Hi Plain,
I only use Playlists to synchronise my devices. I have used MMW4 in the past and currently using MMW5 - essentially the same behaviour for both. The synchronisation using Playlists will add the tracks of / within the Playlist BUT it will not duplicate the tracks.
So, if for example, you have an album playlist for a particular Artist and a few tracks are rated 4 star or 5 star PLUS you have added a Genre "Instrumental" then the track is added only ONCE despite having an (auto?) Playlist for both Instrumental tracks and another (auto?) Playlist for 4 star / 5 star rated tracks!
In the Device & Services section the synchronisation profile for the device has "Sync Playlists" selected and I have found it best to use "Force Relative Paths", "Linux Folder Separator", "UTF-8 Encoding" and "Extended M3U". I use the directory \Playlists\ as the destination. Incidentally, this is at the same level in the hierarchy as "\Music\" more specifically the device has:
- Audiobooks
Clasical
Music
Playlists
Podcasts
TV
Video
I prefer this as it can make things easier if I view the device and want to "count" the number of M3Us etc.
I recommend that you also keep a backup of your Playlists. This is built in the MMW5 but is best using an Add-On with MMW4. I use Zvezdan's "Export/Import Playlist for Child Nodes". I also recommend that you check your Playlists in MMW to make sure they are populated and as expected and not too many tracks (for Auto lists).
Last tip would be to prefix certain Playlist names e.g. # prefix for Auto Lists; $ prefix for my own (non-album) compilations.
Hope this helps.