Listening With iTunes (updated 3-21-14)

On a Windows PC if you download a m3u playlist to your computer, your default player (i.e. WinAmp, Windows Media Player, etc.) will load it and then proceed to play each song in order. Apple’s iTunes on the other hand loads the links to the songs into your library, creates a mess, plays the first song, and proceeds to stop. One workaround for this is to save the m3u to your desktop and drag it to iTunes as a playlist directly.

Alternatively you can use QuickTime instead of iTunes to play m3u playlists. To use QuickTime you need to tell QuickTime that it should be responsible for m3u files. Open the QuickTime Player 'Edit' menu, select 'Preferences', select 'QuickTime Preferences', then select the 'File Types' tab, click on the '+' next to 'MP3 - MPEG layer III movies and streams', then make sure the 'MP3 playlist' button is checked.

However, there is an even easier way. Just install VLC Media Player for the MAC. You can find versions of the program for MAC OS X by clicking here.