How do you import an iTunes Playlist?

Plex Media Server Desktops & Laptops
21

The only reason I downloaded PLEX to replace my previous media server is because it was advertised as being able to inport itunes playlists. It still says on the website that it can import itues playlists. Please fix this!!!

2 Likes
22

Try this, but be aware that iTunes doesnā€™t like to play nicely with other software. An example: Playlists appear and disappear. This is caused by a mismatch between file naming conventions on different platforms. For example, my library files are on a Mac, but the music files and the server are on a Synology NAS.

Try these steps, made more complicated for me because my music files are on a NAS, with the library and xml file on a Mac.

With iTunes closed (to make sure you have the latest xml file written out by iTunes), make a copy of the iTunes xml library file and open it in a text editor.

Find a music file (any file) in the xml and take a VERY close look at how the fileā€™s location is listed.

For me, I found spaces were %20. Not a good plan on a Linux system, so I replaced all the %20ā€™s with a space. (There are a range of variations between Linux, Windows, MacOS, et al. The name must match the format of the OS hosting the Plex Media Server).

Next, for me, the full path was ///volumes/music/ā€¦ (etc). My Synology NAS needed ///volume1/musicā€¦ (etc) as the path to the file. Again, I did a replace all to match the needs of the OS that hosted Plex.

Next, I placed the xml file on the serverā€™s system, in the same top folder as the music files.

Now, I need PLEX to find the xml file, so I went to settings:plugins in Plex and enabled the iTunes plugin. Then, using a properties query (in my case, Filestation on the NAS) I copied the full address of the xml file (including the filename) and pasted it in to the iTune Library XML path in the Plex settings.

Then I restarted the server. As if by magic, the three dots appeared alongside Playlists and allowed me to Import playlists (Bonus! It did ratings as well).

Iā€™ve found that if Iā€™ve made changes to my iTunes library, all I need to do is copy the iTunes xml, edit it, and replace the one Plex uses and Plex immediately uses the new xml (Playlist must be imported again)

Hope this is of some help.

3 Likes
24

Thank you, thank you, JohnMason1951! I had given up on importing my playlists (from iTunes on a Mac to Plex Media Server on a Synology NAS) but your instructions worked for me today, on New Yearā€™s Day, 2019.
Happy New Year!
Rob Stansfield.

25

Took forever to work out what the f**k was going on. Glad to have shared and know it wasnā€™t just luck on my system. Have a great New Year.

26

I found an easier solution that had to do with how iTunes handles the XML file. On newer versions of iTunes, there is only a ITL file and there is no XML file listed. Go to iTunes and select advanced tab in iTunes preferences. Select ā€œShare iTunes Library XML with other applicationsā€ since this is turned off by default in iTunes. Restart the Plex Server and now the playlist option shows the capability of adding in iTunes playlists.

1 Like
27

I have tried checking the ā€œShare iTunes Library XMLā€ and have tried exporting a XML file of each playlist to the location where my music files are on my NAS but still no joy. I canā€™t figure out how to get my playlists to show up on Plex. Any ideas?

1 Like
28

Havenā€™t found anything else in the forums about re-importing Playlists from iTunes, and in the current version of the web player (Version 1.14.1.5488) thereā€™s no import option for Playlists attached to an existing Library.

So Iā€™m assuming it hasnā€™t made it back into the admin GUI?

Thanks!

29

I have just started using Plex for my music, pictures and video, and I love it, except for the lack of iTunes playlist integration. All my media is on a NAS, and I also have Logitech Squeezebox Server installed, which syncs with iTunes and extract all the playlists, including smart ones, with absolutely no problem. The problem with Squeezebox though is that the interface is appalling, particularly using a smart phone. But my point is that if Squeezebox can do it seamlessly, it canā€™t be too difficult for something like Plex to do it too. Please can someone from Plex update this thread to let us know when it will be coming back (as promised). Thank you.

30

The conversion of %20 to either or <space> (depending on the Linux distro) is only part of the story.

I suspect that the developers mandate that iTunes be running on the same server as Plex is due to file names.

I have a MACBOOK that I run iTunes on. The iTunes files however are hosted on a QNAP NAS and PLEX is running on the same NAS

This one combination causes chaos when accented track names are concerned.

For example the iTunes XML file contains this:

Location///share/CACHEDEV1_DATA/iTunes_music/20190608/iTunes\ Media/Music/Armand\ Amar\ &\ Le%CC%81von\ Minassian/Songs\ From\ a\ World\ Apart/01\ Hovernā€™\ engan.m4a

The NAS SSH console for the same track (file) shows this:

[/share/CACHEDEV1_DATA/iTunes_music/20190608/iTunes Media/Music/Armand Amar & LĆ©von Minassian] #

To import and convert can thus be more difficult that changing file names and %20

I am relatively lucky. Being a newcomer to all this so I have no legacy playlists to speak of in iTunes and will simply create the playlists I want in Plex based on my findings as above.

31

Note: I followed the instructions from @JohnMason1951 and the missing key was found on this link listed below (Q24). The XML file needed to be in a folder that wasnā€™t the media folder. Note Smart Playlists will not import.

  1. Copy the XML and place in the correct folder
  2. Find %20 and replace with a space. (Ctrl F in editor)
  3. Edit file location. (Replace the default itunes path with your plex path)
  4. Open Plex Media Server, go to settings, go to Plugins, enter or paste the path of your XML file
  5. Enable Itunes plugin
  6. In Synology Media Center, Restart Plex (Stop Plex Media Server, then start)
  7. Check to see if everything works.

https://forums.plex.tv/t/synology-faqs-read-this-first/274891/2

32

No, too many accented characters spread across folder and file names. For now on hold.

Jim

Please excuse competition between fat fingers and iPad autocorrect.

33

Iā€™m trying like crazy to get this to work. My somewhat unique situation:

-Run iTunes on Mac Mini
-Plex installed on QNAP NAS
-iTunes Library xml and iTunes music mp3 files stored on NAS in DIFFERENT folders

Any one get importing of iTunes playlists to work in this. Just some non-trivial combination of referencing file locations I suspect.

34

Bump, anyone?

1 Like
35

Almost got this working. Pretty much followed JohnMason1951ā€™s instructions. Renamed copy and edited iTunes Library.xml to iTunes_Library to avoid problems with spaces in filenames. I finally got the option to import iTunes playlist and them immediately get a, ā€œThere was a problem importingā€ in a big, red dialog box. Logs indicate invalid url for mp3 song file names, ā€œERROR - UrlToFile: invalid urlā€ Files names appear to match the location Plex reports for the files.

36

Iā€™ve seen common errors throughout the forums. It took me hours of trials.

  1. invalid url
  2. filepath

You can research for clarification but I think the short answer is to ensure your filepath reads:

<key>Location</key><string>file://localhost/volume1/Music/whatever else your music folders say
The above is an example for Synology NAS. Donā€™t replace ā€œ//localhostā€

37

I know that for a high-quality transfer of your music from one resource to another, try using https://musconv.com/ this is a very good option

1 Like
38

Any update on the playlists option? There is no way I can find in the newest server software to add iTunes playlists. I am prepping to move my streaming setup from StreamToMe to Plex and I really need to get this figured out. The setup is a Mac Mini on gigabit fiber, all iTunes files in their default locations, nothing weird. None of the ā€˜instructionsā€™ I have found online have any bearing on the actual options exposed to me on the server config page.

1 Like
39

Any news on this? I want to use Plex as my default for music, but I donā€™t want to individually set up each playlist again, I have hundreds!

4 Likes
40

I could edit the xml file, but really dont want to do that every time new music is added or I make a change to iTunes playlists. Iā€™m keeping iTunes around as its so easy to drop a load of music onto an iPhone / iPad and use playlists to keep track of what music goes on which device. iTunes is on the laptop, but music folder gets backed up to my NAS where the files are picked up by Plex.

Real shame I cant have those playlists in Plex, that import function should really be automated.

41

On a related note, I did find that the import settings can be adjusted to grab more of the metadata from iTunes (which is stored in each music file).

During import, after choosing the folder, go to Advanced:

  • Prefer local metadata
  • Genre = Embedded Tags (not Plex Music)

I had created / changed the genre for some music and this means Plex pays attention to it.