To create a playlist using the Windows Media Playlist Editor

1. Start the Windows Media Playlist Editor.

   The Windows Media Playlist Editor dialog box appears.

2. On the toolbar, click the Add element button to add a media element to the playlist.

The Add Media Elements dialog box appears.

3. Specify the name and location of the content you want to add to the playlist. Repeat this step until you have added all of the content to your playlist.
4. On the toolbar, click the Save playlist button, and then specify the name and location of the playlist file. The playlist file must use a .wsx file name extension.

Notes

• The Windows Media Playlist Editor can be started from the Windows Media Services snap-in by clicking the View playlist editor button on the Getting Started tab of the server, the Summary Tab of the Publishing Points item, or the Source tab of a specific publishing point.
• The Windows Media Playlist Editor can also be started as a stand-alone program by double-clicking the Wmseditor.exe file, which can be found in the folder in which you installed the Windows Media Services snap-in. By default, this is %systemroot%\System32\Windows Media\Server\Admin\MMC.
• After you have created your playlist, it may be used by any publishing point. To use your playlist with a publishing point, click the Change button on the Source tab of the publishing point.
• The Windows Media Playlist Editor is only available in the Windows Media Services snap-in.
• Content streamed by Windows Media Services must meet the minimum supported content length of the player to ensure reliable playback. The minimum supported content length for Windows Media Player 9 Series is 5 seconds. The minimum supported content length for previous versions of Windows Media Player is 30 seconds.
• If you want to save your playlist files on another computer or network drive, you must first grant share permissions to the Windows Media server. The Windows Media server cannot write files to a remote network drive if the server has not been granted permissions. For more information about drive sharing and permissions, see Windows Help and Support.
• If your playlist includes JPEG image files, do not include any syntax in your playlist that causes the image to pause while being rendered by the player. Pausing a JPEG image in this manner can cause the player to enter a permanent wait state. If you must show a still image under these circumstances, create a video file of that image and then use the video file in the playlist instead.
• If your playlist includes JPEG image files and you are using the playlist file with a broadcast publishing point, be aware that users who connect to the broadcast while the JPEG image is being streamed will not receive the image. They will instead see a black screen. Once the playlist continues on to the next item, playback will continue as expected. If you want a JPEG image to be displayed for a certain period of time, you should use the repeatCount attribute to repeat the image for short durations that together equal the amount of time that the image is to be displayed. That way, players that connect while the image is being streamed can receive the image when it repeats. For example, if a JPEG image is to be displayed for 60 seconds, you could set a dur attribute value of five seconds and a repeatCount attribute value of 12. If a user connects two seconds into the broadcast, the image would be displayed after three seconds. If the repeatCount and dur attribute values were not used, the user would see a black screen for 58 seconds.

Related topics

• Creating and editing offline playlists
• Playlist reference