Local Playlists

[Hi-Fi Cast Help Forum]

Hi-Fi cast gives you the ability to create playlists that are stored on your local device. You'll see a tab on the main screen called 'Local Playlists' that lists your playlists.

When you click the overflow menu (three dots) on an album or track, you'll see an 'Add to playlist' option. And for media servers that support Search functionality you'll also see the 'Add to playlist' menu item on artists, genres and most other folders. In addition, for these servers you have the choice of adding the actual folder to the playlist (eg. album, artist, genre etc) or the individual tracks within the folder.

Playlists are added to the queue like any other item in your media library, and you can have multiple playlists in the queue at once.

Caveat:
Local playlists rely on the unique identifiers for folders and tracks generated by the media server. If the server changes these identifiers then the local playlists will stop working. eg. using the -R option on MiniDLNA may change the identifiers. Doing a rescan on MinimServer may do the same.

Limitations:
Currently you cannot change the order of items within a playlist.

[957...@gmail.com]

Thank you for the tip.
Would be nice to have this info than clicking message (or instead the message): "You have not created any local playlists".

[David Platten]

I'd like to be able to create and add to a local playlist, but there is no "Add to playlist" option when I click on the three dots at the top of the screen. Should this option be there? I'm using the Android app, and have paid for the premium version. Thanks for any help. David

[Hi-Fi Cast Developer]

 Hi David,

The 'Add to playlist' option doesn't appear on the 3-dots at the top of the screen, only in the 3-dots menu associated with individual songs that you see when browsing your media library. And if you're browsing songs stored on your phone or a compatible UPnP/DLNA server (one that implements the UPnP search function), you'll also see it in the 3-dot menu for albums, genres, artists etc.

Regards,
- Brett

[magn...@gmail.com]

Will that function be improved? Changing order and working after server refresh are a must...

[Hi-Fi Cast Developer]

>> Will that function be improved? Changing order and working after server refresh are a must...

Changing sort order is a possibility. The other is very unlikely. If possible, it's preferable to create your playlists on the DLNA server itself.

[danj...@gmail.com]

I wish I could save the Queue as a playlist.

[yab...@gmail.com]

Any method to add to the playlist from "Que" or "Now Playing"?

I think it is the most convenient way to add songs to the playlist....

[Hi-Fi Cast Developer]

>> Any method to add to the playlist from "Que" or "Now Playing"?

>> I think it is the most convenient way to add songs to the playlist....

Not at the moment. Adding that option from Now Playing shouldn't be too difficult tho'. I'll see if I can get it into the next update.

- Brett

[yab...@gmail.com]

Thanks Brett !!!

Any plan to add "Equalizer"?

[Hi-Fi Cast Developer]

>> Thanks Brett !!!

>> Any plan to add "Equalizer"?

I don't have any immediate plans to add an equalizer but it is a much requested feature so it might happen.

[jelit...@gmail.com]

I run Hi-Fi Cast from an Amazon Fire tablet with the music library stored on a 32 GB SDHC card installed in the tablet. Playlists are created from within Hi-Fi Cast. Occasionally, I remove the SDHC card to update the music or metadata. When the SDHC card is reinstalled, Hi-Fi Cast can no longer find and play the tracks defined in any playlist. I understand playlists rely on a unique identifier for each song in the playlist and that identifier can be changed by the media server.

Is there a way for Hi-Fi Cast to recover or rebuild the playlist after the SDHC card is removed and reinstalled in the tablet? If not, how can I preserve the playlist so that it isn't necessary for me to recreate my playlists when updating music on the SDHC card?

Thanks!

[Hi-Fi Cast Developer]

>> Is there a way for Hi-Fi Cast to recover or rebuild the playlist after the SDHC card is removed and reinstalled in the tablet?

>> If not, how can I preserve the playlist so that it isn't necessary for me to recreate my playlists when updating music on the SDHC card?

You could try creating your playlists as m3u files (though strangely Android seems to ignore m3u8 files). These will appear in Hi-Fi Cast under Playlists.

Unfortunately the Hi-Fi Cast app itself can't save playlists as m3u files.

Good luck :)

[rafn...@gmail.com]

I know how to add a track to an existing playlist. But how can I create a new playlist ?  Thanks for any help.

Raf

[Hi-Fi Cast Developer]

I know how to add a track to an existing playlist. But how can I create a new playlist ?  Thanks for any help.

• Tap the 3-dot menu for any track (or album, artist, genre etc)
  
• Tap 'Add to playlist'
• Tap 'Create new playlist'
• Change the name of the playlist (optional)
  
• Tap 'Create'

Your new playlist should now appear under 'Local Playlists'.

[rainer.s...@gmail.com]

As mentioned above I copied/created a m3u  Playlist in a music folder. There is no way to see the list or the content of the list respectively under the "Local Playlist" Tab. Any idea why? The test list has the following content:

#EXTM3U

#EXTINF:263,David Qualey - Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring

http://ip:port/mal/I/MM6/A$20Winter$27s$20Solstice/304.flac

but the playlist is listed in the system  player (Samsung tablet, Android KitKat 4.4.2) and also in other players like VLC. What is missing here?

Thank's for your advice.

[Hi-Fi Cast Developer]

As mentioned above I copied/created a m3u  Playlist in a music folder. There is no way to see the list or the content of the list respectively under the "Local Playlist" Tab. Any idea why?

Hi,

M3U playlists will be displayed in Playlists, not Local Playlists. If you don't see it there then the Android Media Scanner hasn't processed it for some reason (the Hi-Fi Cast app doesn't access the m3u file directly but instead queries the media database created by the Android Media Scanner).

I don't even know if the Android Media Scanner supports urls in m3u files. I've only ever had success with m3u playlists that contain entries for media files on the android device itself.

[danj...@gmail.com]

Hi-Fi Cast app itself can't save playlists as m3u files

Is that because Hi-Fi Cast doesn't request the necessary permissions, or because of a hard restriction in Android?

Maybe someway to export the local playlist in a format that could be used to manually create a m3u file outside of Hi-Fi Cast. Like sharing to email.

[Hi-Fi Cast Developer]

Hi-Fi Cast app itself can't save playlists as m3u files

Is that because Hi-Fi Cast doesn't request the necessary permissions, or because of a hard restriction in Android?

Maybe someway to export the local playlist in a format that could be used to manually create a m3u file outside of Hi-Fi Cast. Like sharing to email.

Bad wording on my part, I should have said that the ability to save playlists as m3u files has not been implemented. So it's possible I could add this feature sometime in the future.

[f.ul...@gmail.com]

Hi, is there a way to Share/Export local Playlists with/to other devices? Specifically, i want to share the Playlist i created on my tablet with my Smartphone.

[Hi-Fi Cast Developer]

Hi, is there a way to Share/Export local Playlists with/to other devices? Specifically, i want to share the Playlist i created on my tablet with my Smartphone.

Sorry, but for now there's no way to do this. It is on my 'requested features' list so I might implement it in a future version of the app.

[daniel.k...@gmail.com]

Hey, where can I find the local playlist in my android folder structure to maybe convert it to other formats like m3u or dpl (don't know which format it actualy has since I couldn't find them yet)?

[Hi-Fi Cast Developer]

Hey, where can I find the local playlist in my android folder structure to maybe convert it to other formats like m3u or dpl (don't know which format it actualy has since I couldn't find them yet)?

Hi,

The local playlists are not stored in separate files. I might add the ability to export (and import) local playlists in future versions of the app.

[8ajh...@gmail.com]

+1 for a built in decent equalizer.

[John Minson]

When adding the contents of the queue to a local playlist is there anyway to not get duplicate entries added ?

[Hi-Fi Cast Developer]

When adding the contents of the queue to a local playlist is there anyway to not get duplicate entries added ?

Unfortunately not. I'll add that feature to the to-do list :)

[Robert Zimmerman]

I've encountered the (common?) problem of my Hi-Fi Cast "Local Playlists" becoming useless after an Android device Media Library [com.android.providers.media] re-indexing. I really like the Hi-Fi Cast app, and paid for the "premium" version. But the implementation of the "Local Playlists" feature is lacking; I sure hope the Developer can improve this feature soon.

Here's the issue as I understand it...
Local Playlists are stored in the Hi-Fi Cast app's "localEntity" table of "medialibrary.sqlite". For each playlist entry, a full path to the media file, along with a streaming URL, are stored in the "dataBytes" blob field. The streaming URL contains an index ["_id" field value] into the com.android.providers.media app's "files" table in "external.db". When Hi-Fi Cast serves this media file URL, it uses this index to get info about the media file to serve [ex. full path] from the com.android.providers.media app's "files" table. A seemingly elegant design, but it fails if/when the "_id" field values change in com.android.providers.media app's "files" table [ex. after an Android media re-indexing operation].

Here are some alternative implementations I've thought of...
1. Provide feature in Hi-Fi Cast to re-populate indexes in streaming URLs for a/all local playlists. Don't have to change anything else in the Hi-Fi Cast app with this solution.
2. Use the media file FULL PATH in the Hi-Fi Cast streaming URL. No need to look this up in a table when served – its right in the URL. And no indexes going stale. But are full paths in the URL an issue?
3. Look up com.android.providers.media "files" table index ["_id" value] and generate streaming URL *when media file is added to play queue*. But this requires two "files" table queries – one when media file is added to play queue, and another when file is served by Hi-Fi Cast.
4. Manage temporary, internal index-to-fullpath lookup table in Hi-Fi Cast. Add entry to this table when media file is added to play queue, and use index to lookup full path in this table when media file is served.
5. Use standard M3U playlist files to store Local Playlists. Use M3U filename + line-number of media file in the Hi-Fi Cast streaming URL? [This solution would also fulfill the Local Playlists EXPORT feature request.]

[Hi-Fi Cast Developer]

Thanks for all those ideas. Some comments:

Using the full path in the URL shouldn't be an issue because even though DLNA does impose a limit on URL length, it is 1024 bytes which should be plenty (I think), but .....

Android apps will soon be prevented from getting the full path of the media file when querying the MediaStore database. Instead they need to access the file using a URL that includes the MediaStore id for the file. Already (as of Android 10), apps can no longer get the path of the album art from the MediaStore. The is all part of Android's scoped storage changes that were introduced in Android 10.

Another option is for the app to stop using MediaStore completely and manage its own media database. I'm looking into this.

[Hi-Fi Cast Developer]

I've encountered the (common?) problem of my Hi-Fi Cast "Local Playlists" becoming useless after an Android device Media Library [com.android.providers.media] re-indexing.  I really like the Hi-Fi Cast app, and paid for the "premium" version.  But the implementation of the "Local Playlists" feature is lacking; I sure hope the Developer can improve this feature soon.

The app now has a feature where you can repair local playlists that have gotten out-of-sync with the Android media database. It is available in version 1.116 which is currently available to beta testers. More information is in the version 1.116 release notes:

https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/hi-fi-cast-beta-forum/rQ74U5db1aU

[nvsch...@gmail.com]

Hi, yes, some way of importing/exporting and sharing playlists would be nice!

[Hi-Fi Cast Developer]

Hi, yes, some way of importing/exporting and sharing playlists would be nice!

Hi.

To share a local playlist, you can back it up (when you are viewing a local playlist there will a backup option in the 3-dot menu), copy the backup file to another device and then restore it with the Hi-Fi Cast app on that device.

I hope that works for you :)

[Robert Zimmerman]

Brett, THANKS so much for the new "REPAIR" feature -- it worked like charm for my broken local playlists!

[WhizNick]

Hi Developer,

Thank you for your prompt reply.

To share Hi-Fi Cast playlists with others that use it as well: yes, backup and restore will work probably. My idea is more general, for two use cases (but maybe more can be thought of):

1. If you want to share a list of songs someone else would like to have (that doesn't use Hi-Fi Cast), to export it in plain text format (or m3u and alike) will offer the possibility to do so.
2. I have a NAS with a lot of music, and playlists. Some of that music I also placed on my smartphone, to be able to listen to it on-the-go. If the playlists from the NAS could also be imported in Hi-Fi Cast (again in m3u format or alike, for which support is asked by others and on your wish list I believe) that would save manual work. I realise the location and file structure of the music on the mobile device will/may be different, but maybe there the repair function can help (I don't know what it does exactly, I didn't need it yet). Maybe if the structure is kept the same, and the playlist uses relative or direct localisation (not sure which one it would be actually) it may even work directly.
   Vice versa (Hi-Fi Cast playlist on another environment) will be depending on the capabilities of the tool that's used for the playlist generation or renderer on the other device, or again if structure is the same it may just work.
   As Hi-Fi Cast recognises local and remote playlists, interchanging them may be even easy (copy to local, copy to remote).
   

[dmCurator]

Is playlist functionality only available for local media? 

When streaming via DLNA from my PLEX server, there's no playlist tab or playlist menu option in the hamburger menu. When I try to create a playlist from Now Playing it returns "error creating playlist."

TIA

[Hi-Fi Cast Developer]

Is playlist functionality only available for local media? 

When streaming via DLNA from my PLEX server, there's no playlist tab or playlist menu option in the hamburger menu. When I try to create a playlist from Now Playing it returns "error creating playlist."

Hi.

The playlist functionality should work with DLNA servers that support this. ie. if PLEX includes playlists in its browse tree then you should be able to see them in the Hi-Fi Cast app. However you might not be seeing the entire DLNA browse tree in Hi-Fi Cast. I suggest you go to the Music Sources screen and tap the settings (gear) icon for the PLEX server. Then change the 'Top Level Music Folder' to 'Media Server'. If you still can't see your playlists then I guess PLEX isn't making them available over DLNA.

Regarding the 'error creating playlist' message, I don't know why that would be happening. If you contact me directly by following the instructions here then hopefully we can figure out what's going wrong.

:)

 

[dmCurator]

Thank you. I go it sorted out. Appreciate the help. Love the app.

[Mark van Gurp]

Hello, is it possible to ad a sort function (by artist) to the local playlist. Also an exportfunction to textfile or spreadsheet would be very usefull. 

It is a great app, and i am very happy with it, but my playlists are growing and need some sorting out. 

Thanks in advance

Op zondag 28 juni 2020 om 15:05:13 UTC+2 schreef dmcu...@outlook.com: