Welcome to my simple m3u faq page, where I'll describe the m3u file, what uses it, and what in the heck its good for!

M3u files are simply text files with the .txt extension changed to .m3u. You can edit them just like with any other text file in Notepad, but you may want to actually trick Notepad into believing its a text file if you plan to do heavy amounts of m3uing!

Note: If you plan to do plenty of editing with m3u files, you may want to edit your registry to allow Windows to treat the m3u file as a text file for editing. To do this, go to My Computer, pull down the View menu, and select Folder Options, or whatever your version of Windows calls this item. Choose the File Types tab, then arrow down to the Mp3 Playlists item. Select the Edit button, find the listview of actions done on the file and create a new action called Edit. Then highlight Edit and select the Edit button. Enter the location at which your copy of Windows Notepad or anyother text editer is installed and select Ok. You can click Close twice to leave the dialogue. You should restart before attempting to edit an m3u file.

If you have a program like Winamp, Windows Media Player, or Real Player/RealOne installed, the m3u file can be used to play a string of your favorite mp3's one right after the other, and most players allow shuffling of these playlists. If you don't have a copy of any such player, go back to my apps page, where you'll find three different ones to start you off.

M3u files can also be used for the same purpose, but with mp3's found on the internet. Please stay tuned for details on how to create an m3u file for this purpose.Alright, I'm convinced on how handy it is to have m3u files, but how do I make them?

It makes no difference whether the m3u file is pointing to a file on your computer or on the internet, all you need to do is open a text editer and. When you're done making your m3u file, simply save the document as plain text, but instead of letting the editer put a .txt extension, put your own .m3u extension.

To get the m3u file to point to a mp3 file, all you do is type in the mp3's location, whether it be on the internet or your hard drive. You must have the case exactly as the location path gives, or it may not be found. For example, my favorite song is Fuel, by Metallica. If I have the mp3 file named Fuel.mp3, then an example location might be:
c\My Music\rock\Metallica\Fuel.mp3
or if my next favorite song were Metallica's Blacken, but I've had to put it on a web page to save space on my computer for something else, then it may look something like this:
http://www.geocities.com/musicgurus/Metallica/Blacken.mp3
This way, you can create your own lists of favorite music that plays automatically without you having to pound at the keyboard or toy with the mouse at the end of every sogn to get the next going.

Note: You definitely have to be connected to the internet for an m3u file with web addresses to work properly.

M3u playlists can include song titles or artist/track info and so on, but if you insist on adding this information, then I'll gladly turn you over to the playlist program dieties. These are no-frills, bare-bones playlists designed simply to make life a bit easier, not to inform every passerby what group you like and the such!