Winamp no longer loads winamp.m3u when it's opened, it starts with an empty playlist

Question

It started happening a few updates ago and I can't figure out if it's some setting that changed or if there's some reason it can't access the file. Has anyone else had this problem and been able to fix it?

I'd like to avoid a blanket uninstall/reinstall and actually figure out how to fix it so I can avoid it in the future.

The PC it's on is running Windows Vista Business x64 if that makes a difference. Winamp is version 5.572 (x86).

Update: I just checked and Winamp.m3u is getting saved properly on close, but not loaded properly on open.

Update #2: screenshots of playlist association settings:

Answer 1

In the appdata\winamp directory, delete (or move out) all files with the extension .m3u8, as well as files with the .m3u extension. There may also be a folder called winamp.m3u8 which also need to be deleted. Do this while Winamp is closed. Now re-open Winamp, hopefully it will re-create the files and start working again.

Rationale: winamp.m3u is for legacy support. It actually attempts to load winamp.m3u8 on startup.

Answer 2

Go in Folder Options - File Types and make sure the .m3u files are opened by Winamp.

Let me know.