Playlist
Encyclopedia
In its most general form, a playlist is simply a list of song
s. They can be played in sequential or shuffled
order. The term has several specialized meanings in the realms of radio
broadcasting
and personal computer
s.
s when stations would devise (and, eventually, publish) a limited list of songs to be played. The term would go on to refer to the entire catalog of songs that a given radio station (of any format) would draw from. Additionally, the term was used to refer to an ordered list of songs played during a given time period. Playlists are often adjusted based on time of day, known as dayparting
.
storage and playback using personal computers became common, the term playlist was adopted by various media player software programs intended to organize and control music on a PC. Such playlists may be defined, stored, and selected to run either in sequence
or, if a random playlist function is selected, in a random order. Playlists' uses include allowing a particular desired musical atmosphere to be created and maintained without constant user interaction, or to allow a variety of different styles of music be played, again without maintenance.
Some websites allow categorization, editing, and listening of playlists online, such as www.PlaylistHQ.com, 8tracks.com, Project Playlist, Plurn
, imeem
and Webjay
. Other sites such as Musicmobs focus on playlist creation aided by personalized song recommendations, ratings and reviews. On certain sites, users create and share annotated playlists, giving visitors the option to read contextual information or reviewer comments about each song while listening. Some sites only allow the sharing of the playlist data with the actual music being delivered by other channels e.g. plurn
, others provide a closed catalog of content from which the playlists can be generated while sites like imeem
allow users to upload the music to central servers to be shared and accessed by any user of the site.
iPod
s can also be used to build playlists. The iPod software, "iWorkOut Muse", uses playlists to help people work out to music.
and represented in popular publications and on the radio as such, is referred to as a "celebrity playlist". This arms-length connection between the fan and the favored celebrity has become so popular (2004-2005) that "celebrity playlist" has become a part of recent vocabulary.
websites such as YouTube
and Vimeo
, users can make playlists of select videos from themselves or other users for topical purposes; paid accounts can upgrade playlists of their own videos to "shows".
techniques were developed to create playlists that satisfy arbitrary "sequence constraints", such as continuity, diversity, similarity, etc. Since, many other techniques were proposed, such as case-based reasoning
.
Song
In music, a song is a composition for voice or voices, performed by singing.A song may be accompanied by musical instruments, or it may be unaccompanied, as in the case of a cappella songs...
s. They can be played in sequential or shuffled
Shuffle play
Shuffle play is a mode of music playback in which songs are played in a randomized order that is decided upon for all tracks at once. It is commonly found on CD players, digital audio players and media player software...
order. The term has several specialized meanings in the realms of radio
Radio
Radio is the transmission of signals through free space by modulation of electromagnetic waves with frequencies below those of visible light. Electromagnetic radiation travels by means of oscillating electromagnetic fields that pass through the air and the vacuum of space...
broadcasting
Broadcasting
Broadcasting is the distribution of audio and video content to a dispersed audience via any audio visual medium. Receiving parties may include the general public or a relatively large subset of thereof...
and personal computer
Personal computer
A personal computer is any general-purpose computer whose size, capabilities, and original sales price make it useful for individuals, and which is intended to be operated directly by an end-user with no intervening computer operator...
s.
In radio
The term originally came about in the early days of top 40 radio formatRadio format
A radio format or programming format not to be confused with broadcast programming describes the overall content broadcast on a radio station. Radio formats are frequently employed as a marketing tool, and constantly evolve...
s when stations would devise (and, eventually, publish) a limited list of songs to be played. The term would go on to refer to the entire catalog of songs that a given radio station (of any format) would draw from. Additionally, the term was used to refer to an ordered list of songs played during a given time period. Playlists are often adjusted based on time of day, known as dayparting
Dayparting
In Broadcast programming, dayparting is the practice of dividing the day into several parts, during each of which a different type of radio programming or television programming apropos for that time is aired...
.
On computers and the Internet
As musicMusic
Music is an art form whose medium is sound and silence. Its common elements are pitch , rhythm , dynamics, and the sonic qualities of timbre and texture...
storage and playback using personal computers became common, the term playlist was adopted by various media player software programs intended to organize and control music on a PC. Such playlists may be defined, stored, and selected to run either in sequence
Sequence
In mathematics, a sequence is an ordered list of objects . Like a set, it contains members , and the number of terms is called the length of the sequence. Unlike a set, order matters, and exactly the same elements can appear multiple times at different positions in the sequence...
or, if a random playlist function is selected, in a random order. Playlists' uses include allowing a particular desired musical atmosphere to be created and maintained without constant user interaction, or to allow a variety of different styles of music be played, again without maintenance.
Some websites allow categorization, editing, and listening of playlists online, such as www.PlaylistHQ.com, 8tracks.com, Project Playlist, Plurn
Plurn
Plurn organizes and categorizes media files on the Internet for sharing as streaming playlists. Playlists can be built with audio, video or any other type of media that can be played via playlist. The community is designed for the organizing and sharing of Creative Commons or Open Source media....
, imeem
Imeem
The online service imeem was a social media web site where users interacted with each other by streaming, uploading and sharing music and music videos...
and Webjay
Webjay
- History :Webjay was a web-based playlist service launched in early 2004. Playlists consisted of links to Vorbis, MP3, WMA, RealAudio and/or other audio files on the web. Webjay users could create new playlists by copying from existing playlists, or by web scraping audio file links from external...
. Other sites such as Musicmobs focus on playlist creation aided by personalized song recommendations, ratings and reviews. On certain sites, users create and share annotated playlists, giving visitors the option to read contextual information or reviewer comments about each song while listening. Some sites only allow the sharing of the playlist data with the actual music being delivered by other channels e.g. plurn
Plurn
Plurn organizes and categorizes media files on the Internet for sharing as streaming playlists. Playlists can be built with audio, video or any other type of media that can be played via playlist. The community is designed for the organizing and sharing of Creative Commons or Open Source media....
, others provide a closed catalog of content from which the playlists can be generated while sites like imeem
Imeem
The online service imeem was a social media web site where users interacted with each other by streaming, uploading and sharing music and music videos...
allow users to upload the music to central servers to be shared and accessed by any user of the site.
iPod
IPod
iPod is a line of portable media players created and marketed by Apple Inc. The product line-up currently consists of the hard drive-based iPod Classic, the touchscreen iPod Touch, the compact iPod Nano, and the ultra-compact iPod Shuffle...
s can also be used to build playlists. The iPod software, "iWorkOut Muse", uses playlists to help people work out to music.
Celebrity playlists
A celebrity playlist is a list of songs prepared by a celebrityCelebrity
A celebrity, also referred to as a celeb in popular culture, is a person who has a prominent profile and commands a great degree of public fascination and influence in day-to-day media...
and represented in popular publications and on the radio as such, is referred to as a "celebrity playlist". This arms-length connection between the fan and the favored celebrity has become so popular (2004-2005) that "celebrity playlist" has become a part of recent vocabulary.
Web video
On video hosting serviceVideo hosting service
A video hosting service allows individuals to upload video clips to an Internet website. The video host will then store the video on its server, and show the individual different types of code to allow others to view this video...
websites such as YouTube
YouTube
YouTube is a video-sharing website, created by three former PayPal employees in February 2005, on which users can upload, view and share videos....
and Vimeo
Vimeo
Vimeo is a video-sharing website on which users can upload, share, and view videos. It was founded by Zach Klein and Jake Lodwick in November 2004...
, users can make playlists of select videos from themselves or other users for topical purposes; paid accounts can upgrade playlists of their own videos to "shows".
Playlist generation
The idea of generating automatically music playlists from annotated databases was pioneered by Pachet and Roy. Constraint satisfactionConstraint satisfaction
In artificial intelligence and operations research, constraint satisfaction is the process of finding a solution to a set of constraints that impose conditions that the variables must satisfy. A solution is therefore a vector of variables that satisfies all constraints.The techniques used in...
techniques were developed to create playlists that satisfy arbitrary "sequence constraints", such as continuity, diversity, similarity, etc. Since, many other techniques were proposed, such as case-based reasoning
Case-based reasoning
Case-based reasoning , broadly construed, is the process of solving new problems based on the solutions of similar past problems. An auto mechanic who fixes an engine by recalling another car that exhibited similar symptoms is using case-based reasoning...
.
Other playlist methods
- A CD player that holds multiple CDs with a programmable grid mapper.
- MP3 CDMP3 CDAn MP3 CD is a Compact Disc that contains digital audio in the MP3 file format. Discs are written in the Yellow Book standard data format , as opposed to the Red Book standard audio format ....
s - Prerecording a mixtapeMixtapeA Mix Tape or Mixed Tape is a compilation of songs recorded in a specific order, traditionally onto an audio Compact Cassette.A Mix Tape, which usually reflects the musical tastes of its compiler, can range from a casually selected list of favorite songs, to a conceptual mix of songs linked by a...
; which is purely sequential. - Active disc-jockeying where the user manually selects the next song one after another as opposed to a preprogrammed playlist (shuffled or not).
- A jukebox with a programmable vinyl record changerRecord changerA record changer or autochanger is a device that plays multiple gramophone records in sequence without user intervention. Record changers first appeared in the late 1920s, and were common until the 1980s.-History:...
Types of playlist files
The playlist types are:- .asx, an XMLXMLExtensible Markup Language is a set of rules for encoding documents in machine-readable form. It is defined in the XML 1.0 Specification produced by the W3C, and several other related specifications, all gratis open standards....
style playlist containing more information about the items on the playlist. - .bio, BioniX Wallpaper Changer, a text-based list of items, with each item on a new line. Each item represents the full path to the file.
- .fpl, is a format used by foobar2000Foobar2000foobar2000 is a freeware audio player for Windows developed by Peter Pawlowski, a former freelance contractor for Nullsoft. It is known for its highly modular design and extensive SDK which allows third-party developers to do such things as completely replace the interface...
. - .kpl, Kalliope PlayList, is a kind of XML playlist storing developed to speed up loading and managing playlists.
- .m3u, a simple text-based list of the locations of the items, with each item on a new line. This is one of the more popular playlist types.
- .pla, Samsung format(?), binary, WinampWinampWinamp is a media player for Windows-based PCs and Android devices, written by Nullsoft, now a subsidiary of AOL. It is proprietary freeware/shareware, multi-format, extensible with plug-ins and skins, and is noted for its graphical sound visualization, playlist, and media library features.Winamp...
handles these - .plc, file extension for AIMP2 media player
- .pls, a text playlist similar to .ini (program settings) files. It normally contains only the location of the items in the playlist.
- .smilSynchronized Multimedia Integration LanguageSMIL , the Synchronized Multimedia Integration Language, is a W3C recommended XML markup language for describing multimedia presentations. It defines markup for timing, layout, animations, visual transitions, and media embedding, among other things...
is an XML recommendation of the World Wide Web ConsortiumWorld Wide Web ConsortiumThe World Wide Web Consortium is the main international standards organization for the World Wide Web .Founded and headed by Tim Berners-Lee, the consortium is made up of member organizations which maintain full-time staff for the purpose of working together in the development of standards for the...
that includes playlist features. In addition to audio, it supports video and screen layout and is heavily used in Digital SignageDigital signageDigital signage is a form of electronic display that shows television programming, menus, information, advertising and other messages. Digital signs can be found in public and private environments, such as retail stores, hotels, restaurants and corporate buildings.Digital signage Displays are most...
. - .vlc is a format used by VLC Media PlayerVLC media playerVLC media player is a free and open source media player and multimedia framework written by the VideoLAN project.VLC is a portable multimedia player, encoder, and streamer supporting many audio and video codecs and file formats as well as DVDs, VCDs, and various streaming protocols. It is able to...
. - .wpl, is an XML format used in MicrosoftMicrosoftMicrosoft Corporation is an American public multinational corporation headquartered in Redmond, Washington, USA that develops, manufactures, licenses, and supports a wide range of products and services predominantly related to computing through its various product divisions...
Windows Media PlayerWindows Media PlayerWindows Media Player is a media player and media library application developed by Microsoft that is used for playing audio, video and viewing images on personal computers running the Microsoft Windows operating system, as well as on Pocket PC and Windows Mobile-based devices...
versions 9–11. - .xspf, an XML format designed to enable playlist sharing.
- .zpl is a format used by Zune Media Player, Zoom Player and Creative Zen Media Players.
See also
- MixtapeMixtapeA Mix Tape or Mixed Tape is a compilation of songs recorded in a specific order, traditionally onto an audio Compact Cassette.A Mix Tape, which usually reflects the musical tastes of its compiler, can range from a casually selected list of favorite songs, to a conceptual mix of songs linked by a...
- Music scheduling systemMusic scheduling systemMusic scheduling systems are employed to sequence music at radio stations. Although these systems were originally implemented by manual index card methods, since the late 1970s they have exploited the efficiency and speed of digital computers...
- Shuffle playShuffle playShuffle play is a mode of music playback in which songs are played in a randomized order that is decided upon for all tracks at once. It is commonly found on CD players, digital audio players and media player software...
- Playlist markup languagePlaylist markup languageA playlist markup language is a markup language that specifies the contents and playback of a digital multimedia playlist; this includes streams of music, slideshows or even animations.-List of playlist markup languages:...