iTunes - I don't get it

[Passacaglia]

Originally Posted by lordscarlet

When I didn't have itunes and my mp3's banned from my machine at work (ok, I was never supposed to have them in the first place) I kept a widget open that has the album artwork and play/ffwd/rwd/stop buttons on it. It is visually appealing to me to see the artwork as it plays. Keep it unobtrusive and in the corner (not that hard with two monitors) and I'm a happy camper. Now I have to use my ipod which is just annoying. I want software control.

I agree about the visual appeal of the album art -- I've noticed that as a result of listening to mp3s, I've lost some of the feel I get from an album's cover. What's a widget, anyway?

[Daimyo]

Originally Posted by Passacaglia

Here's what you said about them earlier. I'm not sure what makes it any better than just putting the thing on shuffle and playing all, or shuffling all music by one artist, or one genre.

A couple things you can do with smart playlists:

1. Create playlists based on song genre (or any other metadata) that will always be up to date even as you add new music
2. Create playlists based on dynamic information like number of times played, last time played, etc, etc that will update on your PC in real time and on your iPod every time you sync
3. If your iPod is smaller than your music playlist, you can use smart playlists to automatically rotate through the music that gets synced to your iPod based on any song metadata

For me I have about 55 GB of music and a 60GB iPod. I want to listen to my music on shuffle, but with different songs weighted differently. IE, I want to listen to my five star music more often than three star stuff; I want to listen to stuff I haven't heard for a while more often than things I just recently heard; I want to hear stuff recently added more often than stuff I've had for a while. Smart playlists give the ability to do exactly that (although its not necessarily easy to setup!).

[Passacaglia]

Originally Posted by Daimyo

For me I have about 55 GB of music and a 60GB iPod. I want to listen to my music on shuffle, but with different songs weighted differently. IE, I want to listen to my five star music more often than three star stuff; I want to listen to stuff I haven't heard for a while more often than things I just recently heard; I want to hear stuff recently added more often than stuff I've had for a while. Smart playlists give the ability to do exactly that (although its not necessarily easy to setup!).

This part intrigues me, though that's something media player does, too -- i can rate songs from one to five stars, and it plays a song more often if it's rated higher. Does the ipod itself do that as well?

[VPI97]

Wait...people use iTunes as a music player? It's fine for organizing what I want on my iPod, but I wouldn't dream of using it as a standalone player when I'm at the PC. foobar2000 for the win.

[MJ4H]

People use foobar? I thought people just said its name to sound leet

[Buccaneer]

I get it. I'm a big convert now that I have joined the 21st century. I'm getting am 80gb classic for Christmas and unbeknowest to me, a friend told me that I can go ahead and get started on iTunes (shows you what I knew). I had some custom music folders on my hard drive and it was very easy to get them in iTunes. I then put in one of my 1000+ CDs and I was amazed at how quickly and easily it imported. After years of cussing out the stupid WMP (worst software I have ever seen), experiencing the far superior iTunes was revelationary. I'm still anal and methodical in that I simply want to import and play albums but I guess I would like the flexibility the software has to offer.

[Buccaneer]

Originally Posted by Daimyo

I want to listen to my music on shuffle, but with different songs weighted differently. IE, I want to listen to my five star music more often than three star stuff; I want to listen to stuff I haven't heard for a while more often than things I just recently heard; I want to hear stuff recently added more often than stuff I've had for a while. Smart playlists give the ability to do exactly that (although its not necessarily easy to setup!).

This is completely foreign to me. Rating music? WTF? An album is what it is. If I dislike a track, I suppose I simply delete it or skip over it.

[Scoobz0202]

I decided to give Itunes a try finally after years of Winamp. I installed the latest..got it set up. Hit File>Add Folder>Music. It loaded all my library, converted some. I noticed it said I have 13,000 songs tho. I only have like 6500 songs. Then I noticed it's because there are doubles of every song. Ex:

Led Zeppelin - Communication Breakdown
Communication Breakdown

Also a lot of my songs don't have album information. There are a shit ton of "unknown album." Is that because when the songs are downloaded the way they are labeled makes it hard for Itunes to recognize? This is kind of not a big deal, but it kind of ruins the album art thing for me. But more importantly I don't like having doubles of everything and with the way some are labeled they are out of order.

[Pyser]

why dont you just go to file > show duplicates, and delete the extras?

im assuming you had itunes automatically organize your file directory, which copies everything into its itunes folder. if you did that, just delete the original locations.

[wade moore]

If you pirated a bunch of music then often it's not going to be recognized properly by iTunes because iTunes recognizes albums by being in the EXACT format they are supposed to be and going into the database to find what it is. Pirated songs have slightly different length/size, etc, etc. and can't be recognized by those engines.

[Buccaneer]

this is soooo addictive.....

[Buccaneer]

Dumb question. How do I look at all of the albums in a genre on iTunes Store? Each genre gives me stuff like New or Featured or some sub-category. Also, Browse is worthless since you have to drill down to something very specific. I want to, for example, see all of the Soundtrack they have.

[ISiddiqui]

Under Soundtrack, you can select subforum "All".

[Buccaneer]

Originally Posted by ISiddiqui

Under Soundtrack, you can select subforum "All".

Where? In the Browse? I click "All" and it gives me a list of Artists in the next frame to chose from. On the main screen for any genre, I don't see how to see All except to see all new releases or all top selling...

[ISiddiqui]

Originally Posted by Buccaneer

Where? In the Browse? I click "All" and it gives me a list of Artists in the next frame to chose from. On the main screen for any genre, I don't see how to see All except to see all new releases or all top selling...

Yep... and then you have to pick the Artist. You can't get to all songs in iTunes Store.

[Buccaneer]

Thanks Imran.

[Passacaglia]

Originally Posted by wade moore

B) You need to learn about "Smart Playlists". Instead of allowing filtering in the main library, it uses these very dynamic smart playlists. Then you can select the playlists or in "party shuffle" (a very underrated feature IMO) you can choose which playlist you are using. Whatever you set for the filter on the smart playlists, they automatically get added to as you add music.

So what kind of "Smart Playlists" have you made? I've had my ipod for over a month now, and I've made two -- I'm doing a thing where I run for a minute and a half, then walk for a minute, and I basically used that to search for songs that have roughly that long of a run-time. I could have found these songs by just sorting my whole list by length, but this way I got to use this new awesome feature. What else should I be using it for?

[wade moore]

Originally Posted by Passacaglia

So what kind of "Smart Playlists" have you made? I've had my ipod for over a month now, and I've made two -- I'm doing a thing where I run for a minute and a half, then walk for a minute, and I basically used that to search for songs that have roughly that long of a run-time. I could have found these songs by just sorting my whole list by length, but this way I got to use this new awesome feature. What else should I be using it for?

I use it for artists, genres (including multiple genres together like for instance: Folk and Celtic for me), and a custom ratings (> 2 *'s, the "My Top Rated" does 4 and 5 *'s).

The key is not just that you couldn't do it with some sorting, but that as you add songs they automatically go in these playlists. If you make a playlist for 1 1/2 minute songs manually and then add 10 1 1/2 minute songs to your library, you'll have to manually add all of those again - not if you have a smart playlist.

[Passacaglia]

Originally Posted by wade moore

I use it for artists, genres (including multiple genres together like for instance: Folk and Celtic for me), and a custom ratings (> 2 *'s, the "My Top Rated" does 4 and 5 *'s).

The key is not just that you couldn't do it with some sorting, but that as you add songs they automatically go in these playlists. If you make a playlist for 1 1/2 minute songs manually and then add 10 1 1/2 minute songs to your library, you'll have to manually add all of those again - not if you have a smart playlist.

Well, it's kind of moot because I want to alternative one 90 second song, then one 60 second song, so I need to make a new "dumb" playlist for it anyway. When I add music, if it fits those criteria, it'll show up in the "smart" playlist automatically, but if I want to add it to my workout playlist, I have to do it manually anyway.

For artists, I usually just click on the artist's name at the top. I'm working on getting my music categorized into genres, but it's difficult trying to figure out what genre to put everything in. I wish they'd make it more like tags, where you could have more than one for each song.

[Kodos]

I use the star-rating smart lists extensively. I also have "neglectarinos" lists that play my least-played songs within a given star-rating. Then I also have top 100, 250, 500, and 1,000 songs lists, which exclude songs with no stars (songs my wife likes that I don't). I also have lists broken out by decade.

This would be a bit of a pain in the butt, but I've been thinking about creating multiple copies of my favorite songs (make a CD of top-rated songs, then rip from it with a bogus group name/album name multiple times) in an effort to get my favorite songs into the rotation more often than lower-rated songs. I haven't tried yet, but could I do the same thing with DVDs to get more songs on a disc?

[Passacaglia]

Originally Posted by Kodos

I use the star-rating smart lists extensively. I also have "neglectarinos" lists that play my least-played songs within a given star-rating. Then I also have top 100, 250, 500, and 1,000 songs lists, which exclude songs with no stars (songs my wife likes that I don't). I also have lists broken out by decade.

This would be a bit of a pain in the butt, but I've been thinking about creating multiple copies of my favorite songs (make a CD of top-rated songs, then rip from it with a bogus group name/album name multiple times) in an effort to get my favorite songs into the rotation more often than lower-rated songs. I haven't tried yet, but could I do the same thing with DVDs to get more songs on a disc?

Why couldn't you just add the songs to a playlist more times?

[Kodos]

Hmmm. Good question. Because these are smart playlists based on ratings.

[Passacaglia]

Originally Posted by Kodos

Hmmm. Good question. Because these are smart playlists based on ratings.

Well, if you must use smart playlists, couldn't you just take the files you want to duplicate, and copy/paste them?

[Passacaglia]

And I don't think you would need to have bogus names -- I'd imagine you could have several things with the same artist, album, and song names, and itunes wouldn't care.

[Anthony]

maybe do a little overtime at your job and simply buy your own ipod, that way you don't need to filter out your wife's music?


i don't believe in putting music i don't like on my ipod, which is why i don't do the star rating. ipod should be for the cream of the crop. you should be able to select shuffle and enjoy every song that comes on, otherwise why is it on your ipod? that's friggin dumb.

[oliegirl]

I have the same song in itunes multiple times if I have them on different albums...I have a lot of compilation albums and soundtracks, which resulted in some duplication. If there is a song you want to appear more frequently, you should just able to copy/save it as a new title (maybe just add a number to the end of the song or something), and then make sure you play the added songs frequently, and it should pop into there.

[Kodos]

Originally Posted by Hell Atlantic

maybe do a little overtime at your job and simply buy your own ipod, that way you don't need to filter out your wife's music?


i don't believe in putting music i don't like on my ipod, which is why i don't do the star rating. ipod should be for the cream of the crop. you should be able to select shuffle and enjoy every song that comes on, otherwise why is it on your ipod? that's friggin dumb.

We both have our own iPods, but the songs come from a common pool on iTunes. But thanks for your handy suggestion.

[Kodos]

Originally Posted by oliegirl

I have the same song in itunes multiple times if I have them on different albums...I have a lot of compilation albums and soundtracks, which resulted in some duplication. If there is a song you want to appear more frequently, you should just able to copy/save it as a new title (maybe just add a number to the end of the song or something), and then make sure you play the added songs frequently, and it should pop into there.

The short version is that if I give them all the same bogus artist name, I can then exclude that artist name from clogging up other smart playlists, such as top 250 songs or whatever.

[lordscarlet]

My greatest smart playlist is "Songs I haven't listened to in at least a month." This way I know I'm not getting the same effect I do on the radio where you hear the same thing over and over.

[RomaGoth]

Anyone know how many songs can roughly be stored on a 4gb iPod Nano? I just bought my first one about a month ago, and am just now starting to get around to putting music on it. Any info is appreciated.

[Draft Dodger]

roughly 1,000 songs on a 4 gig

[Easy Mac]

mine held about 700, its only 1000 songs at 128 kb aac files

[Kodos]

Originally Posted by lordscarlet

My greatest smart playlist is "Songs I haven't listened to in at least a month." This way I know I'm not getting the same effect I do on the radio where you hear the same thing over and over.

I have a similar "Since U Been Gone" list that plays the 200 songs that I haven't listened to in the longest time.

[MJ4H]

Originally Posted by Easy Mac

mine held about 700, its only 1000 songs at 128 kb aac files

where songs = 3 minute pop tunes usually. i have "songs" on my ipod that are upwards of 45 mins. it wont hold 700 of those, either.

[RomaGoth]

Originally Posted by MattJones4Heisman

where songs = 3 minute pop tunes usually. i have "songs" on my ipod that are upwards of 45 mins. it wont hold 700 of those, either.

WTF??? 45 minute songs? Each?? "In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida...."

[cthomer5000]

Originally Posted by Kodos

I have a similar "Since U Been Gone" list that plays the 200 songs that I haven't listened to in the longest time.

This is a good idea... I have to say i've been pretty dull in my use of smart playlists... I often do smart playlists by a single year, but this sounds like a good idea for getting some lost gems back in the rotation.

[Farrah Whitworth-Rahn]

Random question for all you experts...I have multiple files of the same song, from the same album even, in my iTunes. I must have tried to back them up or something and created duplicates. Is there an easy way to delete the duplicates, leaving one file?

I've been trying to 'Show Duplicates' and delete all but one of the songs, but my file library is huge and it's taking forever.

Thanks in advance.

[MJ4H]

Well, pretty close. Not counting the podcasts at the top of course.

[RomaGoth]

Originally Posted by MattJones4Heisman

Well, pretty close. Not counting the podcasts at the top of course.

Wow. That is a much deeper music selection than I would have expected. Kudos, sir. Kudos.

[st.cronin]

MJ4H, have you ever heard Frisell's take on Billy the Kid?

[MJ4H]

Originally Posted by st.cronin

MJ4H, have you ever heard Frisell's take on Billy the Kid?

Heard of it, not familiar with it, though.

[Passacaglia]

Here's one. My laptop has buttons on it -- play/pause, forward, rewind, and stop. They work great with media player, but for itunes it will only work if the itunes window is on top. Anyone know a way I can get them to work even when itunes is minimized?

[Buccaneer]

I only put the albums/songs that I like to listen to on my iPod. So far, I have over 40 rocks albums (some pared down) and made a playlist of them. Fascinating to do a shuffle on that. If I had a smart playlist that only played the songs that I really liked, that would get old fast.

[cthomer5000]

Originally Posted by Passacaglia

Here's one. My laptop has buttons on it -- play/pause, forward, rewind, and stop. They work great with media player, but for itunes it will only work if the itunes window is on top. Anyone know a way I can get them to work even when itunes is minimized?

No clue, but if you find an answer let me know. I was wondering the same thing the other day.

[Passacaglia]

Originally Posted by cthomer5000

No clue, but if you find an answer let me know. I was wondering the same thing the other day.

google is my friend

http://andy.hillhome.org/blog/code/ituneskeys

[cartman]

I've got a weird one here. I have three songs on my iPhone that cut off in the middle of the song. They play all the way through with no problem on my PC inside of iTunes, or any other player for that matter. I've deleted them from the iPhone and re-sync'ed, but the songs still cut off in the middle. Anyone else had this happen to them?

[Draft Dodger]

probably a little glitch in the song somewhere. iTunes can overcome it, your iPhone can't. I've come across that before. you probably need to delete the song and download a new copy

[cthomer5000]

I want you guys to know I've been practically obsessed with smart playlists since someone in here brought up getting more out of them... I made a series of smart playlists feeding into 1 other smart playlist to basically create my own radio station.


If you've got a big, mature library like I do and you listen to an assload of music (adding a lot regularly), this might be worth checking out.

I have a 9 song clock basically... where the entire listening cycle continues of 9 categories (really 6 with 3 categories coming up twice).

Here's how it's laid out with a brief description of each category:

GOLD - A (played at least 10 times)
NEW MUSIC - A (added in last 30 days)
FORGOTTEN FAVES (played at least 5 times, but not played in last 6 monthts)
UNPLAYED - A (never been played)
POWER (played at least 20 times)
RANDOM (completely random selection)
GOLD - B (played at least 10 times)
NEW MUSIC - B (added in last 31-90 days)
UNPLAYED - B (never been played)

I think it balances stuff you know you like (because you've played it a lot) with new stuff, a random song for true spice, and a song you really like but havent heard in a while. And this particular play-count based setup works best for me because I think ive rated about 50 of the 18,000+ songs in my library.

actually making it happen:
I created a folder named "my radio" with the 9 smart playlists in it, one for each category.

All of these playlists are limited to 1 song, all have live updating on.

Here are the remainder of the details for all 9 smart playlists:

POWER
*play count is greater than 19
*time is greater than 0:59
*last played is not in the last 1 days

GOLD - A
*played count is greater than 9
*time is greater than 0:59
*last played is not in last 7 days
*playlist is not POWER

GOLD - B
*play count is greater than 9
*time is greater than 0:59
*last played is not in last 7 days
*playlist is not GOLD - A
*playlist is not POWER

FORGOTTEN FAVES
*play count is greater than 4
*time is greater than 0:59
*last played is not in last 6 months
*playlist is not GOLD - A
*playlist is not GOLD - B
*playlist is not POWER

NEW MUSIC - A
*date added is in the last 30 days
*last played is not in the last 2 days

NEW MUSIC - B
*date added is in the last 90 days
*date added is not in the last 30 days
*last played is not in the last 2 days

UNPLAYED - A
*play count is 0
*podcast is false
*date added is not in the last 90 days
*kind does not contain video
*genre is not christmas
*time is less than 20:00

UNPLAYED - B
*play count is 0
*podcast is false
*date added is not in the last 90 days
*kind does not contain video
*genre is not christmas
*time is less than 20:00
*playlist is not UNPLAYED - A

RANDOM
*play count is greater than 1
*playlist is not GOLD - A
*playlist is not GOLD - B
*playlist is not FORGOTTEN FAVES
*playlist is not NEW MUSIC - A
*playlist is not NEW MUSIC - B
*playlist is not POWER


So those are the building blocks. To actually play the thing, I create one more playlist (i called mine "Radio Radio").


RADIO RADIO
*(match ANY of the following rules)
*playlist is GOLD - A
*playlist is NEW MUSIC - A
*playlist is FORGOTTEN FAVES
*playlist is UNPLAYED - A
*playlist is POWER
*playlist is RANDOM
*playlist is GOLD - B
*playlist is NEW MUSIC - B
*playlist is UNPLAYED - B
*limit to 9 items selected by random

So now you've got 9 songs in your playlist. Annoyingly itunes will put them in a random order, but you only need to fix the order 1 single time. Take a look at the songs and which playlist they're coming from, then correctly order them in the main playlist. Now when you finish playing track 1, it disappears, and the new song slots itself in at number 9. You can play indefinitely, completely in the format you've created.


Yes, i realize this borders on insanity... but i work in radio programming and im a music maniac... keep that in mind. dont judge me too harshly.

[MJ4H]

fucking rulez

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by cthomer5000

but i work in radio programming

I started to say this all looked disturbingly familiar