[Zbox/Modernmusic] Do they read m3u/pla playlists?

[d_abbatelli]

Hello everyone

As many others, I am very unhappy with the Xbox Music and the way Windows Phone handles music in general.

I have found the two apps mentioned in the title (Zbox and Modern Music) and both offer a very good alternative for my needs (I don't stream, I have a large collection of music and I want last.fm scrobble function).

However, neither of those two apps properly recognizes the playlists.
I make my playlists on my computer and then I transfer them on the SD card. The program I use (MusicBee) allows me to transfer the playlist as .pla or .m3u file, that unfortunately doesn't seem to be detected by any of these apps.

To be more precise, ModernMusic seems to detect the .m3u playlists (if I save them in a /Music/Playlists folder) as they appear in the playlists list, but unfortunately they seem to be all empty.
Zbox instead should be able to handle .pla files (or at least, this is what some comments on the uservoice seem to intend) but I haven't have any luck.

Maybe I am putting the playlists in the wrong folder? Did anyone have any luck in importing playlist with these apps?

PS: I tried to contact the developers, but unfortunately no luck

 

[Jazmac]

I'm clueless when it comes to "playlists" and how you guys use them. Just as point of clarity, what did you expect XBOX music to do with your playlists that it doesn't or won't do properly?

 

[d_abbatelli]

When it comes to "imported" playlists (created with a program other than Xbox Music) it often fails to recognize them properly. Usually, the first time I import a playlist everything is fine, but if then I try to update it with a different version (still created by another program) it creates duplicates or messes up somehow.
Plus, Xbox Music still has other issues that are not related to playlists: generally slow, slow to update the collection, problems with album art etc.

So, in the end, does someone know a music app that properly recognizes .m3u or .pla playlists saved on the microSD?

 

[celticmagick]

I'm in the same boat here. I have 140 playlists that I'm not able to use on my new Windows Phone - ironic considering Microsoft is talking about being more open to other OSs and devices. m3u is probably the more common format for playlists but WP does not recognize them. Alternatively, I could go through the long process of recreating each playlist manually via my WP but the list in the "Add to" option of creating a playlist stops at 100 and I am no longer able to manage playlists outside of that range - unless I want to pick each song individually via the other option of adding to a playlist. I just feel that this process should not be this complicated or frustrating in the 21st century, especially when a company is marketing themselves as being open to everyone.

I'm now in the process of trying to find a little program that will convert m3u to pla but I'm coming up short. I've also spent money on several apps in the store that claim they support m3u but only found that I wasted time and money.

I tried the option mentioned in the forums where you create a playlist from a folder via Explorer on the desktop. WP did see the playlist but the playlist name on the computer never changes and this method won't work for larger collection playlists. i really hope Microsoft fixes the limitations in Xbox Music and/or adds support for m3u playlists.

If someone out there knows an app that will properly convert m3u to pla, please share this info. It will be greatly appreciated.

The search continues...