Smart playlists

[ricola_pak]

I have tried my best to avoid this whole Apple craze, getting Creative mp3 players instead of iPods (Zen Micro and NJB3), and using Winamp instead of iTunes.

But last night I finally gave iTunes a try and MAN! I spent my whole night organizing my music library because it's such a great program!

So now that I have given in to iTunes, I think I am about to actually... yes... commit the biggest sin...... giving in to the iPod

1) So my question is, can I import Smart playlists onto my iPod?

Creative players like mine only have regular playlists, which are a pain in the ass because you have to add songs all the time. But smart playlists on iTunes update automatically, as they are only filters, instead of a "memory list".

So if I can actually import these smart playlists onto the iPod, then I will be very pleased

I wanna do things like, for example, make a list of Genre: Rock with ratings above 3 stars etc etc.


2) How's the battery life of the iPod Photo? Does Photo mean more battery usage compared to 4G 20GB iPod?

 

[blessingx]

See there are advantages of getting over a anti-pop bias.

Yes.
18 hours.
Yes.

 

[bigshot]

Smart playlists are the best reason to get an iPod. Until you use them, you have no idea how powerful they are. You can have a huge library on your comp, and set a smart playlist to add songs least frequently played to your iPod every time you dock. Or you can have various genre groupings that update based on your star rating or how frequently or infrequently it has been played. With multiple conditions statements, you can create VERY sophisticated filtering.

See...

http://www.smartplaylists.com

That website will keep you entertained for hours!

See ya
Steve

 

[Oliver :)]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ricola_pak But last night I finally gave iTunes a try and MAN! I spent my whole night organizing my music library because it's such a great program! So now that I have given in to iTunes, I think I am about to actually... yes... commit the biggest sin...... giving in to the iPod 1) So my question is, can I import Smart playlists onto my iPod? Creative players like mine only have regular playlists, which are a pain in the ass because you have to add songs all the time. But smart playlists on iTunes update automatically, as they are only filters, instead of a "memory list". So if I can actually import these smart playlists onto the iPod, then I will be very pleased I wanna do things like, for example, make a list of Genre: Rock with ratings above 3 stars etc etc.

Don't worry, it's all good, we'll sit by the fire with marshmallows and listen to our smart playlists

As bigshot already pointed out, they are one of major strengths of the iTunes & iPod... iCombo. You can not only use them to have your music organized (ratings, style..) but also make them a major plus in convenience . Try setting one up that collects all your new imports from a given time-frame, and then one that filter the same imports, but only keeps those you actually played for X times, or within a certain time-frame. Using these will keep your iPod current, but you will also not carry too much dead weight. Ideal if your collection is bigger than your iPods capacity.

 

[ricola_pak]

Thanks guys.

I was reading this:
http://www.smartplaylists.com/index.php?id=C0_7_1

What does he mean by 4 stage smart playlist? How do I get "4 stages"? Or is he just talking about creating 4 different playlists?

 

[Oliver :)]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ricola_pak Thanks guys. I was reading this: http://www.smartplaylists.com/index.php?id=C0_7_1 What does he mean by 4 stage smart playlist? How do I get "4 stages"? Or is he just talking about creating 4 different playlists?

While I won't follow on what he really did there...
You may make a smart playlist or playlist "X" by your liking, and then set up a new smart playlist and have one of the filters include smart playlist or playlist "X". Say make a smart playlist that has all ROCK music, and then another one selecting only recent additions to that first list. And then another one keeping just the ones that are more than three minutes long...

 

[bangraman]

You can nest conditions and playlists.


Smart Playlists are very powerful. It does genuinely change the way to listen to music. Especially since all iPod devices also report back to iTunes what they played. I keep having to blow the dust off my Sony and iRiver players for this reason.

I find it a bit weird that attributes like these aren't discussed more when talking about iPod vs other players. Quite apart from the sound, the daily ease of use as a music player of the iPod system with a large library is the #1 reason for me why I still pick it up every day.


Still, I guess if all you actually own are Melody singles, 5 Anime soundtracks, a Kaci album and you spend most of your time showing to your friends what your player can do that theirs can't, I guess it's not an issue

 

[ricola_pak]

Haha I find making these smart playlists very much like my First Year intro computer sci course to Java programming

One last question I am going to ask is... when I tell the smart list to choose 25 songs on random according to the parameters... does it remain those 25 songs forever?

For example, I tell it to choose 25 songs with ratings over 4 stars, once it has chosen, does it ever "choose again"?

 

[jparris1]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ricola_pak One last question I am going to ask is... when I tell the smart list to choose 25 songs on random according to the parameters... does it remain those 25 songs forever? For example, I tell it to choose 25 songs with ratings over 4 stars, once it has chosen, does it ever "choose again"?

If you have Live Updating checked, if you delete all the songs in the playlist it will repopulate it with a new 25 songs chosen at random.