Trying to transfer iTunes playlist to Flash drive

Hello Bob13018,

It sounds like you're looking for information on how to create and move playlists using the Music app on your Mac. From your notes it shows you're using macOS 13.4, if so iTunes media is now available in the Apple Music app. If needed, you can find out more here: What happened to iTunes?

However, the steps for creating a playlist on your Mac can be found in the article here: How to create a playlist in the Apple Music app and a helpful guide here: Create, edit, and delete playlists in Music on Mac

You can use the steps below found in this article to save copies of playlists to use on another computer: Save a copy of a playlist in Music on Mac

"Save copies of playlists to use on another computer

In the Music app on your Mac, do one of the following:

• Save a copy of a single playlist or use it in Music on another computer: Select a playlist in the sidebar, choose File > Library > Export Playlist, then click the Format pop-up menu and choose XML.
• Save a copy of all your playlists: Choose File > Library > Export Library. The exported information is saved in XML format."

There's also information to "Transfer song information to other applications" in the same guide. As you mentioned you previously used a third-party app to assist you may need to check the app for updates or similar apps that will fulfill your exact need.

Cheers.

Bob13018 wrote:

that step by step saved a whole lot of text to the flash drive but not a single song

Thanks anyway,

Bob

Save a copy of a playlist in Music on Mac - Apple Support

"When you export playlists or transfer song information, the actual songs or music videos aren’t included—just the information about them or the playlist."

The names of the files that contain the music seem to be in there, but copying those out, converting the audio formats (if necessary), and naming the final copies in a way that would get a car stereo to play the tracks in the right order would be up to whatever application or person was reading the playlist description.

Hello Bob13018,

We understand the issue. Are you following the steps from the above link to try and export and save to a flash drive? "Save a copy of a single playlist or use it in Music on another computer: Select a playlist in the sidebar, choose File > Library > Export Playlist, then click the Format pop-up menu and choose XML."

Cheers!

The reference to alphanumeric sorting isn't especially technical. Let's say that you have the files

TRACK1.AAC
TRACK2.AAC
…
TRACK11.AAC
TRACK12.AAC

In a regular sort, based on left-to-right character matching, TRACK11.AAC and TRACK12.AAC would come after TRACK1.AAC and before TRACK2.AAC. Your car stereo (or whatever) would likely follow that sort order, and in doing so, play Tracks 11 & 12 "out of order."

To keep the tracks in order, one might want to name them something like

TRACK01.AAC
TRACK02.AAC
…
TRACK11.AAC
TRACK12.AAC

Notice the leading '0's in the names of Tracks 1 – 9,. which would cause the natural sort order (as a computer or computerized device would see it) to match the desired track playback order.

I think what the OP wants is the actual AAC, MP3, etc. files – named in such a way that the alphanumeric sorting order matches the playback order within the playlist.