So this may not be the right forum, but i will ask here anyway. I am having trouble getting my playlists from iTunes to my watch. I can see some of my playlists, but not all of them. For example - I just created a new playlist for my race. it is on my phone, it is on iTunes, but when I go to Garmin Express to transfer it, it is not there. when you go to the iTunes media>playlists it is not there (which is why it won't show up to put on my watch). I obviously can't export it since i can't see it in the folder but it must be there somewhere because it is in iTunes and on my phone. any hints? is there I way I can work around this?
Hi Heather, I'm having a similar issue. I have a "running" playlist in iTunes with 100 songs and when I attempt to transfer the songs using Garmin Express, only the playlist name is transferred to the watch with none of the songs. However, transferring specific albums and songs worked for those I tried.
I saw this the other day when helping a friend setting up their 645M. The only songs that were available to transfer were those I had purchased. Apple Music playlists, or playlists comprising a mix of purchased and Apple Music songs were not. Could this be the same problem you are encountering?
Two things to mention. First, if the songs are protected files, which includes Apple Music downloads, they will not play (as the post above mine says). This is apple’s issue not garmin’s, and it’s not going to change.
second, to Tony.mazz’s post: I have experienced this too. It seems that if you’ve already transferred the songs, a later transfer of a playlist containing those songs will result in no playlist appearing on the watch. The only work around I have found is to remove the music (not just the playlist, but also the songs) in Garmin express and then re-add it, copying over the playlists at the same time as the music files themselves.
To put it another way: it seems you cannot re-sort music already on the watch into new playlists that were not copied at the time the music was first transferred.
This is seems to be a bug with either the watch, Garmin express, or both. Hopefully it gets fixed soon, although the workaround does work.
Hmmm... no I don't think this is the same problem. I have transferred individual songs and albums to the watch and I have playlists that also have those same songs on them. my problem is that the playlist that you see on ITunes - name etc is just not available in the playlist folder. so obviously garmin express can not see it.i have seen the protected files thing as well, but that is more like you have a playlist that has 20 songs and only 13 will transfer to the watch. I can live with that (I guess). I just can't figure out the trick of creating a new playlist - it just doesn't work. i can create it in iTunes, I see it in ITunes and can put it on the phone, just not the watch.
Two things to mention. First, if the songs are protected files, which includes Apple Music downloads, they will not play (as the post above mine says). This is apple’s issue not garmin’s, and it’s not going to change.
is there a way to determine in iTunes if I downloaded it or if it is a protected file?
Try exporting the iTunes Playlist as a MU3 file - this is what I have to do and it works for me. Also keep in mind that all your music files MUST be on your local C: drive; even if the MU3 files is local, but pointing to music on an external/network drive GC will not recognize the MU3 file.
Awesome! Emr215 that worked! for some reason I thought that I needed to be able to see the playlist in the folder when actually the process PUTS it in the folder. Operator error. I just went ahead and tried it and it is there and now available in garmin express! thanks so much!!
now to figure out how to get all those downloaded songs that I bought on iTunes to be able to be put wherever i want them. That is what we are talking about when you refer to a protected file right? makes no sense to me - i bought it so it should be mine.
is there a way to determine in iTunes if I downloaded it or if it is a protected file?
In iTunes, go to the "view" menu, then "Show View Options." Click the box for "kind." A new column will appear that shows the type of file for each song. Types you might see are: - purchased AAC audio file - matched AAC audio file - AAC audio file - MPEG audio file etc.
The one to look out for is "protected AAC audio file." That means the track has digital rights management on it and cannot be played on the 645M (or pretty much any non-apple device).
You can absolutely play all iTunes music on the 645M, you just may need to convert some song files to remove the protection and replace the protected versions in your playlists, with the non-protected copies (which could be a bit of a PITA, but doable). Any protected song just select the song (and you can select all of them if you like and convert them all at once) then just choose from the iTunes menu File --> Convert --> Create AAC Version.
