Media library folder cannot be selected

[galavanteer]

Recently I found that one of my media library folders had become de-selected. Actually, I have two, one for music and a parallel folder for audio books, both on a SIM card in my Android mobile phone in the directory structure:
> storage > [SIM card] > Media > Audio books (6 subfolders)
> storage > [SIM card] > Media > Music (39 subfolders)

For the longest time, this worked exactly as expected. Then, recently, I discovered that all of my music disappeared. In panic, I checked my SIM card and was relieved to see that the music mp3 files were still there - and they would play from a file manager if I selected them, by selecting VLC from the [Open with] pull-down menu. Or, I can find music mp3 files via:
> Browse > Storages > 64Gb > Media > Music > [artist] > [album] > [track]

Needless to say this is a massively frustrating way to pick tunes.

In frustration I uninstalled VLC and reinstalled again. After selecting the two media library folders as above, I was able to browse my audio books and music by album/book title, by author/artist, etc with cover-flow images. However, after listening to some music, I tried to pick another album and, damn, music had appeared to have vanished again. Then I went back to:
> … > More > Settings > Media library folders

I then found that my audio books folder was still selected, but the music folder had (again) somehow become deselected. *#&@%

I have Total Commander installed as one of my file managers. When I navigate to one of the music subfolders, I see the icon for AndrOpen Office against each mp3 files - which leads me to suspect that AndrOpen Office has somehow set itself as the default app to play mp3 files. I am wondering why an office suite would show as an application to open an mp3 file, whatever. Anyway, it just so happens that I recently installed AndrOpen Office - is it possible that AndrOpen Office is conflicting with my media library folder settings in VLC for Android?!?

Or, is it possible that a bug has crept into VLC for Android in a recent update?

What advice or suggestions can anyone make?

Many thanks.

[evadedave]

Anyway, it just so happens that I recently installed AndrOpen Office - is it possible that AndrOpen Office is conflicting with my media library folder settings in VLC for Android?!?

Seems unlikely, but then again, stranger things have been known to occur! Any chance you can try the obvious troubleshooting step, i.e. uninstall AndrOpen Office temporarily, do a fresh install of VLC and see if the problem persists?

You can also try the latest beta and see if that helps.

One final thought for the devs - is it possible that the SD card flash media has gotten corrupted/failed somewhere in the region encompassed by the Music folder? Perhaps VLC encounters an error during its regular re-indexing, and simply omits the entire folder as a result? That might explain why only that folder is getting repeatedly deselected.

Some logs might help the devs debug. Reproduce the issue and then go to: Settings > Advanced > Debug logs. Then share the logs with the sharing service you prefer (Google Drive, Dropbox, Pastebin...).

[Aza]

A third party app should not interfere with the scanned folder list.

What would be useful would be database dumps:

1. Before the issue:
- select your folders
- Settings > Advanced > Dump media database
- Save the "vlc_media.db" file that is at the root of your internal memory anywhere

2. After the issue occurred
- do the exact same
- send these two files in private using a file sharing service (Drive, Dropbox, ...)

You can send me the links in a private message here.

[galavanteer]

Aza,

I sent the media database dumps directly to you via private message (via WeSendIt).

Many thanks
~~

[galavanteer]

This issue has not been resolved. Last year I did a work-around by moving (actually copying) my media files from the the SD card in my mobile phone to internal memory. Hower, more recently, I was running out of internal memory, so had to delete my media library in internal memory - then the issue resurfaced. I can still play media on the SD card, but have to use:
* Browse > 64Gb (my SD card) > Media > Music

So, I decided to copy my music library to:
* Browse > 64Gb (my SD card) > Music

However, it does not matter which directory I try to use, it does not "stick." I can select these directories, at least it appears that I can - but when I go back, the folder is no longer selected.

Now, a second issue has emerged. Sometimes when I try to play an album or track, I see an error pop-up: "multiple media sources cannot be played" - I am not the only one to experience this, per:
* https://www.reddit.com/r/VLC/comments/x ... n_android/

In this case, I tried to do some experimentation. I found that if I followed the following:
* … [More] > “⚙ [Settings] > [Advanced] > Clear playback history

Then did a forced stop. The next time I launched VLC, a pop-up appeared asking me if I wanted to resume playing a previous track (from a past VLC session) - however clicking on that link did *NOT* resume playing the previous track. However, it would seem that (previously) when I tried to play a track (and was confronted by the "multiple media sources cannot be played") error message that, actually what was happening under the hood was that VLC thought I wanted to play the previous track *AND* the new track simultaneously - even though I was unable to resume playing the previous track previously... WTF?!?

So, now I have two really annoying bugs that I need to work around:
(1) I now have to manually select albums or tracks by navigating to the folder where they reside.
(2) (Periodically) I need to go to advanced settings to purge playback history. (This does not appear to be necessary if I go directly from playing one track - interupt the playback by selecting a new track. This issues appears to only arise if I re-launch VLC and try to play a track - which apparently conflicts with a track I was playing a few days or a few weeks ago!!!)

I really like VLC, but these two issues are really, REALLY, annoying.

Now, I find another report of the same bug here:
* Media library folder selection on sdcard is dropped https://forum.videolan.org/viewtopic.php?f=35&t=161603

Hopefully, there can be a deep grooming of the source code to unravel why these issues keep recurring.

~~

[Skantes]

Hi, I'm currently looking into this, but haven't managed to reproduce the issue on any device, could you please send me some logs (More -> Settings -> Advanced -> Debug logs (at the bottom)) at android-support@videolan.org or in PM ? That would really help to fix it.

[galavanteer]

@Skantes, @Aza. I just sent a debug log to android-support@videolan.org via WeTransfer.

I am experiencing "Multiple media cannot be played" https://forum.videolan.org/viewtopic.php?&f=35&t=161666 (other thread) as well as:

• Media library folder cannot be selected
  https://forum.videolan.org/viewtopic.php?f=35&t=158902

AND

• Media library folder selection on sdcard is dropped
  https://forum.videolan.org/viewtopic.php?f=35&t=161603

The curious thing is that, per:

• Re: Media library folder selection on sdcard is dropped
  https://forum.videolan.org/viewtopic.ph ... 03#p534627

Music one - now 11.5 Gb (was 12.3 Gb) - media library still cannot be selected
Music two - now 1.7 Gb (was 1.0 Gb) - media library was selected - for a while, with cover flow and playable … but selection dropped some time later
I was subsequently able to re-select [Music two] after it was dropped … and *WAS* able to see cover-flow in [♬Audio] … *AND* play albums and tracks from cover-flow without seeing the "Multiple media cannot be played" pop-up. Maybe this error was cleared when I re-selected [Music two] after it was de-selected. Hmmm…
~~