I’m looking for the safest/recommended workflow for bringing my Serato DJ Pro 3 play history/play count from my DJ MacBook back into my main Lexicon library.
My setup:
My main/master Lexicon library is on my Windows desktop.
I do all of my prep in Lexicon on Windows.
I create a Lexicon database backup from Windows and restore/sync that onto my MacBook.
My MacBook is my actual DJ computer running Serato DJ Pro 3.
The music files live in different locations on Windows vs Mac, so I use Local Path Mappings on the Mac.
After gigs, the real Serato history/play count is obviously on the Mac, not Windows.
I also have Serato installed on Windows, but that history is not the one I care about.
The main reason I want to get the Serato play count from my Mac onto my Windows machine is so I can make smartlists in my main Lexicon library. I want to use real gig play history to see which tracks I actually play, which tracks I almost never play, and which older/unused tracks I may want to review, move out of active crates, or clean up.
What I’m trying to figure out is the correct way to get the Mac Serato history/play count back into the Windows master Lexicon library without messing up paths, creating duplicates, or accidentally making the Mac Lexicon database become the “master.”
I was wondering whether the right method is one of these:
Export Serato History from the Mac as CSV, clean/convert it, then use Lexicon’s CSV/Excel import on Windows to update PlayCount.
Use Lexicon on the Mac to import from Serato DJ, then create a Lexicon backup from the Mac and restore it back onto Windows.
Some other recommended method I’m missing.
My concern with option 2 is that I believe Local Path Mappings are intended for a secondary computer, and I’m pretty sure you’ve said before that you shouldn’t make independent changes on both Lexicon databases and then try to merge them. I don’t want to re-import the whole Serato library on the Mac if that risks duplicates/path issues or breaks the clean Windows-master/Mac-secondary workflow.
Ideally, I’m only trying to bring back play-related data from Serato, especially PlayCount and possibly Last Played / History if supported, not replace or rebuild my whole Lexicon library.
I tested the recommended Serato import process on the Mac.
Setup:
Windows desktop = main/master Lexicon prep machine.
MacBook Pro = Serato gig machine.
I use Cloud Database Backup to move the Lexicon database between machines.
I use Local Path Mappings only on the Mac.
Serato DJ Pro 3 is the DJ app with the real gig history/play data.
Import test:
On the Mac, I went to Sidebar → Sync → Import tracks & playlists → Serato.
I used Full import.
I enabled “Import specific fields only.”
I selected Plays and Remixer.
Serato was closed during the import.
Result:
Remixer imported successfully.
My smartlist “Remixer Tags Missing” had about 2,193 tracks before the import.
After the import on the Mac, that smartlist was empty, which is what I expected if Remixer was imported correctly.
So the track matching/import appears to be working for Remixer.
Problem:
Plays did not appear to import.
I checked tracks from last weekend’s must-play list that I know were played in Serato, and they still show Plays = 0 in Lexicon.
I also checked other tracks I know I have played before, and some still show 0.
So the issue seems specific to the Plays field. The Serato import is matching tracks and updating Remixer, but it is not updating Lexicon’s Plays field.
Can you confirm whether Lexicon’s Plays field should import Serato DJ Pro 3 play counts/history plays? If yes, what should I check next? Is there a specific Serato file/database/log that Lexicon reads for Plays, or a known reason Remixer would import but Plays would stay at 0?
I just tested it and plays seem to import normally from Serato 3. It reads from the files, you can check with kid3. There is an ID3 tag called SERATO_PLAYCOUNT
I’m holding back on the Serato 4 update until I have a few weeks without gigs, so I’m still on Serato DJ Pro 3 for now.
So just to confirm: the play count is embedded in the actual audio file as an ID3 tag called SERATO_PLAYCOUNT?
That would explain some of the weird numbers I’m seeing, because some tracks show impossible play counts like 9,999 or 13,044, while other tracks I know I’ve played show 0.
I’ll check a few files with Kid3 or Mp3tag and look for SERATO_PLAYCOUNT.