Music Playlists

Good Morning,

i am having a terrible time getting playlists to work - any tricks/ tips/ software to help? Ulitmately, i would love to find a tool that converted my iTunes playlists so the Hub could use them  - any help would be appreicated.

Thanks

Well, exactly what’s the problem?

Tony,

It says ‘file empty’ when i click on the playlist to open them - I have tried multiple formates , etc

Post a portion of one of the files here.

I bet it is the c: - right? how do I get rid of that without converting each by hand?

 

 

#EXTM3U

#EXTINF:175,Raindrops Keep Falling On My Head (Re-Recorded) - B.J. Thomas
C:\SK_Music\iTunes\Compilations\Cruisin' to the Hits of the '50s & '60s\1-06 Raindrops Keep Falling On My He.m4a
#EXTINF:177,Saturday Night - Bay City Rollers 
C:\SK_OLD Napster\60s_70s\Bay City Rollers -Saturday Night.mp3
#EXTINF:130,Catch a Wave - The Beach Boys
C:\SK_Music\The Beach Boys\Endless Summer\03 Catch a Wave.mp3
#EXTINF:149,Surfin' U.S.A. - The Beach Boys
C:\SK_Music\The Beach Boys\Endless Summer\05 Surfin' U.S.A.mp3
#EXTINF:127,Be True to Your School - The Beach Boys
C:\SK_Music\The Beach Boys\Endless Summer\06 Be True to Your School.mp3
#EXTINF:101,Little Deuce Coupe - The Beach Boys
C:\SK_Music\The Beach Boys\Endless Summer\07 Little Deuce Coupe.mp3
#EXTINF:124,Fun, Fun, Fun - The Beach Boys
C:\SK_Music\The Beach Boys\Endless Summer\10 Fun, Fun, Fun.mp3
#EXTINF:134,I Get Around - The Beach Boys
C:\SK_Music\The Beach Boys\Endless Summer\11 I Get Around.mp3
#EXTINF:161,California Girls - The Beach Boys

I

You’re exactly right.

The PATH has to be correct relative to where the HUB things the files are.

So if the folders are all the same, you can open the file in NOTEPAD and do a REPLACE.

FIND WHAT:   C:\SK_OLD\

REPLACE WITH:  [blank]

and it’ll just strip out the leading stuff.

Other people are using tools like “Playlist Creator” to do the stuff for them.

One of the reasons I purchased the WDTV Live Hub was to play iTunes playlists thru the Hub.  Given that the Hub features an iTunes server, I figured this would be a cinch to implement.  Well, as they say, “not so fast.”  I experienced the same ‘file empty’ results as the OP. I tried converting iTunes playlists to Windows playlists, but ended up with the same results.

I tried Playlist Creator 3.6 ( http://www.oddgravity.de/contact.php) which apparently has been used successfully by some folks on the AVS forum.  However, I was not able to load my audio files into the playlist (altho I could load video files). 

Finally, I found iTunes Export ( http://www.ericdaugherty.com/dev/itunesexport/).    It is very simple to use and iTunes playlists can be converted to HUB friendly playlists in just a few clicks.  So far, this little application has worked like a gem.

drsvelte wrote:

One of the reasons I purchased the WDTV Live Hub was to play iTunes playlists thru the Hub.  Given that the Hub features an iTunes server, I figured this would be a cinch to implement.  Well, as they say, “not so fast.”  I experienced the same ‘file empty’ results as the OP. I tried converting iTunes playlists to Windows playlists, but ended up with the same results.

I tried Playlist Creator 3.6 ( http://www.oddgravity.de/contact.php) which apparently has been used successfully by some folks on the AVS forum.  However, I was not able to load my audio files into the playlist (altho I could load video files). 

Finally, I found iTunes Export ( http://www.ericdaugherty.com/dev/itunesexport/).    It is very simple to use and iTunes playlists can be converted to HUB friendly playlists in just a few clicks.  So far, this little application has worked like a gem.

I just tried the Playlist Creator 3.6 to create an audio playlist and it worked fine.  I’m not sure why you are not able to load your audio files. I loaded them from the HUB and saved the playlist to the HUB and it played without a hitch…

Create Playlist on WD TV Live Hub

 

In the root folder of the ‘WD TV Live Hub’, create a folder called ‘Playlists’ do not include quote marks.

Open Playlist Creator, (Which is available as a free download, just do a search for it) my version is 3.6.2, click on ‘Playlist details’ under the settings menu. Make sure that Relative is selected under ‘Saving Playlist Entries’. Click OK.

Add music tracks to your list by using Drag & Drop or use the icons on the right hand side. Make sure you use tracks that are stored on your ‘WD TV Live’ hard drive.

Before clicking on ‘Create Playlist’ make sure that the ‘Save Location’ is pointing to the ‘Playlists’ folder you created earlier on your ‘WD TV Live Hub’, and that under ‘name and type’ you have given your playlist a meaningful name, I use the .m3u extension.

Switch on ‘WD TV Live Hub’ and press the Home button. Scroll to ‘Setup’ & press OK. Select ‘System’ & press OK. Select ‘Media Library’ & press OK. Select ‘Clear Media Library’ & press OK. You are asked if you want to clear ‘WD TV’s Media Library’, select yes & press OK. Message to say clearing and rebuilding library is shown.

WD light on front of unit flashes to indicate rebuilding of library. When flashing stops your new playlist is in the library.

If you open the playlist that you just created in ‘Notepad’ or any other text editor you will find that the line that points to your music starts with  …, this tells the ‘WD TV Live hub to look in the root directory, the next bit of that line tells it what folder to look in, then the track name.

To Display Playlists in WD TV Live Hub

 

I leave my hub in standby mode all the time, so hit the On button on the remote control and then press the Home button and scroll to Music, press OK. Press red button marked with the letter ‘A’ and the filter menu opens, press right arrow on remote then scroll down until Playlist is selected, press OK. A green tick appears, press OK again and Playlists will be shown. Select desired Playlist and press start.

Thanks for the walk through.  I’m going to try it out tonight.

Any way to get playlists to appear in iTunes?

WD TV Live Hub

-running iTunes server

Directory structure is:

WDTVLIVEHUB\Public\Shared Music<Artist folder><Album folder><songs>

example: WDTVLIVEHUB\Public\Shared Music\Van Halen\Balance\08 Aftershock.mp3

I see the WDTVLIVEHUB share in iTunes, but all the songs from all albums are thrown together in the main screen. There are no playlists showing up in iTunes. Can someone please give specifics on how the playlist needs to be structured, and where it would need to be saved to?