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Model specific boards => Golf mk7 => Topic started by: Rudedog on 20 December 2020, 22:13

Title: Playlists
Post by: Rudedog on 20 December 2020, 22:13
I know this subject has been done several times but I'm on the verge of giving up and I really hate being beaten so i thought I'd ask..

I've searched on here and found some info plus on several other VW sites (UK & US), I've used what has been shown and tried and tried but I still can't get the playlist to play the songs on my SD card.

I have songs on my SD card grouped into artists then their albums, all are mp3 and play without issues including the album art..

Currently my 'fix' is to have a folder called '1-Playlist' that just has a duplicate of each song that I would like to use in a playlist, it works but doesn't sit right when I know there is a proper way of doing this.

So far I have created a M3U file which is seen on the infotainment system under the Playlist genre but when I try and play it it says 'no playable files'.

I'm stumped... as far as I know I've gone through and tried every combination of file address for the M3U playlist songs (I'm saving from iTunes on a MacBook).

Help.. has anyone managed to get this work?

Bit peeved that VW don't even give you a clue as to how to do this.





Title: Re: Playlists
Post by: fredgroves on 20 December 2020, 22:38
When you have the sd card in your pc, does the m3u file work to play the music from your computer?
Title: Re: Playlists
Post by: fredgroves on 20 December 2020, 22:45
And post a copy of the contents of the m3u file on here and let's see what it looks like. Is the m3u in the same directory as the music files or elsewhere?
Title: Re: Playlists
Post by: Rudedog on 21 December 2020, 07:58
Yes if I double click on the saved M3U file on my MacBook it opens iTunes and plays it (I guess it could be playing it from my laptops hard drive and not he SD card, but then how do you create a M3U playlist from the SD card?).

The M3U playlist file is saved to the root of the SD card along side the artist folders.

Unfortunately because I've tested and tried every combination of file address I don't really know what example to post, I know that the direct copy of the Mac playlist doesn't work.

I'll try and copy the file that has all of my test samples, when testing I've made a big assumption that the system will go through the list and find/play any that work and not just stop on the first line if it's wrong.



Title: Re: Playlists
Post by: fredgroves on 21 December 2020, 08:38
I think it's to do with the way the file path is written in the file.

Post an example line from the m3u in here.

I spent ages trying to make this work when I got my first golf.
Title: Re: Playlists
Post by: Rudedog on 21 December 2020, 21:47
Sorry for the delay.

Below is a copy of my 'test' m3u file where I tried to replicate all of the possible file paths that I found on the web on various sites saying that they had the answer.

My SD card is called 'VW Music' and then the individual artists sit within this then each artist has their albums then tracks.

I'm using iTunes on a MacBook.

I hoped that at least one of these worked and then I could change all of the others to match.

EXTM3U
#EXTINF:298,Sexy Boy - Air
Moon Safari/02 Sexy Boy.mp3
#EXTINF:226,Kelly Watch the Stars - Air
Moon Safari\04 Kelly Watch the Stars.mp3
#EXTINF:393,Life Is Sweet - The Chemical Brothers
Life Is Sweet.mp3
#EXTINF:236,Let Forever Be - The Chemical Brothers
05 Let Forever Be.mp3
#EXTINF:290,Hey Boy Hey Girl - The Chemical Brothers
The Chemical Brothers\Surrender\09 Hey Boy Hey Girl.mp3
#EXTINF:324,Are Friends Electric - Gary Numan
Gary Numan/The Pleasure Principle/Are Friends Electric.mp3
#EXTINF:201,Dans La Radio - Jacques
/Jacques/Jacques EP/Dans La Radio.mp3
#EXTINF:143,Equinoxe - Part 1 - Jean Michel Jarre
../Jean Michel Jarre/Equinoxe/01 Equinoxe - Part 1.mp3
#EXTINF:223,Das Modell - Kraftwerk
Kraftwerk\Die Mensch-Maschine\Das Modell.mp3
#EXTINF:259,Electric Café (2009 Remaster) - Kraftwerk
D:\Kraftwerk\Electric Café\07 Electric Café (2009 Remaster).mp3
#EXTINF:372,The Robots - Kraftwerk
Kraftwerk\The Man Machine\01 The Robots.mp3
Title: Re: Playlists
Post by: fredgroves on 21 December 2020, 21:55
OK so that's missing any paths to the files.. If you put that m3u in the same folder as all of those mp3 files, it would work
Title: Re: Playlists
Post by: Rudedog on 22 December 2020, 09:16
OK so this is bit I don't understand, surely the playlist sits on the root of the SD card with the artists/albums below it.

Are you saying to put a copy of the playlist within each artist folder?

Or do I have to take all of the individual tracks out of their album folders and run the playlist from one big folder that only has tracks listed?

My aim was to avoid duplicating the tracks on the SD card.

One other basic question... does the type of backslash make a difference? / or \

What makes it a pain is that I can only test each change in the car.

Title: Re: Playlists
Post by: fredgroves on 22 December 2020, 09:25
For that playlist to work the mp3 files need to be in the same directory as the m3u.

To enable the m3u to be wherever you like you need to use relative paths.

There is probably some app you can use to make these playlist but I don't use apple...
Title: Re: Playlists
Post by: Rudedog on 22 December 2020, 10:18
Thanks, and I think that's the issue unfortunately....

It should be simple and I'm sure once it's cracked it will be plain sailing, shame no one on here has gone from a Mac without having to buy a conversion app.

Looks like I'll end up sticking with my 'playlist' folder and just having duplicate tracks...

Many thanks for your help
Title: Re: Playlists
Post by: fredgroves on 22 December 2020, 10:40
You can edit the file by hand... The file path will either be /motorhead/ace of spades.mp3

Or the same with backslashes.

While forward slashes are Unix(or mac) and backslashes are windows it's hard to say. The mib unit is Unix but i don't know if it will understand either. Possibly it will.

The key is the leading slash, which means from the top of the file system.

Try it...
Title: Re: Playlists
Post by: Rudedog on 22 December 2020, 12:47
Will do, I think I'll keep it simple and test using a playlist with just one track from an album, that way I should be able to workout what might work...just a pain that I have to go out to the car each time to check if it works.

Title: Re: Playlists
Post by: Lordie on 22 December 2020, 18:03
Shame no one on here has gone from a Mac without having to buy a conversion app.

What do you need to convert them to?
Title: Re: Playlists
Post by: Rudedog on 22 December 2020, 22:00
On some of the sites I've searched they say that you need to use an app (Textwrangler) to save the file from a Mac that seems to add something making the playlist readable.

Unfortunately I run an old MacBook and the version of this app won't work so I'll never know if it's needed.



Title: Re: Playlists
Post by: Rudedog on 26 December 2020, 20:58
I've tried and tried and made slight progress but I think I'm now going to give up and go back down the route of just creating a 'playlist folder' containing duplicate tracks which I know works, there will always be plenty of room on the SD card, just goes against the grain...

Anyhow just for the update, the playlist below which sits on the SD and has the artists below it now shows the listed tracks rather than the 'no playable files' message.

BUT unfortunately from the list layout below it always only shows the last song, and then when I click on it I now see 'file not found'.

Oh well....

#EXTM3U
#EXTINF:315,Quartz - French 79
/Volumes/VW Music/French 79/Joshua/Quartz.mp3
#EXTINF:429,The Year After - French 79
/Volumes/VW Music/French 79/Joshua/The Year After.mp3

Title: Re: Playlists
Post by: fredgroves on 26 December 2020, 21:22
In the text editor you are using, can you select to save the file as a Windows compatible file?

Windows uses carriage return and line feed, Unix (mac) uses just line feed.

I know this because we use some computer controlled production equipment and this messes that up all of the time.

In textedit choose "save as" and you'll find Windows in there I think

Oh and is your music really in a root folder called "volumes"?
Title: Re: Playlists
Post by: Rudedog on 26 December 2020, 22:14
I think I can change the save option if I go into the preferences... any clue to what I should look for as there is quite a long list, the only one mentioning Windows is - Western (Windows Latin 1)?

I'm pretty sure one of the versions I've tried had the /Volumes removed and went straight to the /VW Music (which is name of SD card), again I think the track was listed but still had the 'no file found' when I tried playing it.

Many thanks for taking the time to respond.

Title: Re: Playlists
Post by: fredgroves on 26 December 2020, 22:25
I think I can change the save option if I go into the preferences... any clue to what I should look for as there is quite a long list, the only one mentioning Windows is - Western (Windows Latin 1)?

Yes i think that was it.

And try just :

/French 79/Joshua/Quartz.mp3
Title: Re: Playlists
Post by: Lordie on 27 December 2020, 10:47
From reading the replies it seems like you're really overcomplicating a simple process. I assume it's not just a case of throwing a couple of hundred songs on a SD card (not sorted into any folders) and clicking play to play every song on shuffle?

If you have space on your current phone just put all the songs on there and play via bluetooth. You can start the playlist playing when you get in the car and use the buttons on the steering wheel to skip tracks. It's the same process as putting them on an SD card with Android phones or you do it via iTunes with iPhone

You could buy a cheap old iPod for like £20 and plug it in with an AUX cord. As thats not with bluetooth or USB you wont be able to skip etc with the buttons on the steering wheel. If you got a cheap old smartphone instead you can connect with bluetooth to get these buttons working.

Title: Re: Playlists
Post by: fredgroves on 27 December 2020, 10:54
No, this is about an actual playlist of a subset of your music content.

Eg a playlist of just live albums or your favourite songs or whatever. A list of things you collect specifically rather than random tracks from everything or everything by an artist etc.

Its a little outdated these days really, with devices these days making dynamic lists from stuff you often listen to or streaming services that do all of this for you and you edit your playlists online.

m3u files always were a bit of a b1tch to make - certainly if you wanted to keep the music files not all mixed up in a single directory.
Title: Re: Playlists
Post by: Lordie on 27 December 2020, 12:50
Yeah I understand that, but playlists can be created and edited extremely easy on a smart phone with the build in music apps. There's just no need to fuss around with this complicated m3u technique anymore as better and easier alternatives are available.

I just use Spotify and bluetooth to play my own playlists I've created. As Spotify Premium is cloud based (but playlists can be downloaded locally too for offline listening) all my songs and playlists are synchronised across all the devices I own