 For all those who are tired of dragging and dropping every single song, and miss the beloved Auto PlayLists, there is a way to get smart playlists onto your Zune, but in a round-about way. This can tie you over until MS gets their act together and gets Auto Playlists back to us in one of their future updates (Which is what they are promising). To make a Smart Playlist for your Zune, we'll need to employ the help of an old friend: Windows Media Player. More after the jump...
Now I must preface this proceedure with this notation: This is not an automatically updating playlist in the traditional Auto Playlist sense. It is, however, a way to set criteria to create a playlist quickly instead of dragging and dropping every single friggin song. So no, if you add songs to your collection that fall within your set criteria, your playlist will not automatically recognize them and update. What is cool, however, is you simply need to repeat the last few steps to manually update the playlist - you don't have to do the entire process over everytime you download a new song!
I use Windows Media Player 11 and I'm sure this would work with older versions, but the images and process may differ slightly. Now, let's begin:
Step 1: Create the Auto Playlist
At the top of WMP 11, click the Library button and click 'Create Auto Playlist' in the drop down menu.
Step 2: Set the criteria
WMP 11, just like ZMP v1, gives you multiple ways to categorize music. Don't worry about naming the list right now, 'cause it's gonna change (unless you plan to update this list regularly - then you might want to name it something appropriate). Once you hit OK, WMP will instantly populate your list.
Step 3: Set it as an 'Untitled Playlist'
Right click the playlist in the left task pane and click 'Add to Untitled Playlist' - this is so you can set the list for transfer. From this point you can always make changes or additions to this specific list and never have to worry about previous steps.
Step 4: Save the Untitled Playlist
Now click the Untitled Playlist Button near the top of the right task pane and select 'Save Playlist As' in the drop down menu.
Step 5: Name the Playlist and change the format
Windows Media Player gives you the ability to change the format of the playlists to a format Zune will pick up: .m3u. Be sure to save the file in the Zune playlists. XP Users,
the Zune playlists will be in My Music > Zune > My Playlists
(I think, it's been a while since using XP :P)
Vista Users,
Zune playlists should be in Music > Zune > Playlists
If you aren't sure which one it is, simply right click the file and you'll see it as m3u...
Step 6: Check the Zune Software and it should be there!
Now making playlists (unitl MS gets us the update) are a little easier! And if you ever want to add a song or update the playlist since you added more content, Simply go back to step 3 and start from there.
If you have any questions or comments, you can always do it here or in the forums .
Thanks for your time!
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