[im2020]

Just to confirm/clarify/simplify the process outlined in the posts above to create standalone playlists within a Plenue D2 with firmware v1.02.

All my music sits in the main Music folder on the D2. Up to now I’ve been quite happy accessing and playing via Song Title, or Artist, or Album, or Genre but I wanted to add internal playlists mixing tracks from across some or all of those characteristics.

Using JetAudio (with the D2 attached via USB) I added a new playlist within JetAudio (right click Playlists, add New Playlist and name it). Then I right clicked on that playlist and selected Add Files, Add Files. In the resulting Browse for Folder dialogue box I selected the Music folder on my Plenue drive.

From the resulting JetAudio window I selected the Plenue tracks I wanted and dropped them onto my named JetAudio playlist.

Then to transfer that playlist to the Plenue in an acceptable format I right clicked on the playlist and selected Export, Export to File.

In the resulting dialogue box I entered my playlist name with a .m3u suffix and UTF-8 coding and a destination of the Music folder on my Plenue drive. I clicked both exporting options (to remove drive and path information) and clicked OK to save it to the D2.

After disconnecting the D2 and switching on in standalone mode my file appeared as a playlist in the rightmost column of the Music Selection screen. I went on to add a number of other playlists.

Critical parts of the process would appear to be the m3u suffix, the UT-8 coding, the removal of drive and path information and saving the file in the same folder on the D2 as my music.

One limitation observed is a 400 track maximum for each playlist. Larger playlists were ignored by the D2 either from the outset or on the second restart of the D2.

 

[DrSheep]

Pretty much it. Also, as long as your folder paths are the same in your computer/HHD/NAS as your DAP, you can generate and keep the m3u else where, then move them to your D2 when needed.

 

[scvg009]

Background: Due to complete lack of official guide on how Cowon Plenue series of DAPs handle playlist, I have decided to write this quick guide after quite a bit of searching and trial and error. I have tested the methods with my Plenue V with firmware 1.13, but I can only assume this will work across the DAPs running the same OS. Note that I did started out with my Plenue D3, but it seems firmware 1.0.0 has a bug that fail to correctly handle m3u and cue lists. If you have a D2, then please post and let me know will this work or not. Thanks.

Q1: what playlist formats are supported?
A1: Cue sheets (.cue) and partial extended m3u (.m3u).

Q2: what do you mean by partial extended m3u support?
A2: the Plenue OS is weird, as it does handle m3u coded in the official extended schema. However, it CANNOT read URL style paths (/ and %20 and etc), and you have to use Windows style path reference (e.g., \Folder One\Folder Two\My Music.whatever). Note, spaces are OK in the path reference and no need to use quotes.

Q3: since the path starts with a backslash, does it mean Plenue can handle dynamic path?
A3: not really. If the full path of your music FROM THE SD CARD within windows is D:\Folder One\Folder Two\My Music.dsf, and you use \Folder One\Folder Two\My Music.dsf as the path for the m3u or cue list, then you can put the playlist file anywhere WITHIN THE SAME DRIVE, and the Plenue OS will pick it up, phase it, and put it in the "Playlists" menu. However, if you only use the file name as the path, meaning \My Music.dsf, you will need to have the playlist in the same folder as the music files.

Q4: what if I put my list under \Folder One, and use paths like \Folder Two\My Music.dsf within the list?
A4: nope. This is why the Plenue OS is weird, as this normally will work for the extended m3u scheme.

Q5: what's the schema for m3u??
A5: this turns out to be super simple, just use a text editor and save the file as .m3u:

#EXTM3U
#EXTINF:
\Folder One\Folder Two\My Music1.dsf
#EXTINF:
\Folder One\My Music2.flac
#EXTINF:
\Folder One\Folder Two\Folder Three\My Music3.aac

Q6: what about cue sheet?
A6: as follows and save as .cue file.

FILE "\Folder One\Folder Two\My Music1.dsf" WAVE
TRACK 01 AUDIO
INDEX 01 00:00:00
FILE "\Folder One\My Music2.flac" WAVE
TRACK 02 AUDIO
INDEX 01 00:00:00
FILE "\Folder One\Folder Two\Folder Three\My Music3.aac" WAVE
TRACK 03 AUDIO
INDEX 01 00:00:00

Q7: do I need any meta tags from the files like title or artist?
A7: nope, the Plenue OS ignores them when phasing the list, so there is no point to having them in the file, hence why EXTINF: has nothing to follow.

Q8: do I need to use special software like MusicBee or JetAudio to make the playlists?
A8: NO, but it will help when you have a big collection and want them in a list. Although JetAudio is pretty old, it does allow you to make m3u with the correct scheme pretty quickly.

Q9: what about software for cue sheets?
A9: I downloaded CUETools 2.1.6 and it work the very first time.

Q10: how do I know my playlist is working and not due to buggy firmware?
A10: if your m3u or cue files were generated and coded correctly, you will NOT see the playlist files once booted up the DAP, but instead see your playlists within the "Playlists" menu option. The Plenue OS generally ignores all file types that it can't handle and hides them, like pdf for example, which you why you get an empty folder when folder browse to "Manual". For all supported file types, it will either just shows them (like flac or dsf), or handled them then hide the files (like jpg, m3u, and cue). However, if the firmware is bugged, like my 1.0.0 Plenue D3, it will shows my valid m3u lists as browsable under folders, and will not correctly process them (put your lists in the Playlists menu.) This is why making playlists for these Plenue DAPs can be such a pain, if you have no way of knowing whether you did something wrong, or the firmware is just bugged.

Please use the music bee software inside the playlist settings, choose to save the format "m3u (ext)", choose the path prefix "\", I have tested can be placed in any directory, do not need to put together with the music, you can create a new folder called "playlists", I tested on d3 and p2 without problems.
music bee can sync any player and works better than jet for cowon's player. Although his sound quality is not very good, but for synchronization, it is a good choice.

 

[ShadowKingthe7]

Please use the music bee software inside the playlist settings, choose to save the format "m3u (ext)", choose the path prefix "\", I have tested can be placed in any directory, do not need to put together with the music, you can create a new folder called "playlists", I tested on d3 and p2 without problems.
music bee can sync any player and works better than jet for cowon's player. Although his sound quality is not very good, but for synchronization, it is a good choice.

So were you able to get the playlists to work on the plenue d3? I was able to get mine to sync using MusicBee. The m3u file even shows up in the device's file menu but nothing shows up in the playlist tab. As the previous poster said, I think the firmware might be bugged. I really wish Cowon would release an update because it has been a year and a half since release

 

[leo5111]

does this work with Plenue R2 and S?

 

[scvg009]

可以让播放列表在 plenue d3 上运行吗？我能够使用 MusicBee 让我同步。m3u 文件甚至显示在设备的文件菜单中，但播放列表选项卡中没有任何显示内容。

So were you able to get the playlists to work on the plenue d3? I was able to get mine to sync using MusicBee. The m3u file even shows up in the device's file menu but nothing shows up in the playlist tab. As the previous poster said, I think the firmware might be bugged. I really wish Cowon would release an update because it has been a year and a half since release

It needs m3u (ext) format, please make sure m3u format is ext, also you can try to put it in music folder, I don't have D3 so I can't test D3.

 

[iciclevan]

I've been wondering for a while now if Cowon is still an ongoing concern.
No new models, no firmware updates of any kind since the spring of last year, no real
presence on Amazon US or eBay anymore.
I was always on the lookout for new Cowon DAP's so I'll be sad to see them go (if this is indeed the case).
Still have my Plenue D and will always remember with great affection the 2-3 J3's I used to have.

 

[scvg009]

does this work with Plenue R2 and S?

It's all the same system, and it should all be universal.

I've been wondering for a while now if Cowon is still an ongoing concern.
No new models, no firmware updates of any kind since the spring of last year, no real
presence on Amazon US or eBay anymore.
I was always on the lookout for new Cowon DAP's so I'll be sad to see them go (if this is indeed the case).
Still have my Plenue D and will always remember with great affection the 2-3 J3's I used to have.

DAP is different from cell phones, it does not need mundane updates if there are no fatal problems, I like Cowon because his sound is realistic and not overly rendered.

 

[YCHANGE]

Any advice on how to import playlists to my Cowon P1?

 

[putt1ck]

In case anyone else like reaches this thread because they're struggling with playlists and don't have/want the software described, the following is my definitive "how to" for m3u playlists on the Plenue D (other Cowon devices may also apply). If there's interest I may write a script that takes an existing m3u playlist and converts it to Plenue format, using a simple Q&A to get the base info like locations.

For the record these notes got me from an MPD playlist export to a fully working playlist on the Plenue (mounting the SD card locally and via USB to the Plenue)

Notes on Plenue D playlists

Format: must look like m3uext but doesn't need (ignores) the metadata, so file starts

#EXTM3U

an entry is formed with a path in Windows path format (\ as separator) and the path is *relative to the location of the playlist*. So an entry looks like

#EXTINF:
directory\sub-directory\music file.flac

where directory is a sub directory relative to the location of the playlist, and fully working playlist based on above looks like

#EXTM3U
#EXTINF:
directory\sub-directory\music file.flac

If you create a play list in a directory on an SD card called "my super playlist" and in that directory put all the music files you want on the playlist as well as the playlist file "super.m3u", the playlist entries will all be of the format

#EXTINF:
a super song.mp3
#EXTINF:
another super song.wav

In the same scenario but the playlist file is placed in the root of the SD card, the play list entries would all need to be of the format

#EXTINF:
my super playlist\a super song.mp3
#EXTINF:
my super playlist\another super song.wav

and in either case the playlist will just show as "super" in the playlist section of your Plenue.

IMPORTANT: for none-Windows users the use of the \ in the path is not the only issue to be aware of - you need also to ensure Windows line ends, CRLF, are in use in the text file; this can be done after the playlist is finished, using command line tool unix2dos, or by using a decent text editor and setting the line ending for the file to Windows type (e.g. in Kate use Tools -> End of Line).

NB you can see if the file is using proper or Windows-style line ends by using the cat command set to show the non-printing characters e.g.

"cat -ve super.m3u"

will return output like this for a normal (Unix) line ending

#EXTINF:$
a super song.mp3$
#EXTINF:$
another super song.wav$

and output like this if the line ending is already set to Windows-style

#EXTINF:^M$
a super song.mp3^M$
#EXTINF:^M$
another super song.wav^M$

Hope that helps somebody!

 

[safarial]

Thanks for sharing, but unfortunately it still doesn't work for me, it keeps saying 'No File' in the playlists tab. I have tried everything at this point Which device do you have? Mine is the Cowon Plenue D3 and it seems like the firmware is buggy.

 

[putt1ck]

Mine is the Plenue D (1). But that yours recognises the m3u file as a playlist does suggest there's a way of fixing it. Can you upload a sample playlist here? Make one using whatever process that you think should work, just with single track, where the music is the same directory and then I can take a look and see if it works with mine.