Help with Smart Playlists

What I'm trying to do is create a smart playlist that lists all my songs according to when the song was added to my iTunes library, this way I can get easy, quick access to songs I recently added to my iTunes library in reverse chronological order (newest to oldest).
The "limit to X amount of items by most recently added" does not work for what I'm trying to do.
Hopefully someone out there realizes what I'm trying to do and can help me out.

I'm not sure I understand. If you want your entire iTunes library sorted by date added, why not just show the Date Added column (control-click on any column header, show the Date Added column, then sort by that column)? If you want your normal library sorted differently but want to also have a "view" that lists your entire library by date added, you could create a Smart Playlist with "Track Number" -> Is not -> (empty field) and then again sort that playlist by Date Added.
Hope this helps. If not, please post back and explain further what it is you're trying to accomplish.
Regards.

Similar Messages

Need help with smart playlist

I want to create an auto-fill function for my new 16 GB nano that is the same as my old Shuffle had, as I have much more music on my computer than my nano can hold. I don't want to rate the songs with stars or when last played. I simply want a new selection each time I sync. I was thinking of making a playlist with the rule "Playlist is music" and then limiting it by size to my nano and selected by random. But will I get a new sync each time? Or will that smart playlist never change? How do I do this?
Also, what does the live updating function do? Thanks.

To make a random playlist go to File>New Smart Playlist.
Uncheck "Match the following rule"
Check "Limit to" put "14800" in the number box, choose "MB" from the first list box, choose "Random" from the next list box. Check "Live Updating"
When you want to change the selection in the smart playlist just delete everything in it and it will add a new selection. When you want to change the normal playlist just delete out what you don't want and drag in a new selection.

Need help with smart playlists

Hi all,
I have created a smart playlist in iTunes called 'not rated yet'. The settings are:
My rating = 0 stars +
podcast = no
In iTunes everything works fine. When a not rated song gets at least one star it disapears from the playlist. My iPod in contrast does not update the playlist as long as podcast = no is part of the playlist settings. When I remove podcast = no then the mini works again.
So I wonder if this is a bug? Does anybody have an idea?
By the way, I am using the latest iPod-updater software which is 1.4.1.
Windows XP iPod mini 2nd gen.

Thanks for looking into that. The way you described it, is the usual behaviour of smart playlists on the iPod. But the point is that Live Updating is selected and it will not update, even after re-entering the playlist. iTunes does it, as soon as you rate an item it will disappear. As described above it works on the mini, but only when I remove the podcast option.

Shuffle With Smart Playlist

Hey,
I've been having this problem for awhile, and hopefully someone can help me out with it. I just got my ipod about a month ago, also got the iTrip. For anyone who has the iTrip, they know that the stations are mixed in with the music in shuffle mode. So I created a 'Smart Playlist' to get rid of the stations. The only thing i'm having a problem with, is when I'm in my car and i want to play the smart play list (which by the way is called 'Griffin Technology) I don't know how to shuffle the songs. I don't wanna listen to every song in a row by the same artist. Does anyone know how to shuffle the songs in a 'smart playlist'?
Thank you

Welcome to Apple Discussions!
This is the same way you can shuffle normal playlists as well...
On your iPod go to settings-->shuffle and set it to songs.
Now go back to the main menu and go to music-->playlists and find your playlist. Once the name of the playlist is highlighted just hit play!
btabz

Creating Keywords with smart playlists

Hi,
Just getting into the idea of smart playlists, and I want to be able to do something which, as far as I am aware, isn't possible.
Say I want to make a playlist which is mainly piano for example, slow piano (regardless of genre), which have a rating higher than 4 stars. Now, as far as I am aware, within the current smart selection, there is nothing within the ID of the file which says that the main instrument is a piano, unless I was to put that as my genre, or in the album name, which isn't always possible.
Is there anyway of assigning keywords to individual tracks? Kind of like what you do with a YouTube file, as in assign keywords which are used when someone is searching for the video. This way, I could use the keywords "Piano" and "Slow", or "Relaxing" to narrow down my search? (I know there is a BMP field). Any ideas? Sorry if this is already possible and blatantly obvious!
Thanks

No need to delete it. Your question (and answer) may help someone else.
By the way, I also use the Grouping field for keywords.

Possible bug with iTunes 11 ?? (with Smart Playlists)

Hi folks
New to Apple Support, but after upgrading to iTunes 11 earlier today (on my Mac Mini) I've discovered a potential bug / difference in the way it operates compared to earlier versions. Can someone else try something similar and see if they get the same result - I think I read somewhere that v11 is not available on Windows yet, so I cant compare what happens there
I've imported all our CD's into iTunes, and we've set up several Smart Playlists (SP). Using the Rating setting for the songs, we can break them up into groups, eg
Rating 0 = not yet processed
Rating 1 = not interested in listening to again
Rating 2 = kids songs (for our children)
Rating 3 = christmas songs
Rating 4 = songs i like, but my wife probably wouldnt
Rating 5 = songs we both like - good for background music etc
Using Home Sharing to our iPad's rocks !!
Now, onto the bug.
Using the SP that has just songs with Rating 0, I could play any song, set the Rating to whatever, and naturally once set, that disappears from the SP
In all earlier versions of iTunes, playback would continue with the next song, so I could set that Rating, etc etc. Worked really well to churn through a chunk of songs in say 15 minute blocks
With iTunes v11, playback stops as soon as I set the Rating.
How can you help ?????????? Set up a smart playlist with whatever criteria you like - make sure you have a number of songs returned and ensure Live Updating is set, have a song playing, and make that song no longer valid for that SP. Anyone doing this in earlier versions of iTunes should have the next song begin, and if this is a bug, then those using iTunes 11 will have playback stop
Sorry for the long post, but in order to determine a potential bug, you need to describe the situation and how to test it.
Thanks for reading
PS I'm on a 2010 Mac Mini with OSX v10.7.x (whatever the current release of that is) and just upgraded to iTunes 11

Soo, maybe it isnt possible bug, but the way Apple have changed iTunes when going to v11. Stooopid
Anyway, found this link about downgrading to an earlier version. I've just completed it and found one or two "errors" in the method, which I'll detail below
http://www.emacconsulting.com/apple/itunes/downgrade-itunes-11-to-itunes-10-7/
In the latter part of the instructions
11) Open your iTunes Music Folder.
If you never moved your iTunes folder it’s located here:
Your HD/Your User/Music/iTunes
Or go to the Finder type: Command + Shift + G
Paste this into the the dialog: ~/Music/iTunes
If you moved it to another hard drive, you will know where to locate your iTunes folder.
12) Open the “Previous iTunes Libraries” folder.
13) Find the most recent copy of the “iTunes Library 2012-xx-xx.itl” file.
Normally it will the last file at the bottom of the list.
14) Drag a copy of the file into the iTunes folder.
15) Delete the “iTunes Library” file.
16) Change the name of the “iTunes Library 2012-xx-xx.itl” to ”iTunes Library” with no .itl extension.
In #11, I simply went to "My HD"/Users/"My User"/Music/iTunes
Copied the latest .itl and moved it up a directory level
The old file in #15 is called "iTunes Library.itl" - which I renamed, and renamed the copied version back to "iTunes Library.itl" = though I do have extensions showing, some people may not and hence wont see the .itl
Anyway all is fixed in my world, and when I launched v10.7, it asked me if I wanted to upgrade to v11 - I said No and not to prompt me again. Playcount issue is resulved, as is changing SmartList criteria with playback continuing
Apple - please correct these bugs before releasing any new versions of iTunes... you've made a very large number of people unhappy

Help with itunes playlists

We're having issues with our new computer and had to send it back to Gateway. We saved all our music/videos/photos on a portable hard drive. When the computer came back we redid itunes. It took forever getting all the playlists back in order.
Now we're having the same issues and have to send it back to Gateway for the last time. If they can't fix it, they are giving us a new computer. My question to everyone here, is there a way to save not just the music, but the actual playlists for my husband, myself and kids? It took hours to remake the playlists and drag each song over to each list. I was just hoping since I have to go through this nightmare again that there may be a way to save individual playslists. I have a feeling I'm out of luck. I'm gonna need a big bottle of wine to do this all over again!
Thanks for any help!

Well go ahead and have the big bottle of wine anyway! It's good for you.
Ok, yes this works method will save your playlists, but not Smart Playlists. If you have any Smart Playlists, best thing to do is open the Edit Playlist window and take a screen shot of the rules so you can easily recreate them.
For normal playlists, all you have to do is right-click on the playlist you want to save. Change the Format pull down to XML. Then OK to save the XML file somewhere (to your external hard drive would be ideal). That's it.
When you get your computer back and put your library back on it, you can File -> Import... and pick those XML files to recreate the playlists.
This is a good way to back up you playlists anyway, so I typed all that out.
But the easiest way to preserve everything is to simply drag and drop the entire iTunes folder to your portable HD, which includes the database files found in that folder plus the iTunes Music folder (and sometimes other folders). This will save everything. So when you get the computer back, you only have to copy the entire folder back then open iTunes and everything should be there.
Patrick

Problem with smart Playlist after Upadte to 10.6 - PLEASE UPDATE SOON, Backup not possible

Apple, Apple, Apple... (again)
Is it so difficult to let things, that are quite good, just there where they are??
After updating my iTunes, OS Lion and some other stuff 2 days ago, I have now a big problem with a smart Playlist in iTunes 10.6. Before updating all things was right.
The problem: Now, AFTER UPDATE, my Playlist ist totally empty!
Before they were over 2000 songs in it.
And because this is my major-smart-Playlist, which is established to my whole other Smart-Playlists, the other ones are also empty.
And this is not the first time Apple.
It´s good, if you - apple guys - just added something like new categories to sort of music (like "iCloud-Status" or some others).
BUT WHAT DID YOU THINK, WHEN YOU DELETED THE OPTION "VALUATION" - mh??? (I hope in english this is the word that used in Itunes - my iTunes is in German)
So I don´t mean the "lines" - I don´t know the right english word - when you see the music. There you can fade in "Album-Valuation" - new - AND "Valuation" - old.
But I mean in the options of the smart-playlists - THERE ARE ONLY "Album-Valuation"!!!!! What the heck....
EVERYONE NEEDS THE NORMAL Song-"Valuation" - and not the album (because normaly you decide by each track how good he is and not by the whole album).
You can let the Album ones in it, BUT PLEASE BRING THE NORMAL ONE BACK.
So, in my case, I tried to go back to iTunes 10.5.3 with my nice Time-Machine-Backup. So, but I couldn´t because there came a bug-message that said something like "It is not possible because OSX need the Programm".
What is that?
I also couldn´t delete the iTunes app from my app-folder.
So, and now?
I had to totally restore my volume !
What is that for a solution?!
So please think before you delete any functions, who is needed by many people.
And if you did, maybe ask some users, that uses for example smart-playlists alot, if there is a problem about some changes, you want to add.
I hope anyone from Apple read this and also answer me. Because I´m upset about that.
In every iTunes-Update I am concerned about what will be after the update.
For example in the past, there was more than one changes in iTunes with the Valuation. First, there was just whole stars to set for every song. Than, after a long time, Apple decided to give the options for also half stars. So I said to myself - hey that´s great, that I don´t have to use external apps anymore to set these. So I did this to many of my songs (and that´s many).
Than - after an Update - wow, all half stars rating are gone ! Great Apple, really great.
I was VERY upset.
So after an other update, the opportunity to give half stars are back.
I thought, my god, it is so difficult to talk with other guys, that worked before on iTunes if I am new or just to look if there was already a change in that part of the app???
So, apple guys, please don´t think that I want to attack you. But please be more carefull in the future. I hope that I don´t have to worry too much about so stuff. I really have better things to do with my time.
So, have a nice weekend.
Greetings from Germany.
Marco Blum

Hi..
Use Lion Recovery to reinstall the Mac OS X.

Need Help with Transporting Playlists Back to I-Tunes

If anyone can help with this issue, I would really appreciate it. Here's my situation:
After many long hours organizing my playlists on I-Tunes, my pc malfunctioned and I needed a complete software overhaul. Therefore, I have had to reinstall all software programs on my computer...including I-Tunes. Due to these procedures, I have lost all of my playlists on I-Tunes.
I did manage to save all of my songs to an external hard drive, and I have copied them back to my I-Tunes library (albeit without any playlists). What I would like to be able to do is transfer the organized playlists from my ipod back to I-Tunes to avoid a massive reorganization project.
I should point out that hardly any of my music has come from buying songs on I-Tunes so the "Transfer Purchases" option does not seem a viable option.
Thanks so much to anyone who can offer suggestions.

Aside from the method I already mentioned in this thread, there is Yamipod. This is a free program that transfers music from iPod back to the computer. However, it does not transfer playcounts/ratings etc.
Other free programs are Pod Player, SharePod and Floola.

Help with smart fix please!

I was putting a video in my time line and adobe said there were some thing wrong with my clip and would i like to change it with smart fix. i said yes adn dont show me message again.... needless to say my clip was eddited so much that i want to see that message again or i need a way to trun off smart fix. please need some help cant find an answer anywhere!

No need to bump 45 minutes after you post, Luke. We don't sit 24/7 on this forum, so please be patient and someone will eventually address your question. (In fact, all of these questions are addressed in my book http://Muvipix.com/pe10.php if you're interested in a ready reference.)
Under Edit/Preferences, you can re-activate any messages, including Smart Fix, that you previously told the program not to show any more on the General page. Just check the option to Show All Do Not Show Again Messages.
And, yes, a clip must have been Auto Analyzed prior to your adding it to your timeline or you will not see the Smart Fix option panel.

IPad Sync with Smart Playlists

I have one issue with iTunes 9.2.1.4 and syncing an iPad 3.2.1. The only playlist that doesnt seem to sync is a smart playlist that was based on "Date Created". Has anyone been successful?

I am having the same issue; the one I particularly want to sync is my podcast playlist.

Multiple Genres with Smart Playlists

I've searched a lot on this topic and there appears to be little, so I thought I'd post my solution. (itunes 10)
I create my own genres, such as "Easy Rock Jazz" or "Blues Jazz" or "Blues Rock", etc. Even have some that are "Easy Rock Jazz Blues", meaning the song fits in all those genres.
Then I create a Smart Playlist that selects any track with genre CONTAINS "Rock". And another with genre contains "Easy". Songs with both Easy and Rock in the multiple genre name end up in both playlists.
I also have Smart Playlists, such as "Easy 45", which gives me any track with a genre that contains "easy" and is rated by me as > 3 stars.
Message was edited by: tsmurf64

This seems like a brilliant idea. I've tried to do the same but the songs aren't appearing in my smart playlist. For example, I have some songs with genres that I created like "Folk Easy" and "Pop Easy". I created a smart playlist that matches genre containing "Easy". Strangely songs aren't appearing in the playlist. However, my smart playlist for "folk" is getting filled with genres like "Folk rock" and "Folk easy". I'm new to this...is there something I'm doing wrong maybe? It seems to be only picking up the first word of the genre. I've made sure to select 'contains'. Many thanks
Message was edited by: aaronvarr

Help with iTunes playlist sync

Hi,
It seems that newer versions of iTunes (9) do not sync my playlist in the right order. My playlist is a 'smart' playlist and has a ruleset designed to filter for additions to my library that have been recently added within the last couple of months. The problem is that the library order (sorted by 'Date Added' in iTunes) does not sync in said order on my iPod touch 1st or 3rd generation. I am not sure how it is syncing but it's not alphabetical either, it appears to be random as I have looked at all the metadata fields and none sort the playlist how it is showing up on the iPod. If I remember correctly, I had no issues with this with earlier versions of iTunes before 9. So far i've tried, re-installing iTunes and wiping my iPod and resyncing everything which hasn't worked. Just want my playlist to sort the same way on the iPod as it is in iTunes.
Details of the smart playlist i'm working with:
Match All = checked
Date Added - is after - ##/##/####
Genre - does not contain - Podcast
Genre - does not contain - Audiobook
Genre - does not contain - TV Shows
Kind - does not contain - Movie
Grouping - does not contain - book
Kind - does not contain - video
Time - is less than - 30:00
Limit to = unchecked
Match only unchecked items = unchecked
Live updating = checked

Smart playlists are not working correctly in iTunes 9.
Also, your playlist is kinda messed up.
Try this...
Match all;
Playlist is Music
Date added is after ##/##/####
Time - is less than - 30:00 (do you have any songs longer than 30 minutes? If not, delete this)
Live updating enabled
++++
I would not use these...
Genre - does not contain - Podcast
Genre - does not contain - Audiobook
Genre - does not contain - TV Shows
Use *Kind does not contain* instead of *Genre does not contain* because the Genre may not be a podcast or TV Show or Audiobook.

Help with dynamic playlist for mpd

Hi guys,
I use mpd with sonata for playing my music, and after trying exaile there is one thing id really like for mpd, and that is the dynamic playlist function.
When you're playing a song in exaile with dynamic playlist enabled, it queries audioscrobbler and automatically adds similar artists/songs to your playlist (if you have them on your pc).
I dont want to use exaile as it just feels too big and slow and bloated (not KISS ), i know a little bit of python so i thought i'll try and make my own little script/program as Sonata has audioscrobbler support, but i dont think there is anyway to query similar artists.
I think im going to try and make this as a daemon type program that will run in the background adding songs to the playlist.
Ive found the code from the exaile source (audioscrobbler.py) which queries lastfm e.g.
>>> lips = AudioScrobblerQuery(artist='The Flaming Lips')
>>> for artist in lips.similar():
... print artist.name, artist.mbid
This will print a list of similar artists to the flaming lips.
I've not done much with python so i thought this would be a good way to try and improve.
Does anyone have any suggestions as to what the best way to go about searching and comparing the results to my mpd database, would the best way just to be to search the mpd.db?
And if anyone else has any ideas/comments id like to hear them.
Edit:
I just found this too, so i may only need to change some things to integrate it with mpd rather than amarok
http://www.kde-apps.org/content/show.php?content=31920
Thanks
Last edited by Kane (2008-06-05 13:24:33)

well i just modified the patch into a little script, it does what i need
its here if anyone wants it
import audioscrobbler
import mpd
import random
import time
lastsong = {}
def timer_control():
get_similar()
time.sleep(10)
timer_control()
def get_similar():
audioscrobbler
client = mpd.MPDClient()
client.connect("localhost", 6600)
mpdstatus = client.status()
prevsonginfo = client.currentsong()
global lastsong
if mpdstatus['state'] == "stop": return
if prevsonginfo == lastsong: return
lastsong = prevsonginfo
similarartists = ""
song = prevsonginfo
#if not song: break #No song, do nothing
prevartist = song['artist']
# Is the info already cached?
similar_cache = {}
if similar_cache.has_key(prevartist):
similarartists = similar_cache[prevartist]
else:
#Not cached so fetch from Audioscrobbler
try:
similarartists = [artist.name for artist in audioscrobbler.AudioScrobblerQuery(artist=prevartist).similar()]
# Cache search results and save some time next search
similar_cache[prevartist] = similarartists
except audioscrobbler.AudioScrobblerError:
similar_cache[prevartist] = None # Empty cache
return # Do nothing!
if not similarartists: return # Empty list
# Split list in half and sort upper half
# this means good matches will have priority
# but makes sure artist A does not always result in artist B
half_idx = len(similarartists)/2
upperhalf = similarartists[:half_idx]
lowerhalf = similarartists[half_idx:]
random.shuffle(upperhalf)
artistlist = upperhalf
artistlist.extend(lowerhalf)
# Try each artist in order
for artist in artistlist:
try:
print "Trying:",artist
songs = client.search("artist", artist)
if not songs: continue
selected_song = random.sample(songs, 1)[0]
client.add(selected_song['file'])
print "Added", selected_song['title'],"by",selected_song['artist']
# Delete old song from playlist?
break
except mpd.MPDError, e:
print "MPDError", e.message
continue
except ValueError, e:
print "ValueError:",e.message
continue
timer_control()
Last edited by Kane (2008-06-06 16:22:49)

Help with Smart Card (CAC) reader installation

Need help connecting my smart card reader to my Mac Book Pro. Either using Fire Fox, Explorer using Parallels with windows XP, or safari. I downloaded all the documentation from the Army AKO and still have problems with my Card reader.

Hi there, I have written a really good "How-to" on firefox and CAC and also Safari. You might also want to try VMware since Parallels and DoD really don't mix at this time. If yu have any question please let me know.
Jonathan
http://www.applemacgeniusville.com

Help with Smart Playlists

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