How to import iTunes and Spotify playlists into Xbox Music
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Most of us Windows Phone users know and use the service of Xbox Music Despite the defects and limitations of this player , its integration with the system (and also with OneDrive) make it one of the preferred alternatives to manage music on Windows phones and tablets.
In turn, Xbox Music offers a subscription service, called Music Pass (heir to the old Zune Pass), which allows you to download and listen via streaming all the music we want, from the Xbox Music catalog.However, to get more out of both this subscription and the management of our collection, we may want to import our playlists to Xbox Music from other services, such as Spotify, Rdio, or iTunesIn this article we will show you how to do it.
Import playlists from iTunes
The interaction between iTunes and Xbox Music is perhaps the easiest of all, since the Microsoft application already offers support for importing playlists from the Apple player, without having to resort to other tools.
The first thing we have to do is make sure that the folder where the iTunes databases (iTunes Library.itl) is included within the Xbox Music collection Until iTunes 11, these databases were always located inside the iTunes Media folder, which you could move to. another location on the hard drive, thereby also moving the database files.
With iTunes 12 this changed, and such files are now always located in C:/Users/WindowsUserName/Music (regardless of where iTunes Media folder is located), and therefore that folder will have to be included in the Xbox Music collection. To verify this, we can go, within the Xbox Music application, to Settings > Preferences > Select the location of music on this PC . There a box like the one in the screenshot above will be displayed, where we can add or remove monitored locations.
At first it seems obvious that this folder should be being monitored by Xbox Music, but it turns out that many of us have moved our collection to OneDrive (as long as our music syncs with the cloud), and if Xbox Music monitors the music folder in OneDrive, but not the one containing the iTunes databases, playlists cannot be imported.
Once the above has been checked, the second step couldn&39;t be easier: we just have to press the Import Playlists button located at the bottom of the left sidebar, and voila, Xbox Music will take care of the rest."
Yes, the playlists are only imported, they are not synchronized Therefore, if we make subsequent changes to the original iTunes playlists , these will not be reflected in Xbox Music unless we delete all the playlists and import again. However, imported playlists do sync to the Xbox Music cloud, and are therefore automatically available on Windows Phones, and other devices linked to our account (and if we have a Music Pass, or have saved the collection on OneDrive, the songs themselves will also be available on the other computers).
Import playlists from Spotify and other services
Xbox Music does not offer the ability to import playlists from other services, but with the help of other tools we can make it interact with third-party services, such as Spotify, Rdio, or Soundcloud. The most useful tool to achieve this is Soundiiz, a website specialized in converting and exporting lists from one place to another.
To use it we simply have to go to soundiiz.com, create an account, and then connect it with Xbox Music and other services from where we want to import the playlists. It is even possible to export playlists located in .m3u, .pls and .xspf files, through a simple drag and drop .
Once that&39;s done, just go to the corresponding box, select the playlist you want to transfer, and click on the Share iconlocated next to it.We will be asked which service we want to export it to, select Xbox Music, and that&39;s it, Soundiiz will take care of the rest"
Unfortunately, several playlists cannot be transferred at the same time: we must select one, export it, wait for the process to finish and only then can we select another. Also, if a song is in the Spotify catalog, but not in the Xbox Music catalog, it will not be included in the exported playlist, and obviously, if the list contains songs that are not in our collection, we will be required to have a subscription Music Pass to be able to play or download them on Xbox Music.
But outside of those limitations, Soundiiz works pretty well, and is a great way to get all your playlists over to Xbox Music that we've created on other streaming services (particularly useful for those paying for a Music Pass).
