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[FL Guy]

folks at MC,

I'm getting unexpected results when using the Sync action. Probably user error, but I'm not getting it... Can someone please help me to understand?

The good news is, it looks like the music files were transferred as requested by the MC Sync action. However,

1) Playlists were NOT transferred to the Android device's SD card as requested, despite (I believe) having set the MC Sync Options to sync music and playlists (pls see attached). Selecting Recheck Sync in the Action Window says "Device is fully synchronized". I have quite a few playlists included in MC. What is needed to get them transferred to the device please?

2) A message in the Action / Details window states Sync 10723 files - 17.1 GB Over capacity - this seems to me to be incorrect, or at least I don't understand the message.

If the device is fully synchronized as stated in the Action Window, then (it seems to me that) Sync should not result in any additional storage being required. Also, a large amount of free space remains on the devices SD card. So I'm not sure what files Sync Action window status message is counting as needing to be transferred.
a) Can someone explain this message?
b) Is it possible to see how much additional space, if any, is *actually* needed on the device/card, given the current Sync Options?

3) Selecting Recheck Sync Status produces a window which shows a large list of files, many of which (photos) should NOT be considered for synchronization according to the Sync Option settings. Is there a way to show the status of only the files which should actually be synced *based on the current Sync Options*?

I'd appreciate any guidance.

[FL Guy]

Anyone?

[FL Guy]

I really like much of MC SW and would like to continue using it, however as it stands I have to use a second tool to sync playlists with a phone which requires exporting and managing/maintaining playlists outside of MC shouldn't be the case, and

-- message truncated for some reason --

[BradATIMA]

As far as transferring playlists goes, when you're in the options dialog, expand Files, Paths, & More. Make sure 'Write Custom Playlist Files' is checked. That should force it to create any playlists you've selected in the specified format to the specified folder.

[FL Guy]

Thanks for the reply, and suggestion.

Unfortunately, in MC 26, I don't see the option you mentioned - 'Write Custom Playlist Files'. But maybe I'm missing it...? Please see attached screenshot for the options which are present.

Could you please clarify? Thanks

[FL Guy]

Hello? Can anyone please clarify the suggestion in the previous post - it does not appear to match the options available in the version of MC I'm currently using (#26) - unless I'm not looking in the right place?

[JimH]

Hello.  It's New Year's.

[FL Guy]

Yes it is - happy new years (eve)!

My question requesting clarification (of a response which doesn't seem to match MC #26 at least as far as I can tell) was posted 4 days ago. And my original question was posted on December 16th (9 days before Christmas), and the first (partial) response to my questions was received on the 24th - 8 days later. So yes, I am hoping for some help to hopefully resolve this issue soon.

I realize that everyone is busy, and I appreciate any help. Perhaps we can start again next week, and hopefully get to the bottom of this.

Thanks, and best regards.

[BradATIMA]

The option will not show up unless you have a valid mobile device selected. From the screenshot, it looks like the selected device is a USB flash drive.

[FL Guy]

Thanks much for the reply, and info.

The lack of the option, and the reference to the USB card in the screenshot was due to an error when I reproduced the options for the purpose of capturing the screen shot. Per your suggestion, when I select the phone, and in particular the card in the phone, the 'Write Custom Playlist Files' option does appear - so that explains why the option wasn't appearing when I went back to look for it - thanks.

Unfortunately, when I try to execute the Synchronize Handheld action with the 'Write Custom Playlist Files' option checked in order to see if the playlists would now be transferred, the error message in the attached screenshot is displayed.

To recap, in case this is helpful, the issues I have encountered/I am encountering while attempting to transfer (only) my music, album art and playlists to the phone can be summarized as:
1) Playlists didn't transfer - hopefully/presumably this will be fixed by selecting the 'Write Custom Playlist Files' option
2) The Sync Details display includes lots of files which should NOT be synchronized. It looks like many of them are photos. I've attempted to exclude them, unsuccessfully apparently.
3) The Sync Options size / capacity summary message in the action window seems to be including the capacity required for a large number of files which should NOT be synchronized/transferred to the phone - and the (attached) error message when I try to (re)Sync reflects that the Sync action is trying to transfer a very large set of files to the phone which I don not intend to be included or transferred

[FL Guy]

Fyi, here's what I've observed since the last feedback (1/4/21).

1) All images (my photos) are included in the sync list, even though the option to sync Image type files is not checked (pls see attached).  As a result, the Sync action reports there is not enough space on the selected device or it will be 100% full (I have a lot of images).
Perhaps there is another option which may be creating confusion? Please let me know if that is the case.
I have removed the images from the MC library to work around this for now.

2) User generated playlists do not appear in the sync list, even though the option to sync 'Custom' playlists is selected

3) The Sync Details window does not recognize that the music files are already on the selected device (card in the selected phone).
This results in Sync Action reporting that there is not enough space to perform the sync, or the device will be 100% full after sync (which should not be the case).
As far as I can tell, the paths on the card match the paths in the File Option. Please let me know if any adjustments are needed.
Perhaps this would be recognized & corrected if the message is disregarded and a Sync is attempted?

4) When selecting a handheld to sync
- The Action window first says Device is Fully Synced
- The Sync Action window says device is Never Synced
- The Sync Action window capacity message indicates that the music will be _added_ to the card, although the music files are already present.
As far as I can tell, the paths of the music files on the device match the paths in the File Option

I hope this helps. Please let me know if there are questions or recommendations.

[FL Guy]

Some conclusions (in addition to those above) for the potential benefit of anyone who reads this - using MC 26:

1) Issues with music file sync: Despite the fact that MC performed the initial sync with the handheld (SD card in an Android phone), so most the files that should be transferred already existed on the phone, in the correct locations etc., after that, for some reason MC was not recognizing that the music files are already on the handheld.

I don't know what caused/causes this, however deleting the music files from the handheld and allowing MC to transfer the music files again (using the Sync action) seems to have resolved this issue, at least for now.

2) Playlist transfer/sync:

a) It turns out that if MC doesn't recognize the syntax in the playlist file when a playlist is imported (there seem to be lots of variations used by many tools over time) or the file is not found (e.g. due to relative file paths in the playlist file), then an empty playlist will be created in the MC library in Windows - No error or warning messages are produced which I could find.

b) If a playlist is empty in the MC on the Windows PC, no playlist file is written on the handheld during Sync operations (not even an empty file). Again, no message(s) which I could find about this in the Sync Details (or elsewhere in the UI).

c) When (non-empty) playlists are transferred to a handheld using the sync action, if a file with the same name as the playlist being transferred already exists on the handheld, a second/duplicate playlist file is created on the handheld in the same location as the original. No warning message(s) about this which I could find.

I hope this helps anyone who might be trying to sync music & playlists with their Android device - cheers.

[iphigenie]

I'm adding to this one instead of creating a new post as we'll hopefully avoid re-treading already tried things that way

Having the same issues on MC27 from windows 10, Android phone with SD card
 
- images and videos shown unless I manually remove the extensions and too many images crash the tool (but removing the image extensions kills covers)
- sync to empty folder works, but next one goes "device is 0" and i can't sync again

this is not feasible and there must be a cause and solution otherwise this forum would be full of complaints, surely?