# Are music playlists are supported?



## DickK (Oct 11, 2004)

Searched for this but found nothing relevant.

I just added wireless to my home network today and got my S2 TiVo on it. So far, everything I've tried seems to work okay. Spent some time experimenting with the ability to view photos and play MP3's from the large library on my PC.

I noticed that TiVo appears to recognize but not be able to use my WinAmp playlists. Is there any way to create a playlist that TiVo will recognize and use?

Thanks,
Dick


----------



## CuriousMark (Jan 13, 2005)

DickK said:


> Searched for this but found nothing relevant.
> 
> I just added wireless to my home network today and got my S2 TiVo on it. So far, everything I've tried seems to work okay. Spent some time experimenting with the ability to view photos and play MP3's from the large library on my PC.
> 
> ...


Publish the play list directly in TiVo Desktop.


----------



## DickK (Oct 11, 2004)

Okay, color me dense but I don't get what that means. I can publish a folder or a file, how do I publish a playlist--i.e., a list of MP3s that tells the player, "play these and in this order"?
Dick


----------



## jbernardis (Oct 22, 2003)

A playlist is nothing but a file. I have a folder of them and I have that folder published. They work just fine.


----------



## DickK (Oct 11, 2004)

jbernardis said:


> A playlist is nothing but a file.


....still need a little help here. What's inside that file that makes it a playlist? Can you post an example?
Dick


----------



## windracer (Jan 3, 2003)

You can create playlists from scratch in a text editor if you really wanted to (M3U format link), but it'd probably be easier to create them in whatever jukebox software you use to play music on your PC (iTunes, WinAmp, etc.). Once you create the playlist, you publish it in TiVo Desktop as CuriousMark indicated above.


----------



## DickK (Oct 11, 2004)

*Okay, I broke the code. * Your link documents the file format for the playlist file which is the default for Winamp. My reaction:  Why? Because tho' I may not have been clear, my question started right there. I have Winamp-created playlists in my music library which is published to TiVo. _The problem was that I couldn't figure out what to do to make them work--so I assumed they didn't work._

But as you guys knew (but I didn't) is that they do work. That finally sunk in when you referenced the link that just documented what I already had. So, if they should work... hmmm... go play with TiVo some more since the issue was no longer if they work but _how_.

For anyone else who finds this less than obvious, the deal is to hit the _play_ button on the remote to play such a list. Hit _select_ and the list opens to show you what's in it.

Simple and obvious -- well, obvious after I saw it!

Is this documented anywhere and I just missed it?

In any case, thanks for stickin' with it until the obvious finally caught up with me.

Dick


----------



## windracer (Jan 3, 2003)

Heh, so all this time we thought you were asking how to _publish_ a playlist in TiVo Desktop when really you already had it published and were just trying to figure out how to play it.  Sorry we missed that, glad you figured it out.


----------



## jonra (Apr 1, 2005)

I'm on windows 7 pro, 64 bit with the latest windows media player, tivo desktop 2.8.1, and a tivo HD. All hard wire networked.

On the Tivo HD, in music, photos & showcases - works great. I can see & play all of my music and photos on the tivo HD from my networked computer. 

All of my music & music folders, albums, etc. will play & go to the next song, but my windows media player playlists will not play. I even saved them as m3u files and I still get, "the folder does not contain any playable music". 

What am I doing wrong? Maybe something simple, or perhaps it's a windows 7 problem?


----------



## jonra (Apr 1, 2005)

I called tivo support. Music playlists are NOT supported. He said they're working on that feature, but don't know when it will be ready. I asked if the premiere did that since it's your music box, cable box, dvr, etc. - but premiere doesn't do it either. My cheap samsung phone supports media player play lists... oh well. 

The tech mentioned rhapsody will do that, but I canceled rhapsody a while ago. The only way to make a music playlist that is supported in TIVO is to make a copy of each song in your library and move the extra copy to a folder. Of course then you have two copies of those songs that is in your tivo playlist. Not worth the trouble for me. 

I may just move an extra pc to the main home theater area and have music there, but then at that point there is no need to use the tivo for music playback - the pc could be connected directly to my main TV & Audio System.


----------



## windracer (Jan 3, 2003)

I'm pretty sure TiVo Desktop still supports playlists. What do your M3U files look like? Are you trying to play just MP3 files (since that's all TD supports)?


----------



## jonra (Apr 1, 2005)

thanks for the response. yes these are all mp3 songs in the windows Media Player playlists I created in windows media player - ver. 12.0.7600.16415 

I have tivo desktop 2.8.1 and I have everything working music, photos on the tivo, but the same mp3 songs will not play from inside the playlists. I even checked the playlist folder in note pad, the path, etc. even saved the folder as an .m3u file and still won't play from there... Not a real big deal - I can do the copy work around and create a new folder or just play directly from my PC.


----------



## jonra (Apr 1, 2005)

What it looks like:

#EXTM3U
#EXTINF:0,David Gray_02_Babylon II.mp3
..\David Gray\Greatest Hits\David Gray_02_Babylon II.mp3

#EXTINF:0,03 - Collide (Original Album Version).mp3
..\Howie Day\Stop All The World Now\03 - Collide (Original Album Version).mp3

#EXTINF:0,03 You've Got to Hide Your Love Away [from the Film 'Help! '].mp3
..\The Beatles\Help!\03 You've Got to Hide Your Love Away [from the Film 'Help! '].mp3

#EXTINF:0,Follow Me.mp3
..\Uncle Kracker\Uncle Kracker\Follow Me.mp3

#EXTINF:0,09 - Say (John Mayer).mp3
..\Holly's - 05-23-10\09 - Say (John Mayer).mp3

#EXTINF:0,03 3 A.M.mp3
..\Matchbox 20\Yourself or Someone Like You\03 3 A.M.mp3

#EXTINF:0,06 - Love Story (Taylor Swift).mp3
..\Holly's - 05-23-10\06 - Love Story (Taylor Swift).mp3

#EXTINF:0,06 - You Belong With Me.mp3
..\Taylor Swift\Fearless\06 - You Belong With Me.mp3

#EXTINF:0,02 - Fallin for You (Colbie Cailait).mp3
..\Holly's - 05-23-10\02 - Fallin for You (Colbie Cailait).mp3

#EXTINF:0,04 Push.mp3
..\Matchbox 20\Yourself or Someone Like You\04 Push.mp3

#EXTINF:0,11 -It's Not My Time (3 Doors Down).mp3
..\Holly's - 05-23-10\11 -It's Not My Time (3 Doors Down).mp3

#EXTINF:0,08 - Won't Go Home Without You (Maroon 5)Track 8.mp3
..\Holly's - 05-23-10\08 - Won't Go Home Without You (Maroon 5)Track 8.mp3

#EXTINF:0,07 Before He Cheats.mp3
..\Carrie Underwood\Some Hearts\07 Before He Cheats.mp3


----------



## windracer (Jan 3, 2003)

Hmm ... I wonder if it's the relative paths in your M3U file? Try creating a simple playlist like this:


```
C:\Music\David Gray\Greatest Hits\David Gray_02_Babylon II.mp3
C:\Music\Howie Day\Stop All The World Now\03 - Collide (Original Album Version).mp3
C:\Music\The Beatles\Help!\03 You've Got to Hide Your Love Away [from the Film 'Help! '].mp3
C:\Music\Uncle Kracker\Uncle Kracker\Follow Me.mp3
C:\Music\Holly's - 05-23-10\09 - Say (John Mayer).mp3
```
(obviously replace C:\Music with the path to your library). My M3U files are all absolute paths, and just lists of files (without all the #EXT stuff, but I don't think that matters).


----------



## jonra (Apr 1, 2005)

I see, thanks - I'll try that later today & let you know.


----------



## jonra (Apr 1, 2005)

By the way which music player do you use to make your playlists? 

Maybe I'll download that to create my playlists for tivo that won't add all that stuff & give me absolutes paths. That will save me a lot of time.


----------



## jonra (Apr 1, 2005)

windracer Thanks! 

what you suggested worked! 

I guess tivo support doesn't want to instruct you on this. If you use windows media player - you have to save a new playlist with a new name, use note pad or something like it, delete all the characters tivo doesn't like per line, at least it's in the beginning of each line- easier to edit) per song in the playlist - ends up like C:\Users\myname\Music\David Gray\Greatest Hits\David Gray_02_Babylon II.mp3 - per line

If you're not a little computer familiar you can screw things up.


----------



## windracer (Jan 3, 2003)

jonra said:


> windracer Thanks! what you suggested worked!


Great to hear! :up:



jonra said:


> By the way which music player do you use to make your playlists?


I actually don't use TiVo Desktop for playlists.  I use Galleon's music player which can directly read my iTunes Library and extract my playlists directly.


----------



## BarryD99 (Mar 30, 2002)

Sorry for being so dense, but does Tivo support playlists from any players?

I'm currently using Windows Media Player 11 and the while the Tivo sees my published playlist folder, it does not see any playable music. Any hints?

Thanks in advance.


----------



## wmcbrine (Aug 2, 2003)

The TiVo doesn't directly support playlists, although it has a special icon for them; they have to be translated by the HMO server into TiVo-compatible XML.

If TiVo Desktop isn't handling your playlists, it's possible that pyTivo will.


----------



## windracer (Jan 3, 2003)

BarryD99 said:


> I'm currently using Windows Media Player 11 and the while the Tivo sees my published playlist folder, it does not see any playable music. Any hints?


Check jonra's post a few up for some tips about publishing playlists from WMP.


----------



## tamon77 (Feb 3, 2008)

I created some m3u lists from itunes and my tivohd will not play them. When i try to play my tivo shows an error and then the tivo server shuts down on my pc. Any suggestions?


----------



## kwcarlberg (Nov 11, 2006)

I exported all my playlists into m3u format. I added / published the Playlist folder in Tivo Desktop. The very first time I tried to play it, it failed. Next time no problem ... worked everytime after the first time. I store all my music on a NAS on my network. All my m3u files are pointed directly to the NAS (example: \\raid\new music\ artist... song). My Playlist folder is on the same NAS. Works like a champ. 60 playlists exported and all play fine


----------



## eeg0323 (Sep 12, 2003)

Since I have an IPod, and IPad,and an IPhone (but still us a PC and not a MAC) I use ITunes. A program called TiViTunes from MAximized software works great.

http://www.maximized.com/shareware/tivitunes/


----------

