Rhythmbox cannot track File Hierarchy changes and mislays song/playlist info

[JamesIsIn]

Binary package hint: rhythmbox

As it stands, Rhythmbox is not able to directly track changes made to the file and folder hierarchy wherein a musical collection is housed. This appears to be true in all versions of Rhythmbox (from Ubuntu 8.04 through 9.10 and beyond).

For instance if I see that I have misspelled the folder for Teh Who and change that folder name, Rhythmbox lists those tracks as Missing, as it should. If those tracks happened to appear in any playlists, they would need to be manually re-added unless the missing file is returned to its former location. This holds true for any file or folder name change anywhere in the folder hierarchy for the library (or any imported file or folder).

Rhythmbox will, if set to scan the library for changes, add the "new" The Who files; but there is no method by which these files can be associated with the old database information (playlist inclusions, ratings, &c). Right-clicking on a Missing track gives only two options: Remove and Properties.

Once this relationship is broken there is no current method by which to repair it.

Give Rhythmbox the ability to re-locate Missing files/folders/collections, presumably through the right-click menu in Missing Files. Right-click on a Missing file (or a group of them) to tell Rhythmbox where that file is now located. This will then allow Rhythmbox to attach any database information previously attached to the missing file now with the file in its new location.

In my example above, I would select all the Teh Who files and point to the The Who folder. Rhythmbox would then re-associate all library information formerly of Teh Who with The Who (including playlist inclusions, ratings, &c).

(This functionality exists currently in iTunes for example.)

[JamesIsIn (k-launchpad-soundunreason-com)]

I posted this to Brainstorm but was directed to report it as a bug:

http://brainstorm.ubuntu.com/idea/23724/

[Pedro Villavicencio (pedro)]

This bug is an upstream one and it would be quite helpful if somebody experiencing it could send the bug the to the people writing the software. You can learn more about how to do this for various upstreams at https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Bugs/Upstream/GNOME . Thanks in advance!

[Angel Abad (angelabad)]

Change bug watcher for duplicate bug.

[JamesIsIn (k-launchpad-soundunreason-com)]

I filed a bug report upstream:

https://bugzilla.gnome.org/show_bug.cgi?id=614781

If you have any further suggestions, I'd love to hear about them.