Merged M3U8 Playlists are skipping entries

Created playlists for two folders, creating separate M3U8 files for each. Merged those two files into a combined M3U8 file. This combined filed was in folder sequence, so that all entries for folder one were first in the file. Loading that combined playlist receives and error that a file could not be accessed. The file that could not be accessed was the first file in the second folder.

This scenario was a test created to prove a theory. The problem originated when I created 62 separate playlist files, each containing contents of a single folder, and combined them in a single file. In that case the first file in folders 2-62 could not be accessed.

I'm using V3.01 in Windows 10.

For fun I set the "Write Extended Info" option for Playlists. This forced creation of # entries in the Playlist file. Combining these files into a single file and loading it was successful.

I tried it with an without the creation of extended information and I do not get a blocked file.
Could it be that another program accesses the file? Or that there is a syntax error in the playlist. you do not describe how you merge the playlist.

It happens first entry in each file (62 in one case) so they can't all be in use. As I mentioned adding the #EXTM3U flag as the first line fixes it. I was using the TYPE command in DOS. As a hunch I used the TYPE command in Power Shell and was successful. I did solve my immediate problem, but curious what is causing the issue.

Please check the playlists and see if there are strange lines or characters like e.g. the command prompt or so.
THis could lead to a line with text that does not comply with filename conventions but gets interpreted as one.
BTW: the best way to merge all the playlists into one with MP3tag would be to drag&drop them from the explorer and add them to the files list. Once all the playlists have been loaded, you can create a new playlist. Like that you also get a check whether the referenced files still exist.

If you're using UTF-8 encoded playlists (i.e., *.m3u8) each of those files has an UTF-8 BOM at the beginning of the file.

If you combine these files without taking this into account, you'll end up with multiple UTF-8 BOMs inside those files, affecting each of the first entries from those files.

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