How to quickly import all RekordBox playlists into Engine DJ?

In the RekordBox tab, there is an option to “Import Collection”. However this only seems to import the tracks, NOT the playlists. For that to happen I need to manually select each playlist and select “Import as Playlist”. This is very cumbersome. Any ways to speed this up?

Also is there a way to easily sync the Engine DJ playlists, when there is a change in the RekordBox database? I basically want to do all changes in RekordBox and migrate them to Engine DJ. The current workflow is:

  • update tracks and playlists in RekordBox
  • export RB library to XML
  • import/update that in Engine DJ
  • get rid of the entire Engine DJ collection (deleting the \music\Engine Library folder entirely so I have an empty database)
  • Import all playlists individually
  • Wait for all tracks to be analyzed again…

This is a LOT of work, so I’m hoping someone has a solution (non-paid) for this problem?

The import feature was only ever designed to be a first time initial load for those moving from other software, not a way of updating Engine.

I can’t speak for RB but when I did it from Serato (pretty recently after a db corruption) it loaded everything as I had it laid out in Serato.

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Thanks for the reply. The initial update makes sense, but from a user perspective it is quite limiting. As a DJ I often need to use Pioneer simply because it’s what’s available at the venue. When I bring by own gear, I use Denon. For me it’s best to maintain a single library and keep the other one in sync. It would be nice if this update process could be streamlined.

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What you have to take into account, InMusic have no motivation to design their software to be integrated with a rival brand, especially one who dont return the favour. The upload was a way of people being able to quickly get going with Engine after using other software.

AlphaTheta have recently changed how their system works (I don’t know the exact name) and from what I’ve heard it’s now inaccessible by Engine, which is even more reason to not waste dev time on it, as they can just block it happening at all at their will, and being the market leader who wants a monopoly they are likely to.

For running multiple software (I use Engine, Serato, Rekordbox and Djay Pro), the solution I’ve found is to mirror your folder structure on your pc with playlists in the software. That way you can have consistency between them all with regards to file placement. You add a new track to your XYZ folder, then you can update XYZ playlist on all your different software.

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Thanks for the heads up. I’m actually thinking about making it myself then. I already made a tool that processes the RekordBox database and extracts playlists and track data from it, next step is to integrate it to Engine. Still find it a shame though why these companies cannot work together and because of that we have to choose between a shitty user experience or a vendor lock-in.

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Fully agree on that, DJ library databases should have been a standardised format from the get go, like a csv file is in spreadsheet world. Instead we have the mess that is the current situation.

Only InMusic and Algoriddim seem to care at all, Algoriddim is pretty cool as it reads my Serato crates live (at least on my mac).

I’ll give a shout out to the Lexicon guy too though, I understand his software costs money, but he is doing the lords work in reality.

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If you’re looking at DIY I’d think about the fact that there are at least three other tools doing this at the moment:

These are all paid, mind you, so if you came up with something free I’m sure people would be into it!

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@DJRobF Are you reading out the encrypted main database (SQLCipher) of Rekordbox? This key has been leaked but the key of the Device Library Plus is still unknown AFAIK. If you have code to share please do so :innocent:

For Engine DJ there is an actively developed C++ library named libdjinterop. I enjoyed working with Adam when he integrated this into Mixxx. Don’t hesitate to contact him.

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It is possible to update your Engine library with changes you’ve made in Rekordbox even though the Rekordbox import isn’t designed to do this. Here is the post I typed up for another user that was having the same problem: Rekordbox Library xml doesn't even try to update - #17 by JasonSkye

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