Can WinAmp playlists be made CD drive independent?

hschroed · 24th May 2001, 15:03

I have a Cd-ROM and Cd-RW. I have playlists stored on a hard drive. What I want to do is insert a CD with Mp3 files, have autorun initiate a program that will startup WinAmp with the appropriate playlist for the Mp3's on that CD. Typically this is done by including the autorun file and playlist on the CD. I have found however that after a CD is burned, playlists are often changed, fixed, reorganized, etc. so putting the playlist on the CD is not the most desirable.
What I want to be able to do is activate a playlist and have Win 98 association (or someother interface) start Winamp and pass is the playlist. The problem with this method is that Win98 association (or most free interface/programs available on the net) do not have the ability to identify the CD drive that is associated with the CD just inserted. So you have the choice of invoking a playlist with the drive letter preselected (possible the wrong one) or to leave the drive letter out of the playlist, in which case WinAmp can't find the MP3 file.
Is there any other way to do this?
What would really be nice if Nullsoft would include default search paths for playlist targets. That is, if a playlist does not specify a drive, its current default path should be queried, and then if that fails, the default path be searched, which could include the preferred CD drive and any secondaries.

NeoRenegade · 24th May 2001, 17:12

I have experience with playlists. When the folder that the songs are in is not a sub-folder of the folder that the list is in, the full address is listed, such as D:\Dave\MP3's\Aerosmith\Just Push Play\Aerosmith - Jaded.mp3. However, if the songs indeed are in a subfolder then a relative address is used, and as long as you burn the CD with the same directory architecture, the playlist will work properly.

hschroed · 25th May 2001, 16:58

You are right about that. As long as the relative path structure is the same, the playlist can be used regardless of where the MP3 files are, hard drive or CD-ROM. The crux of my problem is however, given that the playlist path is accurate, how can WinAmp determine which device (hard drive x, CD-ROM 1, CD-ROM 2) without specifying the drive in the playlist.
The initiator is inserting the CD into one of the CD-ROMs, the next mechanism should identify into which CD-ROM the CD has been inserted, and then pass that info with the playlist to WinAmp. WinAmp could then query the specific device and should be able to match up the relative path in the playlist passed to it. What is missing in this process is that there are few programs that will recognize the insertion of a CD, identify the drive letter, and then permit the use of that drive letter in a parameter that can be used as, say a drive variable in the playlist.
An alternate implementation, and possibly a simpler one, would be for WinAmp to have a list of potential MP3 file devices, and then try to match up the relative path in the playlist that is passed to it, with one of the devices in the list. That is what I was suggesting in my original post.
Thanks for the input.

pinkerton · 25th May 2001, 17:04

Burn all the MP3's onto the CD without the playlist and then open winamp and click "add" and then "add dir" and then ad the directory "d:\" and then click the "list" button and then "save list" and then save that list to the hard drive and then to play that certain CD just open that playlist after you insert the CD.

NeoRenegade · 25th May 2001, 18:22

As far as autorun goes I don't think you can have it recognize a file "no matter what directory it is in"

. - .... .- -. .... · 26th May 2001, 17:29

Full instructions here, including how to get it to autorun.

http://forums.winamp.com/showthread.php?threadid=50421

hschroed · 1st June 2001, 15:35

Thank you for your input. I have now had a chance to try all your suggestions. I have learnt a lot in the process about how WinAmp uses play lists. Unfortunately, I have not found a combination that will work with my setup.
As I indicated in my initial post, I have more than one CD player on my computer and the CD with the mp3 files could be inserted in either. I also want the insertion to start the playing of a specific playlist without manual intervention. Last but not least, I do not have the playlist burned on the CD for reasons given in earlier post.
Your suggestions, either result in a playlist that has the drive letter explicitely in the list (which means that that playlist can only be used for the CD mounted in that drive) or the playlist has to be burned on the CD in the root or in a subdirectory.
I agree that autorun does not have the facility to identify the drive and somehow pass the information to WinAmp. I do not expect that kind of program code to be added to WinAmp. Third party programs such as AutoPlayerPlus (Shareware) and CD-Status (Freeware) do the job. With CD-Status loaded CDs are recognized and appropriate actions can be taken. For example, inserting a CD with MP3 files, CD-Status will identify the volume id or ser no of the CD and invoke a specific command to process that CD. The command can start WinAmp and pass it the name of the playlist associated with that CD. The playlist does not have to be on the CD but could be anywhere. This means that playlists can be created on the hard drive, modified and altered after the burn of the CD. Using the %1 variable in the command, inserts the CD drive letter in the command. Putting the variable in the command presents several possibilities.
A command such as
E:\Winamp\Winamp.exe %1\Artist\Album\
would not use any playlist (which is probably OK for the majority of situations) and would result in all files in that directory on the specific CD player to be processed. Unfortunately this does not provide for changing the order or inclusion/exclusion of certain files after the CD has been burned.

Another command such as
E:\Winamp\Winamp.exe C:\Mp3Lists\%1ArtistAlbum.m3u
would automatically pass the playlist corresponding to the specific drive to WinAmp. This unfortunately would require a playlist created for each drive attached to your computer which is workable but not desirable.

My request to WinAmp developers is to consider the feasibility of modifying the program to accept a drive letter as a startup parameter to be used when the playlist does not contain a drive letter. Rather than the current action of, if the playlist does not contain the full file path and the mp3 files are not in the same path as the playlist, giving up. The other option less flexible but also workable, as I indicated earlier, is to provide configuration parameters where the customer can identify which drives are potential mp3 file drives, and then have WinAmp try to match any playlist file path without drive letters to the configured drives, in a priority sequence. Say a particular hardrive location with highest priority and then one or more CDR devices next.

25th May 2001, 17:04	#4
pinkerton Junior Member Join Date: Jan 2001 Posts: 6	just do this: Burn all the MP3's onto the CD without the playlist and then open winamp and click "add" and then "add dir" and then ad the directory "d:\" and then click the "list" button and then "save list" and then save that list to the hard drive and then to play that certain CD just open that playlist after you insert the CD.

26th May 2001, 17:29	#6
. - .... .- -. .... Backpacking Moderator Join Date: Nov 2000 Location: საქართველო (Georgia) Posts: 10,104	Full instructions here, including how to get it to autorun. http://forums.winamp.com/showthread.php?threadid=50421 Like my photography? Buy some here....

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24th May 2001, 15:03	#1
hschroed Junior Member Join Date: Jan 2001 Posts: 7	I have a Cd-ROM and Cd-RW. I have playlists stored on a hard drive. What I want to do is insert a CD with Mp3 files, have autorun initiate a program that will startup WinAmp with the appropriate playlist for the Mp3's on that CD. Typically this is done by including the autorun file and playlist on the CD. I have found however that after a CD is burned, playlists are often changed, fixed, reorganized, etc. so putting the playlist on the CD is not the most desirable. What I want to be able to do is activate a playlist and have Win 98 association (or someother interface) start Winamp and pass is the playlist. The problem with this method is that Win98 association (or most free interface/programs available on the net) do not have the ability to identify the CD drive that is associated with the CD just inserted. So you have the choice of invoking a playlist with the drive letter preselected (possible the wrong one) or to leave the drive letter out of the playlist, in which case WinAmp can't find the MP3 file. Is there any other way to do this? What would really be nice if Nullsoft would include default search paths for playlist targets. That is, if a playlist does not specify a drive, its current default path should be queried, and then if that fails, the default path be searched, which could include the preferred CD drive and any secondaries.

24th May 2001, 17:12	#2
NeoRenegade Banned Join Date: Feb 2001 Location: Montréal, Québec, Canada, eh? Posts: 4,083	I have experience with playlists. When the folder that the songs are in is not a sub-folder of the folder that the list is in, the full address is listed, such as D:\Dave\MP3's\Aerosmith\Just Push Play\Aerosmith - Jaded.mp3. However, if the songs indeed are in a subfolder then a relative address is used, and as long as you burn the CD with the same directory architecture, the playlist will work properly.

25th May 2001, 16:58	#3
hschroed Junior Member Join Date: Jan 2001 Posts: 7	You are right about that. As long as the relative path structure is the same, the playlist can be used regardless of where the MP3 files are, hard drive or CD-ROM. The crux of my problem is however, given that the playlist path is accurate, how can WinAmp determine which device (hard drive x, CD-ROM 1, CD-ROM 2) without specifying the drive in the playlist. The initiator is inserting the CD into one of the CD-ROMs, the next mechanism should identify into which CD-ROM the CD has been inserted, and then pass that info with the playlist to WinAmp. WinAmp could then query the specific device and should be able to match up the relative path in the playlist passed to it. What is missing in this process is that there are few programs that will recognize the insertion of a CD, identify the drive letter, and then permit the use of that drive letter in a parameter that can be used as, say a drive variable in the playlist. An alternate implementation, and possibly a simpler one, would be for WinAmp to have a list of potential MP3 file devices, and then try to match up the relative path in the playlist that is passed to it, with one of the devices in the list. That is what I was suggesting in my original post. Thanks for the input.

25th May 2001, 18:22	#5
NeoRenegade Banned Join Date: Feb 2001 Location: Montréal, Québec, Canada, eh? Posts: 4,083	As far as autorun goes I don't think you can have it recognize a file "no matter what directory it is in"

1st June 2001, 15:35	#7
hschroed Junior Member Join Date: Jan 2001 Posts: 7	Thank you for your input. I have now had a chance to try all your suggestions. I have learnt a lot in the process about how WinAmp uses play lists. Unfortunately, I have not found a combination that will work with my setup. As I indicated in my initial post, I have more than one CD player on my computer and the CD with the mp3 files could be inserted in either. I also want the insertion to start the playing of a specific playlist without manual intervention. Last but not least, I do not have the playlist burned on the CD for reasons given in earlier post. Your suggestions, either result in a playlist that has the drive letter explicitely in the list (which means that that playlist can only be used for the CD mounted in that drive) or the playlist has to be burned on the CD in the root or in a subdirectory. I agree that autorun does not have the facility to identify the drive and somehow pass the information to WinAmp. I do not expect that kind of program code to be added to WinAmp. Third party programs such as AutoPlayerPlus (Shareware) and CD-Status (Freeware) do the job. With CD-Status loaded CDs are recognized and appropriate actions can be taken. For example, inserting a CD with MP3 files, CD-Status will identify the volume id or ser no of the CD and invoke a specific command to process that CD. The command can start WinAmp and pass it the name of the playlist associated with that CD. The playlist does not have to be on the CD but could be anywhere. This means that playlists can be created on the hard drive, modified and altered after the burn of the CD. Using the %1 variable in the command, inserts the CD drive letter in the command. Putting the variable in the command presents several possibilities. A command such as E:\Winamp\Winamp.exe %1\Artist\Album\ would not use any playlist (which is probably OK for the majority of situations) and would result in all files in that directory on the specific CD player to be processed. Unfortunately this does not provide for changing the order or inclusion/exclusion of certain files after the CD has been burned. Another command such as E:\Winamp\Winamp.exe C:\Mp3Lists\%1ArtistAlbum.m3u would automatically pass the playlist corresponding to the specific drive to WinAmp. This unfortunately would require a playlist created for each drive attached to your computer which is workable but not desirable. My request to WinAmp developers is to consider the feasibility of modifying the program to accept a drive letter as a startup parameter to be used when the playlist does not contain a drive letter. Rather than the current action of, if the playlist does not contain the full file path and the mp3 files are not in the same path as the playlist, giving up. The other option less flexible but also workable, as I indicated earlier, is to provide configuration parameters where the customer can identify which drives are potential mp3 file drives, and then have WinAmp try to match any playlist file path without drive letters to the configured drives, in a priority sequence. Say a particular hardrive location with highest priority and then one or more CDR devices next.