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Author Topic: Astell&Kern "AK Jr" interface  (Read 7085 times)

riparius

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Astell&Kern "AK Jr" interface
« on: March 02, 2017, 10:55:56 pm »

or am I missing something?  I used MC22 to transfer my music files from my PC to my new AK Jr, and was assuming that I'd be able to create playlists on the AK Jr using Media Center, but apparently you can't do that.  Rather, it appears that playlists may be created only by laboriously navigating on the AK Jr's screen, going from each one of the hundreds of songs in your library to another, tapping, on a sluggish screen, through multiple screens each time to add each song to the playlist.  They're kidding, right?

Also, when you choose the "Genres" group on the home screen and then choose a genre, you don't get a list of that genre's artists, followed by an artist's albums, followed by an album's songs; rather, you go straight to a list of songs . . . hundreds of songs, which you must scroll through on a sluggish screen.
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marko

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http://www.advancedmp3players.co.uk/shop/MP3_Players.1/Astell___Kern.636/AKJR/Astell___Kern_AK_Jr_High_Resolution_64GB_Music_Player_-_The_Starting_Point_of_Music.14603.html

It's a lovely looking thing.... but £350... for an mp3 player?  :o

I thought everyone had consigned their mp3 players to the back of the 'man drawer' in favour of smart phones these days?
I would love to be more helpfull, but have zero experience with the device, sorry. Someone else should chime in soon :)

-marko

riparius

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but £350... for an mp3 player?  :o

-marko
@2/3 that price, actually.  But given the way I'm feeling about it right now, I wouldn't send in two cereal box tops for one of these things.
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JimH

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Try creating a playlist in MC and syncing that to your device (using Handheld Sync).
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riparius

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Try creating a playlist in MC and syncing that to your device (using Handheld Sync).
Thanks, I tried that, but while doing that does produce a playlist entry, with the playlist songs showing, under the AK Jr device entry in MC's "Drives & Devices" section, when I then check the AK Jr's "PLAYLISTS" group, the playlist is not there.  So, while you're working in MC, the playlist creation process appears to be successfully creating the playlist on the AK Jr, but actually it's not.

edited: 3/4/17
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riparius

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After further research, it appears that my initial understanding is correct: It is not possible to create (true) playlists for the AK Jr using JRiver MC.  If anyone knows otherwise, I'd love to hear about it.

FWIW, the only workaround that I've been able to come up with is to:
  • accept that no music will be stored permanently in the device's "Music" folder (found in the "Folders" group on the home screen) and that you will therefore have to copy files to the device each time you wish to create a playlist;
  • treat the device's "Music" folder as the container for an ersatz playlist;
  • set up the "Playlist Path" in MC's "Options" screen in whatever way you'd like it to be structured (for example, entering only "Music" in the path, so the AK Jr's "Music" folder shows only the playlist's songs, eliminating the need to drill down through folders in order to access the songs); and
  • create a playlist in MC and sync it to the device.

edit, 3/6/17: Should have mentioned that the ersatz playlist mentioned above is limited to alphabetical order; the AK Jr will not follow the order of the list created in MC.  A few days of this experience has led me to the conclusion that the AK Jr is now my hi-res pet rock.   
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Denti

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Re: Astell&Kern "AK Jr" - Is its interface as awful as it first seems . . .
« Reply #6 on: August 12, 2023, 08:21:43 am »

Old thread, I know. But I would think the solution would be to convert the M3U file to a PLS file. I found one program (Helium Music Manager) that does this, but clearly not correctly. Anyone know of a program that can do this properly?
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MalcolmB

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Re: Astell&Kern "AK Jr" - Is its interface as awful as it first seems . . .
« Reply #7 on: November 04, 2023, 05:47:25 pm »

@Denti I found this site looking for a similar thing.
The only way I have figured out how to make a playlist is in Foobar or some other player from files on the JR connected to your PC.
Converting the M3U to PLS is relatively simple using notepad.

Open the M3U in notepad and then you Edit->Replace.   Find What= Drive Letter:  Replace with= /nand3
Then Find What= \ Replace with = /

Then save as type All Files *.* and change from M3U to pls in file name.
Or save as the M3U and change the file type after.

Then put it in the Playlists folder on the JR or save it directly to that.
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Matt

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Re: Astell&Kern "AK Jr" - Is its interface as awful as it first seems . . .
« Reply #8 on: November 07, 2023, 07:50:41 am »

I'll add the PLS playlist format to our export tool and to the list of playlist formats for handheld devices.  Thanks a lot for the help.
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Matt Ashland, JRiver Media Center

JimH

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Re: Astell&Kern "AK Jr" - Is its interface as awful as it first seems . . .
« Reply #9 on: November 14, 2023, 09:26:19 am »

I'll add the PLS playlist format to our export tool and to the list of playlist formats for handheld devices.  Thanks a lot for the help.
Build 83, just posted on the Windows 31 board, has this now.
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Brianm77

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Re: Astell&Kern "AK Jr" interface
« Reply #10 on: December 23, 2023, 04:42:57 pm »

I thought this might be the answer to my problem.  I have a AK SR35 and I am having the same exact problem.  I found the folder with the playlist files that I created on the device.  It has M3U files in it.  I tried using the PLS extension and M3U and neither one worked.  I keep getting the same error.  Any help would greatly be appreciated.
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