playlists on samsung captivate (android)

[jes91354]

Previously I've used MusicBee with great success on my Palm Centro, and now I got a Samsung Captivate (Android 2.2) and updated MusicBee to the latest.  When I attach the device in DTM mode, MusicBee can see it, and after a bunch of attempts, it miraculously started to see the music and playlists on the card.

The old playlists, however, are showing up as empty.  (The filenames are kind of strange, however, in the form *.pla.m3u.)  Even a new playlist, that I created from MusicBee in a prior session, is showing up as empty.  (This one is just *.pla, though.)  The old ones aren't seen and don't play in the default music player on the phone, which could make sense if the music player doesn't recognize *.m3u, but the new ones can play.

Oh, and the first time I transferred a playlist from MusicBee to this device, it corrupted the *.mp3 file and sent a *.alb file with the album art.

So my questions:
- Is there any way I can recover the old *.pla.m3u playlists that I created in MusicBee on the old device (which are still on the card)?
- Why when I create a new playlist from MusicBee does it later show up empty in MusicBee?
- If I create a new playlist in the default Android music player, why doesn't MusicBee see it?

Thanks,
John S.

[jes91354]

Okay, nobody appears to have a solution, so I'll summarize what I've learned.  Correct me if I'm wrong.

- Apparently MusicBee only reads and writes *.m3u playlists.
- Apparently the Android 2.2 Music Player only reads and writes *.pla playlists.
- No idea how my playlists got renamed *.pla.m3u, but I just renamed them back to *.m3u.

So in order to solve my problem, I downloaded Winamp to the phone.  Now it and MusicBee share the *.m3u playlists, and it's fine for my purposes.  The only drawback is that some apps, like Endomondo, integrate with the standard Music Player, so I can start Winamp before it, but not control Winamp from within it.

John

[Steven]

- Apparently MusicBee only reads and writes *.m3u playlists.

if you are using MTP mode on the device and the device is detected as an MTP device (you need to tick 'detect MTP devices' in the Devices Preferences screen), then playlists will be written as .PLA
if you are using MSC mode, the the device preferences screen will allow you to select various formats (not .PLA though)

as a guess perhaps you dont have the detect MTP devices option ticked? you refer to DTM mode but i am not familar with that

[jes91354]

Thanks for the clarification, Steven.

I have "detect MTP devices" checked.  When I plug in the phone, the phone gives me the choice of Media Player or Mass Storage, so I choose the former.  Then the title on the phone is "MTP application", and I can see the device in MusicBee and all the playlists (both old M3U and new PLA) in the devices window.  However, when I click on any of them, nothing happens.  (Apparently I was incorrect earlier when I said that MB didn't see the PLA lists on the device.)

If I right-click on the device and create a playlist, it puts it under the card on the device (rest of playlists are just under the device itself), and I can assign music and see it in MB.  And when I remove the device, now apparently it is making a liar out of me, because it's in PLA format and the stock Music Player can see and play it.

When I plug the device in again, I can see the new playlist, but not its contents -- same as the others.  I can add music, and then on the device can see the updated playlist.

So it looks like the current problem is that I can see playlist names from the device in MusicBee, whether M3U or PLA, but not see their contents.  If I could see the contents, then I could create new PLA playlists and copy the contents from the old M3U ones. 

Thanks again,
John S.

[Steven]

for the .PLA playlists you cant see the contents through a tag editor - you need to right click in windows explorer and one of the tabs shows the files referenced. You should of course see the files in MB or when playing on the device.
in MTP mode you wont be able to see the contents of a .m3u list. Suggest you get them onto your PC and if the file paths are valid references to files on your PC you should be able to Send To/ Device or drag/drop to the device. Otherwise you will need to recreate them manually (as .PLA playlists)

[jes91354]

Interestingly enough, MusicBee reads and displays the contents of the m3u playlists just fine on the same SD card in the old phone (Palm Centro).  But in the new phone (Samsung Captivate with Android 2.2), MusicBee sees the m3u playlists on that SD card, but can't read the contents.

I tried your suggestion of using Windows Explorer (in MTP mode), and it showed the references tab (of both m3u and pla), but blank -- and yet they're not blank, because they play on the device. 

So it seems like it must be something with the new device or its MTP mode.  I guess I'm ready to give up at this point.

Thanks again,
John S.