How to import playlists from iTunes and Spotify into Xbox Music, step by step.
Most of us Windows Phone users know and use the service of xbox music. Despite the flaws and limitations of this player, its integration with the system (and also with OneDrive) make it one of the preferred alternatives for managing music on Windows phones and tablets.
In turn, Xbox Music offers a subscription service, called MusicPass (heir to the old Zune Pass), which lets you download and stream all the music you want, from the Xbox Music catalogue. However, to get the most out of both this subscription and the management of our collection, we probably want to import to Xbox Music our playlists from other services, such as Spotify, Rdio, or iTunes. In this article we will teach you how to do it.
Import playlists from iTunes
The interaction between iTunes and Xbox Music is perhaps the simplest 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 within the iTunes Media folder, which in turn could be moved to another location on the hard drive, thereby also moving the database files.
With iTunes 12 this changed, and those files are now always located in C:/Users/WindowsUsername/Music (regardless of where the 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 the 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 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 on OneDrive , but not the one containing the iTunes databases, the playlists cannot be imported.
Once the above has been checked, the second step could not be easier: we only 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.
What yes, the playlists they only import, they don’t sync. Therefore, if we make subsequent changes to the original iTunes playlists, they won’t be reflected in Xbox Music unless we delete all playlists and import again. Even so, imported playlists they do sync with the Xbox Music cloudand therefore will be automatically available on phones with Windows Phone, 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 other computers).
Import playlists from Spotify and other services
Xbox Music does not offer the function 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 Soundiiza 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 the other services where we want to import the playlists from. It is even possible to export playlists located in .m3u, .pls and .xspf files, by means of a simple drag and drop.
Once that’s done, you just have to go to the corresponding box, select the playlist you want to transfer, and click the “Share” icon located next to her. We will be asked what service we want to export it to, we select “Xbox Music”, and that’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 playlist 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 quite welland it’s a great way to bring all the playlists we’ve created on other streaming services over to Xbox Music (particularly useful for those paying for a Music Pass).
What do you think of these methods? Do you know of another way to migrate playlists to Xbox Music?
