Under Asset server on my iPad, i can see all sorts, EXCEPT ‘Playlists’.
How do i invoke playlist functionality in this environment?
I can click left on any track in my QNAP NAS to add to a ‘playlist’ --but this doesnt seem to work. the playlist is never visible after.
Any thoughts? or is it that this functionality simply doesnt exisit in this environment. On Naim UnitiServe i had several and they work flawlessly.
enjoy/ken
I think there are at least two types of playlists possible here. You can create them within the Naim, and I think these are stored on the control device such as a phone or pad. These seemed susceptible to be lost in the past if you’ve had to delete the app for whatever reason. The alternative is to build .m3u files on your NAS using something like Playlist Creator. For these you need to tell Asset where they are stored (such as in a folder called Playlists). You need to be careful building these as you need to get the paths and / or \ correct.
I’m with GavinB that Playlist Creator is the way to go with Asset server. As stated, you will need to create a folder on the NAS for your playlists and specify its path in the Asset config. There are two downsides with this though. Firstly, you do not get dynamic additions to your playlists - all changes are through editing the playlist m3u files in Playlist Creator. Secondly, Playlist Creator runs on Windows and you may have to text edit the file paths in the playlist files created as the program creates Windows compatible file paths to the music files - fine of you running the Asset server on Windows. I create the playlist then open the file in Notepad and do Find/Replace on the parts of the file paths needing changing, before copying the file to Asset which I run on a Linux server . It’s a bit of a pain to get it right at first but once you’ve cracked the correct path structure that Asset understands, it works like a dream.
Another solution may be to use VLC media player which I understand can be installed on QNAP. The linux version can create m3u playlists (with the correct file paths) but I don’t know whether this would work on the QNAP NAS.
Asset is the way to go.
Several things to check.
In your Asset browse tree (in AssetUPnP config utility) do you have Playlists as an option - it is normally there by default.
Have you created a playlist folder and identified it in the AssetUPnP config utility as holding playlists.
Do you have a playlist created in that folder.
I suggest you always use “relative” path names as you can move folders without making changes (/ and \ may be an issue).
@GavinB @brummy21 what playlist creator apps are you using? I haven’t found one that works very well.
I copy the path of the file from my Mac when I access my NAS where Asset is running. I paste it to a text file, then rename the file as .M3U
the file must start with two tags, then have a tag before the path such as :
#EXTM3U
#PLAYLIST This is my list
#EXTINF: 1, Group - Album - Title 1
/share/Audio/Pop-Rock/Group/Album/Title 1.m4A
#EXTINF: 2, Group - Album - Title 2
/share/Audio/Pop-Rock/Group/Album/Title 2.m4A
Then I store the M3U file in Asset’s playlist directory
Thanks, I know how that works and have done this but it is a manual process. I’m interested in the software options that can automate this process. Doing it manually for thousands of tracks is not practical for me.
I have the following folder structue
The m3u playlists use relative addresses i.e.
#EXTM3U
#EXTINF:298,Collection - 1 - Fast Car
…\music\Tracy Chapman\Collection\01 Tracy Chapman - Fast Car.flac
#EXTINF:312,Collection - 2 - Subcity
…\music\Tracy Chapman\Collection\02 Tracy Chapman - Subcity.flac
#EXTINF:194,Collection - 3 - Baby Can I Hold You
…\music\Tracy Chapman\Collection\03 Tracy Chapman - Baby Can I Hold You.flac
The Playlist Creator does it all automatically using “relative” option.
Hi ElMarko, I use Playlist Creator which works fine for me as I don’t have huge playlists to manage and the manual steps are OK for me. Maybe suggest to dBPoweramp that perhaps they would like to produce a playlist maker that fullt integrates with Asset.
Ok, good to know, I wasn’t sure if you had software that automated that step. It seems like dbpoweramp would be a good place for this functionality given how powerful it is. I wish they had something. Alternatively if there was a way to get a file level only (no folders) view of my multimedia folder that I could dump into a text file that would be helpful I think.
I use Playlist Creator and then do a manual find and replace on the text file to change the path etc. to match what I need. Playlist Creator does have different options for how to record the path so you may not need any post editing.
You can certainly build big playlists this way pretty easily, but you can do it on the fly from within the Naim app for instance.
I’m sure someone could write some very simple commands that would dump filenames and paths into a text file.
According to my searching playlist creator is a windows app. I’m on Macs so I need to find a iOS app.
The question as far as I have understood was on QNAP NAS, thus Asset installed on QNAP Nas. On this version of Asset the path seems to be stored canonically and not relative. I also work under Mac OSX and these utilities are all under MS Windows, so I cannot test too 
I will try to edit a M3U and put a relative path but I guess it will not work as there is no notion of root directory on my QNAP Asset version…
It is the playlist creator that uses the relative address within the Asset structure. It should not matter if you use the full path but use of the relative address means that if you move folders or change the structure then within the music folder the playlist will not change and therefore still work.
Using the example
media-folder
if you move or rename media-folder to media-library-folder the full path would change but the relative path does not.
If you’re on a Mac or Linux based NAS then the find command is what you need
find /share/Public/Music -type f -print > /share/Public/myfiles.txt
On my QNAP NAS /share/Public/Music is where my music files are located so change that to whatever path yours are in. That command directs the output to a file called myfiles,txt in /share/Public
Output looks like this
/share/Public/Music/A Certain Ratio/Sextet/01 - Lucinda.flac
/share/Public/Music/A Certain Ratio/Sextet/02 - Crystal.flac
/share/Public/Music/A Certain Ratio/Sextet/03 - Gum.flac
/share/Public/Music/A Certain Ratio/Sextet/04 - Knife Slits Water.flac
/share/Public/Music/A Certain Ratio/Sextet/05 - Skipscada.flac
/share/Public/Music/A Certain Ratio/Sextet/06 - Day One.flac
/share/Public/Music/A Certain Ratio/Sextet/07 - Rub Down.flac
/share/Public/Music/A Certain Ratio/Sextet/08 - Rialto.flac
/share/Public/Music/A Certain Ratio/Sextet/09 - Below The Canal.flac
If you want just the file names without the full path incorporate the basename command like this
find /share/Public/Music -type f -exec basename {} ; > /share/Public/filenames.txt
Thanks, it’s been a while since I’ve used commands like this. From where would I be typing these commands? I use a browser on my Mac to access the QNAP which is linux based I think.
On a Mac open the terminal app and connect to the NAS
Ok I have the terminal app open but have only connected to the NAS once before and don’t recall how. 
use the ssh protocol