Can you find a program (preferably free) that does batch .m3u playlist
creation where I can select a whole bunch of folders (each one an
album, with inconsistent ID3 tags) and the program will, in one go,
create an .m3u in each folder with that folder's name that lists all
the folder's mp3s in the order of FILENAME (irrespective of any ID3
tag info)?

Hi, hotsaucyduck, thanks for your question.

I don't know if such a thing existed before, though I presume it did.
In any case, if it didn't, it does now.

http://www.bookface.frihost.net/ga/608311/

1. Save makeplaylist.bat to C:\makeplaylist.bat
2. Save playlistmaker.reg anywhere you can find it again
3. Double-click playlistmaker.reg and say yes to merge it with your registry.

Now select any number of directories, right-click, and choose the
option "Make playlist(s)."

Let me know if you run into any trouble, and thanks for choosing Google! Answers.

- bookface-ga

---

Clarification of Answer by bookface-ga on 21 Dec 2005 03:07 PST

For reference, the contents of makeplaylist.bat:
====================================================
@echo off

cd %1
echo %~f1
dir /on/b *.mp3 *.ogg > %~n1.m3u
====================================================


And of playlistmaker.reg:
====================================================
Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\Folder\shell\play]
@="Make playlist(s)"

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\Folder\shell\play\command]
@="cmd /C C:\\makeplaylist.bat \"%L\""
====================================================

(You don't need to know this, but in case my site is no longer hosting
this when someone else comes along, they can still use this answer.)

---

Request for Answer Clarification by hotsaucyduck-ga on 21 Dec 2005 07:47 PST

hey, thanks SO MUCH for creating this little program!!  

unfortunately, however, it  doesn't quite work.  The folder named
"andrew bird & the mysterious production of eggs" yields inside it a
file simply named "andrew," with no extension and an incomplete name. 
 however the folder "adult.  - gimme trouble (thrill jockey, 2005)"
yields a file "adult.mp3" (yes the period after the 't' is part of the
band's name).

---

Clarification of Answer by bookface-ga on 22 Dec 2005 16:25 PST

Ah, I'm sorry, I made a teensy mistake.

For your convenience, a new modified file has been updated and posted to:
  http://www.bookface.frihost.net/ga/608311/
You can just save makeplaylist.bat over the old one. The other file is unchanged.

Or, you can edit the batch file by going to Start, Run... and entering
 notepad C:\makeplaylist.bat

Then change %~n1.m3u to "~nx1.m3u"  -- with quotes, and the x.


This should fix things with punctuation in the folder titles.

And this isn't really a program, just a bit of fancy scripting. But
I'm glad if it's useful for both you and spanky nonetheless.

- bookface-ga

I have been looking FOREVER for something that does exactly this.  THANK YOU!

hotsaucyduck, maybe you could give an example of the directory
structure you're using. I.e.

MP3s\Artist\Album\Song.mp3 or MP3s\Artist - Album\Song.mp3

It might help bookface. If this works then it'll be a really useful
tool, one that I'd really like to use myself!


Spanky

MP3s\Artist - Album\Track# - Title.mp3

that's usually how it's sorted on my computer.  not sure how that
would help, though.

This batch script is a very elegant solution to creating simple m3u
playlists and integrates nicely with the Windows shell via the
included registry key. Its current functionality is to output a
playlist named after the containing directory.

However, the output file naming convention is not practical for
someone storing "proper," scene-style album releases (that include a
checksum verification file with extention '.sfv' within the directory
containing the audio files) where the '.m3u' was previously stripped.

For the situation described above, the best solution would be to add
logic to the script to allow it to grab the name of the album '.sfv'
and use it to name the resultant '.m3u' file.

For example:

Given a target directory (\Incubus-Morning_View-(Retail)-2001-iND)
containing a '.sfv' file
(00-incubus-morning_view-(retail)-2001-ind.sfv), the playlist output
by the maker would be named:
"00-incubus-morning_view-(retail)-2001-ind.m3u".