Easiest way to make a playlist - Inside

[timmyjoe42]

I have had a nightmare time trying to create playlists using Windows Media Player (It started syncing photos and videos that I never selected) Rhapsody, and Winamp (program crashed everytime).

The easiest, best, most stable software that I have found to make a playlist is Media Monkey. The best part, is it's free.

http://www.mediamonkey.com/

1. Install the free software. (It is not adware or spyware.)
2. In the left window scroll down to "My Computer" (or other attached device) to locate the folder that you want to make a playlist out of. (Note: If you add tracks from your mp3 player, when it syncs, it will create a second copy of the track in a new artist/album folder created using the ID3 tag, so you will in effect have the track on your player twice. I suggest starting with a clean mp3 player.)
3. Click on Folder (and any subfolders), so that the tracks appear in the larger window to the right. (Note, you can select the "All" folder if there are more than one folder or track in the larger folder for convenience)
4. In the left window, right click on what you want added to the playlist, either a folder or "All". If you only want one or a few tracks added to the playlist, select those songs from the window on the right, and right click.
5. From the "right click" menu that pops up, select "Send To:"
6. Then select "Playlist"
7. Then select "New Playlist" and create a new name. (You may also add selections to existing playlists if you want. Just choose the playlist you want instead of creating a new one.)
8. Voila, you just created a playlist.
9. Make sure your device is connected.
10. In the window on the left, scroll up to "Playlists" where your newly created/ revised playlist should be displayed.
11. Right click on the playlist you want to transfer
12. From right click menu select "Send To:" and send it to your "Sansa View (Synchronize)"

It should now be transferring.
Congratulations, you are all finished.

Problems that I have noticed:
1. There is a slight lag from when it says it is finished copying stuff over, until when it is finished.
2. There is a 500 track limit to the size of a playlist.

Feedback is welcome.

[vr24]

Am I the only one here not having issues with Rhapsody, really, not sure how hard it is to click "New Playlist", give it a name, then DRAG songs onto it... seriously... lol.. But holy crap, I guess you could do the 12 step program above (literally).

[timmyjoe42]

Rhapsody was not properly syncing for me.
My orginal sync, got interrupted, so I erased the songs off the View and tried to sync again, but it only finished the original sync, and would not copy over the tracks that it did the first time. It kept telling me they were already on the player when they weren't. Other than that, Rhapsody was light years easier to figure out than Windows Media Player.

The 12 step program above is not more compicated than the process you would have to make for Rhapsody. I think Mediamonkey just works better.

[vr24]

Not sure why you were having issues with Rhapsody, that sucks. I HATE media player though for mobile devices, and it bugs me that in the instruction manual, thats what is recommended...

I personally have never once had an issue using Rhapsody, even my mom (totally tech illiterate) breezes through it - including making playlists. Really, you click your player and it has all the tabs "music / playlists / channels / pictures / video" - what more could you want?? We have a subscription though, although I personally use the channels from the subscription and TuneBite all the tracks I want, you can sync your player with TuneBite as well actually.

[idbl_fanatic]

Ok, I have tried and tried, and tried this, with media monkey and the play lists will not show up on my view for some reason, what am I doing wrong?? Where do these playlists show up??

[vr24]

Use Rhapsody.

[idbl_fanatic]

Originally Posted by vr24

Use Rhapsody.

Tried that too, and can't figure it out, how to do it with my music that is already on my player

[Cruleworld]

That's a great little tutorial

[timmyjoe42]

Originally Posted by idbl_fanatic

Tried that too, and can't figure it out, how to do it with my music that is already on my player

When you open Mediamonkey, can you see the device (View)?
Where are you saving the playlist to?
The playlist is probably stored on your computer. You then need to sync the playlist to the device. (Caution, this will most likely cause duplications of the files on your view, because the syncing creates files and folders based on the mp3 ID3 tags.) I recommend having the music on your computer first, creating the playlist(s), then syncing the playlist(s) to the View.

[idbl_fanatic]

Originally Posted by timmyjoe42

When you open Mediamonkey, can you see the device (View)?
Where are you saving the playlist to?
The playlist is probably stored on your computer. You then need to sync the playlist to the device. (Caution, this will most likely cause duplications of the files on your view, because the syncing creates files and folders based on the mp3 ID3 tags.) I recommend having the music on your computer first, creating the playlist(s), then syncing the playlist(s) to the View.

Yeah I tried that, I formatted the view, and started from the MP3's on my PC, then sync'd it moved the files over fine, but I don't see any play lists.

[LastDavid]

I also could not use Win Media to create the playlists I wanted.

My solution was to create an VBA Macro in Excel to create the playlists. Then use the AutoSync feature of Win Media to put the files on my player.