The M3U playlist standard is a wonderful way to create lists of your favorite music to play on your mp3 device. However, it gets maddening when you have multiple devices sharing the same mp3 library. Why don’t all devices use a standard way to implement the playlist?
Here is what I am referring to:
I use Winamp to create and edit playlists on a Windows 7 machine. The mp3 files are all stored on a NAS server mapped to drive M on the Windows machine. This server is also host to Logitech Squeezebox Server, and is UPnP which provides the interface for my Sonos devices. Added to that I own a Cadillac with a CUE system that uses an exact copy of my mp3 directory on the NAS server but it is stored on a flash drive. Each system (Squeezebox, Sonos, CUE and Winamp) has their own requirements for the pathname in the m3u playlists.
To specify,
Winamp prefixes everything with “M:\” where M: is the Windows drive letter mapped to the NAS music directory.
Squeezebox requires the path to have the “M:\” replaced with file:///media/Music/ and all the “\”s replaced with “/”.
Sonos requires the “M:\” to be replaced with “\”.
CUE requires the “M:\” to be replaced with “.\”
Very tedious to edit copies of all the playlist files just to be able to use the same playlists for each player.
Is there an easier solution to all of this nonsense? I apologize if this has been covered in another forum post.
Managing m3u playlists and multiple players
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Your "M" drive is just a convenience shortcut, know just within the confines of your PC, pointing to your NAS share.
Winamp is creating a playlist file for use within your PC, so it is happy with this shortcut format.
You could try a tool making a playlist that is suitable from outside your PC. I use MediaMonkey.
It's playlists are in the following format:
\MyNas\MyMusicShare\Los Lobos\Tin Can Trust\10.flac
This format may be suitable across more of your platforms.
Winamp is creating a playlist file for use within your PC, so it is happy with this shortcut format.
You could try a tool making a playlist that is suitable from outside your PC. I use MediaMonkey.
It's playlists are in the following format:
\MyNas\MyMusicShare\Los Lobos\Tin Can Trust\10.flac
This format may be suitable across more of your platforms.
Winamp is creating a playlist file for use within your PC, so it is happy with this shortcut format.
You could try a tool making a playlist that is suitable from outside your PC. I use MediaMonkey.
It's playlists are in the following format:
\MyNas\MyMusicShare\Los Lobos\Tin Can Trust\10.flac
This format may be suitable across more of your platforms.
Thanks BarryM,
I had run across MediaMonkey after I made this post and just downloaded it so I'm obviously not up to speed with it. Trying to locate how to import existing playlists now. It seems to me the Squeezebox may be the odd man out given that it relies on the Unix slash "/" rather than the old DOS backslash that Windows inherited. Interestingly Sonos, which I believe is built on top of Linux, uses the backslash. I may be wrong, but I doubt Mediamonkey takes these things into consideration.
Modern versions of windows are happy with either back or forward slashes.
I don't make any use of playlists, so I am not well placed to advise you upon how to use them. This may not be the best way to use them in MediaMonkey, but something like this works:
* select an album in the MediaMonkey UI, right click, SendTo|Playlist
* there is a Playlist node in the MediaTree (ie. left hand column)
* select a Playlist from the Playlist node, right click, SendTo|M3U_XSPF_Playlist
* save it to a share know to Sonos
You will have to re-index your Sonos (Manage|UpdateMusicOndex) if it is playlist that is new to Sonos, but if you overwrite an existing playlist, you can queue it immediately.(the Sonos controller is slow to catch on that the playlist contents have been updated, ie. it still appears to have the old contents, but if you queue it you will see that the updated contacts are queued).
As I said, there must a cleaner way to use playlists in MediaMonkey, but that should allow you to test whether you get better cross music platform support from playlists generated with MediaMonkey.
If it is OK, you could then spend time researching how the MM UI is supposed to work with regard to playlists.
I don't make any use of playlists, so I am not well placed to advise you upon how to use them. This may not be the best way to use them in MediaMonkey, but something like this works:
* select an album in the MediaMonkey UI, right click, SendTo|Playlist
* there is a Playlist node in the MediaTree (ie. left hand column)
* select a Playlist from the Playlist node, right click, SendTo|M3U_XSPF_Playlist
* save it to a share know to Sonos
You will have to re-index your Sonos (Manage|UpdateMusicOndex) if it is playlist that is new to Sonos, but if you overwrite an existing playlist, you can queue it immediately.(the Sonos controller is slow to catch on that the playlist contents have been updated, ie. it still appears to have the old contents, but if you queue it you will see that the updated contacts are queued).
As I said, there must a cleaner way to use playlists in MediaMonkey, but that should allow you to test whether you get better cross music platform support from playlists generated with MediaMonkey.
If it is OK, you could then spend time researching how the MM UI is supposed to work with regard to playlists.
Just got my first pair of Sonos Play:1's and have been impressed. As an ex-Mobile DJ I have nearly 30,000 songs that I ripped from my CD collection. It was really important that I be able to play from my library and playlists that I've crafted over the years. I was at one time an iTunes user but have been using MusicBee for several years now to sync with my Android phone and access via DLNA from a variety of sub-par apps on various media devices connected to my classic wired home entertainment center. I did NOT want to abandon MusicBee nor have to recreate my playlists and after poking an hacking I found the way to achieve my goal. Screenshots tell the story:
MusicBee has an option to auto-export a static copy of the playlist to a folder
Now for each playlist:
Sonos seems to magically resolve the windows path to a relative path that works!
Now any playlist changes I make in MusicBee are automatically exported to a Sonos friendly m3u file that gets picked up via the nightly sync from my Music Library in Sonos. I put the playlists in the same base directory as all my music so the relative paths resolve and I just have to sync the one location.
BTW I also made use of this incredible help from MikeV to get Sonos to see my window music share:
MikeV wrote:
If everyone having the issue has recently reinstalled Windows 10 with a clean installation of the "Fall Creators Update" (build 1709), then it's highly likely that you will need to manually enable SMBv1, which is the file sharing protocol that Sonos requires to access your music from your Windows computer.
1. Go to Start > Settings > Apps.
2. Click the link Programs and Features under the "Related Settings" heading. May be on the right side or at the bottom, depending on the size of your Settings window.
3. In the new window, click the Turn Windows features on or off link on the left side.
4. In the window that appears, scroll down to SMB 1.0/CIFS File Sharing Support. Click the + to expand that category.
5. Check the box for SMB 1.0/CIFS Server, then press OK.
6. Reboot may be necessary.
This will install the files necessary for the file sharing protocol that Sonos needs to be able to access your music on your computer.
MusicBee has an option to auto-export a static copy of the playlist to a folder
Now for each playlist:
Sonos seems to magically resolve the windows path to a relative path that works!
Now any playlist changes I make in MusicBee are automatically exported to a Sonos friendly m3u file that gets picked up via the nightly sync from my Music Library in Sonos. I put the playlists in the same base directory as all my music so the relative paths resolve and I just have to sync the one location.
BTW I also made use of this incredible help from MikeV to get Sonos to see my window music share:
MikeV wrote:
If everyone having the issue has recently reinstalled Windows 10 with a clean installation of the "Fall Creators Update" (build 1709), then it's highly likely that you will need to manually enable SMBv1, which is the file sharing protocol that Sonos requires to access your music from your Windows computer.
1. Go to Start > Settings > Apps.
2. Click the link Programs and Features under the "Related Settings" heading. May be on the right side or at the bottom, depending on the size of your Settings window.
3. In the new window, click the Turn Windows features on or off link on the left side.
4. In the window that appears, scroll down to SMB 1.0/CIFS File Sharing Support. Click the + to expand that category.
5. Check the box for SMB 1.0/CIFS Server, then press OK.
6. Reboot may be necessary.
This will install the files necessary for the file sharing protocol that Sonos needs to be able to access your music on your computer.
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