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I would like to create a new section for OTR (Old Time Radio) files. These are audio files, but I would prefer that they be in a separate section from Music. I would be particularly happy if they could group and play sequentially like TV shows. Is this possible? I know I can create playlists in Music, but I don’t think that will keep track of the last episode I listened to in a series.
I hate to reply to my own post, but I had an idea. If I covert the mp3 files to MPEG-4 audio only files, and put them in the TV Shows section will they get treated as TV shows?
That could work. You probably need to configure the library to use the Personal Media Shows agent and embed the titles/descriptions into your files.
Just tested this with a dummy file and the “audio-only videos” play just fine. If a client gives you trouble you might need to use ffmpeg to create a fake video (e.g. from a still picture)
As for your original post… there’s a feature suggestion asking for an “other audio” type library (similar to the other-video option) – however they didn’t get into season/episode based airings.
Don’t know if it will help, but I had a lot of frustration trying to do this. Below is the solution that worked for me. In short, I manage my files and the metadata for them, then just let Plex play them for me. Plex is software and software is always buggy and frustrating, so just dealing with the files makes it so much easier. Most “mp3 tag” editors should work.
Outside Plex: I edited the metadata and set the “Album Artist” metadata for each to be the name of the show. That’s helps with sorting.
Outside Plex: Having the file names starting with the date allows them to play on in the right order. I guess you could also set the play order with metadata but I didn’t do that.
Outside Plex: I downloaded album art and embedded it with the metadata.
In Plex: I made a music library for my otr files called “OTR”.
In Plex: , setting the library to “store track progress” allowed me to continue where I left off.
When I find an error somewhere I fix it in metadata then do the “Plex dance” (use search bar if unfamiliar with that). If that doesn’t fix it, then I delete the library and recreate it. Since all my info is stored in the files and not in Plex, deleting and recreating causes no harm.
TLDR: Use Plex to serve the files, not manage them. Manage the files using metadata.
As I thought about things, I thought that using the TV Shows section made a lot of sense, as it moves through a season naturally.
I converted my MP3 files of the NPR Lord of the Rings series into MKV files, named them with the appropriate SxxExx convention and it seems to have worked. Testing now.
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