iTunes Playlist on SD Card?
Thread Starter
Audiworld Junior Member
Joined: Aug 2012
Posts: 16
Likes: 1
From: Dublin, CA
iTunes Playlist on SD Card?
Anyone find success in getting iTunes playlists to work on and SD Card? I've searched through the various posts and tried to emulate but haven't found anything that works yet.
The closest solution by TeddyOH pointed to editing the playlist file structure using a Text Editor so that directory and paths lined up correctly. That still hasn't worked for me.
next solution suggested perhaps that the MMI needed time to digest/ingest the SD card and eventually the playlist worked (but it took 20-30 minutes?!?)
I've got a 2013 A7, using an iMac. Copied my music folders to a SanDisk Ultra 32gb SD Card. Good news is that the music comes up okay in the MMI, organized by artist folders and then albums, but with 32gb, I have too many folders to really try to scroll through to listen. Especially if I want to listen to someone at the end of the alphabet.
I've exported the playlists from iTunes as .m3u files and then used the Mac Text Editor to replace the path for my external drive and replace with the name of my SD Card.
However, when I click on the playlist in the MMI, it only shows one or two songs, the rest are untitled. If I then click on what's there, it grays out, or comes back with "file is damaged".
any ideas? Do I need to upgrade to the faster Extreme SD Card perhaps? Or is it file structure issue?
The closest solution by TeddyOH pointed to editing the playlist file structure using a Text Editor so that directory and paths lined up correctly. That still hasn't worked for me.
next solution suggested perhaps that the MMI needed time to digest/ingest the SD card and eventually the playlist worked (but it took 20-30 minutes?!?)
I've got a 2013 A7, using an iMac. Copied my music folders to a SanDisk Ultra 32gb SD Card. Good news is that the music comes up okay in the MMI, organized by artist folders and then albums, but with 32gb, I have too many folders to really try to scroll through to listen. Especially if I want to listen to someone at the end of the alphabet.
I've exported the playlists from iTunes as .m3u files and then used the Mac Text Editor to replace the path for my external drive and replace with the name of my SD Card.
However, when I click on the playlist in the MMI, it only shows one or two songs, the rest are untitled. If I then click on what's there, it grays out, or comes back with "file is damaged".
any ideas? Do I need to upgrade to the faster Extreme SD Card perhaps? Or is it file structure issue?
AudiWorld Newcomer
Joined: Jun 2012
Posts: 2
Likes: 0
From: Deposit, NY
Also have a 2013 A7. I utilize an SD card for all my music. Sounds like a file structure issue on your SD card.
Music is arrange as such: /ARTIST/ALBUM/SONG. Where artist is at root level of card, album is sub-folder of artist and song resides in album sub-folder.
Playlist resides at root level of card and structure as example below.
\Chevelle\Sci-Fi Crimes\10 A New Momentum.m4a
\The Kinks\The British Are Coming (Volume 1)\16 A Well Respected Man.mp3
\Nirvana\MTV Unplugged in New York\01 About A Girl.m4a
\Led Zeppelin\Presence\01 Achilles Last Stand.mp3
\Saving Abel\Saving Abel\02 Addicted.mp3
\System of a Down\Toxicity\14 Aerials.mp3
\Red Hot Chili Peppers\One Hot Minute\02 Aeroplane.m4a
\Black Sabbath\Master Of Reality\02 After Forever.mp3
Hope this helps.
Music is arrange as such: /ARTIST/ALBUM/SONG. Where artist is at root level of card, album is sub-folder of artist and song resides in album sub-folder.
Playlist resides at root level of card and structure as example below.
\Chevelle\Sci-Fi Crimes\10 A New Momentum.m4a
\The Kinks\The British Are Coming (Volume 1)\16 A Well Respected Man.mp3
\Nirvana\MTV Unplugged in New York\01 About A Girl.m4a
\Led Zeppelin\Presence\01 Achilles Last Stand.mp3
\Saving Abel\Saving Abel\02 Addicted.mp3
\System of a Down\Toxicity\14 Aerials.mp3
\Red Hot Chili Peppers\One Hot Minute\02 Aeroplane.m4a
\Black Sabbath\Master Of Reality\02 After Forever.mp3
Hope this helps.
Thread Starter
Audiworld Junior Member
Joined: Aug 2012
Posts: 16
Likes: 1
From: Dublin, CA
Thanks Jekii. I agree, I'm sure it had something to do with my file structure.
1. Are you using a Mac by chance? I had read something about how their may be an issue with how UNIX/Mac ends there code lines
2. Is there a difference between "/" and "\" in your example? music is one way and your playlist is the other way?
1. Are you using a Mac by chance? I had read something about how their may be an issue with how UNIX/Mac ends there code lines
2. Is there a difference between "/" and "\" in your example? music is one way and your playlist is the other way?
AudiWorld Newcomer
Joined: Jun 2012
Posts: 2
Likes: 0
From: Deposit, NY
Thanks Jekii. I agree, I'm sure it had something to do with my file structure.
1. Are you using a Mac by chance? I had read something about how their may be an issue with how UNIX/Mac ends there code lines
2. Is there a difference between "/" and "\" in your example? music is one way and your playlist is the other way?
1. Are you using a Mac by chance? I had read something about how their may be an issue with how UNIX/Mac ends there code lines
2. Is there a difference between "/" and "\" in your example? music is one way and your playlist is the other way?
AudiWorld Member
Joined: Jun 2008
Posts: 178
Likes: 3
From: Northern California
Try Playlist Exporter in Mac App Store
Hi --
I struggled with this for a while and then found this Mac app called Playlist Exporter in the Mac App Store (not the iOS one). It's $4.99 and worth it. https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/play...34426826?mt=12
I have my music organized by /GENRE/ARTIST?ALBUM/SONG. I also create a folder at the top level called 'Playlists'. When I open Playlist Exporter it shows you all your iTunes playlists on the left side. There is also a Path Options field that allows me to replace the full path on the iMac (/Volumes/iMacHD/Music/AACs/) with ../
Since my playlists are in a folder, it tells the MMI to go up one directory and then down into the music file hierarchy to find the song.
Works great and easy to update as I add new music.
(No relation to the developer -- just like the product).
I struggled with this for a while and then found this Mac app called Playlist Exporter in the Mac App Store (not the iOS one). It's $4.99 and worth it. https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/play...34426826?mt=12
I have my music organized by /GENRE/ARTIST?ALBUM/SONG. I also create a folder at the top level called 'Playlists'. When I open Playlist Exporter it shows you all your iTunes playlists on the left side. There is also a Path Options field that allows me to replace the full path on the iMac (/Volumes/iMacHD/Music/AACs/) with ../
Since my playlists are in a folder, it tells the MMI to go up one directory and then down into the music file hierarchy to find the song.
Works great and easy to update as I add new music.
(No relation to the developer -- just like the product).
Thread Starter
Audiworld Junior Member
Joined: Aug 2012
Posts: 16
Likes: 1
From: Dublin, CA
I got it working! The trick was this post below.
Now I need to find a Mac Text Editor that will show me the line endings and allow me to change them. I was able so far to take the playlists from my Mac, open them on a Windows PC and use Notepad++ to change the line endings.
Now I need to find a Mac Text Editor that will show me the line endings and allow me to change them. I was able so far to take the playlists from my Mac, open them on a Windows PC and use Notepad++ to change the line endings.
Hey Gang-
After many trials I figured out how to get playlists generated with iTunes on a Mac properly working with the Audi MMI on an SD Card. I have a 2011 A6 so it's the latest MMI (v3?).
Symptoms - My playlists show up in the playlists folder, but the playlists themselves would mostly show "No playable tracks found." (as others have pointed out here, you need to wait 5 minutes or so for the MMI to process the playlists - the folders show up grayed out until then). I also found some strange behavior where one or two songs would show up in a playlist containing 50 or 75 songs. By editing the playlists with text editor (on a Mac, this will be important later) i wasn't able to figure out any difference between the entries for the songs that worked and the ones that didn't. Also - strangely, the long playlists created with MMITunes worked fine, but they looked exactly the same in the text editor. I did notice that if i copied and pasted lines from the big playlist generated with MMITunes into a new, smaller playlist - that worked.
Solution - Line endings. I figured that it might be a problem with the Text file line ending differences between Mac and Windows - here's some background if you care: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Newline
In any case - you have to save you playlists with the correct line endings for Windows (CR+LF) as apposed to Mac (LF only). I use a text editor called Smultron that has this option. I changed open all the text files and changed the line endings to Windows (CR+LF) and now all my playlists work great! Apparently the MMI gets confused by the Mac/Unix line endings.
I like how iTunes sorts my music into folders by artist and album. So my new workflow is as follows: I copy the music from my itunes folder onto the SD Card. I copy everything under iTunes Music folder - so the path to a song on the SD Card is like this: "/Artist/Album/song.mp3" Then I export my playlists (I like the genius playlists) from iTunes saving as M3U format on the root directory of the card. These playlists will have incorrect paths since they will include the entire path from my MAC ("MacHD/Users/MyName/Music/iTunes/Artist/Album/song.mp3".) Then I use Smultron to open the text file and use advanced find and replace to remove the "MacHD/Users/MyName/Music/iTunes" portion of the path. And I then change the line endings to windows.
When I use the card I can browse by artist and play whole albums or I can play playlists for mixes. I hope this helps somebody who is having similar problems.
After many trials I figured out how to get playlists generated with iTunes on a Mac properly working with the Audi MMI on an SD Card. I have a 2011 A6 so it's the latest MMI (v3?).
Symptoms - My playlists show up in the playlists folder, but the playlists themselves would mostly show "No playable tracks found." (as others have pointed out here, you need to wait 5 minutes or so for the MMI to process the playlists - the folders show up grayed out until then). I also found some strange behavior where one or two songs would show up in a playlist containing 50 or 75 songs. By editing the playlists with text editor (on a Mac, this will be important later) i wasn't able to figure out any difference between the entries for the songs that worked and the ones that didn't. Also - strangely, the long playlists created with MMITunes worked fine, but they looked exactly the same in the text editor. I did notice that if i copied and pasted lines from the big playlist generated with MMITunes into a new, smaller playlist - that worked.
Solution - Line endings. I figured that it might be a problem with the Text file line ending differences between Mac and Windows - here's some background if you care: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Newline
In any case - you have to save you playlists with the correct line endings for Windows (CR+LF) as apposed to Mac (LF only). I use a text editor called Smultron that has this option. I changed open all the text files and changed the line endings to Windows (CR+LF) and now all my playlists work great! Apparently the MMI gets confused by the Mac/Unix line endings.
I like how iTunes sorts my music into folders by artist and album. So my new workflow is as follows: I copy the music from my itunes folder onto the SD Card. I copy everything under iTunes Music folder - so the path to a song on the SD Card is like this: "/Artist/Album/song.mp3" Then I export my playlists (I like the genius playlists) from iTunes saving as M3U format on the root directory of the card. These playlists will have incorrect paths since they will include the entire path from my MAC ("MacHD/Users/MyName/Music/iTunes/Artist/Album/song.mp3".) Then I use Smultron to open the text file and use advanced find and replace to remove the "MacHD/Users/MyName/Music/iTunes" portion of the path. And I then change the line endings to windows.
When I use the card I can browse by artist and play whole albums or I can play playlists for mixes. I hope this helps somebody who is having similar problems.
AudiWorld Newcomer
Joined: Oct 2013
Posts: 2
Likes: 0
Hi --
I struggled with this for a while and then found this Mac app called Playlist Exporter in the Mac App Store (not the iOS one). It's $4.99 and worth it. https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/play...34426826?mt=12
I have my music organized by /GENRE/ARTIST?ALBUM/SONG. I also create a folder at the top level called 'Playlists'. When I open Playlist Exporter it shows you all your iTunes playlists on the left side. There is also a Path Options field that allows me to replace the full path on the iMac (/Volumes/iMacHD/Music/AACs/) with ../
Since my playlists are in a folder, it tells the MMI to go up one directory and then down into the music file hierarchy to find the song.
Works great and easy to update as I add new music.
(No relation to the developer -- just like the product).
I struggled with this for a while and then found this Mac app called Playlist Exporter in the Mac App Store (not the iOS one). It's $4.99 and worth it. https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/play...34426826?mt=12
I have my music organized by /GENRE/ARTIST?ALBUM/SONG. I also create a folder at the top level called 'Playlists'. When I open Playlist Exporter it shows you all your iTunes playlists on the left side. There is also a Path Options field that allows me to replace the full path on the iMac (/Volumes/iMacHD/Music/AACs/) with ../
Since my playlists are in a folder, it tells the MMI to go up one directory and then down into the music file hierarchy to find the song.
Works great and easy to update as I add new music.
(No relation to the developer -- just like the product).
or quotation marks (") in any of the file names or album names. The existence of these characters will prevent the MMI from locating your files even though they have been correctly copied to your SD card. This is because these are illegal characters for file names and path names in the windows operating system. Once you have removed all colons and quotation marks from the track names and album names within iTunes, make sure the music you want is organized into playlists in iTunes. Then launch Playlist Exporter, select the playlists you want sent to your SD card, set the output directory to the root of your SD card, select "Copy to Artist/Album Folders", then hit "Export". The program will send all your playlists and music files to the SD card and the Audi MMI will detect them just fine.
Note, this program works only for Macs, but the author apparently has a port to a Windows program that does the same thing found at this link:
http://www.ericdaugherty.com/dev/itunesexport/
Regards,
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AudiWorld Newcomer
Joined: Dec 2013
Posts: 2
Likes: 0
This Playlist exporter program is the key to getting easy-to-use playlists onto an SD card for use in your Audi MMI. I have tested this extensively and confirmed this works. The key for a flawless export of immediately usable playlists is to edit your iTunes music names and albums to make sure there are no colons ( or quotation marks (") in any of the file names or album names. The existence of these characters will prevent the MMI from locating your files even though they have been correctly copied to your SD card. This is because these are illegal characters for file names and path names in the windows operating system. Once you have removed all colons and quotation marks from the track names and album names within iTunes, make sure the music you want is organized into playlists in iTunes.
Then launch Playlist Exporter, select the playlists you want sent to your SD card, set the output directory to the root of your SD card, select "Copy to Artist/Album Folders", then hit "Export". The program will send all your playlists and music files to the SD card and the Audi MMI will detect them just fine.
Note, this program works only for Macs, but the author apparently has a port to a Windows program that does the same thing found at this link:
http://www.ericdaugherty.com/dev/itunesexport/
Regards,
or quotation marks (") in any of the file names or album names. The existence of these characters will prevent the MMI from locating your files even though they have been correctly copied to your SD card. This is because these are illegal characters for file names and path names in the windows operating system. Once you have removed all colons and quotation marks from the track names and album names within iTunes, make sure the music you want is organized into playlists in iTunes. Then launch Playlist Exporter, select the playlists you want sent to your SD card, set the output directory to the root of your SD card, select "Copy to Artist/Album Folders", then hit "Export". The program will send all your playlists and music files to the SD card and the Audi MMI will detect them just fine.
Note, this program works only for Macs, but the author apparently has a port to a Windows program that does the same thing found at this link:
http://www.ericdaugherty.com/dev/itunesexport/
Regards,
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Audiworld Junior Member
Joined: Apr 2011
Posts: 72
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From: Titusville NJ
Playlists able to play songs from 2 SD cards?
Hi all,
My music library is about 55 GB, so I need to split it across 2 32 GB SD cards. I am doing so by alphabet - A-I on card 1, J-Z on card 2.
I've used playlist exporter in the past to get my playlists to work. If I put the playlists on card 1, is it possible for it to reference songs on card 2? Any idea how to handle the path? My cards are named "Music 1" and "Music 2".
Thanks in advance!
My music library is about 55 GB, so I need to split it across 2 32 GB SD cards. I am doing so by alphabet - A-I on card 1, J-Z on card 2.
I've used playlist exporter in the past to get my playlists to work. If I put the playlists on card 1, is it possible for it to reference songs on card 2? Any idea how to handle the path? My cards are named "Music 1" and "Music 2".
Thanks in advance!