Creating playlists really should not be made this difficult. After reading through the forums, I decided the best approach was to create a .pla format playlist using Windows Explorer. And it can be created but isn’t persistent. All the entries referencing external memory get zapped once you reconnect via USB and reference the device in any way (Windows Explorer, WMP 12, Winamp, etc.)
I’ve created Playlists in my new Clip Zip from songs in my internal memory and my external microsdhc card. I did this via Windows Explorer by creating a new playlist in the internal playlist folder, and dragged and dropped them to the new playlist (it is .pla format). I was then able to disconnect from my computer, and was successful in playing the playlist, accessing songs from both internal memory and the external card. I even powered the Clip Zip down and turned it back on to ensure persistance (and it still worked).
Upon reconnection to my computer, the Clip Zip somehow modified the playlist and deleted ALL entries from the external card. I tried again, with the same results (edited the playlist, disconnected, worked successfully, reconnected, Clip Zip zapped the entries).
I did it again, this time creating copies of the playlist in the playlist AND root folders of the internal memory. Tested again with the same results. ALL .pla files had the external memory songs deleted!
I can reconnect for charging, but that’s it.
I tried going to 01.01.12, but that didn’t appear to work for me either.
I even tried a playlist with just external memory songs, but when I reconnect, the .pla file is gone, replaced with .pla.ofn, .pla.ref. .pla.sid files, as well as a file with Chinese characters in the name.
SanDisk support tells me the you cannot combine songs from both internal/external memory, other than the Go List. but as I said, I was able to do it, it’s just that the Clip undoes it. So I guess SanDisk recognizes this is a problem - they just don’t want to fix it. To me, this would appear to be a basic function. And external memory should be treated no differently than internal memory. I would never had allow that software out of test if I managed the release!
