M3U Playlists not playing

Published by: webmaster 2009-01-07

the m3u playlists i uploaded from my computer to userdata/playlists/music do not play. all the tracks load, but when i select a song to play, nothing happens. i select a song again and i get the error message, "playlist playback aborted. too many consecutive failed items."

i followed the instructions for the path substitution feature detailed in the online manual by inserting the following at the end of xboxmediacenter.xml:

<pathsubstitution>
<substitute>
<from>e:/media library/music/</from>
<to>smb://192.168.1.2/medialibrary/music/</to>
</substitute>
</pathsubstitution>

any ideas on how to get the songs to play from my playlists???

tia

M3Util - A M3U/MP3 Playlist splitting utility.::
M3U files. This was initally done to allow me to stuff large playlists on . Other devices, such as MP3 players, are not concerned about the playing time
http://www.fortunecity.com/meltingpot/hornsey/515/Software/Windows/M3Util/index.htmlHOME

p.s. - the songs are all mp3s and i'm running xbmc t3ch cvs 6/11/06

paste example content from .m3u, i'm betting it contains path (local on pc) and thats what causing the issue - xbmc has no clue about local pc paths

where's the debug log?

please supply one.

enable debugging and post a link to the log file. i dont think the m3u files are altered in anyway. only the path of the items in the file is altered as the m3u is loaded into the playlist (now playing) window. though, now that i think about this, i bet the change which makes a playlist a virtual folder is interfereing.

Here's my log file (http://pastebin.com/750683) Thanks for the help.

i'm having the exact same problem. i posted about it in xbox scene:

http://forums.xbox-scene.com/index.php?showtopic=520745

so that's three people (including me) with the same problem.

well? anyone?

[edit] okay - i submitted a bug report on sourceforge. maybe that'll do something.

i hope that is a typo..

yeah lots of typos in my post - I'm at work and I was in a rush:blush:
Don't worry, setts were in advancedsettings.xml

I see why its not working for you... Path substitution only works on "remote" playlists. Your playlist is local, so it is assumed to be in the correct path format. This is on purpose.

Previously, remote found playlists would be cached locally. (I dont know if this is still in the code. I've been out of touch for about three months.) While it was being cached, the path substitution would change the paths so that the cached file was correct. The remote one would not be changed at all.

Mp3Playlister - multiList - recursive m3u playlists generator::
create one playlist for each folder/subfolder containing mp3 files in the user specified path(s), . sPlaylistExt '-- create m3u file (ASCII) If Not fso.
http://www.interclasse.com/scripts/Mp3Playlister_multiList.phpHOME

Download Recursively create M3U playlists 1.1::
Recursively create M3U playlists is a service menu which can create a file or links from rapidshare.com, yousendit.com or megaupload.com are not allowed
http://linux.wareseeker.com/download/recursively-create-m3u-playlists-1.1.rar/315392HOME

Dont copy the playlists over to q:. Just open the playlist directly from its remote path to have substitution work.

ok, I was being really stupid. It can see the m3u but when I try to play I still get the 'too many failed attempts' message. I've posted my log again (http://pastebin.com/751305).

@jmarshall
yeah, thats how i remembered it working. i'll be able to check tomorrow after i fully sync to cvs.

@streggi
i just noticed that your second log file doesnt have the debug output about registering the path subs. the first one did.

documentation flaw. if we applied to local playlists, no way to know if u actually mean f:\foo.mp3 on your xbox or if u want to substitute.

First thing I notice is this line:

DEBUG: Caching music playlist: smb://CYLON/playlists/Xmas.m3u

So, I took a look at the code, and it still caches all found m3u's locally. The code is in CFileItem::FillInDefaultIcon().

Can you see if there's a locally cached music playlist with the same name? If so, can you open it? (The caching wont overwrite an existing file, so if you never deleted all the m3u's you copied onto q, its still the old one.)

Then I notice this line:

DEBUG: CGUIMediaWindow::GetDirectory (smb://CYLON/playlists/Driving Tunes.m3u)

I cant figure out where this smb:// m3u path gets converted internally within xbmc into a virtual folder. But, I can tell that the substitution isnt working because all the items still reference D: drive.

Please try this... remove all the m3u's you copied into q. In advancedsettings.xml, try false. After that config change, when you "select" a playlist m3u file, it'll be auto loaded into the now playing window. I think it'll be loaded and substituted correctly. (Also, I'm curious if when you do this, if you see all your m3u's cached into q, and if so, do they have the substituted path?)

i made the advancedsettings.xml file in the userdata folder and put in my path substitution configuration and it still doesn't work. this is weird because i put video stacking in advancedsettings.xml also and that works.

here's what my m3u file looks like:

#extinf:255,amos lee - seen it all before
e:\media library\music\amos lee\amos lee\amos lee - 02 - seen it all before.mp3
#extinf:246,anthony hamilton - charlene
e:\media library\music\anthony hamilton\comin' from where i'm from\anthony hamilton - 04 - charlene.mp3
#extinf:354,beck - everybody's gotta learn sometimes
e:\media library\music\beck\eternal sunshine of the spotless mind so\09 everybody's gotta learn sometimes.mp3

and the path substitution section looks like this:

<pathsubstitution>
<substitute>
<from>e:\media library\music\</from>
<to>smb://192.168.1.2/medialibrary/music/</to>
</substitute>
</pathsubstitution>

any ideas???

is #extm3u the first line of your playlist?

edit: just tested. you may have to change your / to \ if that's what the log says, also you have to play it from a share.

Regardless, local playlists still need to be considered "correct." Otherwise, the substitution in this example would break any files found on the local D: drive. (I know its not the best example because its the dvd drive, but you get the point.)

And just opening the m3u from the remote location should still force the path substitution to work. The resultant fileitem listing should be xbmc correct paths and thus playable.

How do I open a remote playlist? I created a SMB share on my PC with the playlists in, but when I browse to that folder on XBMC I just get an empty folder.

yeah, it works as intended atleast last time i checked.

I've tried with the slashes going both forward and backward but nothing seems to work. It only caches one playlist (xmas.m3u) when I open my playlist folder.

The playlistasfolders seemed to have no effect

Yeah, playlist caching was left in while I got the playlists as folders code working nicer - it can probably be removed now (no point in it).

I think the slashes are wrong for Streggi's substitution.

The substitution definitely operates (it's done in CPlaylist::Load() IIRC) whenever a playlist is loaded.

i could only get path substitution to work properly if the actual .m3u file is located on the remote machine (server.) it won't work if the playlist is on the xbox itself. this isn't made clear in the documentation.

someone please correct me if i'm wrong.

is now in advancedsettings.xml.

really? that's weird. m3u should be a default music extension. as a test, try putting an mp3 in the same folder. can you see and play the mp3 file?

we removed the (imo) useless caching. open for arguments though

When I made my last attempt (with the slashes going both backwards and forwards) I definitely had the path substition command in advancedsettings.html....

I'm kinda having the same problem. I've tried playing the playlists locally and also from my PC to no avail. Can someone tell me what I'm doing wrong please (and before any smart alec's tell me to read the manual, I have)

I've created an advancedsettings.xml file:

D:Music
smb://Cylon/Music/

where Cylon is the name of my PC.

(i) I've tried sharing the folder on my PCwith the playlists in but when I open the folder within 'My music' on XBMC it's empty
(ii) I've copied the m3u files (sample below) to playlists in userdata. When I click on a playlist it shows the songs within the playlist, along with the track lengths which it must be getting from my PC, but when I click play I get the 'too many failed attempts' message
#EXTM3U
#EXTINF: 216,... & On - Erykah Badu
D:/Music/Compilations/Inspired (disc 1)/14 ... & On.mp3
#EXTINF: 241,21 Answers - Lil' Mo
D:/Music/Lil' Mo/Meet the Girl Next Door/17 21 Answers.mp3
#EXTINF: 270,4ever - Lil' Mo
D:/Music/Lil' Mo/Meet the Girl Next Door/04 4ever.mp3