[rpi3guy]

Thing that has been bothering me since start of using Kodi from version 16 and is constantly limiting my use of Kodi for regular music playback is that Rpi3 LibreElec Kodi has a tendency to reboot randomly while playing back MP3-files and by random meaning that the playback may last continuously from few minutes, one song maybe, to over whole night even, but most usually it's more than an hour, and say less than six.

All video playback seems to work pretty flawless, no stalls, no spontaneous reboots, I've played back Youtube video or kept EuroSport Player on for well over 8 hours in a row many times without any reboot issues, but plain listening to local MP3 files causes the issue frequently (if the playback just gets to that point, without being stopped manually first). Also playing back various kinds of video files from local sources hasn't shown such symptoms at all.

A general question, is it possible that MP3 playback simply lacks enough error tolerance, or may it be flawed by nature otherwise? I've played the very same files on stand alone MP3 players, phones and Windows computers, but RPi Kodi seems to be the only device that constantly fails with the playback. For output I'm using analog audio, since my first suspect for audio playback issues back in the day was bluetooth, but no difference between output devices.

My current version of Kodi is 17.5 and LibreElec 8.2.0.1 on Rpi3, like said, the reboot issue doesn't seem to have relation to the Kodi or LibreElec versions at all, it's been the same since my first Kodi version 16.

Sorry no LOG here yet and before posting it, could somebody brief me about how to share a LOG securely, aka without exposing too much private information, filenames, folder paths, network names, IPs, MAC-addresses, etc.?

[docwra]

Possibly some bad MP3 encoded files. I have never experienced this on my LibreELEC install on Rpi3 but I use FLAC only on my collection. Mp3 sounds like its underwater to me

[rpi3guy]

Possibly some bad MP3 encoded files. I have never experienced this on my LibreELEC install on Rpi3 but I use FLAC only on my collection. Mp3 sounds like its underwater to me

Thanks for the insight, docwra. Possibly bad encoding, though I resort to ISO standard encoding with Lame for codec, no CRC for editability and have always avoided all experimental or novelty switches being conservative, and have been using batch tools to detect badly encoded files, though there's still a chance for few missed items, or file rot even, therefore was wondering if Kodi MP3 playback has enough error tolerance as the same files have been playing well on my other devices and software, and still remain to do so.

Also, I've tried the MP3 playback in all different ways I could think to try and isolate the source of issue: with and without vizualizations, trying on all of them one by one and all off, playing back through all available outputs, sourcing files from local USB-harddisk or SMB share, always the same result, random reboot occurs eventually.

The question remains, is it possible that Kodi MP3 playback could have more error tolerance in order to keep up even if the files might have some flaws? Or are there other known possible reasons for the failing Kodi MP3 playback, whether it be buggy decoder codec or the media player somehow? The LOGs for what I've tried to decrypt, don't seem to indicate any consistent reason for these reboots, but I may also lack true expertise there.


Way out of topic, but what comes to music file formats in general, yes MP3 is lossy and has its flaws, but I've sticked to the de facto compressed format for many practical reasons, its wide software and hardware support being one. For the record, I have been using digitized music files for over 20 years already and back in the day storage costs weren't that favorable for a music files keeper, so lossless was pretty much out of question for a long time. Neither there's point in changing well organized and tagged music library file formats every time a new codec appears in the horizon without knowing what software or hardware will support it and for how long. Also I've been having most of my music in double file formats for about 10 years already, both lossless (FLAC 90%, WMA the rest) and compressed (MP3 roughly 95% of them, WMAs, OGGs, AACs among the rest), lossless being the main backup that one may resort to for converting to any new compressed file format that seems worth it. Among MP3's best features is that it can be batch edited quick in many ways for various uses, for example to level out volume differences between recordings from various sources, or fading in and out from back to back mixed albums, as I prefer listening to music from long mixed playlists, especially on the go. With WMA or AAC/MP4 I've had problems to conform them specifically to my needs, therefore not switched to them, except for small parts. And for your information, MP3 playback can be tweaked with digital output enhancers, at least on PC, to get more "color" out of it, so it's pretty much how you playback your music and in what context, that dictates the format of it - I used to listen to music from C-cassettes all the time whether at home or on the run, when I was a kid or young adult, boy the sound was muddy and hissy compared to even MP3s, what a trade-up then! Usually it's all what you compare something to, it's all relative in the end, you see..