2021-07-11, 19:10
Detailed Description
Playlists on a shared storage device (e.g. a network share) can currently be imported into Kodi, but the process is somewhat cumbersome and far from obvious (Music > Files > navigate to playlist > context menu > Edit Playlist > Save). If the playlist on the shared storage device changes, these steps have to be repeated in order to update it (don’t know if I can just overwrite an existing playlist, or if I have to delete the old local playlist first).
Suggestion: Instead of just browsing the playlist file on external storage and importing it into an internal playlist, provide a way to use playlists residing directly on the storage device. Thus, when the playlist on the external device changes, Kodi will automatically get these changes without any need for extra user interaction. As a bonus, changes made to these playlists from the Kodi UI would automatically get written back to the network share.
Context
Mostly aimed at use cases where a network share is accessed by multiple devices: multiple Kodi setups, or even different software (say, a Kodi-based media center and a laptop using an entirely different media player). This would allow users to share playlists across multiple devices. Universal exchange formats such as M3U or PLS exist, and Kodi supports them at least to the point of being able to import them.
Possible Implementation
Playlists on a shared storage device (e.g. a network share) can currently be imported into Kodi, but the process is somewhat cumbersome and far from obvious (Music > Files > navigate to playlist > context menu > Edit Playlist > Save). If the playlist on the shared storage device changes, these steps have to be repeated in order to update it (don’t know if I can just overwrite an existing playlist, or if I have to delete the old local playlist first).
Suggestion: Instead of just browsing the playlist file on external storage and importing it into an internal playlist, provide a way to use playlists residing directly on the storage device. Thus, when the playlist on the external device changes, Kodi will automatically get these changes without any need for extra user interaction. As a bonus, changes made to these playlists from the Kodi UI would automatically get written back to the network share.
Context
Mostly aimed at use cases where a network share is accessed by multiple devices: multiple Kodi setups, or even different software (say, a Kodi-based media center and a laptop using an entirely different media player). This would allow users to share playlists across multiple devices. Universal exchange formats such as M3U or PLS exist, and Kodi supports them at least to the point of being able to import them.
Possible Implementation
- If not already present, extend playlist storage to rely on a library similar to “real” media (rather than just a designated local folder), so they can reside on any configured media location.
- If not already present, add support for PLS playlist format (internal playlists seem to be M3U), and preserve the playlist format upon save.
- Extend the media scanner to process playlists and add them to the respective playlist library.
