was too unwieldy with tens of playlists to sync to one thumbdrive.
Using third party software to rearrange the files on the drive after MC synced which didn't always work correctly.
And finally, moving to MusicBee, which, in this regard, works flawlessly. MusicBee has other shortcomings, which unfortunatey, are baked into the core of that program.

I really don't want to sound like a jerk here, but "It's JVC's fault" sounds weak for a feature request (yes, I have posted this in the MC 26 feature request thread). I really want to move back to MC, and keep paying for upgrades. I really love the power of the expression language, and what it's capable of, but I've spend countless hours collecting thousands of CDs, ripping them to FLAC, and meticulously correcting the metatdata, to just be told I'm doing it wrong.

[RoderickGI]

Actually nobody has said you are doing it wrong. I have said I'm surprised the KD-T900BTS can't do it. Also, you did say the uConnect couldn't play Playlists, and then found it could. I'm just exploring the possibility that the KD-T900BTS can do it, but it just isn't documented.

The KD-T900BTS may need Playlists in a specific folder to find them, such as \Playlists\, rather than in the root directory. Hence I asked if you had asked JVC.
EDIT: I can't ask for you because JVC want all sorts of proof of purchase just to send an email to their support people. 

Also, once you have your phone paired with the KD-T900BTS, you wouldn't need to touch the phone to play music, as I said. Of course, audio over Bluetooth is restricted to 48kHz, so depending on your source files you may end up with a lower quality reproduction.


Anyway, I'm just a user like you, so I can't say what JRiver may or may not do in the way of adding functionality. To do what you initially requested two functional changes would be required.

1). The Playlist name that a track belongs to would have to be available for use in the Audio Path for Handheld Sync. That would need a special function like the "Custom(playlists)" function used in the tag window.
2). The Sequence number of tracks in a Playlist would have to be available for use in the Audio Filename Rule for Handheld Sync. Several people have asked for the Sequence number to be available for MC expressions, but that has never been resolved.

Neither would be impossible, but both would require access to data that are not stored anywhere particularly, or aren't stored simply like tags.


I think this is over to JRiver staff to comment, or not.