First, let me thank you all for the informative posts in this long-running thread regarding the Sansa e250 and PlayLists. I knew MP3's and PlayLists on the e250 were an issue, but the NewEgg bargain price was too good to pass up. FYI, this is my FIRST "disc-less" MP3 player ever, although I'm computer literate enough to have built my latest PC from case/motherboard up to completion.
I did read reviews and forum posts on the Sansa e200 series (and the e250 in particular) extensively before ordering the little player. In spite of the PlayList issue, thus far, I don't regret my decision to make the e250 my maiden MP3 player purchase.
The particulars: I'm running WinXP Pro/SP2/32. I downloaded and read the long Sansa e200 series PDF manual as soon as I smote the buy button icon and completed my NE order for the e250 - I upgraded the firmware immediately, version 03.01.16A.
I found this forum and thoroughly read it, downloaded the PlayList Creator - thank you very much WD for your time and effort and making it freely available to sansa e250 owners.
I have WMP11 and MediaMonkey3, I don't like RealP and I haven't tried RockBox.
OK, all of my background info completed, here's my problem ... which I understand may be nothing more than a newbie with her first MP3 player missing/overlooking some key point in how to do the PlayLists, etc.
After getting my Sansa e250 in yesterday, I fully charged it, checked it out with the preloaded stuff to ensure I had a good unit, switched the USB over to MSC, formatted my e250 through Explorer. I then copied the PlayList Creator exe file over in to my e250's root directory, copied two (to start with) subdirectories of MP3 songs under my e250's MUSIC directory and ran the PlayList Creator with success.
PLC created two PlayLists under my e250's PLAYLISTS directory, one for each subdirectory of music under my MUSIC directory, just like I wanted. Sure enough, when I viewed the two PLA files, each was a playlist for the songs I wanted in each of the corresponding MUSIC subdirectories.
Everything appeared to be fine, just like it was supposed to work ... however, when I disconnected my e250 from my computer, I wasn't able to play the songs according to either playlist - it has listed the total number of songs in both playlists/subdirectories as if no playlists were created.
When I scroll over to the e250's PLAYLISTS, it shows both of the newly created PlayLists just as WD's excellent PLC software created them, right below the GoList, but both of the newly created PlayLists show [empty].
The break down by Artists, Albums, Genres, etc., is all there just like it is supposed to be.
What else do I need to do (read: what did I miss/do wrong when I went through the process to create the two PlayLists with PLC?) to get the PlayLists working like I want them to so I can select the PlayList of songs and/or albums I want to listen to at a given time?
Thank you all in advance for your time and thanks again for the informative posts which are already here.
