WMP desktop playlists to WMP PPC????

[maikii]

My CD-ripping program, when ripping to WMAs, can create a playlist of the
album at the same time, in either .m3U or .pls format.

Since WMP desktop can open .m3u playlists (I'm not sure which program .pls
format belongs to), I chose to create the .m3u playlist. The icon created
for it was for Windows Media player. If I double-click on the icon, WMP 9
(on my desktop computer) opens up with that playlist.

However, when copied to my PPC (HP 2210, running WM 2003 with WMP 9 for
PPC), even with ActiveSync, WMP on the PPC does not recognize the .m3u
playlist at all. One would think that if the .m3u playlist format won't work
on WMP 9 for PPC, at least ActiveSync would convert it to the .asx format,
the native playlist format for WMP 9 PPC. But no, no conversion, and WMP 9
PPC doesn't recognize the format at all.

I tried one further step. After opening the .m3u playlist in WMP 9 on the
desktop, I saved it as a .wpl playlist, which it says is the current native
format for WMP. I then copied that via ActiveSync to the PPC.

Same result---WMP PPC did not recognize the .wpl playlist at all, and
ActiveSync did not convert it to an .asx.

Did I do something incorrectly?? This is very strange, that WMP PPC will not
recognize its own playlist, from the desktop version, and that ActiveSync
doesn't convert it either!!

Is Microsoft aware of this problem??? Will it be fixed soon?

Any workarounds, other than recreating the playlist from scratch on the PPC?

[Sven Johannsen]

I don't think you are going to find a real solution to what you are wanting. The playlist on the desktop has information on the songs in your list and where they are stored on your desktop. That information would be meaningless on your PPC, since the file structure is presumably totally different.

I haven't looked hard, so I don't even know if such a thing exists, but you would need something on the desktop that reads your PPC files and can create a list based on that information. Files would be at places like \\SD Card\My Documents\Music\Bare Naked Ladies\song.wma. I suppose it would be possible to write some software that takes the info out of a desktop list, strips the location info, searches for the song title on the PPC and generates a new PPC list, but I don't know if anything currently does that.

[Ipaqman]

Microsoft Plus! Digital Media Edition is a Plug in for Windows Xp. Among other features, this software allows you to transfer entire playlists from WMP9 to your PPC.

I hope this works!

[jspear]

Hi!

There is a freeware program, named 'Windows Media Player Playlist Converter' that will convert your desktop playlist to one that Pocket PC's Windows Media Player can read.

http://www.waitcentral.nildram.co.uk/wmppc/index.htm

The developer has abandoned the project, due to no longer having a device, but the app is still there, in both MS Word macro and VB form, which should meet your needs.

John Spear

[dantanzer]

Zerama ToGo is a media sync program for the Pocket PC that will take care of the hassle of copying, encoding and creating playlists for your Pocket PC. Zerama ToGo integrates directly into your Windows Media Player on the PC and automatically synchronizes when activesync connects to your Pocket PC (even wirelessly).

Thanks
Dan Tanzer
www.zerama.net