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[sot13]

Hi to all. I have noticed that when I sync specific playlists to my handheld (Galaxy S7), the playlists are of the PLA format. I also noticed that not all entries of the original playlist are transferred (however, the songs are!). Is there a way of telling MC to create easily editable m3u playlists instead of pla? Thank you in advance

[aviateur]

Hi:

The attached image is from my Galaxy S7. I sync this device with one playlist, which happens to be in M3U format. I suspect this is the default format when you build a playlist within MC. I looked into MC options and have not found anything that allows me to set or control the format for the sync operation. Is it possible that your playlists in question (PLA) were imported in that format? If so, perhaps you could export them to your desktop in M3U format and then replace (import) your PLA-types with the M3U formatted playlists and then retry the sync operation.

Cheers,
Lawrence

[sot13]

Thank you for the answer! I am really puzzled about this. As you said, there is no option to choose the format of the playlists (*.pla, *.m3u etc) during the sync operation to a device / handheld. I cannot understand therefore why in your case is in m3u format and mine in pla!
The reason I want the m3u format is because "pla" are not editable at least to my knowledge! And the most strange thing that happens during the sync process is that although ALL tracks are passed onto the SD card of the phone, the corresponding playlists are not complete i.e. tracks are missing!
I don't understand

[blgentry]

Click on the name of the device on the left hand nav.  When it comes up on the right, you'll see an Options button.  Click options then:

Files Paths and More > Playlist Format > (select format here)

That should do it.

Brian.

[aviateur]

Files Paths and More > Playlist Format > (select format here)

Brian, Hi:

This image reflects what appears on my system (MC 22.0.77). I do not see an option for 'Playlist Format'. Is there something else that is required for this to appear?

Cheers,
Lawrence

[blgentry]

I'm not sure why our dialogs look different.  Maybe you are using an MTP connection to your player?  As opposed to syncing directly to a folder or directly to an SD card?  That might change the options.

Generally speaking, I recommend syncing directly to a folder or to a mounted card that appears as a normal file system.  I'm far from an expert on this subject.  I just have a little experience.

Good luck.

Brian.

[aviateur]

Brian, Hi:

What does MTP connection mean? I thought I could just plug my phone into a USB port and let the magic (that means user ignorance) take over. Here is what I did discover. If I establish a folder on an internal HD called 'Handheld Staging Area', I get the results to which you referred (see images). I synced one playlist called 'Year Zero'. This did yield an M3U file for this particular playlist.

So, thanks for the motivation. I am going to try understand how music on my phone is managed on that 200GB microSD card. I suspect that the phone's direct USB connection is not a viable solution and that the microSD card will have to be managed (synced) separately in a USB carrier so that it appears as a separate drive. That, in essence, is what my folder test above proved (see images).

Cheers,
Lawrence

[blgentry]

I'm not super educated on MTP, but I think it is the "magic" that lets some phones talk to computers via USB.  The magic part is that an MTP connection isn't like plugging in a new drive.  It has it's own protocol and it's own limitations.

On the other hand, if you take your SD card, put it into a USB adapter, and plug that into your computer, the SD card should appear just like any other drive to your computer.  You pretty much said that above; I just wanted to be explicit about it.

With that kind of setup, you should have all of MC's handheld options available to you. 

Another way to do this is to do your handheld staging area, and then use a phone transfer tool to move the files from the staging area to the storage card in the phone.  Windows may be able to natively transfer files to your phone.  Or you might need Google's "Android File Transfer" program to do it.  That what I use, but I'm on a Mac; not Windows.

I also routinely plug a micro-SD card into a reader and use MC to update the card directly, including playlists in M3U format.

Good luck.

Brian.

[aviateur]

Brian, Hi:

Thanks for the suggestion. It was 'spot on'. Windows 7 does allow me to access the microSD directly. So it was just a matter of dragging the new album folder and the M3U playlist from the staging area to their respective locations. And the music files appeared and played properly on the phone. That method will save me from constantly having to take a cover off just to retrieve the microSD each time for updating. Thanks, again.

Cheers,
Lawrence