Sansa Playlists

[mdouet]

How do I go about getting my sync'ed playlists to show up in Rockbox?  I read somewhere that you need the playlist in a m3u format, but I tried creating one using a text editor, but when I load it it gets "Err" for each file found in the playlist when I select "View Current Playlist" after selecting the playlist under "Playlist Catalog".   What am I doing wrong?

Rockbox is pretty useless if I can't even use my sync'd playlists.

[cpchan]

How do I go about getting my sync'ed playlists to show up in Rockbox?

Synced with what? You also did not specify the Operating System you are using for people to recommend programs. By the sound of things you are using Windows, try MediaMonkey:

http://www.mediamonkey.com/

There are many programs that can write m3u files since it is a standard playlist format.

I read somewhere that you need the playlist in a m3u format, but I tried creating one using a text editor, but when I load it it gets "Err" for each file found in the playlist when I select "View Current Playlist" after selecting the playlist under "Playlist Catalog".   What am I doing wrong?

Please upload a sample.

Rockbox is pretty useless if I can't even use my sync'd playlists.

Why?

Charles

[mdouet]

Sorry for leaving out the specifics, here's more info...

I am using Winamp on Windows XP to sync my playlists to my Sansa e280, the problem is Winamp creates .pla files which apparently RockBox can't read.  If RockBox is supposed to support Sansa, how come it doesn't support its playlist format?  The reason I said RockBox is useless without the ability to use playlists I sync to my device is because without access to my playlists it is very tedious to listen to my music.

Anyway, my question is how do I convert my .pla playlists to .m3u playlists so RockBox can read them?  I tried editing one of my .pla, stripping off all the data except the path to the files and changing the '\'s to '/'s and saving the file in the Playlists directory.  The new playlist shows up in "Playlist Catalog", but when I select it and go to "View Current Playlist" it shows "Err" for each file.  Here is an example of a m3u file I created that did not work:

Code: [Select]

/MUSIC/Revision3/Diggnation (Mp3)/106 - Diggnation - July 12, 2007.mp3
/MUSIC/Revision3/Diggnation (Mp3)/107 - Diggnation - July 19, 2007.mp3
/MUSIC/Revision3/Diggnation (Mp3)/108 - Diggnation - July 26, 2007.mp3
/MUSIC/Revision3/Diggnation (Mp3)/109 - Diggnation - August 2, 2007.mp3
/MUSIC/Revision3/Diggnation (Mp3)/110 - Diggnation - August 9, 2007.mp3
/MUSIC/Revision3/Diggnation (Mp3)/111 - Diggnation - August 16, 2007.mp3
/MUSIC/Revision3/Diggnation (Mp3)/122 - Diggnation - Aug 23, 2007.mp3
/MUSIC/Revision3/Diggnation (Mp3)/113 - Diggnation - The Sensitive Episode.mp3
/MUSIC/Revision3/Diggnation (Mp3)/114 - Diggnation - Back in LA.mp3
/MUSIC/Revision3/Diggnation (Mp3)/115 - Diggnation - Time to leave home.mp3
/MUSIC/Revision3/Diggnation (Mp3)/116 - Diggnation - Kevin's Big Announcement.mp3
I did a little experiment last night and created a dynamic playlist in Rockbox and saved the playlist, it saved it as a m3u8 file in the root directory, when I moved this file to the playlists directory I was able to load it from the catalog with no problems, the weird part is that the format was the same as what I had done for the m3u files that didn't work.   Does RockBox only support m3u8 files?  

[bascule]

Is it a line-endings problem (Windows-style CR/LF vs Unix-style LF-only)?

[mdouet]

I'm not sure what you mean, can you clairfy?  I created the file in notepad.

[mdouet]

Does RockBox put some kind of encoding on the m3u8 file that I am unable to see in notepad?  Because I just copied the text of the m3u8 file that does work into a new m3u8 file (using notepad), and that file doesn't work.  This doesn't make any sense.

[GodEater]

Please don't double post. Use the modify button.

This won't have anything to do with line endings - Rockbox doesn't care.

[mdouet]

Well it's got to be some kind of hidden text that I am unable to see because creating a file with EXACTLY the same contents as the file that works, doesn't work.  Why does this have to be so complicated, I'm a software developer and I can't get this thing to work, how is a normal person supposed to use this firmware?

EDIT:  Is it just not possible to create a m3u file using notepad?  If not, does anyone know of a program that will convert from pla to m3u?  Surely someone has figured this out....

[GodEater]

Can we have a side by side comparison of a list that does work, and a list that doesn't.

Plenty of other people have managed this in the past - it's not difficult.

[mdouet]

You're wrong, if it were easy I wouldn't be bothering you about this.  

Here is a file that does work:

Code: [Select]

/MUSIC/The Shipwrecks/CAG Foreplay/-1 - CAG Foreplay #17_ Rise of the Anti-Halo.mp3
/MUSIC/IGN Staff _podcasts@ign.com_/IGN Games Podcasts/-1 - Game Scoop! Ep. 50_ Gold Anniversary.mp3
/MUSIC/Destructoid/Podtoid - Destructoid.com Video Game Podcast/-1 - Podtoid 32 - Bloody coup.mp3

And here is a file that does NOT work:

Code: [Select]

/MUSIC/IGN Staff _podcasts@ign.com_/IGN Games Podcasts/-1 - Game Scoop! Ep. 50_ Gold Anniversary.mp3
/MUSIC/Destructoid/Podtoid - Destructoid.com Video Game Podcast/-1 - Podtoid 32 - Bloody coup.mp3
/MUSIC/The Shipwrecks/CAG Foreplay/-1 - CAG Foreplay #17_ Rise of the Anti-Halo.mp3

Good luck.  

[pixelma]

If you're using the plain notepad that comes with winXP, I have a half-educated guess and suggestions for you.

As far as I know, notepad does not support unicode text but only the windows "native" one - the m3u8 files on the other hand are expected to be in in the UTF-8 codepage (I think) so maybe here's the conflict. Rockbox also supports simple m3u files which are not expected to be in UTF-8 (I think), did you try? You could also try copy and pasting in a different editor that supports UTF-8 (e.g. notepad++) but since you are using Winamp...

I would be surprised if Winamp is not able to save your playlists as m3u or m3u8 but I don't use that program myself so can't tell for sure.

[GodEater]

You're wrong, if it were easy I wouldn't be bothering you about this.  

Here is a file that does work:

You neglected to tell us what filenames you were using for the playlists themselves.

[mdouet]

The files I just listed are both m3u files.

I've tried to use winamp to save my pla files as m3u files, but it doesn't seem to support this.

I'll try to find a unicode supported text editor, you mentioned there is a windows native one, what is its name?

[GodEater]

Notepad++

[cpchan]

I am using Winamp on Windows XP to sync my playlists to my Sansa e280, the problem is Winamp creates .pla files which apparently RockBox can't read.

Huh, Winamp have m3u support right from the beginning in addition to pls.  Actually winamp was the first program to support the m3u format:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M3U

If RockBox is supposed to support Sansa, how come it doesn't support its playlist format?  The reason I said RockBox is useless without the ability to use playlists I sync to my device is because without access to my playlists it is very tedious to listen to my music.

Rockbox is suppose to be a REPLACEMENT firmware for a number of players. Also there are far more programs that support m3u than pls and pla.

Anyway, my question is how do I convert my .pla playlists to .m3u playlists so RockBox can read them?

You can either use an unoffical build that contains the Sansa Playlist convertor plugin, such as mine:

http://www.anythingbutipod.com/forum/showthread.php?t=12583

Or use a playlist converter. Since I don't use Windows,  Google is your friend here.

Does RockBox only support m3u8 files?

No, it support m3u and m3u8 (unicode) files.

Charles