Nuvi 650 Playlist

 

Thanks for all the great info on this site concerning gps devices from everyone. I have been trying to make a playlist so I can group different kinds of music together on a sd card instead of just loading mp3 files and letting the gps group them. Is there a easy way to do this so the nuvi 650 will let me select the playlist and play alright?
Thanks
Rick

playlist

Haven't tried it myself, but according to the manual, the nuvi should be able to play .m3u playlist files.

You'll need to create the .m3u using a media player on your computer. Transfer the .m3u and the .mp3 files to your nuvi or the SD card with the .m3u and the .mp3 in the same location.

On the nuvi, go to Travel Kit> Mp3 Player>Browse>Import Playlist and you should see a list of your available playlists.

Click on the playlist to start listening.

Note: You can't change the playlist order from the nuvi.

650 play lists

Here is what I do on my 660 that works well. First of all transfer your mp3's to the SD card. A lot has been said that you shouldn't put them in a folder. In reality it doesn't matter. I put them into a folder to keep track of them. Then download Winamp which is freeware. Winamp has a playlist editor. On the playlist editor there is a "load list" button which you direct to your music on the SD card (what is in your music folder). It will load all the tracks. In this view you can order or re-order the tracks. Then there is a "save list" command. You save it with a name like myplaylist. Winamp automatically stores the file as myplaylist.m3u which is the proper format. When you go playlists on your nuvi screen you will see myplaylist. Click on it an play your music. (the reason it doesn't matter whether you put the music in a folder or not is the playlist creates a link to the music and doesn't care where the music is located).

It might sound complicated but it is really easy. If you want to export from ITunes there is shareware called itunes export that will export an itunes play list to a nuvi in the m3u format. Hope this helps.

Thanks, Gus

These tools are extremely useful if you want to play an audio book that is made up of a large number of chapters, or a large number of podcasts in proper order. Without it, it is quite complicated to play the next chapter or broadcast. I would have probably never found the iTunes Export program without your guidance. Thanks again.

--
Nuvi 660 -- and not upgrading it or maps until Garmin fixes long-standing bugs/problems, and get maps to where they are much more current, AND corrected on a more timely basis when advised of mistakes.

Thanks

Thanks for the info gusr205. It worked well.

You just saved me some time!

gusr205 wrote:

Here is what I do on my 660 that works well. First of all transfer your mp3's to the SD card. A lot has been said that you shouldn't put them in a folder. In reality it doesn't matter. I put them into a folder to keep track of them. Then download Winamp which is freeware. Winamp has a playlist editor. On the playlist editor there is a "load list" button which you direct to your music on the SD card (what is in your music folder). It will load all the tracks. In this view you can order or re-order the tracks. Then there is a "save list" command. You save it with a name like myplaylist. Winamp automatically stores the file as myplaylist.m3u which is the proper format. When you go playlists on your nuvi screen you will see myplaylist. Click on it an play your music. (the reason it doesn't matter whether you put the music in a folder or not is the playlist creates a link to the music and doesn't care where the music is located).

It might sound complicated but it is really easy. If you want to export from ITunes there is shareware called itunes export that will export an itunes play list to a nuvi in the m3u format. Hope this helps.

You just saved me a whole lot of time! I was making my playlists from Winamp, but I was choosing the music from my computer harddrive instead of from the SD Card. So, after I completed the list, I would have to go in and edit out all of the locations for the music, and just left the song name on the list.

Doing it the way you suggested, I don't have to take out the location descriptions anymore.

Sometimes it takes someone else to see what you can't see when you do something the same way each time.

Thank you very much for the tip!

--
Garmin Nuvi 660

This is a great forum. I

This is a great forum. I just realize I have been doing it the hard way -- Editing the MP3 tag.

--
www.HawaiianKing411.com

Buggy?

bentbiker wrote:

These tools are extremely useful [for playing] a large number of podcasts in proper order. I would have probably never found the iTunes Export program without your guidance.

Gus,

Have you ever used the iTunes Export program for large numbers of mp3s (26 in my case)? I am getting really strange performance on my Nuvi. Everything goes smoothly in loading and the first podcast shows as 1 of 26. This proceeds through a few podcasts but the numbers might change to almost anything, and then after 7, it either hangs or starts over. I've reloaded everything several times and I believe I even dragged the podcasts over from iTunes and ran WinAmp with a similar result. I know the mp3 files are good because the play well through iTunes. I'm wondering whether the mp3 player is just buggy using playlists (at least with larger numbers of recordings), or whether I have a defective unit.

--
Nuvi 660 -- and not upgrading it or maps until Garmin fixes long-standing bugs/problems, and get maps to where they are much more current, AND corrected on a more timely basis when advised of mistakes.

m3u Playlist With 120 Songs

I've made m3u playlist files with 120 songs that play just fine on my nuvi 660. I didn't use iTunes, but constructed them manually in notepad.

--
Tampa, FL - Garmin nüvi 660 (Software Ver 4.90), 2021.20 CN NA NT maps | Magellan Meridian Gold

660 Playlist

Gus,

I just bought a 660 and tried your method in Winamp for playlist and it worked, kind of. (By the way, I can't find "Load Button" in Winamp.) 660 will load and play the playlist songs but in a random sequence, not as saved. Any idea on how the 660 sorts music files? Also it may pull other mp3 files from the general file area into the playlist when playing. Any ideas on making this work better would be appreciated.
Thanks.

Yes -- Any Ideas Much Appreciated.

Grif,
You are seeing behavior similar to my 660. On playlist of 11 disks of book on tape, everything seems to work fine. However, on playlist 40 podcasts, things start out fine with it playing "1 of 40", until the 7th will show perhaps "7 of 25" and then "10 of 15", etc. Occasionally it will play songs that are obviously not on the playlist.

The playlists themselves look great, whether produced with WinAmp or iTunes Export -- but the result is the same, a mess if there are more than a handful of relatively short mp3s on the playlist. I have found no way around the behavior.

As for the order of play, I believe my player always follows the order set in the playlist by Winamp; there is a window in WinAmp that shows the order and it can be changed.

--
Nuvi 660 -- and not upgrading it or maps until Garmin fixes long-standing bugs/problems, and get maps to where they are much more current, AND corrected on a more timely basis when advised of mistakes.

MP3's out of order

I haven't exported 26 MP3's from iTunes export but have that many in a play list from winamp. I really have had no problems except some of the podcasts I have downloaded had illegal names and that caused the play list to get confused. For example one podcast's name was #257 episode. The MP3 player didn't like # sign and ignored all MP3's after that. I simply edited out the # sign and all was well.

Gusr205

Winamp play lists

Grif-

If you weren't able to see the List opts button I'm guessing you didn't create the play list. Try this below and see if it works for you.

When you get to the main winamp screen which looks like a CD player right click on the bar that says "winamp". You will then see a drop down menu and one of the items will say playlist editor. click on that. Across the bottom of the screen you will see the following push buttons left to right-Add Rem Sel Misc and on the right List Opts.

Click the Add button. It will expand and you will see 3 choices. Click Add files. You will see a windows explorer type screen come up. At this point your Nuvi should be plugged in and you should have stored your music in a file on your SD card. Use the add files button to navigate to your music and highlight it. Then click open.

All your music will appear in the winamp playlist editor. When you have put it in the order you want by highlighting the song and move it up or down click List Opts->Save List. Give the list a name like "myplaylist" and save it.

When you power up your Nuvi you will see myplaylist under play lists and when you click on it you will be able to play your music just like you ordered it in winamp.

It sounds complicated but is really simple.

Hope this helps.

Gusr205

Winamp Play Lists

Gus

DUH! I tried again and realized that I was doing it wrong! I'm used to creating mp3 playlists in Rapsody and i-Tunes for mp3 and I-Pod. They create playlists in the music library and move the lists to to units. I was doing the same here, trying to create playlists in the Winamp library and moving them to the 660! I followed your last guidance and realized that there is a different playlist creation area in Winamp that works just like you said. Playlists are fine now and work great.
I'll continue to use this site to educate myself on the operations of the 660 and hopefully provide help for others in the future.

Thanks a lot.

Grif