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File > Import Playlist > Windows Media Player does nothing

File > Import Playlist > Windows Media Player does nothing

I am running the latest Spotify desktop client on Windows 10, when I choose File > Import Playlist > Windows Media Player, absolutely nothing happens.  I don't get an error or anything.

 

I've already tried deleting all the .wmdb files under C:\Users\<username>\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Media Player and letting WMP rebuild those files.

 

I have also completely uninstalled and re-installed the Spotify desktop client.

 

I have also tried turning on "Music Files" and "Windows Media Player" under preferences.  The "Windows Media Player" option does nothing.  The "Music Files" options imports my entire library, but does nothing for playlists. 

 

I don't want to import all my local files to Spotify, just certain WMP playlists and I don't want to have to recreate all my playlists from scratch.

 

Any help would be appreciated.

 

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6 Replies

I had to chat Spotify support to get any response on this.  After much confusion on what I was trying to do (the support agent has never used or seen the Windows desktop app I guess), I was told that because my music files (and WMP playlists) are in a subfolder under the default Windows Music folder, Spotify won't pickup the playlists.  So I am SOL unless I move all my music and of course recreate all my playlists to reflect the new location, which would take months.

 

This has been a frustrating, disappointing waste of time.  I hope this post saves some time for future users.

I moved all my music into the root of the Windows default music folder. Fortunately this did not break the WMP playlists as the paths in the playlist files relative, not explicit.

 

However, this did not resolve the issue with importing WMP playlists onto Spotify.  Both options, File > Import Playlists and Preferences > Local Files > Windows Media Player, do nothing.

 

It would be great if someone from Spotify support, who is familiar with this feature, could help here.

In an last ditch effort, I installed iTunes, which imported all my music and the playlists. Then in the Spotify desktop app I tried File > Import Playlists > iTunes.  It does nothing.

I chatted Spotify support again, this time I got someone familar with the Desktop app and she was very helpful. She confirmed that Spotify has no offical documentation on the steps for importing Windows Media Player playlists and that feature appears to be broken.

 

However, for iTunes they have the following doc: https://support.spotify.com/ph/article/import-playlists-from-itunes/

 

The trick is, when you click File > Import Playlists > iTunes, Spotify will do nothing.  You have to log off and back into the desktop app.  Not close the desktop app, not log off your PC, log off the app.

 

This is key, once you log back into the app you will see an iTunes folder under the Playlist section and all your iTunes playlists should be there.

 

Now, if you want to download those playlists to your mobile device, you have to follow the Desktop and iPhone or Android steps in this doc

 

https://support.spotify.com/ph/using_spotify/collect_music/listen-to-local-files/

 

When you first look at the iTunes playlists on your mobile device they will be totally empty. They won't even show the song list greyed out, don't panic.  Click into the empty playlist, choose the ... menu in the upper right corner, then choose download.  All the songs will appear and start to download.  You also have to be on the same Wifi network as your desktop for this to work.

 

Good luck!

 

So Spotify need to either grey out the feature in the App until it works or fix it soon. It certainly needs the ability to let you decide where your playlists are stored (mine are all on my server, not the local machine).

 

HOWEVER... it does seem to have imported my Windows Media Player playlists (I won't let iTunes anywhere near a Winows machine as it is dreadful code). In fact it has imported them three times. The problem is that there is no progress indicator or confirmation...

 

Now to go do some clean up 😞

That is my problem too. first time I got to import one folder, but after was impossible another files from same folder.

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