Windows Media Player Playlist - Export names and times??? (1 Viewer)

[MarkHastings]

For my job, I capture WMV files and have to write the names and times down on my paperwork. Usually I'll have dozens to do, so I avoid hand writting at all times - What I usually do is open all of the WMV's in WMP and take a screen shot of the playlist...then I import that into Photoshop, crop out what I don't need and print out the list.

But there has GOT to be an easier way of doing this. I love how iTunes lets you select songs, copy, then paste the info right into a text document.

This obviously doesn't work in WMP, but I've been trying to figure out if I can at least export the playlist to a text file, but that isn't working....

Any ideas???

 

[Alon Goldberg]

Tried Google?

http://www.google.ca/search?q=export...media+playlist
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/win...powertoys.aspx

 

[MarkHastings]

Yeah, that shows how to export a playlist (which i knew how to do), but there's not much you can do from there. I see they say you can import into Excell, but I have to install Excell and that just seems like a lot of crap work. I just wanted a text based file. Down and dirty/Simple.

The playlist file won't open in Word or notepad, so that's pretty useless.

EDIT: I see you need to download and install that "Powertoys" thingy. What a bunch of crap. I'm not about to install extra crap for WMP, then load up Excell just to get a text version on my playlist. Talk about a headache!

 

[Kimmo Jaskari]

Not sure quite what info you expect in a playlist, but here's a thought - do you have to use Windows Media Player? It is, after all, basically just a shell around the proper codecs. You could equally well use a better player and still use the same codecs as WMP does.

For instance, BSPlayer (pro?) or Zoom Player (pro) spring to mind. The latter has a WMV pro variant that can play back DRM:ed files too (not sure how well it saves playlists though, but might be worth a try.)

I know BSPlayer can save playlists in a text format (they wind up with a .b...something file name but you can read them just fine in a normal text editor.)

I may be missing something here, if so, sorry to waste your time.

 

[MarkHastings]

Kimmo, thanks for the suggestions. I only use WMP to view the files. I would use another player if it does what I want it to.

Example: I have 20 WMV files and I need to log their names and run times. In WMP, the playlist shows just the name of the file and the runtime (next to it). Taking a screen shot does the trick, but I wish I could export the names and runtimes as a text file.

Exporting the playlist just gives me the name of the files (no runtimes) - the runtimes are the most important aspect, so any other application (that can perform this function) would be helpful.

Thanks

 

[MarkHastings]

For example: This is what I get in the screen shot:


Again, I just need to know the name of the WMV and the runtime.

The screen shot method has worked for me, but since I'm printing to a B&W printer, I have to open it in Photoshop, select the white text, copy and paste into a new document, then reverse the text color and then print it.

What a pain!

 

[Kimmo Jaskari]

Hmm, bsplayer doesn't show the runtime when saving the playlist in a text format, and it would also mean you'd have to do some formatting of the playlist file to get it "clean" of some extras that the program adds. Probably not less work there, I fear, just different work.

Maybe you could use windows macros / scripting to record the work steps you do now? Capturing the image, photoshopping it, etc. Should be doable, and cut down on the ouch factor. Or use macros in combination with the Excel option; your part of the work could in theory be reduced to pressing play and grabbing another cup of coffee.

 

[MarkHastings]

I wish they'd play in iTunes. The nice thing with iTunes is, whatever you have shown in the view window (i.e. track title, genre, runtime, playcount, comments, etc. etc. etc.) all get copied when you copy the selection. Then you can EASILY paste it into a text file.