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solgar Author

Level 1

8 points

Converting WinAmp (M3U) Playlists Into iTunes (XML) Playlists

Hi. I was wondering if someone could help me out with suggestions on converting my old WinAmp (.m3u) playlists into usable iTunes (.xml) playlists?

I have Windows XP Pro (with the latest Windows updates), and a brand new iPod 160 Gig Classic.

I have used WinAmp as my media player for the longest time. The reason that I haven't created playlists in iTunes is because:

It took me years to customize these Winamp playlists exactly how I want them (you know how that is).

iTunes is a huge program that tends to takes up too many system resources on my PC. I have an older PC, and don't have the time or money to invest in a new system, copy files, set it up, etc.

iTunes somehow modifies an mp3 whenever it is played in iTunes ( I can see that it has been modified in the "Date Modified" column, where my mp3 files are located).

Historically - up until the last year or so, iTunes has not had too much of a problem faithfully importing my Winamp playlists into iTunes (to be transferred onto my iPod).

So, I just got off the phone with Apple Technical Support, Tier 2. I told him that I had the latest version of iTunes (version 10), installed yesterday.

I successfully imported my 90 Gigs of mp3's into the iTunes "Music Library" without a problem.

The problem arose today when I tried to import one of my WinAmp (.m3u) playlists into iTunes, so that I could copy the playlist over onto my iPod. I've done this dozens of times. I've already tried uninstalling and then reinstalling iTunes.

Like I said, I really want to keep these playlists it took a long time to customize the occurrence and frequency of favorite mp3's into those playlists.

The technician said that the latest release of iTunes won't work with Winamp (m3u) playlists. I asked him if he thought it would work again if I downloaded an older version of iTunes. He said that with the new iPod Classic that I have, it will not work with older versions of iTunes (I have no idea why), so that's out. He suggested Googling an "m3u to xml file converter."

I checked on Google and saw a lot of programs that will convert xml files to m3u file format (for reasons unknown to me), but I haven't had any luck online finding a file converter that will faithfully convert my WinAmp (.m3u) playlists TO iTunes (.xml) playlists to use instead, and make iTunes run smoother. Any suggestions?*

* Keep in mind that I'd really prefer to convert my m3u playlists, rather than create all new iTunes playlists from scratch.

Thanks.

Custom-made PC, Windows XP Pro, CPU: Intel Pentium 4, CPU Speed: 3GHz, RAM: 1 Gig, Hard Drive Ca

Posted on Aug 13, 2011 3:24 PM

63 replies

turingtest2

Level 10

274,588 points

Oct 22, 2011 12:34 PM in response to solgar

Was responding to the two posts before that, and myself a bit. Worked out down a fix for the accented characters too. Winamp exports as ANSI, iTunes in ANSI as UTF-8 without BOM. Notepad++ can convert one to the other, but it adds another wrinkle to the problem. 😟

Downloading an older version will work I suppose, assuming you can find a trustworthy source, and as long as you haven't got any devices running a newer version of iOS that won't work with an older version of iTunes.

tt2

solgar Author

Level 1

8 points

Oct 22, 2011 12:48 PM in response to solgar

@ tt2:

"Downloading an older version will work I suppose, assuming you can find a trustworthy source, and as long as you haven't got any devices running a newer version of iOS that won't work with an older version of iTunes."

> Have a trustworthy source, thanks.

But...

Sorry, you've lost me again. What is an IOS?

turingtest2

Level 10

274,588 points

Oct 22, 2011 1:00 PM in response to solgar

iOS is the firmware/operating system that runs on iPod Touch, iPhones and iPads. If you have any of these upgraded to iOS 5 then you have to use iTunes 10.5 or later to talk to them...

tt2

^ Missing the AD feature where everybody's posts used to include their products so you could frame the responses appropriately.

Of course if I had actually bothered to read the thread carefully I'd have found you have a 160Gb Classic, so it doesn't matter. 🙂

solgar Author

Level 1

8 points

Oct 22, 2011 1:07 PM in response to turingtest2

My (160 gig) iPod was purchased in March of this year. Are you saying that an older version of iTunes will work with this iPod?

If so, what version do you recommend? ...I promise not to hold you responsible if it doesn't jive ;0)

turingtest2

Level 10

274,588 points

Oct 22, 2011 1:14 PM in response to turingtest2

In summary, a workaround for importing Winamp generated playlists goes thus:

Install Notepad++
Drag & drop or otherwise open the playlist with Notepad++
Select Search... Replace... choose the extended search option and replace \n\ with \n<Media Drive Letter>:\ e.g. \nC:\ if your media is on C:
Use the menu option Encoding > Convert to UTF-8 without BOM
Save
Import the playlist into iTunes

tt2

turingtest2

Level 10

274,588 points

Oct 22, 2011 1:24 PM in response to solgar

According to the ITunes Version History wiki 10.2 was released at the beginning of March so that one would be fine. I suspect your classic counts as 6th gen. second revision which was launched back in September 2009. I don't think there have been firmware updates for that model so the device should work with any prior version of iTunes back to 9.0.

The other issue with downgrading iTunes is that the library isn't backwards compatible. If most of your organising is done in Winamp then this probably isn't so much of an issue for you, but when downgrading you either need to start afresh or restore an older library from the Previous iTunes Libraries folder, then bring it up to date with something like iTunes Folder Watch to take account of the media you've added or removed from the library since the backup was made.

tt2

solgar Author

Level 1

8 points

Oct 22, 2011 3:39 PM in response to turingtest2

So.... What about removing all music from my iTunes music library and THEN importing my WinAmp playlists? Will that work?

turingtest2

Level 10

274,588 points

Oct 22, 2011 6:29 PM in response to solgar

Yep starting fresh with a new empty library on a downgraded iTunes should be OK.

tt2

- xXx -

Level 1

0 points

Nov 22, 2011 2:32 AM in response to turingtest2

Hi tt2

Regarding you script .. It does the magic for all "locally stored files. Is there a way you could add yet another test to it? Like converting playlists which contain URL (streams). Your script assumes the files to be local.

Or perhaps you can point me to the code structure where i could start looking at. I have to admit that I am not too familiar with vbs.

I have a music site from which I use to play music from. Previously this worked like a charm i.e.10.2.

#EXTM3U

#EXTINF:418,Imaginary Artist - Imaginary Song

https://somesite/mediabroadcast.php?resu_zj=70a32aa5e85d4RSU&dis=a381f04c5bce4S& htap_zj=6cf694817c9d4T&noitca=yalp&epyt=kcart&jza=u47s9nvqutc9g2a4gu0pcqov94&ext .mp3

Regards, xXx

turingtest2

Level 10

274,588 points

Nov 22, 2011 3:11 AM in response to - xXx -

Does the latest build of iTunes fare any better? Some of the issues with m3u imports have been fixed. If not I probably need a real-world example of an m3u entry that resolves to a playable file to test any tweaks on.

tt2

- xXx -

Level 1

0 points

Nov 22, 2011 4:03 AM in response to turingtest2

Hi again,

unfortunately the issue(s) with iTunes not importing m3u still remain in 10.5.1.42 (i.e. using m3u files containing URL as path)

The example I provided is an actual m3u file created by my server.

All I did was to remove the hostname and the artist / song for privacy reasons and left everything else intact.

xXx

turingtest2

Level 10

274,588 points

Nov 22, 2011 4:25 AM in response to - xXx -

Sure, but I'll need a real file to test it... 🙂

Don't worry, I can upload something to my website. May not get to it today, but I'll take a look...

I've never used the feature, how did it work before? Would the file be added to iTunes with its remote location, copied into the library, or just play a bit like a radio station.

tt2

solgar Author

Level 1

8 points

Dec 19, 2011 7:43 PM in response to turingtest2

Gotta say, I'm pretty annoyed with Apple for not resolving this third party issue with WinAmp playlists. They keep pointing the finger at WinAmp. The third party WinAmp plug-in that I was told to try back in August does nothing at all. I've tried every conceivable work-around with Apple's Tier 2 Tech. Support, including the ones that TT2 mentioned; all to no avail.

Apple support keeps passing me around, blowing me off, not returning messages (I only call/email once every two or three months to see if they've fixed it- like they said they would). They kept telling me to wait for the next iTunes update. It's been six months of updates. There IS no update to fix this issue. Obviously, Apple has no intentions of creating a fix for this, and the iPod Classics that I purchased back in March of this year are pretty much sitting around in a drawer, with nothing on them. If iTunes playlists didn't suck so much to create and work with, I'd use 'em.

I haven't been able to transfer WinAmp playlists to iTunes for almost a year. I've been REALLY patient, updating iTunes regularly, then trying to re-import my playlists, like they suggest. I even uninstalled my firewall/antivirus thinking this was the problem. Nothing's worked. What gives?

What's the solution???????

Dec 21, 2011 4:17 PM in response to solgar

Try This.

in winamp save playlist as "PLS playlist"

then import it in to itunes

that worked for me.

solgar Author

Level 1

8 points

Dec 22, 2011 9:17 PM in response to NamesNotPat

Tried it. This only worked with one playlist. Did exactly as illustrated above, and saved a pre-existing WinAmp playlist as the same file name, but in a different folder and with the new PLS extension. One playlist imported okay. Tried another playlist. ITunes kept showing "Determining Gapless Playback", then "Matchbox 1". After it finished, moments later, only the name of the playlist was imported, no music was viewable in the main window of iTunes.

Converting WinAmp (M3U) Playlists Into iTunes (XML) Playlists