iTunes, iPods, smart playlists and finding new music
The way that we use iTunes and iPods (or other MP3 players, as I’m told such things exist) has totally changed the way we listen to music. I would consider myself a ‘power user’ where playlists are concerned and try to rate all my songs and am very careful with genres, groupings etc. I really go the extra mile (like Andy B does), for example:
- A playlist of all unrated songs, so I can find ones that I have still to rate
- All songs – that’s to say everything that is not audio book, iTrip transmission signal, podcast or hour-long mix
- Stuff I should play more regularly – high rated songs that have not been played in last couple of months
- Never played – well, like it says on the tin …
I could go on and on (and sometimes I do). Actually, there is something else I’d like to do: be able to create a playlist that is derived from another playlist (e.g. play all 4* songs that are contained in the ‘live music’ playlist) or, for super-power-user stuff, be able to hand-craft the query, SQL style, rather than rely on the interface provided.
Despite all this, I have a problem – I’m missing music.
In the never-ending urge to cram iTunes (and hence my iPod) full of music I find that I put a few albums on at a time, they don’t get added to a playlist and it takes a while for me to get around to rating them – I never rate on early listens, got to get to know the tracks a bit first. So these tracks don’t end up on the rated playlists and because I shuffle my songs for variety, I end up losing these new albums in a black hole. I’ve tried creating manual playlists for recently added stuff, but I prefer the smart playlists option as it keeps things tidier. Ideally, what I need is an option to select the ‘last 80 songs added’ or something like that, not ‘songs added in the last month’ because they’ll soon slip off the radar.
So I’ve come up with a revolutionary new way of using my iPod that I’m going to share with you here. And here’s how it’s done:
- Select Music
- Select Albums
- Select first album on list
- Listen through in entirety
- Repeat process, moving on one album at a time
Revolutionary? Well, not at all, but it feels like it. Heck, I still have the songs shuffled, but I’m getting to hear songs and albums that have been hiding in the dark recesses of my iPod for too long. I’m re-familiarising myself with all my music and discovering tracks that I haven’t heard for a long time; I’m also re-evaluating entire albums – do they really need to be on there after all?
What have you done to change the way you listen to your music collection recently?
Posted: March 30th, 2006 under Music, Stuff.
Comments
Comment from Lloydi
Time March 31, 2006 at 2:13 am
Oh wow! Thanks for pointing out the playlist option – I had asked for something like this a long time ago and wasn’t aware that this feature had been added. It snuck in at some time, so that’s fantastic news. Looks like I’m going to be playing around with playlists a bit more … although I’m still committed now to listening to *every* album in my collection. So far I’m up to D (DJ Format – If you can’t join ‘em, beat ‘em’)
Comment from Reece
Time November 28, 2006 at 12:23 pm
I just got my 2000t and all of my songs are skipping in iTunes, and I cant figure out why. If someone could help me out and tell me how to fix this I would really appreciate it because its driving me crazy. Thanks for the replys.
Comment from Scott
Time June 16, 2007 at 10:48 am
You might not need to create an elaborate series of playlists. Check out MoodShuffle at http://www.moodshuffle.com
It figures out what you want to hear each time you run it. It is pretty freaky the way it picks songs sometimes, but it seems to work. Like I never would have added certain songs in the same playlist, but it did, and I liked it.
Comment from Richard Rutter
Time March 30, 2006 at 11:14 pm
First of all you *can* create a smart playlist derived from another playlist. Have another look at the first drop down box you’ll see ‘playlist’ in it. By creating two playlists and combining them in a third you can create the elusive [(this OR that) AND this] logic.
Also I have a playlist called ‘not played much or recently’. Which is a smart list which includes all songs that have been played less than 5 times or haven’t been played for 3 months. This way I get to listen more to the stuff I’ve added recently while dipping into stuff I haven’t heard for ages. It’s what I listen to most of the time.
I also have a manual playlist called ‘stand out tunes’ into which I place every song that jumps out at me when I’m listening on shuffle. By jump out I mean, the kind of song that stops you working or you suddenly realise you’re singing along with or tapping one’s foot to.