An apparatus and method for preparing a playlist in a sound source data player are provided. For the preparation of the playlist, the position of a sampling of the sound source data is set by user's arbitrary selection or by searching out the thematic part of the sound source data. Then, if the sampling time taken for playing back the sampling has been set, the player plays back the sound source data file selected by moving a cursor from the position of the sampling. Finally, the user adds the individual information of the presently selected sound source data to the playlist. Thus, the user may quickly and readily sample a large number of songs stored in the player and thus more easily prepare the playlist.