dOES ANYONE know how it works? (behaviour questions after a near catastrophe)

[user-removed]

I imported all my music, created the playlists, and uploaded them to the cloud and copied them to my android device.  I then deleted all my own music (thankfully after a backup)

FAIL

I immediately had problems with my new playlists not being able to find my own tracks.  I uploaded it again in a different (neater) file structure, with all the files there, but no, I was going to have to start again.   Fast forward another weekend.

Can anyone answer the following?

1. When I upload my own tunes (lets call them "external tunes") I must still keep them in my library, beside the spotify database?

2. If I want these tunes on my android device I must create playlists and sync them with a cable, since OTA won't work for tracks not on Spotify?  The "external tunes" don't need to be in mp3 format on the android device

3. After a certain length of time certain things have got to "check in", e.g. will I need to connect a cable again?  What if I'm in a different country?

4. Most annoyingly of all, duplicate tracks pop up, I think one of them is the uploaded original I made, and another is the identical spotify version. Why will I ever need two?

5. If I have 10,000 tracks in my personal library, and I want to delete 5000 unstarred ones, is this a labourious task, i.e. having to match up each track  in the operating system and individually delete (as I become bored of them), or is there a more sensible way?

[Joe]

Hmmm. Spotify is a strange beast with rather unique concepts and language. Let's start with a few of the basics.

• Spotify does not offer cloud storage. It is a repository of music which you have access to and which you can stream and download (make available offline) if you have a subscription.
• Tracks you own as mp3s or whatever and have on your PC are called "Local Files".
• When you install the desktop client, it imports the links to your local files but doesn't physically do anything with them.
• Spotify will not synch (download local files to android) over a USB connection - it synchs only over wifi.

I think you need to take a look at a couple of the  guides which should get you started then feel free to ask, if you have any more questions.

All the guides are here.

Listening offline.

Listen to local files.

[user-removed]

When I plug the (android) phone in to USB then it pops up under devices in the spotify console, and I can sync playlists.  I can also sync over the air, but thought that might restrict songs not included in the spotify database?  This would be handy to know.  What are the rules on this?

There's no point me repeating the questions, but if I wasn't clear, 'external tunes' means 'local files'.  

Thanks Joe for your efforts.

[Joe]

Once again, spotify only synchs local files over wifi to an android device. Playlists created on the desktop client appear pretty much immediately on the android as long as the phone has some form of internet access. Those playlists will play tracks which are matched to music in the spotify database but any local files in those playlists which aren't on spotify will be greyed out and unpplayable until you sync (download) them from the desktop to the mobile. I'm assuming you have a premium subscription. If not, then you can only listen to synched local files on your mobile.

Read those two guides I linked you to one of which explains how to synch local files to your mobile and, the other, how to make spotify content available offline on the mobile.

[user-removed]

Of my 5 original questions, jwylot did answer #2, I must download the playlist tracks (sync them as I thought), I think this means you can download your spotify tracks seperately (OTA) or together with your non-spotify tracks with a help of a cable.  No biggie.

The other 4 questions are not answered in the guides you suggested, except for half of question 3 (what happens if you go abroad).  In fact I spend most of my time in Vietnam, but still have a bank account in the UK which takes care of my premium membership fee.

I have to say as a new member to the service, I'm very dissapointed.  I don't know of any tools for checking the spotify database (the last tune I played appeared to alternate between 2 tracks), no tools for weeding out the 100s of now dead tracks, and probably worst of all, if I rebuild it all, no way for me to not have to start from scratch, since there are no export playlist tools or way that I know of keeping the playlists that I have principally created for my local tunes library.  This is a time black hole.

Still, I'll stop moaning now, since I don't have an alternative that does tick all the boxes.

[Joe · Accepted solution]

I think I did answer all of your questions but I'll try again, point by point.

1. The choice is yours whether to keep local files which are also in the spotify database. You will want to keep local files which aren't on spotify so you can continue listening to them.

2. You can synch playlists containing local files to your android over a wifi connection. Tracks have to be in a playlist and you do NOT use a USB cable. Connecting the android with a cable can actually prevent spotify from synching the playlists sometimes.

3. As long as you have an active premium subscription, you will need to play a track on any device with offline content every 30 days or the offline content will be lost to you.

4. I have no idea where this duplicate appears. If you create a playlist containing a track by an artist, the playlist will only show the track once. 

5. Deleting unstarred tracks will have to be done manually but you can select a bunch of tracks at once to delete. Why not just delete playlist you get bored with instead?

I think your main problem is adjusting to spotify's playlist based service where in the past you have been used to thinking more in terms of tracks and albums.

[user-removed]

Hey Joe, your time on this is appreciated.  As I write I'm reinstalling spotify because I think i had some database corruption, brought about by scanning my library (importing), and then removing all the tracks.  It never recovered from that, several 1000 tracks were just headers but not pointing to any tune, 100s more duplicates, also some funny sounds were starting to annoy.

I've also discovered unlinking.

If you have a collection of say 1000 tunes, some of which are not on Spotify, why would anyone want to link just the few that are on the spotify database - you can never delete the original because you could never find it.  Are there any benefits, given you have to jump through certain hoops to continue listening to your non-spotify library anyway.

Thanks for answers, d.

[Joe]

I and other folk I know with decenrt sized local music collections unlink those local files. It saves an awful lot of confusion and there is no downside to doing this.It just means that your mobile may occasionally see a greyed-out track until you synch it from your PC.