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The complete guide to Smart Playlists
by Dean Mortlock
18.12.06 |
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Spending a large amount of time making your perfect Sixties Megamix playlist is all very well, but wouldn’t it be so much easier if there was something in place that could do it for you? Or make a romantic one containing all the songs in your library that contained the word ‘love… or have a ‘new songs’ playlist that only contains music you’ve added in the last four months… Well you can do all this and much more with Smart Playlists, and the best thing of all is that it’s shockingly easy to set one up.
Each audio item in your iTunes library has a potential 26 tags that can be attached to it (press Apple + J (Mac) or Control + J (PC) to see the full list) (image 1), but only a few of those will be added when you import your CD. Out of the ones that remain, a few will be updated automatically (Date Added, Last Played, Play Count) and a lot of the rest are unlikely to be used that often, but it’s certainly worth you adding Ratings to songs whenever you can as these can be the basis for a lot of good Smart Playlists.
GETTING STARTED
Now you know the basics, it’s time to look at how they’re made. The easiest way to make a Smart Playlist is to first think about the sort of playlist you want. Then, when you’ve decided that, open up iTunes and go to File > New Smart Playlist. The Playlist window make look a bit confusing at first, but it’s actually remarkably straightforward. The best way to explain it is to create an actual Smart Playlist, so let’s do one that’ll contain songs added in the last two months that haven’t been played before…
The first pull-down menu on the left is similar to the list of tag options for each track, so for this example we want to pick ‘Date Added’. You’ll notice that the pull-down menu now changes to show ‘is’, so check through the options here and you’ll be able to select from a particular date, between two days or as we’ll be updating the Playlist live (more about that later), we want to choose ‘is in the last’ and then in the text box on the right, we need to change that to 2 months. The easiest way to do it is if you imagine you’re building up a series of sentences.
Because we want to add another variable to the list, we click on the ‘+’ symbol at the end and then we can narrow the selection down a bit. To pick the songs added in the last two months that haven’t been played yet, all we have to do is select ‘Play Count’ and then ‘is’ and then ‘0' (image 2).
Now, if you want to limit the number of files in the Playlist, click on the box underneath the pull-down menus and then put a number in the box next to it. Then you can choose how you want iTunes to make up the Playlist – randomly, most played, highest rated, etc. Finally, to make sure that iTunes adds new tracks to my Playlist automatically, click on ‘Live updating’.
Now the fun really starts, as you’re free to experiment with all manner of crazy variables. If you’re struggling for inspiration though, there’s a whole website that can help you - SmartPlaylists.com (image 3). To round up nicely, here are a couple more examples for you to play about with…
OLD GEMS
This Smart Playlist will contain songs that were once popular in your library and have a rating of three stars or above, but haven’t been played for at least six months.
Last Played is not in the last 6 months
Play Count is greater than 8
My Rating is greater than ***
CLASSIC COVERS
While this one looks for all songs that were written by Lennon and McCartney but weren’t performed by The Beatles. In other words, a Smart Playlist of Beatle covers.
Composer contains Lennon McCartney
Artist does not contain The Beatles
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1. If you add comments to your songs, then you can even use those in Smart Playlists. Just make sure that you pick ‘Comment’ from the first pull-down menu. |
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2. If you want to make a Smart Playlist for your nano or shuffle, then set a limit (as you would for a set number of tracks) and then click on the pull-down menu to choose the memory limit you need. |
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3. Your Smart Playlist can even be changed after you’ve made it. Select the one you want to alter and go to File > Edit Smart Playlist. |
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4. If you manage to create a masterpiece, then why not share it with the world? We have a section in our Forums that’s dedicated to Smart Playlists, where you can post your own and also check out some of the ones made by other iPlay Collective members. |
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