Music library, I'm stumped.

[inteller]

well it looks like im ****ed. I added a network share from a windows computer and it added just fine. my nas is a Linux based file system and apparently windows is looking for some stupid index file but the nas maintains its own index. this is a complete and miserable failure.

 

[straitda]

I just finished a chat session with Microsoft. I received an answer I am not happy about. The support representative told me that I could not use any of the MP3 files in my collection that I had ripped from my own CDs with Xbox Music. They will not be matched and I cannot play them.

He told me that Windows Media Player is included in Windows 8 and Windows RT so that I can play these old music files and that I can use old Xbox music sharing mechanisms to play this "older" music on Xbox.

The only music that will be matched and playable is music that I purchased through Zune. WTF? This is the kind of crap that gives my Apple friends leverage. I have to give it to them on this one.

 

[straitda]

Look at the update at the end of this post by Paul Thurrott. I hope he's correct and this is coming. We'll see. For now, stand down on changing permissions, etc.

http://www.winsupersite.com/article/windows-phone-8/windows-phone-8-tip-xbox-cloud-collection-144703

Dave

 

[CJ Thunder]

I guess I will still use my Zune software even when I get my WP8 device. Just drag and drop...step back MS, step back...

 

[erasure25]

Step-by-step instructions: Team Radicus | Surface and SD Card

The only thing that doesn't work is the Camera Roll, for some strange reason ...

HTH
Toni

From the Surface RT forum....

 

[dermotf]

I just finished a chat session with Microsoft. I received an answer I am not happy about. The support representative told me that I could not use any of the MP3 files in my collection that I had ripped from my own CDs with Xbox Music. They will not be matched and I cannot play them.

He told me that Windows Media Player is included in Windows 8 and Windows RT so that I can play these old music files and that I can use old Xbox music sharing mechanisms to play this "older" music on Xbox.

The only music that will be matched and playable is music that I purchased through Zune. WTF? This is the kind of crap that gives my Apple friends leverage. I have to give it to them on this one.

Not too sure about that, I have mp3s ripped from CDs that are not matched and they play fine in the Xbox music app both on my desktop and on the Surface. Admittedly they do not show up in the "my music" view but if I swipe up from the bottom and select Open file, I can open and play any music file on my network.

 

[inteller]

listen, bottom line is the Music app is a DISASTER. It got this way by relying on the Windows Libraries function which was a DISASTER before it. Windows Libraries are a horribly flawed implementation and now I know why i never used them. Plain and simple, I should be able to point an app at a folder and tell it to enumerate the files contained within. It worked this way in Zune, it worked this way in Windows Media Player.

As for the post about Microsoft not enumerating music in my collection for Xbox Cloud. They can just **** off. This reeks of another DRM ploy and exactly the reason MY music collection is MINE.

 

[inteller]

Not too sure about that, I have mp3s ripped from CDs that are not matched and they play fine in the Xbox music app both on my desktop and on the Surface. Admittedly they do not show up in the "my music" view but if I swipe up from the bottom and select Open file, I can open and play any music file on my network.

that is absolutely flawed. If it is your music the app should honor that and display them in the catalog. You should not have to go hunting for each album you want to play.

 

[power5]

well it looks like im ****ed. I added a network share from a windows computer and it added just fine. my nas is a Linux based file system and apparently windows is looking for some stupid index file but the nas maintains its own index. this is a complete and miserable failure.

Wait, what? My server is a WHS2011 box and I am not able to add my music folder to my library. I get the index error. I can do the open file thing as mentioned I think. I am going to try the symbolic link trick when I get home but doubt that will work.

That said, I was able to listen to anything I wanted last night on xbox music. Very cool that MS allows you to listen to any music you want on a win8 pro device without xbox music pass or anything. Its like iheartradio but better because you can more easily pick songs you want.

 

[inteller]

try this (I will when I get home)

map your network path
browse to the c:\users\username folder in explorer.
Locate the My Music folder and go to properties
Select "Move.." and point it to your Music library folder on the mapped drive.

Let me know if that causes music to then show up in the Music app. Apparently this worked for others using Win7, not sure if Win8 can be fooled.

 

[CJ Thunder]

Here is how to do it:

Just give your NAS a letter, then point this trick to it.
A better way to store media on Microsoft Surface RT: SD cards, junction points and the command prompt -- Engadget



Very big step back though, how is the average user going to figure this out? I really am going to stick to Zune and just use the file system to add **** to my WP8. What a disaster.

 

[inteller]

STOP! That DOES NOT work for network shares!!!!! Stop repeating that! Junctions are only valid for local drives volumes. Believe me, I've learned more about symbolic links, junctions, and hard links over the last few days than I ever wanted to know!

 

[power5]

Ok, not sure why, but I have lost permissions on my misc folder on my server where my music is store in a music folder. My download folder has also lost permissions. My Movies location is currently the only one that allows me to do any edits.

 

[power5]

try this (I will when I get home)

map your network path
browse to the c:\users\username folder in explorer.
Locate the My Music folder and go to properties
Select "Move.." and point it to your Music library folder on the mapped drive.

Let me know if that causes music to then show up in the Music app. Apparently this worked for others using Win7, not sure if Win8 can be fooled.

I was able to add my movies to my library, but I was able to do that before. So not sure if anything changed. Like I said, I have lost permission to my other folders on my server so I have to figure out what that is about. Can not do the move thing because of that. Not sure what the **** is going on though. The kids account I setup was never able to modify my server on win7 but now it can on win8. The only user account on my server with any write capability is mine. Luckily I can go back to my win7 image and I may just do that if I cant get this working right.

 

[CJ Thunder]

STOP! That DOES NOT work for network shares!!!!! Stop repeating that! Junctions are only valid for local drives volumes. Believe me, I've learned more about symbolic links, junctions, and hard links over the last few days than I ever wanted to know!

Dang, well I was going to try that. Crap.

 

[power5]

try this (I will when I get home)

map your network path
browse to the c:\users\username folder in explorer.
Locate the My Music folder and go to properties
Select "Move.." and point it to your Music library folder on the mapped drive.

Let me know if that causes music to then show up in the Music app. Apparently this worked for others using Win7, not sure if Win8 can be fooled.

This works. My music is now in the my music section of music app home. I had to go downstairs to my server and change permissions on all my folders so everyone could edit. Not sure why I was able to edit my folders from win7 and no other user could, but now I had to enable all users to edit. I am not really sure about all the permissions though, I usually just keep messing with stuff till it works. So not quite sure of the recommended way of adding a specific user. I tried but could not get it to work tonight so gave up and just let everyone do it for now.

Not only that, but I am getting the little cloud icon saying that my music is matched and available on the cloud.

 

[inteller]

well, glad it worked for you, it didn't work for me. I'm done with these crappy apps. I found an DLNA player app called Multimedia 8 in the Store that is mostly there, and if they work on it some more it will provide the playback experience I'm wanting. Microsoft completely missed the boat with this junk.

 

[power5]

definitely frustrating for sure.

 

[CJ Thunder]

well, glad it worked for you, it didn't work for me. I'm done with these crappy apps. I found an DLNA player app called Multimedia 8 in the Store that is mostly there, and if they work on it some more it will provide the playback experience I'm wanting. Microsoft completely missed the boat with this junk.

Yeah, so I just uninstalled the MS bloatware apps and just reinstalled Zune. Works really well on my new SSD and more ram.

 

[inteller]

yeah...not really any option on Surface.


However, I've done a ridiculous workaround by moving all 50Gb of my music to my x64 8 Desktop, letting Xbox music find that copy of my music, and Xbox cloud match it, now I can listen to most of my music on the Surface. This will suffice for now.