Playlist problems - update solution found

MP3 players Sansa Clip | Clip+
1

I cannot get the playlist to work correctly in my new clip with  the latest firmware revision. When I copy the playlist and music to the clip I only get “playlist empty” message. What am I doing wrong? Thanks.

Message Edited by Chuck_W on 11-05-2008 05:56 AM

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Welcome to the forum Chuck,

If you are copying an existing playlist, then it’s possible that it refers to the original location of the songs on your harddisk. Try creating a playlist from the files on the Clip instead.

3

Ok Will try that.

4

Playlists need to be in .m3u format if using MSC, or .pla format via MTP.

Using MTP is very easy, as you can group your songs into playlists (the .pla file is not a duplicate of the files, but a list of the titles to be played).  To create a playlist, all that’s needed is to start with a music file, and right click Playlist.  Then, the desired files can be selected.

Using Windows Media Player, playlists are a simple drag and drop method as well.  Then, you send the playlists to the Sansa.

Bob  :smileyvery-happy:

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I could not get the windows media Player interface to work so finally, using a free program called m3uMaker, I created an M3u file that works.

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I’m trying to get playlists working on a new, updated 2GB Clip. Working from XPPro, SP2.  I have many songs/artists on the clip, and they are visible by browsing in explorer, which sees the Clip as “SanDisk Sansa Clip” under MyComputer.

N-bob, please, when you say

“To create a playlist, all that’s needed is to start with a music file, and right click Playlist”

Where are you (viewing the clip files in explorer? or where, exactly, in the clip folder tree)?

Do you mean right click on a .mp3 file (in the clip), or just what do I right click on?

When I do right click in the correct place, what should I see/do in the rightclick menu?

Or are you in WMP?

I tried (while browsing in the Clip via explorer) right clicking music files, the Playlist folder, and any thing else I could think of, but those right clicks don’t seem to bring up anything having to do with a playlist. Only the typical file ops like Open, Copy, Delete, Properties are in the right click menu.  If some other option (like “make playlist”) should be there, then what am I missing (driver, patch, seting, etc) in that regard?

I **think** I’m using MTP, cuz it has the more complex menu system, cuz I *think* using MSC gets only the more primtive style folder.

Dave

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Dave,

I solved my problem by installing M3U maker to the music directory on my sansa clip. After I drag and drop the music to the sansa i make the m3u file right there.

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dwsansa-

Connecting to the Clip (any Sansa in MTP mode, actually), open the music folder, and start with your first desired song.  Right-click and select New Playlist.

A playlist folder (icon) will pop up in the folder tree.  Now, you can navigate through your music, clicking on desired artists, and simply drag and drop your desired tracks to the new playlist icon.  The tracks are not actually transferred to this playlist, but a listing of the tracks desired is created. 

Then, rename the playlist by right clicking on the playlist icon.

When finished, I prefer to drag and drop the playlists into the “Playlist” folder, to keep things uncluttered.

When the Sansa is unplugged, your new playlist will be accessible under Music > Playlists.  How cool is that?

If you use Windows Media Player, playlists can be generated easily by drag and drop as well.  The interface is a wee bit different from Explorer as described, but it works well.

If you run Rhapsody, playlist are available by using the playlist window in the lower left of the Rhapsody 4 client.

Or, in MSC mode, playlists are possible, but they must have two requirements met: the playlist must be .m3u format, and the playlist must reside in the same folder as your music.

Bob  :smileyvery-happy:

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I tried your instruction in MTP mode and it seems not to work.

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What is your operating system and Windows Media Player version?  To verify the steps, I had a Windows Exploder window open while passing on the information.

I’m currently running XP Pro and WiMP11.

Bob  :wink:

11

Same exact problem here. I have a new 8GB Clip and dragged several playlists created in WMP11 (running XPSP3), which seemed to work. But they are not visible on the Clip, it says empty for playlists. Very aggravating. No matter if MTP, MSC or whatever. Why such a hassle creating playlists with Sansa players? Very easy on my Sony A818. It just works. Any other ideas? This should be easy, but it’s not. Judging by this thread, I am not the only one having problems.

12

 I was having all sorts of trouble getting playlists working on my 2GB Sansa Clip as well.  I was using WinAMP to create the playlists in MSC mode (where the clip appears as a USB drive in windows explorer) and was having the problem of them showing up as “[empty]” when I attempted to play them  I had previously copied all my mp3’s onto the sansa clip, with an artist/album directory structure underneath the music folder.

Ultimately, the problem was with the format of the file.  By default, WinAMP was putting the playlist file (.m3u) in the root of the drive (above the MUSIC folder).  That’s not a problem.  The real problem was that WinAMP was appending a backslash "" to the beginning of each song title.  This is very easy to fix using a text editor like Notepad or Wordpad.  Just open the file, and delete the first backslash.  Easier to show by example:

Generated by WinAMP when I created the playlist (didn’t work) - note the beginning backslash:

#EXTM3U
\MUSIC\Kelly Clarkson\All I Ever Wanted(2009)\01 My Life Would ■■■■ Without You.mp3
\MUSIC\Kelly Clarkson\All I Ever Wanted(2009)\02 I Do Not Hook Up.mp3

Modification that allowed the playlist to work:

#EXTM3U
MUSIC\Kelly Clarkson\All I Ever Wanted(2009)\01 My Life Would ■■■■ Without You.mp3
MUSIC\Kelly Clarkson\All I Ever Wanted(2009)\02 I Do Not Hook Up.mp3

Hope this helps someone else avoid wasting a ton of time trying to create their first playlist…