Microsoft SkyDrive + AudioBox integration.
SkyDrive is a fast, versatile platform to store your media files with ease.
AudioBox score:
9/10
The score is calculated taking into consideration how many features the remote platform has to work with media files, including streaming/sync speed, reliability, API and how well it integrates with AudioBox.
Requirements.
- A valid SkyDrive account.
- An AudioBox account with a valid subscription.
- Media Files on your SkyDrive account in the /Media folder.
- Make sure you do not have more than 255 files per folder, your root included, or sync may fail.
First steps.
- Get a SkyDrive account. Make sure the SkyDrive account is confirmed and that is working.
- Purchase any paid plan from AudioBox.
- Link your SkyDrive account through the Dashboard.
Preparing the sync.
The first time you run the sync, AudioBox will create, if it doesn't already exists, a
Media
folder in the root of your SkyDrive account. For performance and security reasons this is the only folder AudioBox will "look" into.
Make sure to copy or move all the media files you want to sync in this folder, otherwise the synchronization will come up empty and no files will be imported.
If the folder does not exists the sync will be performed, but it will only create the initial folder and send you an email with few instructions.
Gotchas.
- It is not recommended to perform file/folder operations on your SkyDrive account Media folder while a sync with AudioBox is in progress.
- The sync operation has been tweaked to be very fast but it may take a while. Do not attempt to resubmit the same job if you know one is already running.
- If something is not working check your notifications or your e-mail inbox. Make sure your email is working and up to date.
Metadata Support.
SkyDrive supports most of the metadata available on AudioBox without the need to have a specific folder structure as workaround.
| AudioBox Tag |
SkyDrive |
Workaround available* |
| Artist |
YES |
Not needed |
| Album |
YES |
Not needed |
| Genre |
YES |
Not needed |
| Title |
YES |
Not needed |
| Duration (seconds) |
YES |
Not needed |
| Duration (formatted) |
NO |
Calculated by AudioBox |
| Year |
NO |
NO |
| Position |
NO |
Calculated by AudioBox if the file name begins with a number as the "01 track title" convention |
| Disc Number |
NO |
NO |
| Loved |
NO |
NO |
| Album Artist |
YES |
Not needed |
| Composer |
NO |
NO |
* If you are interested in fully automatic tagging, use AudioBox Cloud.
Artworks.
Artworks are supported as long as your meta tags (artist/album) are correct and will be automatically downloaded and applied in AudioBox on file import.
- AudioBox will not physically parse your files to extract an embedded artwork.
- Artworks might be attached to the files on the AudioBox platform at a later stage after the sync.
About further synchronizations.
AudioBox will not attempt to overwrite the already existing data in your AudioBox account if you change a file on SkyDrive. The policy is to preserve the custom edited metadata between syncs.
However it is entirely possible to delete and replace a file if SkyDrive flags the file as completely changed (moved to another folder, etc.).
What kind of files will be imported.
- aac (audio/aac)
- mp3 (audio/mpeg)
- m4a (audio/mp4)
- flac (audio/flac)
- mp4 (video/mp4)
- flv (video/x-flv)
- webm (video/webm)
This list will be expanded as we can reliably support other formats. Hidden/garbage and other files types will be discarded silently.
For more information about Apple Lossless encoded files check out the FAQ.
Common Special Operations
Removing all the synced media files.
Sign in your Dashboard and find the Actions button for this cloud drive. You will find the Empty button in the Actions dropdown.
This operation will not cause any harm to the files stored on the remote platform. It is recommended for the operation to finish before attempting another sync.
Unlinking accounts.
In order to unlink your remote account from AudioBox you need to visit the related permission page of the service.
Sign in your Dashboard and find the Actions button for this cloud drive. You will find an Unlink Account button in the Actions dropdown.
This will bring you to the dedicated server page where you can un-authorize the AudioBox app.
Once done, further operations (stream/sync) that interacts with this cloud drive from within AudioBox will fail and your authentication token will be deleted.
Re-Authenticating accounts.
You may need to re-authenticate your account with AudioBox in case of problems. For example when the service tells AudioBox your credentials are expired and re-authentication is required.
Sign in your Dashboard and find the Actions button for this cloud drive. You will find a Re-Authenticate Account button in the Actions dropdown.
Using the same remote account for multiple AudioBox accounts.
Multiple AudioBox account are against the Terms of Service. In any case AudioBox won't allow to link an already in-use service account into another AudioBox account.
