Format for M3U files?

Howdie–

I have a Clip+ with a micro sd card and the latest firmware, and it’s a great product which I use every day.  I have been experimenting with making M3U playlists for it, and I have a couple of questions.

Background:   As of now I’m putting my M3U files are in the root directory of the micro sd card.  The files are in Extended M3U format:  two lines per referenced file, the first containing song length, artist, and title; the second containing the relative path to the MP3 file on the sd card (with a windows "" separating directories in the path).  This is working fine.

My questions:   How do I code absolute paths on the Clip+, specifically allowing me to reference the internal file structure from the SD card, or vice-versa?  (This will have the added benefit of being able to move around the M3U files at will.)  Also, does the Clip+ actually do anything with the extended m3u information?  Some of my longer playlists can be slow to load, so maybe taking out the extended info would speed that process up.

If it matters, all the files I’ve put on it are in MSC mode, since I don’t use a Windows computer.

Thanks in advance!

i use a great little program called m3umaker and simply copied it to the sansa clip. when i want a playlist in my sansa i use this to make one.

Thanks for your reply, Chuck!

I am writing my own program to create m3u files on my sansa, so I need to know how the sansa expects to see absolute path names in the m3u files.

If you are inclined to help:  Can your m3umaker program make a single playlist with songs on both the internal memory and the SD card?  If so, it would be awesome if you could create a simple playlist with only two songs (one in the player memory and one on the SD card), and then post the content of that m3u file here.  (You can open the m3u file with any text editor, like Windows Notepad, then copy and paste what you see.)  Also, could you note where m3umaker stores the playlist on your sansa?

Thanks!

yes to all of your questions. the playlist is not dependent on a path as the list is meant to be used within the folder it was created in. It can be edited in notepad as it is simply a text file.

the playlist is stored in the sansa clip.

Hi Chuck–

Thanks for your reply.  That’s great that you can open the m3u in notepad.  Since you can do that, could you please post the content of a working m3u with one song on the sd card and another song on the internal memory, and tell me where the m3u file is written on your sansa?  I’m still hoping to learn the format that the clip expects to see for absolute paths.

Thanks in advance!

an m3u file from the music folder of my sansa…

#EXTM3U
Leann Rimes - Amazing Grace.mp3
Leann Rimes - Blue (Patsy Cline Tune).mp3
Leann Rimes - How Do I Live Without You.mp3
Leann Rimes - Santa Baby.mp3

an m3u file from the sd card music folder of my sansa…

#EXTM3U
Roy Orbison - Blue Bayou.mp3
Roy Orbison - Blue Velvet.mp3
Roy Orbison - Crying.mp3
Roy Orbison - I’m So Lonesome I Could Cry.mp3
Roy Orbison - Love Hurts.mp3
Roy Orbison - Oh Pretty Woman.MP3
Roy Orbison - Only The Lonely.mp3
Roy Orbison - Pretty Woman.mp3
Roy Orbison - This Magic Moment.mp3
Roy Orbison - Unchained Melody.MP3

as you can see they are similar becuase they are in the music folder where the songs are. no paths are needed.

Yes, thank you Chuck. 

What I am hoping to see is a single m3u file that references an mp3 on the sd card AND an mp3 in the internal memory.

Can your m3umaker program make a single playlist that references both the sd card and the internal memory in the same playlist?

If so, that’s what I’m interested in seeing.

Or perhaps it is impossible to make a playlist that spans both the internal memory and the sd card on the Clip+

from my experience the clip will reference songs from a playlist that is local to the folder. however if playlists are present in both the clip and sd card, when playlists is selected in the menu all playlists are seen.