Drive-spanning playlists figured out!

I finally got a playlist working using (freeware) YAPL, even though this software does not list the songs on my Fuze’s internal memory (but does picture it on the left of the application as drive G:). I’m using firmware v02.03.33a and do not use the alternative Rockbox OS that is popular.


Here’s how I did it:

  1. Attach the Fuze in MSC mode (Settings > System Settings > USB Mode) to PC and then launch YAPL.
  2. Drag ‘n’ drop in YAPL to create a playlist comprising of songs on external microSDHC card. This results in a zero-byte .PLA and matching .PLA.REFS file.
  3. Edit the .REFS file in a text editor (not Notepad) with line feeds set to LF only (not LF/CR).
  4. Manually insert song entries (those on the internal memory drive) above the existing microSDHC card entries using this exact format (note forward slashes in red):

          /mmc:0:/##MUSIC#/MUSIC/Beatles - Hello Goodbye.mp3

5. Save the .REFS file.

6. Change the timestamp of the .REFS file to exactly match those of the .PLA file (I used SKTimeStamp).

7. Copy the .PLA and .REFS files to the root of the Fuze (internal memory).

I don’t know if step 6 is absolutely required, but I added it when I earlier met with repeated failure. If songs on the internal memory drive are in individual folders, you’ll need to adjust the filepaths accordingly, e.g.,

  


          /mmc:0:/##MUSIC#/MUSIC/Beatles/Beatles - Hello Goodbye.mp3

          /mmc:0:/##MUSIC#/MUSIC/Donovan/DonovanMellow Yellow.mp3

The same holds true if your filepaths on the microSDHC card are different than mine.

Creating and transferring an M3U playlist onto the Sansa player

http://kb.sandisk.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/224/

That’s nice, except a single M3U cannot  play back tracks that are located on BOTH the internal memory AND the microSDHC card. Hence tthe “Drive-spanning” portion of this thread title.

You cannot combine files from both the internal and external memory locations in an .m3u format playlist.

With .pla format playlists though, you can. What many do is create an .m3u playlist and then use a conversion program to change the format of the playlist.

Yes, I know. That’s exactly why I created my original post yesterday. It wasn’t a question, but rather a “how-to.”

You can create M3Us and convert them all day long, but unless you know the arcane directory structure of both :mmc:0: and :mmc:1: (they are different), you’re going to be SOL.

Hey, that’s pretty nice!  As you’ve no doubt found, having a playlist access files both in internal memory and within the microSD card can be a real pickle. 

That’s part of the fun in taking the device by the reins and using MSC mode for manual playlists, there’s no automation.  This isn’t too bad if you use a playlister like Media Monkey.

When it comes to music, I like the automated process better unless I’m tweaking about a different format (codec) on the device, trying to break it.

Glad to see you’ve uncorked a way to have the playlist locate your music on two separate logical drives!

Bob  :smileyvery-happy:

So the .REFS file does NOT need to have its timestamp match the .PLA file.

I’ve edited the .REFS once yesterday (in a non-Notepad editor that permits use of LF only [versus LF/CR]), copied it to the Fuze and it played fine. I am doing the same today.