Play count won´t increment

Hi!
I did expect both play count and date to be updated in iTunes when I connect my blue iPod nano 4GB to iTunes, but nothing happens.
Can I make the play count increment just as when I use my iPod shuffle 512 MB 1st gen?
Anyone familiar with this?
Please assist!

Here's what I do -- create a playlist on your computer, and set the ipod to auto sync that playlist. Ratings, play dates, and other stuff will sync back.
To take it to the next level, use smart playlists with filesize caps, such as:
"Fresh Hits": Rating greater than 4*, last played is not in the last 2 weeks, limit to 1 GB (instead of rating you can use "play count is greater than 4 or 5, or something)
"New stuff": Date added is in the last 2 months, limit to 500 MB
... et cetera. I have 2.5 GB of smart playlists, and the rest is in the manually created playlist for stuff I just want to have with me. It keeps your content fresh without too much work.

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Play count won't work

I upodated to iTunes 11, but when i listen to songs, the play count will not work anymore. I use this a lot when listening to new music playlists i ahve so i know what i have heard and not. Why isn't this working?

In iTunes Preferences/Playback uncheck "Crossfade songs" then restart playback. The Crossfade feature is broken right now.

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...

Play count question. I have about 500 songs in my library that I know have played at least once...probably just once. Although there is a "last played" date listed there is no number in the play count column. Any reason for this? thx

I have about 500 songs in my library that have played one time. Although a "last date played" date is noted, there is no number in the play count column. This only happens some times. Any reason for this, and can it be corrected? thx

Thanks, but the play count is not incrementing only on the very first play. All subsequent plays are fine. Meaning the play counts for these particular tracks are always one play short. I double-checked some of the tracks in question and I have not shortened, or stopped them early.

Why is iTunes play count not updating for SOME songs played on iPod Touch?

I have noticed that when I play some songs on my iPod the play count won't update. This only happens with some I bought recently. I was actually testing witha song I purchased 3 weeks ago and the play count will only update if I play it on the computer. However, when I played the song on my iPod Touch 4g running iOS 5, nothing happened. How can I fix this as I use the recently played playlist quite often. also, Im pretty sure most of the songs were downloaded from iTunes app in my iPod.

I've had this problem before with my 1G and still have it with my 2G. I can replicate it EVERY TIME.
If I listen to nothing but music on my iPod touch, and then go back home and sync, I have no problems with the playcount and smart playlists.
However, if I listen to a bunch of music, then play a few games, or browse Safari for a while, any record of my recently listened to music is wiped out. The Music application even loses my place in what song I was listening to and even which artist/album I was last listening to -- kicking me back to main music screen when I click the Music icon on the Home screen.
My hypothesis -- Apple is not using a dedicated/untouchable portion of memory to store playcounts. It is shared with all other memory access. So if an application or Safari uses a lot of memory during your session AFTER you've played your music, your playcounts gets wiped out in the process.
But that's just my take on the situation.

ATV2 won't increment play count

This has been discussed in the past. Was a problem with ATV2 when it first came out, then fixed. Now with the latest update again. It does not increment the play count of content played streamed from the iTunes library. Well that's about the only content one can play. I do have it checked in the iTunes prefs to increment play count. I've tried unchecking, quitting iTunes, and then rechecking. I've rebooted, I've cursed;)
I'm streaming from my iMac i7 via Wireless N from my Airport Extreme. I have a great signal. Everything plays beautifully, no problem. In fact when I finish an episode of a TV show it is hidden, like it's marked play. But if I leave the ATV, it goes to sleep, it never updates iTunes. So the next time when I go to TV shows on my ATV2 it's there as un watched.
Does anyone have any idea how I might get this to work? It's a real bother as playlists are based on when media is watched.
Thanks

Winston Churchill wrote:
I think we all just need to wait for a fix.
a fix for what?
playcounts increment fine for me.

Sync increments play count for songs that haven't played since last sync

Sometime in the last two months, my iPhone 3G and iTunes started showing a bizarre behavior. I have a smart playlist that only plays songs that have not been played in the last 4 weeks and that have not been played more than a certain number of times (I add 1 to that number after each time it goes through my entire library). I sync the phone every night (because I don't want to lose the recently played data if the iPhone resets for some reason - another irritating bug). Anyway, sometimes when I sync the phone, it increments the play count for songs that were played before the previous sync as well as the songs played since the last sync. This means that those songs are being double counted, even though they were only played once.
Here's another way to describe the story:
Day 1: Play 50 songs with play count value X (call this set A). Sync at end of day, now all 50 songs in set A have play count value X+1.
Day 2: Play 50 more songs with play count X (call this set B). Sync at end of day, now songs in set B have play count X+1, but songs in set A now have play count X+2 (even though they were not played again).
Day 3: 50 more songs (set C). After sync, songs in set C have play count X+1, those in B have play count X+2, and those in set A have play count X+3.
It never seems to go more than 3 days back. This is not reliable - in fact, I thought it was fixed after the last iTunes update, but it just happened again.
One other thing that I notice: whenever this happens, the count shown for the playlist on the iPhone is incorrect. For example, today before the sync, it said I was on song 156 of 271 in my playlist. However, I only played about 50 songs today, and I synced last night, so it restarted the playlist from 1. I don't know when it jumped so much - when I restarted the playlist this morning, it was on 6 of 271 (which was correct).
The only other thing I think may play into this is when I have my playlist carry overnight (i.e. I start playing it at night after the sync, then come in in the morning and have it pick up where it left off). I am usually pretty good about syncing at the end of every day, but I think that I'm only seeing this behavior when I have this overnight thing going on.
Anyway, has anyone else seen this behavior? Does anyone have any suggestions? I would not use the play count in my smart playlist, but it's the only way to ensure that random play actually gets through my entire playlist when I'm forced to sync every night (because of the other bug).

wow, this is messed up! i'm sorry, but i don't have a solution for you, more of a 'work around'. what i have started doing is using the 'genre' field to keep track of the songs i have listened to, and those that i have not.
i set the genre for all of my songs to be '0'. after syncing, in my iPhone, i go into the 'genre' listing, go into '0', hit 'view all songs' and start playing the first song i have. next, when i sync, i change the 'genre' in all of the songs i've listened to to '1', and after i resync, i can go into my iPhone (using the same method above) and start playing the songs i haven't listened to.
i know it's a pain, but it's the only workaround i have for this problem. i'm very disappointed in apple and the iPhone because of their lack of awesome playlist support. i had a creative mp3 player that was supremely awesome with playlists. i would add all of my songs to a 'playlist', and be able to listen to a few songs, then go watch a video, and when i went back into the music player, it would remember the last song i was listening to. it wouldn't remember where i was in the song, but the fact that it remembered the song i was listening to made it one of the best devices i've had. i wish that apple would spend some time and make this functionality possible.

Deleted Video Podcasts from iPhone no longer increment iTunes play count

Prior to downloading iTunes 7.4 this morning, iTunes used to increment the play count of any video podcasts that I deleted on my iPhone to 1. Then refresh would naturally get rid of it. Now, the only way to have the play count set to 1 is if you "keep" the video podcast instead of deleting it. If you delete it, it will just resync the next time you dock your iPhone.
Has anybody else seen this? Is there a fix?
I'm going to 1) Reboot my Mac and if that doesn't fix it 2) Restore my iPhone. If that doesn't work, I'll have to leave feedback to Apple.

Thank goodness I found your post. This bug has been driving me crazy for weeks. I've been looking for a solution and I couldn't find anyone with the same problem...I thought I was the only one...I'm so glad I'm not and that my iPhone isn't corrupted (just a little buggy)!
I've spent hours trying to solve this on my own and never figured out that I just needed to keep the darn video. Notice too that if you use the Delete button to delete a video, and then reboot the iPhone, the video reappears in the video queue, but it is no longer playable. Very strange.
Thanks so much for posting. Apple support said they never heard of this problem before...I guess they don't read posts or feedback. Hrumph! What do you have to do around here to get a bug fixed?!!
Message was edited by: gravyd

Won't sync play counts from iPod and IS automatically updating

Well, the subject pretty much says it all...for some reason when I connect my iPod it won't sync the play counts. Searching for other posts on this I see that you have to be set to automatically sync everything but it IS doing that (meaning, not having "manually manage music and videos" checked and having "sync music" and "all songs and playlists" checked, yes?). So when I connect it, it syncs and seems to do everything it should be doing except the play counts. I use Last.fm so this is really bugging me! What should I do? Thanks in advance for your help.

#1
- Try another cable. The cable for 5G iPod (lightning connector) seems to be more prone to failure than the older cable.
- If a 5G iPod
Iphone 5 lightning port charging problem - SOLUTION!
- Inspect the dock connector on the iPod for bent or missing contacts, foreign material, corroded contacts, broken, missing or cracked plastic.
- Make an appointment at the Genius Bar of an Apple store.
Apple Retail Store - Genius Bar
#1.1 n/a because the errror message overrides it
#2 see #1
#3 iOS: Device not recognized in iTunes for Mac OS X
But could be caused by #1
#4 Covered by previous ones
#5 Obvious jpegs are photos and thus will not sync as videos. Also see:
iTunes: May be unable to transfer videos to iPhone, iPad, or iPod
iTunes: Frequently asked questions about viewing and syncing videos
#6 iOS: If you can't back up or restore from a backup in iTunes
First #7 See #6
Second #7 You have so many other problems resolve those first
#8 Resolve other problems first

11.0.2 does not increment play count

I have smart playlists that are based on play count. Sometimes as iTunes plays the count increments and sometimes it doesn't. When it does, it replaces the tune it was just playing insteads of adding a new tune to the bottom of the list. When it doesn't iTunes moves down the list. Eventually it gets to the bottom and stops. If the count criteria is < 1, it should increment the count, remove the tune from the list and add another at the bottom but it doesn't.
I have cross-fade turned off. I understand this used to be a problem that was fixed. However, I left it off anyhow.
What else do I need to check/correct/do?

I made some screen shots to demonstrate. First is the initial list when I started to play it followed by the list when the last track had completed. This demonstates how some tracks get their count incremented and are replaced while others do not.
BTW, it does appear that the list is updated in place rather than at the end. I was looking for a list that would never stop playing but I guess that is impossible. No matter, I can make it long enough to work but I can't figure out why sometimes the count gets incremented and sometimes it doesn't

Problem when syncing: won't update itunes play count/last played etc

My old 2g shuffle was capable of updating play count/last played and adding songs to the recently played playlist when synced to my itunes.
Seems my new 3g shuffle can't do this.
I remember the trick with the 2g was to make sure it was switched off first before connecting/syncing, but I've tried all sorts of different combo's with the 3g and nothing will make it update song stats in itunes.
How can I make it update my itunes?

Ok, cool, I figured it out:-) Just in case anyone ever has the same problem, here's a quick rundown:
Basically it's the same problem you can get with 2nd gen shuffles if you're manually managing songs. So I just unticked manually manage music in the device summary and got the shuffle to sync music from a playlist I created/dumped all the songs I wanted into.

Play Count/Ratings won't update.

For some reason neither the play counts nor the ratings will update if I do them on my Nano. If I play and/or rate a song on iTunes, the information will usually be saved.
This actually happened before early in the month, but the problem (temporarily) fixed itself. Now, information that was previously there (for example, I played some songs on iTunes on the 18th) has now reverted to earlier info. What gives? Is there any way of fixing this without resetting my iPod?
(Note: all other functions that deal with iTunes such as id3 info and album artwork, will update fine. It's just that any info I alter on the iPod itself will not save.)

So I formatted my iPod Nano, and it worked, but for some reason it stopped counting again. I briefly connected my iPod in order to load a song, and disconnected it properly. So does not charging it fully cause it to not save the data?

Manually changing dates or play counts?

Situation: I have iTunes automatically compress my songs to 128kbps when copying them to my Shuffle. I've also been manually compressing podcasts to 32kbps mono, effectively tripling the number of 'casts I can carry.
Problem: My manually re-ripped 'casts don't keep the same metadata (dates, play counts) as the originals, which tends to screw up my so-called "smart" playlists.
Question 1: How can I configure iTunes to automatically degrade podcasts to a lower bitrate than songs upon transfer to an iPod?
Question 2: Assuming the answer to Q1 is "you can't", then how can I sync the original metadata with the new rips (increase the play count, change the date added, date last played, etc.)?

I ended up having to write an AppleScript to get the play count and last played date to increment manually. I'm using it from the script menu until I can get a keyboard shortcut to work.
I'll probably also have to resort to scripting to get full metadata duplicates. That one won't be so easy. Any ideas?
Here's the source code for incrementing play count and last played date, if anyone's interested...
Increment Play Count
Tells iTunes a selection of songs was played on an iPod by incrementing the play count and setting the last played to the current date.
Intended to be run from a keyboard shortcut, no other UI.
tell application "iTunes"
if selection is not {} then
set s to selection
set d to (get current date)
repeat with t in s
set t to contents of t
if class of t is file track then
tell t
set played date to d
set played count to (get played count) + 1
end tell
end if
end repeat
end if
end tell
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Correcting the play count

Ok, you can tell I'm new at this, so I have a stupid question. I just added 3 songs from my computer to my library. I have noticed that the play count is not updating on these songs, is there a way to set it?

Play counts will increment after the song ENDS. So starting the song won't do it. To test, play a song all the way through or play it and slide the slider over the end and just let the last few seconds play. When it is done, it should increment.
Oh, and I am assuming you are talking about in iTunes or do you mean when you play it in the iPod?
Patrick

Play counts resetting to zero after reaching 100 plays

I've recently noticed my top played songs drop out of my 25 most played songs smart playlist. It seems to happen every time a song reaches 100 plays. Any ideas on a fix? Also is it possible to manually amend the play counts to get the 2 songs that this has happened to back to their correct play count?

That is an odd bug. I read one report that iTunes 11 has a playcount bug where if you have "crossfade" enabled it won't increment the play counts. I haven't personally verified that one.
As for manually incrementing the play counts. This Stack Exchange thread offers several possible methods: http://apple.stackexchange.com/questions/76576/how-do-i-correct-wrong-itunes-pla y-counts

Play count won´t increment

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