Thoughts on syncing Smart Playlists

Like many other people, I've seen odd things happen when I sync Smart Playlists. I have a theory, but first...
My most recent example occured using a playlist that pulls songs I haven't played lately:
Media Kind is Music
Limit to 100 items selected by Least Recently Played
Match only checked items
Live Updating
I sync the playlist to my Shuffle, play some songs, and sync back. Sometimes the playcount and Last Played date updates are applied to the wrong songs.
THere have been other examples. I haven't been able to reproduce the problems reliably, but searching the fourms and the Intertubes show that similar problems have been going on for years. Apple says disabling "Live Updating" helps, but that defeats my main reason to use Smart Playlists.
My theory is that things start going screwy when the Smart Playlist rules are affected by activity on the iDevice. If the playlist collects "all songs rated 3 stars", playing the songs doesn't affect membership in the list, so syncing works properly. But if the playlist picks least-recently-played songs, and you play the song, when you sync pack, the song is removed from the playlist on the computer because it doesn't belong. That breaks the other database updates in some fashion.
Does this match up with your experience? Do you only see problems with smart playlists that change based on playcount/playdate info? I suppose if you change ratings on an iPhone, playlists based on ratings could also be affected, but I mostly notice the problems with my Shuffle.
If this is the problem, there's an easy fix for Apple - anytime a device is about to sync, disable all live updating in iTunes on the computer. Since the option to disable updating already exists, this shouldn't be difficult. Maybe it's not elegant, but it'd be effective if my theory is correct.

I synced the same playlist with Live Updating turned off after playing 5-6 songs on my Shuffle. Some of the playcount/date data was updated correctly, some wasn't. Importantly (?), the wrong data is on both the computer and the Shuffle(of course, I can't see the data on the Shuffle before I plug it into the computer)
There was something in a post about using "Copy to play order" to resolve syncing problems. So I sorted the playlist on my computer by name, then "Copied to play order", then synced, then sorted and "Copied" on my shuffle. Let' see what happens...

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ITunes won't sync smart playlists

So I have 8 smart playlists plus 6 normal playlists in my iTunes, it's all been working well and it's been syncing all of them until about a week ago. After I synced it, I noticed that only the normal playlists were on the ipod, not the smart ones while they are still showing in itunes, I tried re-syncing but it didn't work, I still only have normal playlists.... PLEASE HELP!

After some experimentation I have a solution that I find satisfactory for a smart playlist containing only podcasts, and not referencing any other playlist, AND still leaves the "Live Updating" checkbox selected.
What I did was...
- removed any references to other playlists in the Smart Playlist options.
- changed it to "Genre" "IS" "Podcast"
- added "Plays "Is Less Than" "1"
- Selected "Limit to" (in my case 25) "items" checkbox. (I coincidentally, also chose "by Artist" but it didn't matter.)
- Unselected the playlist, under the Podcasts tab, while the iPhone was connected...
-- Sync'ed the iPhone once without it selected.
-- reselected the Playlist under the Podcast tab of the iPhone options, and
--- re-synced with the playlist now selected again.
I have to say I am more than pleased that it not only is keeping the same order in iTunes as well as on the iPhone, but it also removes ON-THE-FLY! the podcasts as I completed listening to them - in the iPhone, without any sort of syncing enabled. I had always hoped that would work someday.
Thank you Apple.

Sync "smart playlist" without song-titles?

Is it possible to synchronize only a smart playlist without all the song-titles what are included?
A example; In i Tunes i have a very large song library on my mac. Then i have synchronized some titles, with "Check Selection" mode. Now i have a "Smart Playlist" on i-tunes, that includes only song-titles, that i haven't "rated" before. Now, is it possible to import/sync only the "Smart-Playlist" without all the song-titles that are included on Itunes?
So i want only have the smart-playlist on my ipod-touch, to hear the unrated songs, that are already synced.
Other example, i have a smart playlist that includes only the song-titles, rated from 1 till 3 stars. Now i want that smart playlist on the iPod, to hear only the songs, rated from 1 till 3 stars, i already synced on the IPod.
Problem is this..: When i sinc a smart-list like that, the memory on my IPod is prompt overloaded...
I hope you understand what i mean, and would be great to have a solution for that...
regards...

http://support.apple.com/kb/TS3044
2. Deselect the option for "Live updating."
Solved.

Cannot sync Smart Playlists anymore

I have two smart playlists that don't even show up as an option to Sync on my iPhone anymore after the 9.0.2 update.
I have tried recreating the playlists multiple times and yet the result is the same.
Here is a screenshot of the problem with arrows noting which lists aren't showing up and where they should be.
http://www.natemc.com/temp/itunes-sync-bug.png

After some more testing, it appears it only won't show up when I select the option for "Playlist, is not, Don't Put on iPod" if I remove that option I can then select the playlist, but now it has gigs of songs I don't want it to have.
It appears that if I select anything other than "Music" for the playlist, the Smart Playlist will not show up as an option for sync.
This means there must be a bug in the system as this is not normal behavior.

Syncing smart playlists

zi have a 2nd gen nano and created smart playlists and genius playlists in itunes, but they don't sync to my ipod. does anyone have any suggestions?

Have same problem...Smart Playlist syncs to iPod Touch but not to nano, also doesn't display in the playlist section of the iTunes when I look to sync using selected playlists rather than entire music

Syncing smart playlist

I am having trouble with syncing my smart playlist to my ipod. I sync the smart playlist fine, and then when it goes to my ipod the songs on the smart playlist dissapear. I didnt have any trouble before, until I updated my ipod to the newest version.

I use smart playlists all the time. More specifically, I use a "Recently Added" playlist all the time. Within iTunes, the contents of the playlist are exactly what I expect to see. However, when browsing through the playlist on the iPod Touch, the content is wrong - some songs are there, others are missing.
Glad to see I am not the only one with this problem. Hopefully someone has a fix.
Thanks.

Syncing smart playlists with location set to "on this computer"

I have a ton of playlists with multiple creitera that after the upgrade to iOS7 just stopped working entirely. It turns out that when I added "location - on this computer" as a filter to avoid seeing everything in my icloud, that no longer applied to media synced to iOS devices.
I guess that makes sense, except the precedent was set when it worked in iOS6, and more importantly there isn't a filter setting for "on this computer and/or synced devices". There's just "on this computer" and "in the cloud".
I can't be the only one annoyed with this. Can anyone think of a filter that would work for me?

Bump? This is still driving me nuts.

ITunes Match Smart playlists refering to other playlists sync

Is it possible to sync smart playlists refering to other playlists in ITunes match?
This was not possible 1 year ago.

beans; everyone has this seeminlgy, and no one has a fix (smart lists accessing smart lists doesnt sync over Match, iTunes tells me. So best bet appears to be disabling match, canceling the Match renewal, and wait for io7...

Podcast Smart Playlist Sync - Fix

If your iPhone and iPad can't sync Smart Playlists:
I figured it out after a few hours in the One-to-One classes where they told me it couldn't be done.
1. Go to "Edit Smart Playlist".
2. Turn off "Live Updating".
3. Go to Device then Podcasts.
4. Option should show up to "Include Episodes from Playlist".
If "Live Updating" is on then the option to sync the playlist disapears from the device setup.
You just need to manually update the smart playlist every time before you sync it.

I found a potential work around. I am still testing it. Works via usb or wifi sync.
In music, make sure "Entire music library" is not selected. If you want music to sync pick the playlist you want.
In podcast, make sure "automatically include all unplayed" is not selected. You will need to pick select podcast only playlist to sync over.
I am suspecting the music sync is screwing up the smart playlist for podcast when you choose "Entire music library" or "automatically inclue all unplayed" is screwing up the music. Sometimes all my podcast playlist are removed from itunes, other times only a few of them. So by separating the sync out by their individual playlist I haven't had any problems yet, but i am still testing. There could be other unknown variables causing it to happen I haven't discovered.
But if you do find yourself with missing playlist and don't want to painstakingly re make them. Go into your <Previous iTunes Libraries> folder. There should be some previous backups of your past library to restore from.

Smart playlist not making it to iphone

i use itunes on a mac. for some reason one of my smart playlist (latest music which has the albums bought in last month) does not appear on the iphone. it's got only 220 titles. strangely enough, another smart playlist with more titles does make it to iphone...

Sadly, there are lots of bugs syncing Smart Playlists on iPhones. Sort orders are lost, sometimes they don't come over, etc.
One thing that I've found is that if I sync and immediately unplug my iPhone, content is sometimes missing. I've found that leaving my iPhone plugged in for a minute or two after sync often fixes the problem. (!!)
If your stuff still doesn't come over, some people report that adding a rule to your smart playlist that says "Playlist is music" (or whatever) helps. Other people report that adding additional rules causes problems. I don't think there's a clear consensus, but, in short, try playing around with your smart playlists, either adding that "playlist is music" rule, or, if you've already got a bunch of rules, try simplifying them if you can.
Sorry I don't have a good answer. If you want to join us who have reported the bugs to Apple, please visit:
http://www.apple.com/feedback/itunesapp.html

Smart Playlists Not Syncing Correct CONTENT on iPhone 3G

Hi, I apologize about the length of this description, but I believe all or most of it may be relevant.
I have been having trouble synchronizing ANY of my smart playlists. I first noticed it in the playlists I had created which entailed "Most Recently Added" or "Most Recently Played" options. Now I realize that all of my smart playlists are no longer syncing their play order (some too big to determine if songs aren't making it into some of them). For instance, here is the criteria for a playlist I created just to demonstrate this problem (this is a brand new playlist just I made and synced with my iPhone):
Title: Recently Played 5
Criteria: Rating is in the range 3 stars and 5 starts
Checked Boxes-
(X)Limit to [5] items selected by most recently played
(X)Match Only Checked Songs
(X)Live Updating
Playlist as it appears in iTunes:
"Summer, Man" by Taking Back Sunday
"Sink Into Me" by Taking Back Sunday
"New Again" by Taking Back Sunday
"Error: Operator" by Taking Back Sunday
"Swing" by Taking Back Sunday
Playlist as it appears on my iPhone:
"Them Bones" by Alice In Chains
"Hands in the Sky (Big Shot)" by Straylight Run
"Lead Said (And A Paper Anchor)" by Atreyu
... etc
These playlist CLEARLY do not match and it drives me crazy because these types of playlists are what I generally listen to. I'm running iTunes 9.0.1.8 on Windows 7 OS (Dell Inspiron 6400), and OS 3.1.2 on an iPhone 3G. I just recently consolidated my library. I had a collection of over 7000 songs on my external hard drive backed up, and kept about 4000 of them on my computer stored in iTunes (i.e. only the 4000 songs were present in my iTunes library, originating from my laptop hard drive--NOT EXTERNAL). Upon switching to Windows 7, I wanted to have ALL my music on my laptop hard drive and thus copied and re-added all of the music (all 7000). I lost all my track info (ratings, plays, last played date, date added, etc) in this process until I opened the iTunes library file with iTunes(had backed up from before new OS installation) and, voila, all my playlists and track info was restored. I had to do some cleaning up of duplicate files, but nothing major.
I found this thread from Sept. 2008 which seemed to be in regards to the exact same problem under almost the exact same situation: http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=8066846#8066846. Unfortunately, it's unanswered and archived. My iTunes did not crash, but I cleanly installed a new OS and had to start fresh.
I cannot for the life of me figure this issue out. I thought about restoring my device and syncing it again (which I will try again tomorrow to see if I can manage any progress), but I want to retain my app info and text messages so I plan on restoring from a backup. If anyone has any solutions or even suggestions, I'm open to try anything.
Thanks!

Sorry, I just realized I'm in the wrong forum... I apologize.

Smart Playlists Not Syncing Correct CONTENT With iPhone 3G

Hi, I apologize about the length of this description, but I believe all or most of it may be relevant.
I have been having trouble synchronizing ANY of my smart playlists. I first noticed it in the playlists I had created which entailed "Most Recently Added" or "Most Recently Played" options. Now I realize that all of my smart playlists are no longer syncing their play order (some too big to determine if songs aren't making it into some of them). For instance, here is the criteria for a playlist I created just to demonstrate this problem (this is a brand new playlist just I made and synced with my iPhone):
Title: Recently Played 5
Criteria: Rating is in the range 3 stars and 5 starts
Checked Boxes-
(X)Limit to [5] items selected by most recently played
(X)Match Only Checked Songs
(X)Live Updating
Playlist as it appears in iTunes:
"Summer, Man" by Taking Back Sunday
"Sink Into Me" by Taking Back Sunday
"New Again" by Taking Back Sunday
"Error: Operator" by Taking Back Sunday
"Swing" by Taking Back Sunday
Playlist as it appears on my iPhone:
"Them Bones" by Alice In Chains
"Hands in the Sky (Big Shot)" by Straylight Run
"Lead Said (And A Paper Anchor)" by Atreyu
... etc
These playlist CLEARLY do not match and it drives me crazy because these types of playlists are what I generally listen to. I'm running iTunes 9.0.1.8 on Windows 7 OS (Dell Inspiron 6400), and OS 3.1.2 on an iPhone 3G. I just recently consolidated my library. I had a collection of over 7000 songs on my external hard drive backed up, and kept about 4000 of them on my computer stored in iTunes (i.e. only the 4000 songs were present in my iTunes library, originating from my laptop hard drive--NOT EXTERNAL). Upon switching to Windows 7, I wanted to have ALL my music on my laptop hard drive and thus copied and re-added all of the music (all 7000). I lost all my track info (ratings, plays, last played date, date added, etc) in this process until I opened the iTunes library file with iTunes(had backed up from before new OS installation) and, voila, all my playlists and track info was restored. I had to do some cleaning up of duplicate files, but nothing major.
I found this thread from Sept. 2008 which seemed to be in regards to the exact same problem under almost the exact same situation: http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=8066846#8066846. Unfortunately, it's unanswered and archived. My iTunes did not crash, but I cleanly installed a new OS and had to start fresh.
I cannot for the life of me figure this issue out. I thought about restoring my device and syncing it again (which I will try again tomorrow to see if I can manage any progress), but I want to retain my app info and text messages so I plan on restoring from a backup. If anyone has any solutions or even suggestions, I'm open to try anything.
Thanks!

This looks like yet another example of the "smart playlists with live updates are broken" bug, which has been discussed at length in this forum. Two "fixes" are known to work, at least some of the time:
1) turn off live updates (yes, I know that defeats the purpose of a "recently played" list; so does the current situation, where you have apparently random tracks instead of the right content).
2) add a "playlist is Music" rule to the playlist (in addition to the ones you have now).
In my experience the "playlist is Music" fix also has the effect of turning off live updates (regardless of what the checkboxes say), but other people report no such problem. So it might work for you.

Smart Playlist Not Syncing Correctly

I downloaded Version 8 yesterday. Today I synced my iPod to iTunes. I had a smart playlist called "Newer Stuff" which consisted of my 60 most recently added songs, with automatic updating.
When I hooked up and synced the iPod, I noticed that about 40 of my old songs were being synced. I assumed it was because I had changed the album artwork or something recently or because last month I'd had the iTunes "crash" and had to recreate my library from a backup.
After syncing, my smart playlist had the correct 60 most recent songs on iTunes (my computer). However, my iPod had the aforesaid 40 'old' songs in the playlist in lieu of some of my new music.
I tried re-syncing several times, and even deleting the smart playlist and creating a new one with the same rules. And each time the smart playlist on the computer/iTunes is correct, but the one on the iPod is still listing the 40 old songs as part of the playlist.
Any suggestions? To be honest, iTunes has been bugging the heck out of me all summer, what with the crash and now this.

I tried to make more sense of this. I took note of the songs on the playlist on my Touch. Then I waited until after midnight and looked at the playlist on my iMac. Songs that were added after midnight (see pic in my first post) were songs that were on the Touch that shouldn't have been there.
I'd thought that the playlist on my iMac picked the songs and once I plugged in my Touch, it just transferred them over. However, it seems to me the Touch is picking songs as well, which may have something to do with me changing the "last played" criteria often. It seems the two playlists (the one on the iMac and the one on the Touch) aren't always in sync.
I know that you can make playlists on the Touch, but I've never tried, so I don't know how detailed you can make them. Am I on the right track here? What's the solution?

Smart Playlists not syncing correctly

All of my iTunes smart playlists are not syncing correctly on my 3rd gen. iPod touch. I have iTunes 9, and the latest iPod touch software (3.1.2) and nothing is correct.
For example on my "Top 25 Most Played" there are songs that I have listened to only once, and some, zero times! In the "Recently Added" playlist, there are songs that I added years ago!
How will this get fixed? I thought maybe 3.1.2 would fix it, but obviously it didn't. I remember this happened to me when I first got my first gen. iPod touch, but that sorted itself out in about a week. I've now had the third gen. iPod touch for a month now.

thanks for posting this link to Apple officially responding to this issue. although these are good workaround solutions, they are still just workaround solutions. it seems there remains a bug when the "live updating" option is selected for a smart playlist. this is one of the most obvious/major bugs I have seen in Apple software (and it's not that big of a deal, so that says a lot about the quality of Apple software).

Some unchecked smart playlists syncing

Any thoughts/suggestions would be appreciated!
My iTunes is set to sync only selected playlists with my iPhone. While all of my checked playlists sync, so do some of the unchecked playlists as well. The only unchecked playlists that sync are smart playlists. Also, not all of the contents of the unchecked playlists sync. For example, one smart playlist has over 1,000 tracks on iTunes but that playlist on the iPhone only contains 11 tracks.
I thought perhaps if a track was contained in a checked playlist and present in an unchecked playlist, iTunes was forcing the appearance of the other playlists on the iPhone. While I still think there's a connection, spot checks show tracks which exist in checked playlists appear in other unchecked playlists which are not present on iPhone.
Running iTunes 8.0.2 on the Mac, 1st gen iPhone version 2.2 (5G77)

i've been having the same problem with my iphone/itunes. i erased what i had and re-loaded, tried manual sync, etc. to no avail.
here's something i noticed:
i have a smart playlist called "jazz". it's unchecked for iphone syncing purposes. however, i have a "coltrane" smart list that IS checked. for whatever reason, the unchecked jazz list is prompted to show up on my phone, but only with songs that appear on other, checked playlists. so the miles davis songs that belong under the jazz list don't appear on my phone, because they're not synced up on another playlist. it doesn't appear like the songs themselves are being doubled; just the playlist(s) they're on.
but still...doesn't make sense the way it looks.

Thoughts on syncing Smart Playlists

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