cant get playlist file to work
 

hi guys, ive read the FAQ thread and searched the forums, cant find anything that really answers my question.

i'll try and keep it short, cos i know how much it sucks to read long posts.

i have a linux shoutcast server up, it works fine, but only for single files, eg if i go into winamp and type in the location box

http://172.20.5.241:8000/content/whatever.mp3

it will stream that mp3 no troubles.

i would like to set up a playlist on the shoutcast server, so i can just type in something like

http://172.20.5.241:8000/content/myPlayList.pls

and it will stream each song in the playlist.
ive tried putting the song names in a .pls file, gave it 644 permissions, and typed in the above address, it says resource unavailable.
ive put the .pls file in the content dir, and the parent dir to that (the one where the sc_serv bin is run from), it doesnt change it.

ive generated the .pls file from winamp (version 2), and tried using that, it didnt work, i tried just simply listing the files one per line in the .pls file, that didnt work.

is the problem that my .pls format is wrong? or is the problem it cant actually find the .pls file in the first place?
where does it go? what is its format?

these are the format's ive tried:

• whatever.mp3
• content/whatever.mp3
• File1=whatever.mp3
• File1=content/whatever.mp3
• http://172.20.5.241:8000/content/whatever.mp3

and ive put the .pls file in all combinations of places (i think).

in the end, i just want it streaming one by one each song in the content dir. if there's another way to do this where i dont even have to set up the .pls file? that'd be cool, but i havent heard of anything like that, so im not holding my breathe

sorry for it being a longish post in the end, thanks to anyone who helps.

The DNAS can not serve a .pls. In an attempt to prevent people from downloading mp3s stored in the content directory the DNAS takes requests for a .pls and then serves the corresponding .mp3. For example if you request http://IP:PORT/content/song1.pls with your browser the DNAS will take this request and if the file song1.mp3 exists stream that. So in your case the DNAS is looking for a file named myPlayList.mp3, which doesn't exist and thus the reason for the error. The solution for this is to host the playlist on a webserver (you can host the files on a webserver too. The DNAS just offers the download protection I spoke of earlier).

Tom

thanks for the reply.

so let me get this straight, if i wanted to play a playlist.. i could set up a webserver on the same machine (or another).

on the webserver, i would put a file, myPlayList.pls

inside that file would be the format

http://IP_OF_SHOUTCAST_SERVER:8000/content/songName1.pls
http://IP_OF_SHOUTCAST_SERVER:8000/content/songName2.pls
http://IP_OF_SHOUTCAST_SERVER:8000/content/songName3.pls
...

?

is that how it works?

then i open my winamp on a diff computer, and press ctrl + L

then type in the box

http://IP_OF_WEBSERVER/myPlayList.pls


am i on the right track?

Correct, except you would use .mp3 and not .pls for the path in the playlist. Confusing huh? Requests from browsers get translated .pls -> .mp3 and requests from players do not, but either way a .pls in the content directory will not get served by the DNAS.

Tom

thanks, you're a legend.

im the forums coordinator of a largish online gaming organisation, and hence i do a lot of forums support, so i can say with authority that i really appreciate you taking the time to help, i know what its like :)

if it works fine, i wont be back (until the next prob), so thanks again.

im back :(

i did what you said, when i open winamp, press ctrl + L, and type in the box

http://IP_OF_WEBSERVER/playlist/nick-url.pls


it flashes up the box headed "retreiving playlist..." (very quickly, i had to do it a few times to read the title), and nothing happens.

the nick-url.pls file is definitely there and available, if i type into a web browswer

http://IP_OF_WEBSERVER/playlist/nick-url.pls

it lets me download the file.

inside the file are the two lines:

http://172.20.5.241:8000/content/shawn_mullins__lullaby.mp3
http://172.20.5.241:8000/content/shawn_mullins__shimmer.mp3



if i copy either of those lines into the location box of winamp, it streams the song fine.

any ideas?

You will need to follow the .pls specs which can be found here: http://forums.winamp.com/showthread....threadid=65772

The easiest way though would be to change the .pls to .m3u and call it a day.

Tom

hmm i did follow that.. i says for .pls you can just simply list the files.. oh well, i changed it to .m3u and it worked.

tom for pres.

[edit] unless i misread, and a "generic m3u/pls file" must end in .pls ..? is the writing confused?
in that page the heading is:

and then a couple of lines lower, it says

should that be "a few sample generic m3u/pls files:" ? or is it right?

[/edit]

I believe he meant that samples of a .pls and a .m3u will be shown below and never actually specified the first one as a m3u like he did with the extended m3u and pls. I put in "A Simple M3U" before the first example so in the future others will know that the first example will only work for a .m3u. For a .pls you need the [playlist] stuff as shown in the pls example.

Tom

ahh ok so the only form of a .pls is the "extended pls" or plsv2

fair enough.