Apple Music Library Playlists have much fewer tracks in Roon

I am new to Roon and I am trying to migrate playlists from Apple Music. Having read a few posts on here I think I have the correct procedure, i.e. in Apple Music (File -> Library -> Export Library) and save it in my watched folder.

For instance, one smart playlist in Apple Music is for almost all of the files in my library and it contains 50,715 tracks. In Roon, only 8,612 tracks show in the playlist once it is imported. All (or almost all) of the 50,715 tracks imported into Roon OK, so they are in the library, just not in the playlist.

Most of the other playlists seem to have a similar proportion of tracks, i.e. only 15-25% of the tracks show.

Does anyone know what I can try to do to get this working? Thanks.

Hi @nickharambee,

So we can better assist you, please provide a brief description of your current setup using this link as a guide.

Make sure to describe your network configuration/topology, including any networking hardware currently in use, so we can have a clear understanding of how your devices are communicating.

Can you also confirm where your media and the XML file is stored?

As a side note, you may be interested in using Focus in Roon, which is similar to the Smart Playlist functionality in Apple Music. This might be an easier way for your to browse this type of selection compared to a playlist.

Core Machine (Operating system/System info/Roon build number)

MacBook Pro - OS Catalina 10.15.2 - Roon 1.7 (Build. 511)

Network Details (Including networking gear model/manufacturer and if on WiFi/Ethernet)

Accessing the internet through WiFi.

Audio Devices (Specify what device you’re using and its connection type - USB/HDMI/etc.)

Playback either directly through the Mac or to a second Roon core (Mac Mini connected to a DAC)


For the Roon core that I am using to try to import the playlists into, everything is stored on the MacBook Pro, including the audio files. I have a partition on the MacBook Pro that I use just for the audio files in a dedicated folder, and I have exported the XML to this folder from Apple Music.


Yes, I am aware of the focus feature in Roon, but I do need to get my Apple Music playlists into Roon in order to set up tags to use with the focus/bookmark feature.

Thanks for the info, @nickharambee.

Can you share the XML file with us via a shared Dropbox link (or any other file sharing service link) so we can take a look?

Sure.

Great, thanks @nickharambee!

I’ll get this over to the QA team for investigation and will follow up with you when I have their feedback.

Thanks @dylan. Just to say that the number of tracks in the playlists in Roon is now closer to Apple Music, e.g. one playlist which has 9415 songs in Apple Music now has 8856 tracks in Roon. I am not sure what made the difference. Still someway short though!

Hi @dylan. Here is the link to the latest library.xml, the one which generates larger playlists in Roon, but still smaller than they should be:

Thanks for sharing that, @nickharambee — I’ll get it over to the team and will follow up once I have their feedback.

Hi @nickharambee,

I spoke with the team about this issue and they’re hoping we can gather a bit more information here.

For this playlist, we are hoping you can:

  • Identify 10 to 15 tracks that are missing from this playlist in Roon
  • For these tracks, go to iTunes and copy the file path information (File info → File tab → location)

Respond here withh that information and I’ll get it over to the team.

Thanks!

I am starting to troubleshoot this myself. I think the first issue is that I was using Roon tags as my default and I needed to be using the tags from my files in order for the tracks in Roon to correspond with my iTunes playlists.

Secondly, there is clearly an issue related to special characters, and I am looking into this and will probably post a new topic about this.

Please keep this topic open so that I can reply at a later date if needed.

Hi @nickharambee

We currently have a ticket open with our development team for issues with importing content form iTunes/Apple Music when there are special characters involved. I can’t specify and timelines, but we are aware of this issue and we will be sure to let you know once it’s been resolved.

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