I didnt know a better way to explain what I want to do to foobar than Illustrating it for you.
So please click to enlarge the image.
http://www.ny-dev.com/forums/gallery/data/...ILLUSTRATED.jpg

I think the easiest thing to do would be to replace that entire top/bottom splitter with the playlist view.

Click around for long enough and all will become clear.

When I was making my layout I messed around in the scratchbox (view > layouts > create scratchbox). Export the current theme via preferences, then import it into the scratchbox and mess around with it for a bit. Get used to how it works, and you can make the theme perfect for your needs.

I cant seem to get the three columns up there with a horizontal splitter above the current playlist at all.