Bulk export of internal playlists

[Dave Dee]

Is it possible to export all or a selection of playlists to external playlist files in one go rather than individually?

TIA

[CritterMan]

This sounds like something we can help with, but you need to be more specific about what you are trying to do. It sounds like you want to know how to sync. Can you provide very specific steps to describe what you are doing now?

[psychoadept]

I think your best bet would be to set the playlists to export automatically.  Both static and auto-playlists have a setting at the bottom of the Edit Playlist window to "automatically export a static copy".

You could also make a wishlist request for bulk export.

[Dave Dee]

I'd like to do the following:

1) Export the MB playlist data (playlist path, its name and of course the tracks info) to a spreadsheet
2) Convert MB playlists (some or all, chosen by tickboxes) to external playlist files, replicating the folder structure of the MB playlists

Critterman: it's nothing to do with syncing (which works fine for me, btw having multiple virtual devices to play with is bliss after iTunes!): having thought about it more I suppose item 1 above is more a reporting function.

Now the second option could be done by using the existing Virtual Device feature: point it at a folder of choice, and have an option so that only the playlists are created (don't copy the music), and have it replicate the MB playlist folder structure.

Psychoadept: I tried playing with auto-playlists but it didn't quite do what I wanted: one issue is if a whole bunch of playlists are imported from my iTunes xml I'd then have to go and set each one to auto-export manually.

Btw, your Mellon Remix skin is a thing of beauty!



Background:

I've been using iTunes for many years, and having collected a reasonable number of tracks and playlists, I want to 'liberate my data' relating to my library.

The management of playlists in iTunes is just horrible. It used to be possible to open a playlist in a separate window and have it side by side with the main library, which made dragging and dropping files from the library to add to the playlist quite easy. That feature was removed. Now you have to scroll to make the playlist visible in the LH tree, then drag the file onto it. It's a small target so it's easy to get the wrong one. The right-click 'Add to Playlists' feature is unusable if you have hundreds of playlists.

Also, if you have many playlists grouped into folders and subfolders, and you want to move them around, it's fiddly to do using the LH tree control.

By contrast, I was delighted to see that in MB the playlists are stored as discrete files which can be easily managed using two Windows Explorers side by side. Any changes made there are seamlessly shown in the MB Playlist tree. That feature alone I think puts MB way ahead of iTunes.

For analysing playlist data, it's possible to get it out of iTunes as it publishes it to an xml file, but it's fiddly to convert the playlist info to a flat table showing playlist path, name and tracks.

The ideal solution is to be able to select some or all MB playlists, and write the data to a flat table which shows

Playlist Path
Playlist Name
Track info, including Location, Artist, Album Artist, Title etc.

[CritterMan]

The ideal solution is to be able to select some or all MB playlists, and write the data to a flat table which shows

Playlist Path
Playlist Name
Track info, including Location, Artist, Album Artist, Title etc.

That sounds like an entry for the Wishlist.

[alec.tron]

This is already there, yet not in an active way that you can say 'export all now' afaik.
I need the same and am using something like psychoadept suggests, i.e. Preferences / settings:
- Library -> Playlists -> set your Library Playlists  path: Playlists\  to where you have/want your playlists and to m3u format (I populate this from here as welll via m3u)
- I just keep them in the MB portables' Playlists\ folder, and copy all playlists I want MusicBee to manage there, the4se then appear in the Plylist tab
- MusicBee will now write changes done to each playlist to the respective m3u file. Grab & copy them elsewhere from Playlists\ after MB has edited them for further consumption.

There's also am 'exported playlist' setting in the same location - I have not found out how these differ or how to trigger said export yet though.

c.

[redwing]

1) Export the MB playlist data (playlist path, its name and of course the tracks info) to a spreadsheet

I doubt how many users would need such functionality on a regular basis. You could use Additional tagging tools plugin and export selected tags of selected tracks to a spreadsheet (except playlist path and name).

2) Convert MB playlists (some or all, chosen by tickboxes) to external playlist files, replicating the folder structure of the MB playlists

If you tick auto-export option of playlists, it does what you want. They get exported, replicating the current playlist folder structure. Yes, it's not possible to enable the option for multiple playlists at once, but it's possible to update all exported playlists at once. Go to Preferences> Library> Playlists and change any option (e.g. use relative file path), apply, and change it back, apply. Then it updates all exported playlists with up-to-date content.

[Dave Dee]

Hallo alec.tron

Thanks for your tip, I need to experiment more with it but I think the drawback with having the playlists as .m3u rather than the proprietary .mbp is that I'd lose the extra features that .mbp playlists provide.

The 'Exported Playlist' location is where the 'auto export a static copy' playlists end up. A neat feature is that as you change the playlist in the Playlists node, these auto-exported copies are automatically updated.

If however you use Windows Explorer to rearrange the .mbp playlists, you can see the changes reflected in the MB Playlists node after refreshing, but these changes aren't then automatically reflected in the files in the auto-exported folder.

[Dave Dee]

I doubt how many users would need such functionality on a regular basis. You could use Additional tagging tools plugin and export selected tags of selected tracks to a spreadsheet (except playlist path and name).

But the 'playlist path and name' bit is exactly the bit I'm after!

If you tick auto-export option of playlists, it does what you want. They get exported, replicating the current playlist folder structure. Yes, it's not possible to enable the option for multiple playlists at once, but it's possible to update all exported playlists at once. Go to Preferences> Library> Playlists and change any option (e.g. use relative file path), apply, and change it back, apply. Then it updates all exported playlists with up-to-date content.

Thanks for this, I'll give it a try, especially if it resets the exported playlists' folder structure.

[redwing]

if it resets the exported playlists' folder structure.

What it actually does is it makes all auto-export-enabled playlists create a new exported playlist in accordance with the adjusted setting. Thus if one of those auto-export-enabled playlist is now in a different location, you have two - a new one in the new folder location and the old one in the previous location. So if you want to update their changed folder structure, delete existing exported playlists first.

[Dave Dee]

That's useful to know, the files are tiny so zapping the existing ones will be fine. They would really be temporary copies for use elsewhere, with the MB playlists being the authoritative source.