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Playlist files keep coming back

Hi everyone,

I recently went into my phone's "Playlists" directory and deleted all the files (the files have the PlaylistName.pla format, all of them with 0 B size). I was doing a clean wipe of all songs (in Music) and playlists in order to do a fresh sync of my music with my phone.

Anyway, I noticed that when I reconnect my phone to my laptop (usb, file transfer mode) all the old playlist files are back in the directory. It happens instantly as soon as I plug in the usb cable.

These playlists do not show-up in the "Play Music" app unless I sync that particular playlist to my phone, so this phenomenon doesn't really have any adverse affect, it's just strange, and a little annoying.

Some of the playlists haven't been on my laptop (I use the MusicBee player) or my phone (in "Play Music") for months.

Things I have tried (all to no avail):
  • I have deleted the files from my laptop with explorer
  • I have deleted with Samsung's "My Files" (internal storage, dir Playlists)
  • Attempted deleting the playlists from "Play Music" vs the files themselves
  • I have attached the phone to several PCs, and the playlist files show up as soon as connected
  • I have cleared data and cache from storage for both the phone and the app
Any thoughts? Anyone else experience this?
 
those are not regular files that you are seeing. the play music playlists are not necessarily stored on your phone physically. those are most likely temp storage for the app itself. the play list is stored on google's play music server. is there a reason you want those deleted?

Not really. As I said, there are no adverse affects. The playlists that are actually in "Play Music" seem unaffected by the files in Playlists directory (some of the actual playlists have a corresponding .pla file, some don't, and there are a bunch of .pla files with no corresponding actual playlist.

I guess I just worry when files I think I have deleted are actually not. What else have I removed from my phone that is still there :thinking:?

BTW, I looked on the Google Play Music web site (if that is the google play music server to which you are referring) and found no playlists.
 
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