New Innovation for Play Count

The current play count setup only counts a play if you listen to the end
of a song.
It will count if you listen to just the last 5 seconds.
I listen to a lot of different songs and sometimes skip to the next after listening to most of a song. But because I don't let it end completely,
iTunes does not count the track as played.
It would be awesome if if counted after listening to most of a song.
Like, if you listened to any given sixty to ninety seconds or more of a song, it would count and thus, show truly when songs are organized by play count, or a smart playlist set to compile the most played songs

Yes I agree. I think it should do a Play Count when the song is half played at least. I guess it'll count a partial song as a Skip Count.
My highest Play Count is 1232 (Song added 10/10/2008). Next Play Count is 900's.
The actual playing of the song is tracked on my iPod and I guess when I sync, it transfers that data to iTunes.
Cya
Garth

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New iTunes zeroing Play counts?

Immediately after I installed the new iTunes, I noticed that the play counts on about 3% of my music library had been reset to zero. There was apparently no rhyme nor reason - new songs, old songs, different genres. I informed Apple through the `feedback on iTunes' menu item, and studiously set about trying to adust those play counts manually, to better reflect how often I had listened to the 700+ songs involved.
Imagine my dismay when I realized in the last day or two that this was not a one time occurrence! That is, the number of songs with a zero play count has increased by 50 per cent in three or four days, to over 1000 songs. Needless to say, I will quit trying to recreate play counts, as it is clearly a losing battle. Count me as another dissatisfied customer of this iTunes update.
If this is also a problem for you, would you please notify Apple officially? That way, maybe they will fix this problem in the hoped-for fixed version of iTunes. Thank you.

I have the same problem like you. iMac with Yosemite and iPhone 6. A song, added 2 months ago has 205 counts. Other songs I have for years ago have only 80 counts. And there are other songs, where the same thing is happening. And its starts mixing up everything at my library -.-
Today I talked to Apple Care at the phone. He never heard of that problem. And talked with a colleague. Result: Nothing. He can not promise, that a future update either of Yosemite (e.g.10.10.1) or iTunes will solve the problem.
He talked about editing the itunes library.xml document. However, I have to do this on my own because Apple doesn't provide this solution. And if that helps: Nobody knows. Since I am not an expert, i can't do that.
Other options: A new library or reseting al counters.
All in all: No solution that helps.
I may start reseting some of the counters that are most crazy, and hope for an effective update. (Sorry for potential english mistakes )

Hollow/Outlined Stars and Play Count (Plays) Updating behavior explained.

I couldn't find the answers to these questions so I did a bit of experimentation and am posting my conclusions.
First, regarding those hollow/outlined stars that show up and seemingly can't be changed: I noticed all my recent NPR podcasts were downloaded with three automatically-assigned hollow stars which really messed up my playlists and organization. Clicking on these things wouldn't get rid of them (unless I added my own, normal (solid) star ratings). I discovered that these hollow stars are actually "album" ratings that are calculated based on average "track" ratings and then projected onto all future tracks (the ones I just downloaded). I also discovered that I could remove them (at least from individual tracks).
To do so, display all your podcasts in the Album List view (instead of the normal list, grid, or cover flow views). On the left, where the albums show up, you'll see the album's rating. Click on this to change the rating to the unrated (no stars) status. If you've rated any of the individual tracks on the album, hollow stars may immediately reappear on the album itself, indicating an average of those ratings, but all the hollow stars that were previously projected onto individual tracks should disappear.
Second, regarding play count updating (the little blue dots and the "Plays" column in itunes). A podcast is considered unplayed (solid blue dot) until you've listened past the first 10 seconds of the track. So, if you have an hour long track, and you listen to the first 10 seconds then stop, the track will be marked as partially played (half a blue dot). Even if you start the track somewhere in the middle and only listen to it for two seconds (so long as the place you start listening is after the first 10 seconds of the track), it will be marked as partially played.
If you have the "remember playback position" box checked in your preferences, that position will not be remembered during those first 10 seconds. So if you listen to 9 seconds, then stop, then go back to the track later, playback will start at the beginning of the track.
I believe this behavior is designed so you can listen to the first 10 seconds of a podcast to decide if that's the one you're looking for, or one you want to listen to, and if you decide against it, iTunes will not modify that track and instead consider it "unplayed".
Now, concerning play counts updating (the blue dot disappearing). This occurs quite simply when you've listened past the last 2 minutes of the podcast. For example, if you listen to 57 minutes and 59 seconds of an hour-long podcast, then stop, the play count will not update and the blue dot will not disappear (instead remaining half a blue dot), because there are three minutes left on the track. However, if you listen for 58 minutes and then stop, the play count will increase incrementally (say from 0 to 1) and the little blue dot will disappear.
So, if you decide to quit listening to a podcast early, but you still have ten minutes left, and you want iTunes to register that it has been played, you must fast-forward to any point within the last two minutes of the track for play count to register.
Hope all this info is helpful.

My iPhone 5 on iOS 7 seems to be syncing my play history via iTunes Match with no problems. I have not synced my phone with iTunes on my computer, so it isn't from device syncing. I was definitely at work at 1/8 at 11 am...

HT2311 how to authorise a new iMac for iTunes

Hi All, complete newbie to all things Apple.
Just got a new iMac struggling a little with many things any advice would be very welcome ......before i go off the idea that a Mac was a good decision.
Current Probs: 1. Cant find out how to authorise the new imac as a new device for playing itunes.
2, Is installing windows 8 or 7 as a dual boot system, any down sides to this arrangement.
3. Is icloud email a viable email client, ie. mass mailing, categories etc.
4. All advice very very welcome
Thanks

On iTunes, find Store in the menu bar, you can authorise your computer from there using the Apple ID you wish to use for that.

Bus communications for 660x counter timer cards

I believe I have a new application for 660x counter timer cards. I propose to build some additional circuitry on a blank PCI card to be installed in the same PC as the 660x card. If my sequence of pulses is generated on my home-built card, can this pulse sequence be fed via the PCI bus to the 660x card or must the 68 way connector be used. Can the PCI 6602 use the PCI bus for data receipt and transmission? Can the PXI 6602 use the PXI bus in a similar manner? Please note, my application will still be viable if the PCI/PXI bus cannot be used in this manner but it would give me more options and probably a 'cleaner' solution.
Thanks and regards.

Hello,
This sounds like a really interesting project. I�m not exactly sure what the details of your application are, but I can tell you that the counter input and output signals are only available on the 68-pin connector of the 660x card.
If there are any other questions you have about this card or how to interface to it, please let me know.
Have a great day!
Ken S.
National Instruments

Getting a total play count

I'm obviously a guy with nothing better to do than this... Is there an easy way to get a total play count (for all songs).
I make a playlist of my top played every few months, save it, then reset the play count and start again, but would like to do the same thing after a certain number of tracks have been played rather than after every 6 months. It's not particularly important but its nagging at me.
I presume there must be a 'database' somewhere in the iTunes folder where all this info is stored.
Mike

It's not exactly what you're looking for, but this script may be useful:
http://www.dougscripts.com/itunes/scripts/ss.php?sp=totalplaycount
Search for "Play count" (including the hyphens) at dougscripts.com to find more scripts regarding play counts.
M

I had to install a new hard drive because my old hard drives boot files became corrupted, and i want to get all of my music files off the old hard drive and regain all my play counts/ratings/playlists

Greetings everyone
as the title says, ive had to install a new hard drive and i want to transfer my old itunes library onto the new drive, maintaining all playlists/play counts/ratings etc, album artwork if possible. The old hard drive is installed as a slave drive and is completely acessible, but due to the boot files being corrupted i cannot use it as the main drive and therefore operate my old itunes. Also, my ipod no longer contains my music library as itunes synced without my permission and wiped it.
The only thing i have tried is copying all of my old music files from the old drive by selecting 'add folder to library' and then the old drive, then replacing the new itunes library.itl file with the one from my old itunes. This restores all my playlists and playcounts but when i try to play any of the songs it says that the files could not be found, and i dont fancy locating 8500 music files individually!
Thankyou for taking the time to read my post, any help will be greatly appreciated.

Ah, my reply was based on the assumption that you had a default installation of iTunes.
i.e you had all your music in the iTunes media folder inside your iTunes folder.
If your iTunes folder is so small compared to the amount of music you have, you must have a different arrangement.
This complicates you situation considerably.
iTunes can cope with moving around as long as all the music is in the iTunes media folder, not not if it isn't.
Your first step should be to get iTunes working on the old drive. This will involve editing the xml library file so that the drive letter is correct and then rebuilding the library from the xml file.
Then you will need to consolidate your library which moves everything into the iTunes media fodler. After that you will be able to use my first suggestion.
Step 1
Find the iTunes folder on the old drive and copy the two library files somewhere else so you can find them again. That's iTunes Library.itl and iTunes Library.xml.
Now open the copy of iTunes Library.xml with WordPad.
Look for lines starting:
Location
These contain the paths to tracks.
You will need to use a find/replace to change the drive letter so that it is correct.
Make sure that you include enough in the "find" so that you only change the right thing.
Maybe /c:/ and replace with /d:/ or whatever.
After that, tell iTunes to use the library on the old drive with a shift key start.
Hold down the shift key and start iTunes, keep holding the shift key until you are prompted to choose a library. Navigate to the iTunes folder on the old drive and choose iTunes Library.itl.
Then use the method in the following article to rebuild your library;
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1451
Unfortunately the date added will be today for all tracks.
If iTunes works correctly after this, consolidate your library
File>>Library>>Organize>>consolidate
This copies all tracks into to iTunes media folder and could create a problem if you do not have disk space so don't do it if you are unsure about free disk space.
Check that iTunes works OK and then use the first method.
Message was edited by: polydorus

How can I import playlists, ratings, and play counts from an old iTunes library into a new one?

After reading countless threads re: how to get the iTunes artwork screensaver to work, I decided to delete my iTunes library file and reimport all of music which resulted in fixing the iTunes artwork screensaver. Unfortunately (and expectedly), my playlists, playcounts, and other information were lost with the creation of a new library. Is there any way to import the playlists, ratings and play counts for my music from an old library file to my current one? I realize this may be complex, but I'm up for the task.
Thanks in advance,
B

I can't begin to describe how frustrating the screensaver issue has been for me (and I suspect countless others, judging by the number of threads on the topic).
I took your advice, though, just to test it. After backing up my current library.itl, I copied and pasted the old .itl file into its place. As expected the playlists, play counts, etc were instantly restored. And now the screensaver fails to work with the dreaded error 'No iTunes artwork found' which makes me think it IS an issue with the old library file. The only work around I've seen so far is to rebuild the library (which I did).
I'm afraid I'm going to be forced into choosing either a working screen saver or all my itunes data. Very frustrating indeed.
Here's a link to the 'definitive' fix for the screensaver, if you're interested.
https://discussions.apple.com/thread/3695200?start=0&tstart=0
Thanks again,
B

Got a new Mac, my iTunes is whack, (No Play Count or Date Added)

Hello, everybody. It's been a rough night.
I currently own a G4 iMac and I just got a brand new Macbook. The Macbook is very nice, it's extremely speedy and I am sure I will grow to love it. We've got just one hurdle to get through together: the organization of my music in iTunes. Now, I've had the iMac for five years, and not long after I got it adding music to it became something of an importance, it was my music player. Over the past five years I've not only added thousands of songs, but meticulously and very specifically organized them into playlists based on the number of spins they have and when they were added. To a lot of people I know this sort of thing isn't a huge deal, but for me this organization became, and I kid you not, a huge, huge part of my life.
So I get the new Macbook, fire it up and use Migration Assistant, (with the iMac in Target Disk Mode), to move my data over. When it's done I open the iTunes and am greeted with... nothing. Well, okay, all of my music is there, that's nice, (it's what iTunes is for, etc etc), but NONE of my play count or date added information remains. I weep inside.
Being that this is my first new computer in five years, (a long time!), you might be able to tell that I was hesitant about upgrading. Before getting my Macbook I asked experts at the Apple Store if this method would work, and even received assurance from several people online that everything would be preserved. So, I did my homework, but my Macs and I both apparently failed the test. Here's where we are now:
1. The iMac, (running Tiger), still has iTunes on it, with all the information, nothing seems to have changed on that end.
2. The Macbook has a hard drive full of music with no playlist, play count or date added data.
3. I do own an iPod where I backed up the music before the move. I know that the data information on playlists, play count and date added is on the iPod. I do not dare plug it in to the new machine for fear of the unknown.
Which brings me here, is there some way, any way of rectifying this? Here is what I would like:
1. For the Macbook iTunes to look EXACTLY like the iMac's does.
2. For it to work with both my old iPods without question.
This has been long, and I fear that some may pass it over as something too much of an banality to be needed help with. But like some collect shoes or hats, I collect music. It's a lovely collection and it's a large part of who I am. I could start all over, but that's sort of like saying the world could start over if it by chance happened to forget how to turn. It would take a lot of effort, and there would be some (more) tears, but I could move on. But I really, really don't want to. I just want things to be the way they were. I'd very much like to have this information present, and I thank you all for your time.

ADDED:
Now that I look at it, appears that nothing except for my applications transferred over. My old computer is listed in the Hard Drive, but I can't access any of the folders because I don't have that "level of privileges" or whatever, (odd, considering they're both my computers, do they need to be hooked up for this?). I don't really need for my old applications to be there, (Hello, iWork '06 Demo!), so can I just go and erase them, or am I better just starting all over again?

1st gen ipod Shuffle not updating play count for songs

I've noticed since I updated to the iTunes version 7.2.035 that plugging in and updating the library with my iPod shuffle no longer updates the play count for the songs I've listened to. Is there a known fix for this? Anyone else experiencing the same problem with their 1st gen ipod shuffle (512)?

Well, I have that problem too. My shuffle holds about 125 songs or so, yet I've noticed there are always a good 20 or so songs that won't play, no matter how many times I load them onto the device. I have had that problem since I inherited it from a friend.
My new problem is that every time I plug my iPod into iTunes, it no longer updates the playcount for songs. In other words, if I load a song that I've heard 3 times, hear it twice during the day, and replug in my iPod at night, it used to update that song's playcount in the library to 5, but now they still read 3. It's also failing to update the "date last played" field.
I use those to help make sure that I don't load the same songs over and over again by creating a custom playlist that will comb out songs played in the last few days and have a very high play count. Since these are no longer updating, I've noticed that I keep arriving at work only to find my iPod has the same or similar songs as the day before, and dude, if I wanted that, I'd listen to the radio!

Play count for imported items

Here's a new one for me...
Starting with this latest version, when I burn a CD, it automatically marks the Play Count for those items at 1. Anyone else encounter this? Is there a fix?

i've noticed that sometimes the play count does not increase for songs, and the only workaround i've seen that works is to do a second sync after the first one completes.

Syncing iPod to a new installation of iTunes while retaining Play Count

I have an iPod nano that I use in my baby's nursery for her lullaby music. I thought it would be cool to use the Audioscrobbler program from www.last.fm to track her "listening habits" from this very early age and be able to see years down the road what she has listened to over time.
The thing is, I originally synced the iPod with mp3 files from my installation of iTunes. I also have my own Last.fm profile that already syncs with iTunes files played on this profile. I realized that if I sync her Nano with this same instance of iTunes, it will combine all of her Play Counts with my own history. I don't want to confuse the Last.fm "scrobbler" system tray program with which play counts should be scrobbled.
I know I could create another profile for her on this same computer, but I thought it might be even easier to just sync it with iTunes on my laptop (which doesn't have any iPods associated with it yet.) Either way, it will not be the exact same installation of iTunes that the Nano was originally synced with. HOWEVER, my mp3 files are on a shared network-attached storage hard drive, so all of the iTunes installations (on both the desktop and laptop) would be reading the exact same files.
SO - the jist of my questions is this:
1.) If my iTunes library reads from M:/My Music/ (NAS drive), will the Nano see a different installation of iTunes as the same library?
2.) If I sync her Nano with a different installation of iTunes, will it record the Play Counts of what she has already listened to? * This is my most important question. I don't care if it erases the files on the Nano, because I will just sync them again. I just want to make sure it records in iTunes the current Play Count stored on her Nano right now, so I can sync it with her Last.fm profile.
Thanks in advance! I asked about this on the Last.fm forums, and they advised me to ask over here instead since it has more to do with iTunes and syncing.
- Holly

Katrina, Thanks for the link.
Ahhh... yes, current playcounts ARE kind of important. I've been holding out on syncing it since March because I was trying to figure this out and get information on the best way to do it. That's 7+/- hours of music per night X 4 months! Is there a way to read what the playcounts currently are on the iPod itself right now? If all else fails, I could manually adjust them in the empty XML file, right?
I think if I can get the iTunes on my laptop to read and record the playcounts from the iPod, then I can sync the Last.fm process to read it later. I can use their new "import history" feature to import the playcounts. I just need to make sure that I can get iTunes to record them instead of wiping the iPod.
I've read up on manually managing the iPod... would that help any?
Since my music files are on a shared network drive, can I copy either of those two metadata files (iTunes Music Library.xml and/or iTunes Library.itl) from my desktop to my laptop and then hand modify the XML code to change all playcounts to zero and then sync the iPod? Will that fake the laptop out to believe it was the original computer that the iPod was first synced with?
And no on the operating systems My desktop is Vista Home Premium and the laptop is XP Home.
THANKS FOR YOUR HELP!!!! :-D

Moving iTunes playlists, ratings and play counts to a new computer

Hi everyone,
I got a new MacBook and had set up and used iTunes on it for the last 6 months. I am just now getting around to moving my old (40GB) iTunes library over from my old computer. I figured out how to move the music files and I successfully imported copies of all of it onto my new computer using the consolidate feature in iTunes 9. What I didn't think about was that I would also like to have my playlists, play counts, import dates, and ratings from my old collection. I only transferred the songs. Is there a way I can merge this info into my new iTunes at this point, or is it too late? I'd be okay with losing the new playlists and information that I created on the new laptop (as long as I didn't lose the actual songs), but the old iTunes has several years of info on it.
Can anyone suggest a way that I can bring that data over without making a complete mess?
Thank you!!!
Rachel

Ah, this is the itunes windows forum so I thought a PC was involved somewhere.
On a Mac, you can do an option-start of itunes to choose a different library.
Just press the Option key while starting itunes.
It is different on a windows PC - you have to press AND HOLD the shift key instead.
This article has screen shots.
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1589
+Do you think it would work if I delete the new computer's library first and then copy the old library into the new computer's music folder?+
It should, but that's up to you. If it were me, I'd rename them to something like itunes-old and itunes-new, and use the option-start to toggle between them until I was sure the old one was working OK.
I would definitely put itunes-old in the default folder instead of leaving it on the desktop. That would avoid having multiple folder structures of media scattered around.

I want to have my iTunes play lists and play counts on my new MacBook Air

I want to have my iTunes play lists and play counts on my new MacBook Air transferred over from my old (4 years and dying) MacBook Air.
Thanks for any and all help.

Copy the entire iTunes folder including the iTunes library file from your old Mac to the same Music folder on your new Mac. Then down the Option key while launching iTunes and select the copied iTunes folder. That should get you all your playlists, playcounts etc.; those are stored in that iTunes library file.
Regards.

[All Platforms][Playlists] Play count and play history for songs to create personal charts

Hi guys, I switched from iTunes to Spotify about a year ago and I really do like the service. Lately I checked out Apple Music and in comparison Spotify still kicks ass. However, it was incredible to have access to all of my old iTunes playlists again. Why? Because I created playlists with my personal charts, meaning intelligent playlists which sort songs by play count. I would love to see this feature in Spotify. Additionally you could also track when a song has been played, so I could create a playlist which lists my favorite songs from a specific time frame. Best wishesDominik

Sup man! I made the switch from iTunes about 3 years ago, but I have never gone back. Especially since I have a $5 / mo deal for Spotify premium for students, so premium is sick to use on the computer and transfer music painlessly to your electronic device. Cool stuff. Also, the algorithms that Spotify employs have unique shuffling programs implemented internally. They get numerous complaints about similar songs/artists playing in close sequence to one another. When this would happen (the original random number generator would obviously play the same artist within 3-4 songs because of pure chance and logistics), so they implemented a different algorithm as a fix. The new algorithm implemented a fix for this complaint (which was considered to be along the lines of the gambler’s fallacy theory… but that’s another long explanations) so that people wouldn’t complain as much. This switch happened within the past year, so people are just starting to notice how the shuffle feature has “improved”. This whole thing brings on the discussion of “what truly is random?” when it comes to the world of random number generators and the gambler’s fallacy. If you want to check out my Spotify playlists, my acct is: chrisheishman and my most popular playlist actually is “acoustic indie mix” with about 400+ songs and 200+ followers. You should check it out! Cheers & good luck with your music journey! Chris

New Innovation for Play Count

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