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Author Topic: Android Playlists: m3u format with utf8 encoding?  (Read 11413 times)

Quaternary

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Android Playlists: m3u format with utf8 encoding?
« on: July 12, 2010, 07:03:48 am »

I'm using Media Center 15 to synchronise several audio playlists with my Android handset (an SE Xperia X10).

In general, the combination works extremely well, and is very nearly seamless, with one glaring exception: it appears that because the m3u files generated by Media Center have ANSI encoding, the phone ignores any tracks referenced in those playlists whose paths and/or filenames contain extended characters.

If I manually convert the playlists to UTF8, they work perfectly.

Is there any way to have Media Center automatically create m3u files with UTF8 encoding?
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Matt

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Re: Android Playlists: m3u format with utf8 encoding?
« Reply #1 on: July 12, 2010, 08:00:07 am »

Saving in different text encodings is no problem, but I wasn't aware of any software that treated M3U as UTF-8.  So I'm afraid if we used UTF-8 for M3U, it would break compatibility with lots of other software and devices.

Is there any special header or marking in the playlist to say it was encoded with UTF-8?

Thanks.
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Matt Ashland, JRiver Media Center

Matt

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Re: Android Playlists: m3u format with utf8 encoding?
« Reply #2 on: July 12, 2010, 11:59:29 am »

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M3U

Could you try renaming the playlist to "M3U8" and see if it works?  If so, we could make this one of the optional playlist formats in the handheld engine.

Thanks.
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Matt Ashland, JRiver Media Center

Quaternary

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Re: Android Playlists: m3u format with utf8 encoding?
« Reply #3 on: July 12, 2010, 06:04:56 pm »

I renamed the M3U files generated by Media Center to M3U8, disconnected the handset, and rescanned the SD card. Unfortunately, it looks as if M3U8 files are not recognised, because now, no playlists show up in any of the media applications on the device.

The M3U files that work do not have any special headers. They are generated by Media Center 15, using the "M3U (relative paths)" option for the "Playlist Format" setting in the Handheld Options menu for the device.

At the moment, after synchronising with Media Center, I am using Windows Explorer to browse to the relevant directory on the device, opening each M3U with Notepad, selecting 'Save As...', changing the encoding from ANSI to UTF8, saving a new copy of the M3U, and deleting the original. After that, I can disconnect the phone, rescan the SD card, and the playlists work as expected.
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gigglez

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Re: Android Playlists: m3u format with utf8 encoding?
« Reply #4 on: July 31, 2010, 10:45:28 am »

I don't know if i am having the same problem I bought a samsung captivate this week. I can sync the music to my phone but it will not play the playlists.

They show up on the card if i browse to it but the default music player can't read them. I downloaded mixzing from the market and it can read the playlists.  It does give all my tracks different ratings then they have in media center.

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JimH

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Re: Android Playlists: m3u format with utf8 encoding?
« Reply #5 on: July 31, 2010, 10:47:57 am »

What version of Android does the phone have?
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