Unlink local files in Android mobile app

[samsonaa3]

First Problem: Local Files will not sync to android, always says pending on the desktop app. Windows firewall is set to allow on both public and private.. 

Solved this by making a playlist and placing all local files in that playlist and it synced fine. Not ideal, but w.e

This leads to the second and biggest problem. I want all of my local files unlinked. That is why they are local, Spotify does not have those songs. They unlink fine on the Desktop app but they still automatically link on the android mobile app which forces the wrong version of many songs to play instead of my true local version. ANY FIX? This is ridiculous... I cant imagine that there is not a way to stop files from linking on the mobile app.

[Joe]

Can I just check what happens exactly when you do this:

• Create a playlist containing local files in the desktop client
• Synch to android from the desktop client (not by using the available offline switch in the android app)
• Open the playlist on android
• Tracks are replaced?

And yes, you can only synch playlists as explained in the FAQ.

[samsonaa3]

Yes.

On the desktop app I create a playlist containing local files that are unlinked.

I then sync the playlist to my andoroid mobile app and the unlinked tracks are automatically linked on my mobile device. Meaning the song is being replaced by a wrong version found on spotify. This only happens on my mobile device. 

The playlist is listed as available offline, though would this matter with a playlist that is only local files? Thank you for the quick response by the way.

[Joe]

Thanks for the information. One more thing........I had something similar once when I synched some tracks but when I actually played the tracks, the music was correct but spotify had, for some reason, replaced the metadata, including the cover art. with some stuff from its own database.

I'm guessing you played the tracks and the actual music has been replaced too? There is a horrible fix you can use which is to rename the tracks which get replaced by adding a prefix or word but I'd like to explore this a bit further, if that's ok with you.

Could you pop the spotify URI to one of these playlists (right click > copy spotify URI) here together with a note of which tracks are being replaced?

Thanks.

[samsonaa3]

Locals here you go, this playlist has a cd I have on my local computer called The Last Waltz by The Band. The last Waltz CD is not on the spotify server so when they are added to a playlist they automatically link to a different song (yes the actual song changes). Is this what you are looking for? (the songs in this playlist are all unlinked) let me know if you want them linked to see how they change. (they only automatically link on my mobile)

[Joe]

Hmmm..........I just dusted off my 4CD boxed set and ripped it to see what happened and I'm not havng these issues. One thing I did notice is that your track titles aren't exactly right - for example "The Last Waltz Theme" rather than "Theme from the Last Waltz" and so on. I use a programme which scrapes amazon for tagging mp3s which makes things pretty painless for tagging music I rip. I have no idea why incorrect track titles would cause your issues though.

Oh, the light dawns. If you unlinked the tracks, they are no longer linked to your own local files so spotify is doing its best to match up to music on the servers. Select them all and link them in the desktop client. Undownload the playlist on your android then resynch it.