I am new to Plex but not new to network media servers having had several different ones over the past 10+ years. My current system is WDTV Live and I am looking to update so I can dish all my media thru my Roku system ( I have 4). At this moment, the functionality of Plex’s music/playlist really is not where it should be nor do I see much discussion on Plex’s part whether or not they are even pursuing upgrading this part of Plex. Its a real problem that Plex can not import M3U winamp playlists directly in the same way it can import an Itune playlist and its a real problem that I can’t build a playlist one song at a time and Plex only allows an entire library content to be a playlist. I definitely would pay for the premium version of Plex if those features were available.
@decaturbob said:
At this moment, the functionality of Plex’s music/playlist really is not where it should be
totally agreed
its a real problem that I can’t build a playlist one song at a time and Plex only allows an entire library content to be a playlist.
Not true.
If you have a list of songs in plex web, you can do either of the following:
- move your mouse over the playtime and click on the ellipsis which gives you an ‘Add to playlist’ dialog for this single song.
- hold down the CTRL (CMD) key and click on several songs. Those are now marked. Use the normal ‘Add to playlist’ icon on the left side to add only the marked songs to your playlist.
You might have to do this with a new playlist, because if you have a playlist which contains a whole library or a filter selection then this playlist is a ‘smart’ playlist. To those you can indeed not add single songs.
Smart playlist are indicated by a small ‘cog’ icon on top of their ‘posters’.
@MovieFan.Plex wrote a Windows tool to somehow import m3u playlists into the database of Plex.
https://forums.plex.tv/discussion/120292/moviefans-database-tool-for-plex
I would also like to have more refined options for creating smart playlists. E.g. it would be great to have a smart playlist that is being populated with “most popular tracks” form “albums released within the last 100 days” in genre “pop”. Or something similar. You get the idea.
Anyone with me on this?
I’ve just started using a DLNA enabled receiver to provide music. It’s a disappointment that the playlists I’ve created in Plex can’t be accessed via DLNA. The interface on the Denon receiver is incredibly limited and navigating DLNA sources isn’t easy.
Any chance of this functionality being added in future or the Collections functionality extended to Music to achieve the same end result (and a method of converting Playlists to Collections)?
Thanks
Rob
I have a similar issue in that in my iTunes ( Mac ) I have many “playlists” but they do not import into Plex, either PMS or PHT, it’s a real pain. Perhaps Plex could sort that one out, please.
Steve
Hey guys
Started a similar discussion (import playlists) and got the link to the following answer:
@beckfield said:
There’s always a chance, but Plex doesn’t discuss their roadmap, so we may not know until it happens. There is a feature request for importing playlists via .m3u files. You may want to add your vote by clicking ‘Like’ on the first post in that thread.
Lets spread the word and get some users to like the first post!
akrea
Is there a way to create a playlist with music from multiple servers?
+1. I personally think the plex playlist function sucks. It is nowhere near what just about any other player offers…for free. I have the plex pass and you’d think for a paid app, it would be much better, but I find the opposite to be true. Further, since I am running plex on FreeNAS, the smart playlists don’t work at all.
Plex’s inability to import M3U playlists is a complete joke. I’m not aware of any media player that lacks such a basic function.
@RobGodfrey said:
I’ve just started using a DLNA enabled receiver to provide music. It’s a disappointment that the playlists I’ve created in Plex can’t be accessed via DLNA. The interface on the Denon receiver is incredibly limited and navigating DLNA sources isn’t easy.
Any chance of this functionality being added in future or the Collections functionality extended to Music to achieve the same end result (and a method of converting Playlists to Collections)?
This post is from awhile ago…any chance Plex has made progress on this? I’m in the exact same situation. I use DLNA through the Denon, but use the BubbleUPNP android app as the player. I created a few playlists in Plex, but because of how Plex structures playlists, BubbleUPNP can’t see all of them. Instead it just sees the first one that was created. The 4 major problems I see with the current model for Plex music is:
- The playlist hierarchy is backwards. All other media servers (that I use at least…TVersity, PlayOn, Windows) start with the content type and have playlists underneath. So, you go to Music then playlists to view playlists. Plex flips it, so it’s Playlists then Music, and DLNA devices don’t understand this.
- I can’t share playlists with anyone else. I have 4 managed users in my home and all of us want to see the same playlists. I shouldn’t have to create playlists over and over again just for another user to use them.
- No playlist sync to device.
- No m3u import, or better yet, just the ability to view an m3u playlist. This is another area where all the other media servers I use have the ability to view my m3u (and other playlist formats) playlists.
Is there any chance at least a few of these are in the works? If these features could be added, I would be very close to one app for ALL media. I’d still have my TiVo to get rid of, but the Plex DVR beta should take care of that. 
I have voted for this feature to get added also. I have a ton of music and the ability to create smart playlists is really necessary.
This is the tale of Two Plexes. Plex for Video and Plex for Music. The current architecture serves the former very well, the latter not so much. As others have stated, playlist design for music has been informally established by other products, including iTunes. This is really how people relate to the music they want to play. It would be really a home run to adopt these concepts for music playback. I also include Gapless Playback. The ability to then properly interface to DLNA appliances would be closer to reality.
+1 for me. What I would really like to see is some what I think are simple and logical changes. My issues:
Playback and Queue: if a song is playing and I want to play another one, it’s way too easy to click on the song and it immediately stops the song playing and starts the one you just clicked and clears out the queue. No one I know listens to music this way - one song at a time and stopping a song mid-stream. Three or four menu clicks to add a song to the queue is onerous.
Playlist: I shouldn’t have to leave the party, go to my browser. pull up the playlist editor, desk, build a playlist on the Web app, then go back and play it. I can’t imagine anyone thinks that’s a good way to do it. I should be able to add songs to a playlist easily and quickly from the player.
IMO, if the Music Player functionality was done right, you would have three select-able modes for when you click ‘play’ on a song or album; ‘Queue,’ ‘Playlist,’ and ‘Playback.’ The default mode should be set in the web app but selectable from the player app.
Queue mode would add songs (or albums, folder, whatever) to the queue with a single click that began immediately when a song was added. As each song was played, it would be automatically removed from the queue. A number would flash on the screen each time you added a song showing how many where in the queue. Think of this like ‘DJ’ or party mode where anyone could pick songs. A submenu would allow viewing, re-ordering, or removing songs from the active queue.
Playlist mode would be a playlist editor and player. You would enter a new name or select a current playlist. If you picked a current playlist, you would choose ‘edit’ or ‘play.’ When in ‘Editor’ mode any song you clicked would be added to the selected playlist. A submenu would allow viewing, re-ordering, or removing songs from the active playlist. Playlists are auto-saved ‘Play’ mode would simply begin playing a playlist and would be optionally auto-repeat and/or shuffled during playback.
Playback mode would function like it does now. Single song played immediately when selected. Selecting a new song would stop the current song and begin the new one. The current submenu for queuing songs would still be there.
Hi guys, any progress concerning playlists in combination with DLNA?
