Creating playlists: many tries, no luck

[Strazdas]

Is it just me who finds creation of playlists on WP 8 extremely difficult? I have tried different ways, searched Google and other sites, but could not find a way that is 100% working all the time. What did I try?

1. Windows Media Player. I created a playlist in WMP, synced it to my phone. Sometimes the playlist appears, sometimes it does not. Sometimes it disappears once I connect my phone to PC. Luckily, all songs ARE copied to the phone, but I can not create any playlists, so it is a total mess.
2. File Explorer. I copied mp3 files to the phone via file explorer, which appears when I connect my phone to PC via USB. Sometimes songs are duplicated, but I looked into this problem and looks like to be fixed (I turned off XBox sync). Still, cannot create playlists. I tried to create playlists in the file explorer by selecting songs, right clicking and pressing "create playlist". Worked in the beginning, but now the playlist is always empty. I also tried to create an empty playlist and drag songs to it. When you open the playlist on PC, it does show references to songs, but on my phone it is empty.

My phone is Lumia 520 and I try to create playlists on my SD card. How do you create playlists?

 

[Strazdas]

Started using official transfer tool (WP app for desktop) and seems to work so far. Hopefully, this will work permanently. Such a hassle that if one wants to create a playlist, it needs to be created prior to transfer and several apps have to be open to sync.

 

[T Moore]

Create and name a playlist using the phone, one song is OK.
Connect to PC and open the playlist folder to find the playlist you just created. Double click the playlist. This opens a properties window for the playlist. Use Songs on the phone Drag and drop titles into the playlist window. You can delete and change the play order.

Thankfully this is much easier in 8.1.

 

[Strazdas]

Thank you for your input. Never tried your way, but it is an interesting approach.

However, the initial problem is still not solved. Now, the playlists do not disappear, but when I try to play songs, some of them cannot be played and my phone gives error (Error Code c00d36c4). Oh my god... Even though all the songs are in mp3 format, some of them are corrupted. Fantastic!

 

[Nerdy Woman]

You can build playlists on the phone itself...

Method #1:

In Xbox Music, go to Songs List and tap select button at bottom of screen. Tap checkboxes to left of songs you want in a playlist.

Now, tap the ... at the bottom right corner and tap add to... then choose either an existing playlist or tap New Playlist, where you'll have the option of naming a new list.

Method #2:

While listening to a song, tap ... in lower right corner, swipe up until you see add to... option again. You'll have the same options as in Method #1 above.


One thing I noticed about WP playlists and WMP playlists... different extensions and default folder names. On your PC, WMP playlists have a .wpl extension and are stored in the Music folder > Playlists. On the WP, playlists have a .pla extension and are stored in the Music folder, in a hidden folder called Playlist (singular). But .wpl playlists will work on the phone if you download them.

BTW, if you connect your phone to your PC via USB, then open the phone's Music > Playlist folder, you can right click on a playlist, go to properties, and manage the tracks inside that playlist... I just discovered that, but I like it. Let's face it, the finger interface isn't always the best way to get stuff done.

 

[Strazdas]

Thank you for your reply, Nerdy Woman. The two methods you described I knew before, but they are useless, when you have tons of music and need to select hundreds of songs. I tried management of songs via file explorer, as I wrote in my initial post, and it gave me problems. Even though your approach is a little bit different, but I assume I would get the same result.

So I located one of the songs that I cannot play on the phone. I tried to play it on my computer (the file on SD card) and it is indeed corrupted and cannot be played. So what the hell happened? Could it be that my SD card is corrupted? I am suspecting that, because a month ago my phone was under sun for some minutes and when I took pictures, they got corrupted and I had to reformat the SD card. Could it be that some songs are corrupted on the SD card just, because some parts of SD card are corrupted? Or does this make no sense?

 

[Strazdas]

I suspect that my micro SD card is malfunctioning. Going to replace it and see, whether the problem was solved.