Dapper supports audiophiles such as myself in their ability to copy their music and playlists from iTunes over to their Digital Audio players.
Most have very large libraries considering theyre using ALAC lossless codec for their music.
In order to maximize space on a DAP, Dapper will split the actual music over two storage locations automatically, usually by Album Artist.
On the NW-ZX2 this means that, for example, Artists A-J would be stored on the internal storage, and K-Z would be stored on the SD Card.
The playlists that are generated will then refer to the correct location for playback, and the issue is there is no way to create a “Recent 25 Rock Songs” playlist automatically that lists the 25 most recent songs in Rock, because it may include ACDC and ZZTop:
#EXTM3U
#EXTINF:204,ACDC - Back in black
\Music\ACDC\Back in Black\03 Back in Black.ALAC
#EXTINF:282,ZZ Top - Viva Las Vegas
\Music\ZZ Top\The Greatest\06 Viva Las Vegas.ALAC
If the above playlist is saved to the internal card, then the player only sees “Back in Black” on the list.
If the above playlist is saved to the SDCard, then the player only sees “Viva Las Vegas” on the list.
I can navigate manually to either song.
It looks like the internal structure of the Android OS is:
And as a result non-Sony music apps work perfectly with this playlist format (but they dont have access to the full DAC quality):
#EXTM3U
#EXTINF:204,ACDC - Back in black
/storage/sdcard0/Music/ACDC/Back in Black/03 Back in Black.ALAC
#EXTINF:282,ZZ Top - Viva Las Vegas
/storage/sdcard1/Music/ZZ Top/The Greatest/06 Viva Las Vegas.ALAC
The above is also possible with all the major competition to the ZX2 in high end digital audio players: FiiO X1,X3,X5 Astell&Kern Jr 100II, 120II, 240 and 380. (see this page of players we have tested)
I have tried the following different formats (With different songs for testing) and none work:
\Music\Snow Patrol\Up To Now\06 Just Say Yes.M4A (OK, but exhibits the issue described above)
\sdcard1\Music\Snow Patrol\Up To Now\06 Just Say Yes.M4A
/sdcard1/Music/Snow Patrol/Up To Now/06 Just Say Yes.M4A
/storage/sdcard1/Music/Snow Patrol/Up To Now/06 Just Say Yes.M4A
\storage\sdcard1\Music\Snow Patrol\Up To Now\06 Just Say Yes.M4A
..\sdcard1\Music\Snow Patrol\Up To Now\06 Just Say Yes.M4A
\..\sdcard1\Music\Snow Patrol\Up To Now [Disc 1]\1-06 Just Say Yes.M4A