PlayList format and translation

Sandisk Sansa mp3 player may have playlists of mp3 files.  These files are stored in \PLAYLIST.
The format of playlist is actullay in UTF-16LE.  In order to translate it to an ASCII (UTF-8) format, we can use a command line tool in Unix/Linux (available in Cygwin for Windows too).

Here's an example how to convert a playlist to a text format:


bash-3.2$ iconv -f UTF-16LE -t UTF-8 playlist.pla
PLP PLAYLIST
VERSION 1.20


HARP, MUSIC\James Blunt\All The Lost Souls\10_-_i_can't_hear_the_music_-_all_the_lost_souls.mp3
HARP, MUSIC\James Blunt\All The Lost Souls\09_-_annie_-_all_the_lost_souls.mp3
HARP, MUSIC\James Blunt\All The Lost Souls\04_-_same_mistake_-_all_the_lost_souls.mp3
HARP, MUSIC\James Blunt\All The Lost Souls\01_-_1973_-_all_the_lost_souls.mp3
HARP, MUSIC\Queen\Queen - Greatest Hits Cd1\01_-_bohemian_rhapsody_-_queen_-_greatest_hits_cd1.mp3
HARP, MUSIC\Queen\Queen - Greatest Hits Cd1\05_-_bicycle_race_-_queen_-_greatest_hits_cd1.mp3
HARP, MUSIC\Queen\Queen - Greatest Hits Cd1\16_-_we_will_rock_you_-_queen_-_greatest_hits_cd1.mp3
HARP, MUSIC\Queen\Queen - Greatest Hits Cd1\17_-_we_are_the_champions_-_queen_-_greatest_hits_cd1.mp3
HARP, MUSIC\Queen\Queen - Greatest Hits Cd2\07_-_it's_a_hard_life_-_queen_-_greatest_hits_cd2.mp3
HARP, MUSIC\Queen\Queen - Greatest Hits Cd2\11_-_the_miracle_-_queen_-_greatest_hits_cd2.mp3
HARP, MUSIC\Queen\Queen - Greatest Hits Cd2\15_-_friends_will_be_friends_-_queen_-_greatest_hits_cd2.mp3
HARP, MUSIC\Queen\Queen - Greatest Hits Cd2\16_-_the_show_must_go_on_-_queen_-_greatest_hits_cd2.mp3
HARP, MUSIC\Eric Clapton\Unplugged\07_-_layla_-_unplugged.mp3
HARP, MUSIC\Rihanna\Good Girl Gone Bad\{1]03_-_don't_stop_the_music_-_good_girl_gone_bad.mp3
HARP, MUSIC\OneRepublic\Dreaming Out Loud\{1]03_-_stop_and_stare_-_dreaming_out_loud.mp3
HARP, MUSIC\Colbie Caillat\Coco\{1]07_-_realize_-_coco.mp3
HARP, MUSIC\Timbaland\Shock Value\{1]16_-_apologize_(feat._one_republic)_-_shock_value.mp3
HARP, MUSIC\Ennio Morricone\Kill Bill Vol.2\03_-_il_tramanto_-_kill_bill_vol.2.mp3
HARP, MUSIC\Charlie Feathers\Kill Bill Vol.2\04_-_cant_hardly_stand_it_-_kill_bill_vol.2.mp3
HARP, MUSIC\Lole Y Manuel\Kill Bill Vol.2\05_-_tu_mira_(edit)_-_kill_bill_vol.2.mp3
HARP, MUSIC\Luis Bacalov\Kill Bill Vol.2\06_-_summertime_killer_-_kill_bill_vol.2.mp3
HARP, MUSIC\Alan Reeves Phil Steele And P\Kill Bill Vol.2\07_-_the_chase_-_kill_bill_vol.2.mp3
HARP, MUSIC\Ennio Morricone\Kill Bill Vol.2\09_-_l_arena_-_kill_bill_vol.2.mp3
HARP, MUSIC\Malcolm Mclaren\Kill Bill Vol.2\12_-_about_her_-_kill_bill_vol.2.mp3
HARP, MUSIC\Chingon\Kill Bill Vol.2\14_-_malaguena_salerosa_-_kill_bill_vol.2.mp3
HARP, MUSIC\Meiko Kaji\Kill Bill Vol.2\15_-_urami_bushi_-_kill_bill_vol.2.mp3
bash-3.2$


To create a playlist, we just reverse the format and redirect the output to a file (with extension pla) and then copy the generated file to Sansa's PLAYLIST folder.  Just to remember, the path of each file is relative to MUSIC folder.