Added support for Rekordbox 6

Short version: Rekordbox 6 is now fully supported in rekordcloud

Rekordbox 6

Pioneer released the new Rekordbox version 6.0.0 a few days ago. This one has a few cool new premium features like cloud sync and a better mobile experience combined with a subscription model.

The subscription is optional, you can still use Rekordbox 6 for free. In fact, performance mode is now unlocked for free without controller and with one of the expensive controllers you'll get access to the Core subscription for free.

All in all, some very useful new features, if you're willing to pay for them. If you're staying on the free plan then it's just a version number change really.

Export as XML removed

The big change for rekordcloud in this version was that the "Export collection as XML" option has been removed. That used to be the only official way to get your library data out of Rekordbox to use with other software. It seems that Pioneer has decided that they no longer want this to happen. The official response by Pioneer is that it was removed on purpose and the fact that the Rekordbox 6 manual removed any reference to this feature seems to confirm that.

Perhaps Pioneer does not wants users to switch to their competitors as easily but we don't know the official reason for the removal.

Rekordcloud relied on the XML export option to upload a library so without it, Rekordbox support is problematic.

No more Rekordbox?

Not supporting Rekordbox is absolutely not an option so this forced me to poke around and do some research. Turns out there are many new things in the Rekordbox 6 internals that provide insights into how the new Rekordbox works. Luckily the Rekordbox database format was not hard to access so after some tinkering rekordcloud now has full support for Rekordbox 6!

In fact, there are many interesting new possibilities with the new way to access your Rekordbox data. Much more data can be accessed than was previously exposed in the XML.

Future

For now, enjoy full use of rekordcloud with either version of Rekordbox. If Pioneer tries to make things even more difficult, I'll be on top of it.

Hopefully Pioneer will realize that there is little point trying to keep users from accessing their own data. The only decent thing they can do is revert this decision to remove the XML export. If they want to do better, they should provide everyone with full (documented) access to the internal Rekordbox database. Enable your users to be creative instead of trying to stifle innovation.