Ipod - taking playlists back to winamp

[evyxmsj]

Hello,

I'm probably asking too much...

I now manage my ipod using Winamp and would love to export my old playlists from my ipod to Winamp. These were created using iTunes ages ago, so have no Winamp equivalent.

Unfortunately, rather obviously simply saving the playlist from the ipod and importing to Winamp won't work as the filepaths will all be different than the arbitrary ipod file system. Unfortunately, I can't go back to iTunes to export the lists in m3u format as the old computer is gone and iTunes will try to reformat my ipod.

Is there ANY way, however convoluted, whereby I can automatically create a Winamp playlist from the ipod playlist? Maybe by matching file tags? I am worried that my ipod is getting a bit old and that when it dies, there go my playlists!

The only way I can think of is
1) delete my computer music collection
2) export the ipod playlists as new mp3s one folder per playlist
3) use these to rebuild the Winamp playlists, as at least this way the file name will be correct (not the ipod format of randomletters.mp3
4) Export the new Winamp playlists as m3u files
4) Transfer everything into one mega folder, delete the duplicates
5) Correct the file paths in the m3u lists to the correct mega folder using notepad and CTRL+H
6) Import the corrected m3u lists into Winamp

Am I being dense, is there a simpler way?

[evyxmsj]

Hello again,

I think I managed to do it based on the above approach. There were a few features that helped speed up the process, but I suspect there might be a better way out there in the ether. For those in the same boat, the approach that seemed to work:

1) Delete all music files on computer that is already on the ipod (after backing-up somewhere!)
2) Use Winamp to create a playlist on ipod that includes ALL music
3) In Winamp, open media library preferences and select 'portables'
3) Make sure you are happy with the destination folder and file name format for copied tracks
4) Right click the playlist that includes ALL your music files and select 'copy to local media'. This will put all your ipod tracks on the computer, organised by your preferences, and will create a new Winamp playlist with the correct filepaths. You can delete this Winamp playlist.
5) Right click each ipod playlist in turn and select 'copy to local media'. This will not create duplicates thankfully but will result in Winamp playlists with the correct filepaths.
6) For future syncing, make sure you select the option to sync your playlists in the winamp sync settings

Done! It is a little long winded and reorganises your music collection into new folders, but it works. I hadn't realised that Winamp would automatically skip duplicates when copying music from the ipod. This saved loads of time.