(WP8) Creating a playlist the easy way...

[cuneyitarkin]

Greetings,

like many I struggled to create playlist on my new WP8 device. I managed to find an easy way to create a playlist which I'd like to share.
Software needed : nothing.
Step 1 : connect the phone to your computer. Go to windows explorer then open your phone device.
Step 2 : copy a folder containing your mp3s then paste it to the music folder of your device.
Step 3 : right click on this folder that was just copied and click "Create playlist".
Step 4 : the previous step created a .pla file on the root folder of the device that we can rename by right clicking on it then rename (or type F2 with the file selected)
I noticed I had to unplug / replug my phone usb cable for the file to "refresh" its name in windows explorer.
Step 5 : done. enjoy the new playlist on your device.

 

[tebugg]

thank you for this. as a side note, after i made the playlist i tried dragging it to the playlist folder, that didnt work. the playlist has to stay in the root "music" folder.

 

[z3o]

Thanks, this is great. I've been amazed at how poorly thought out the music player implementation was executed in WP8. This is the easiest way I've found to create a simple playlist! Much appreciated.

 

[Cliff Estes]

How do you delete tunes from a playlist Once it's created?

 

[msualum]

Agreed, seems very easy Thanks!

 

[Torch4x4]

I'm using windows media player, you don't need to copy or move music files, just create a playlist and sync with your WP8.

 

[bla_q]

How do you delete tunes from a playlist Once it's created?

Please right click the playlist that you want to edit and select 'Properties', There should be 3(three) tabs: General, References and Details. You need the second one. A whole list of tracks, move them up/down or delete. That should do. Thank you.

 

[bla_q]

thank you for this. as a side note, after i made the playlist i tried dragging it to the playlist folder, that didnt work. the playlist has to stay in the root "music" folder.

And another thing I'd like to add if I may, I've tried renaming the playlist, it stays as it is (New Playlist.pla, New Playlist(2).pla and so on.) . My advice is rename the playlist as you want, you might not see the name that you gave(on the PC) but when you check the phone walla ! The names there !!! FYI This is on WinXP with Nokia 9200. Thank you.

 

[s_wp]

Thanks for the simple steps you gave. I managed to create one playlist. But when I try to create a second one by right clicking on another music folder I got the message "The New Playlist could not be created in this location. The device has either stopped responding or has been disconnected". I also notice that the first playlist I created, The playlist file first appear in the same music folder which I could change to teh name I want. But after that it disappear and could not be found anywhere, not in the music folder or the playlist folder. But I can see it in the phone and is working. Did you encounter the same problem? I am using Windows 7pro and Lumia 820.

 

[BHFH]

And another thing I'd like to add if I may, I've tried renaming the playlist, it stays as it is (New Playlist.pla, New Playlist(2).pla and so on.) . My advice is rename the playlist as you want, you might not see the name that you gave(on the PC) but when you check the phone walla ! The names there !!! FYI This is on WinXP with Nokia 9200. Thank you.

To rename the playlist, open the *.wpl file in notepad. It is an xml file so find the <title> tag and edit that. If you want move the playlist to the same directory as the files, remove the path information from the media src tag.

edit: strike that, thought you can just copy the wpl over. My bad.

 

[ac4rumuser]

Thanks, this is a good find.

 

[Jobvr]

S_WP do you have a solution for your problem? I encounterd the exact same problem and have no idea what the problem is. My Phone is a Samsung Ativ-S and i'm using windows-8

 

[RichHowerton]

pick on any song in the window, right click, and create a playlist. It will create a playlist - .pla file on the device. Then go to the .pla file, right click properties, second tab (references), drag and drop any of the songs u want on to the pane, there u are....

 

[vinu_h]

Hi. I switched from android to WP8 recently.

I have a playlist(m3u8) that has about 100+ songs in it. The folder that the songs are stored in; also has songs that are outside the playlist. I'm only interested in those 100+ songs. Is there any way I could extract only those to another folder ? I could then right click that folder and make a playlist (Step 3 & 4 from OP). Thank you.

 

[Ozi1950]

Windows Phone is behind iOS and Android with this "playlist factor". Making playlist should not be that hard, especially on the phone while browsing songs. For example, before I create a playlist on the phone, I use the app called "Stop the Music!" that cleans now playing list. Then I search through songs and add them to now playing list and save that as a playlist when I am done. Adding new songs or deleting from playlist after saving is not possible on the phone, I'm not sure about when connected to computer.

This process is very complicated and it definitely should not be. Making playlists on computer is nice though

 

[Cheryl Sutton]

@ Rich Howerton -
This was the easiest way, thank you. However, they seriously need to update this...one should be able to create playlists on their device.

 

[vinscg]

create a folder in the folder try again

 

[Sanjay Chandra]

I wanted to load up iTunes playlists to my 820 but Syncing App has some sort of bug , It creates duplicates and messes up the entire music.

This way takes less than 30 min to recreate all my playlists.

Thnx

 

[techgeek9]

If you want to edit en existing playlist just click on it to open and select the "References" tab to edit your playlist.

 

[ShonkaiDJ]

Breakthrough discovery!

As I'm puzzled by the playlist flaws and the why's of no Microsoft support on this terrible issue, I recently got a message from the WP universe. The vastly unknown WP8 seems to me, who is a little educated but no astronomer and mostly blinded in this field.

The message told me, that even though you would not find any .pla files in your Music folder or subfolders, IF! you were to create a tile from the playlist, right after creating it with the Mediaplayer syncing your m3u's, after a reboot, the playlist would still exist as a tile.

I admit, a massive amount of tiles necessary on my once so cleaned up WP desktop and still no simple way to add tracks from your phone -I like to perform as a dance DJ- while time with me and my phone is the best time to listen to music and perform administering actions. I'm wasting time...hear me Microsoft?....wasting time not being able to manipulate let alone read ID3 tags and playlists and sync these changes as part of a efficient workflow in a time consuming process called: administration of- and getting to know your tracks.

I cannot do the simplest thing on the road -where I spend a lot of time- to prepair music and sets. I think it is an issue. Stop focussing on office employees and start thinking of the creatives? Could that be a next level without losing your office attention? Maybe they can help you develop & create a more solid base for Microsoft Windows mobile device users. And I would think that they, are the industry proclaimed future of the use of computing power. Connect please...