Ah … Mac! You say that you are using Text Edit. I don’t know that. I use linux. But the problem is the same. The SanDisk player does not accept text files used by Macs and Unix (with their EndOfLine markers). Later version of Windows do but not the SanDisk player. I suspect unix2dos (or mac2dos) is avaiable somewhere on or for the Mac. AN M3U PLAYLIST IS JUST A PLAIN TEXT FILE! Well, a Windows text file. Text files have strings of letters and characters then a marker for the end of the line then more characters then another marker for the end of the line (EOL) then more characters … in one string (a file is just a long string of bytes, characters with markers indicating where it should be split into separate lines for display). Macs (the old Mac’s using the OS developed by Apple) use CHR$(13) (CTRL-M) to mark the ends of lines. Mac OSX, developed from the Next computer whose basic OS is BSD (a Unix variant) like other Unix variants (e.g. Linux, Solaris, …) uses CHR$(10) (CTRL-J) to mark ends of lines. Windows on the other hand use the pair of characters CTRL-M CTRL-J (CHR$(13) followed by CHR$(10)) to mark the ends of lines. So … it is a Windows text file as windows would create it with their own EOLs (if you use a text editor in Linux for example to create a playlist you will either have to use one configured to act like a Windows Text Editor and use Windows EOLs or manually add the extra CHR$(13) to the end of each line or use a utility like unix2dos which converts a Unix, Mac text file to one with Windows EOLs - If you use an IBM mainframe which uses EBCDC instead of ascii you’re on you own). While versions of Windows through XP NEED Windows EOLs (at least in batch files - but not in files loaded into Edit.exe), Windows Vista can handle more standard (Unix, Mac - CHR$(10)) End Of Line markers as well. Not the SanDisk player. The SanDisk needs Windows EOLs.
1 Like
