How can the exported playlist data from iTunes, which comes native in
XML format, be brought into Microsoft Excel? How can it then be setup
in such a way that Excel properly identifies the categories such as
Play count, Date Added, and Ratings for the songs in the library?

Hi, 

While you are correct that iTunes can export in XML format, it can
also export as Text. This Text document is a Tab Delimited file, and
while it may look unusable when you open it in Notepad or Word, it is
very useful for Excel.

Export your playlist as a Text file (myplaylist.txt), then open Excel.
At the top menu go to File->Open .. You will have to change the File
Types to either All files or *.prn, *.txt, *.csv ... Choose your file,
and Excel will bring you to a dialog box asking what kind of file this
is (the choices are Delimited or Fixed Width). Choose the Delimited
option and click on Next. If Excel didn't figure out that it is a Tab
Delimited file, then choose the Tab Delimited option, and then click
Finish. Excel will then open the file as a Spread Sheet. All of the
Categories will be on the top row, with the columns laid out for you
to sort and use as you wish.

If what you really needed was a method of processing XML to Excel,
there are answers for that, but they include other utilities and many
other steps. You can request clarification and I'll sum up those
options for you as well, but from your question, what you were looking
for is the fastest most reliable method to get the playlist from
iTunes to Excel.

Thanks, 

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