FiiO X5 beta firmware 2.06beta-2.07beta download and discussion: all sorts of sorting improvements!

[stuartm]

Are the albums that play out of order in artist / album mode multi-disc albums by any chance?

 
I always split multi-disc albums into separate folders for each disk.  And the folders for one disc of a multi-disc 
do sometimes list/play out of order.  Also not all albums have the problem.  Some list/play in track order
but many do not.  I can't see any noticeable difference between the ones that go out of order and the ones that play properly.

 

[JeremyLaurenson]

I am thinking of writing an OSX app to extract iTunes playlists and massage them as needed to be in the right format for the X5, assuming "Keep my library organized" is on.
 
If I get really fancy I may do a sync tool... assuming this is all successful.... to try and split a library across cards and correctly sync plus update playlists...
 
Can anyone tell me the "rules" for the resulting M3Us? 

 

[RemixIt]

  I just tested that functionality and it still works on 2.07. I believe it does not work if your screen is off, but as long as your screen is on it works just fine.

 
Hmmm, I just wanted to confirm the screen was on and the X5 still cuts to silence when I'm searching forwards or backward within a song.

 

[JeremyLaurenson]

All,
 
I have my app running - extracting playlists from iTunes, and saving what seem to be valid .m3u files to me, but the X5 on 2.07 isn't seeing them.
 
1... Where on the cards should I save them? (Currently Playlists folder)
2... Any naming structure?  (currently playlist name.m3u)
3... Any specific pathing? (Curently as below)
 
#EXTM3U
#EXTINF:259,Velvet - a-ha
TF1:\a-ha\25 (Deluxe Version)\29 Velvet.m4a
#EXTINF:249,You Oughta Know - Alanis Morissette
TF1:\Alanis Morissette\Jagged Little Pill\02 You Oughta Know.m4a
#EXTINF:289,Agolo - Angelique Kidjo
TF1:\Angelique Kidjo\Aye\01 Agolo.m4a

 

[Loquah]

  All,
 
I have my app running - extracting playlists from iTunes, and saving what seem to be valid .m3u files to me, but the X5 on 2.07 isn't seeing them.
 
1... Where on the cards should I save them? (Currently Playlists folder)
2... Any naming structure?  (currently playlist name.m3u)
3... Any specific pathing? (Curently as below)
 
#EXTM3U
#EXTINF:259,Velvet - a-ha
TF1:\a-ha\25 (Deluxe Version)\29 Velvet.m4a
#EXTINF:249,You Oughta Know - Alanis Morissette
TF1:\Alanis Morissette\Jagged Little Pill\02 You Oughta Know.m4a
#EXTINF:289,Agolo - Angelique Kidjo
TF1:\Angelique Kidjo\Aye\01 Agolo.m4a

 
Here's the content of a playlist that works on my X5 (generated via MediaMonkey on PC)
 
#EXTM3U
#EXTINF:235,Ólafur Arnalds - ...Og lengra
Music\Ólafur Arnalds\Dyad 1909\1 - 07 - ...Og lengra.m4a
#EXTINF:416,Ólafur Arnalds - 1440
Music\Ólafur Arnalds\Eulogy for Evolution\- 04 - 1440.mp3
#EXTINF:193,Jaimi Faulkner - All I Can
Music\Jaimi Faulkner\Last Light\- 11 - All I Can.flac
 
The only difference I notice is that the file path goes straight to the folder containing the music without referencing the TF card slot. My playlists are restricted to files on the same card as the playlist so this works for me, but won't allow "cross-card" playlists

 

[JeremyLaurenson]

Working now. I suppose I expected to see the playlists show up under the "Playlists" section - I can browse to them and play there, but not see them in the "Playlists" area.
 
Is this an outstanding issue?

 

[Brooko]

  Working now. I suppose I expected to see the playlists show up under the "Playlists" section - I can browse to them and play there, but not see them in the "Playlists" area.
 
Is this an outstanding issue?

Yep
 
You can get to them in folder view - but like you, I'd love to see them appear in 'playlists'

 

[Loquah]

  Working now. I suppose I expected to see the playlists show up under the "Playlists" section - I can browse to them and play there, but not see them in the "Playlists" area.
 
Is this an outstanding issue?

 
Yeah. I don't think there's confirmation if this will change in future, but the externally generated playlists are only visible via the folder browser and my take a little while to load depending on the size

 

[JeremyLaurenson]

Right, got the app working perfectly. DM me if you want to Beta test... 
 
For OSX iTunes users only:
1... Select your library.
2... Use the slider to tell the app where the split is between TF1 and TF2.
3... Click "generate" and Voila! a new directory called _Playlists containing all your iTunes playlists with correct references to cards.
4... Copy the contents of iTunes\Music to the cards and split he library as you selected in the app..
 

 

[koiloco]

^ you weren't kidding.  Looking good.  

 

[Loquah]

  Right, got the app working perfectly. DM me if you want to Beta test... 
 
For OSX iTunes users only:
1... Select your library.
2... Use the slider to tell the app where the split is between TF1 and TF2.
3... Click "generate" and Voila! a new directory called _Playlists containing all your iTunes playlists with correct references to cards.
4... Copy the contents of iTunes\Music to the cards and split he library as you selected in the app..
 

 
I'm not a Mac user, but that looks brilliant, Jeremy!

 

[Renetemp]

  AFAIK, the only real difference between m3u and m3u8 is that m3u8 allows a much wider range of characters - which is what you need. So, no, there shouldn't be any risks/problems with using m3u8.

I tried renaming the M3U8 file to M3U.
It works still fine.
So it looks like on a windows machine the difference is normally not visible when looking at the file with notepad (I would probably have to use a hex editor to actually see the differences).
So I did have a look with a hex editor and it is indeed different.
 
So I have the string:
#EXTINF:306,Arvo Pärt
 
In  a M3U file this would be represented as:
23 45 58 54 49 4E 46 3A 33 30 36 2C 41 72 76 6F 20 50 E4 72 74
The hex value E4 is the character ä (depending on the character-set used)
 
And in a M3U8 file this would be:
23 45 58 54 49 4E 46 3A 33 30 36 2C 41 72 76 6F 20 50 C3 A4 72 74
So in M3U8 it is replaced with two hex characters: C3 A4
Also meaning ä
 
For further info just look up the difference between Unicode and UTF8

 

[tjw321]

 
I tried renaming the M3U8 file to M3U.
It works still fine.
So it looks like on a windows machine the difference is normally not visible when looking at the file with notepad (I would probably have to use a hex editor to actually see the differences).
So I did have a look with a hex editor and it is indeed different.
 
So I have the string:
#EXTINF:306,Arvo Pärt
 
In  a M3U file this would be represented as:
23 45 58 54 49 4E 46 3A 33 30 36 2C 41 72 76 6F 20 50 E4 72 74
The hex value E4 is the character ä (depending on the character-set used)
 
And in a M3U8 file this would be:
23 45 58 54 49 4E 46 3A 33 30 36 2C 41 72 76 6F 20 50 C3 A4 72 74
So in M3U8 it is replaced with two hex characters: C3 A4
Also meaning ä
 
For further info just look up the difference between Unicode and UTF8

You'll see a difference if you change your locale on your Windows machine. That is why M3U8 is a better format - locale independent.

 

[JeremyLaurenson]

I have noticed that if I leave the X5 plugged into USB, in storage mode, it will still power save and turn off, effectively hard-dismounting the drives on the computer.

 

[Loquah]

  I have noticed that if I leave the X5 plugged into USB, in storage mode, it will still power save and turn off, effectively hard-dismounting the drives on the computer.

 
Mine doesn't. Perhaps this is to do with your computer's USB / power saving settings