There is no denying that iPod and iTunes have become household names. And with that element, comes the need for playlists. Creating a playlist can be as simple as dragging and dropping music tracks into your playlist folder. However, if you want to get creative, while letting iTunes do all of the post-creation maintenance for you, I suggest learning to utilize the feature known as Smart Playlists. Smart playlists can make life much easier when it comes to listening to your music, and is much easier to manage than a manually created dumb playlist. Here I will share one example of a smart playlist that should work for everyone. It will keep the unwanted music away, while always keeping the tracks you want at your disposal.
The first step is to create a playlist that eliminates the majority of songs that you don't want in your normal rotation when you listen to your music. We all have those songs that we don't want to get rid of, yet we don't want to always listen to them either. We can approach this process of elimination by cutting the Genres that we don't want to appear in our playlist. Let's say, for instance, you don't want to hear any Classical or Country music while you exercise. Seeing as how Christmas has come and gone, we can toss out the Holiday music as well.
First, you define the conditions. For this particular example the conditions would be, 'Genre does not contain Holiday', 'Genre does not contain Classical', and 'Genre does not contain Country'. Make sure that you are matching 'all of the rules', and not 'any of the rules'. This is very important because it states that 'all' conditions must be met in order for a song to appear in your playlist. Whereas if you were matching 'any' of the the rules, a song could make it into the list that does not contain one of those conditions, but still contains one of the other two, thus making the playlist pointless.
If you are limited on space, or you just don't want your playlist to be too huge, you can set a limit. In this particular example, we are limiting the playlist to the 250 most recently added items (tracks). You can also limit by size, as opposed to number of items. For example, say you were trying to fill a 4 GB iPod Nano, you could limit your playlist to 3500 MB (3.5 GB). Make sure you have some space remaining for other data on your iPod. Checking the 'Live updating' box, ensures that your playlist will stay up to date. As you add new music to your collection, the playlist will update for you.
The following picture indicates what the configuration of the smart playlist should look like. As mentioned, some aspects can be changed to suit your needs, but this should give you a general idea. Click the picture for a larger view.
Now, we have a playlist set up that provides you with only the most recent songs that you want to hear, and none of the music that you don't want. However, due to the limitation, whether it be by size or by number of items, you may have cut some of the older works of your favorite artists. Regardless of how long ago the songs were added to your library, you may want them to always show up in your playlist.
To ensure that these songs are always available to you, we can create a second playlist. This time the conditions will specify a list of artists. For this example, we will use the conditions, 'Artist is Paramore', 'Artist is Jay Z', and 'Artist is Linkin Park'. We want to make sure we are matching 'any of the following rules', as it will guarantee us, that in order for a song to appear in this playlist, it must contain any of the artists listed. We also want to un-check the Limit box. This will ensure that every song by each artist is included in the playlist. Keep 'Live updating' checked, so that as you add songs to your library, they will be added to this playlist.
So, now you have two playlists set up. One that defines what Genres to exclude, and one that indicates specific Artists to include. Of course, the concept of having two separate playlists is not very appealing. If only there were a way to take the results of both playlists and merge them together. Actually, this can be accomplished quite easily by creating a third and final smart playlist.
Finally, your goal is to take both playlists and merge them together. This time, define your conditions to state, Playlist is 'Genre Playlist' and Playlist is 'Artist Playlist'. This may vary based on what you named your first two playlists. Also, be sure 'match any of the following rules', and do not set a limitation. Basically what you have here, is a playlist that takes the results of the first two playlists and combines them into one.
There you have, one playlist that should meet all your essential music listening needs. Of course, everyone is different and we all have our own preferences when listening to our music. I highly encourage you to experiment with smart playlists, and see what kind of gems you can create. If you have any suggestions, or would like to share your own smart playlists, please share in the comments.
The first step is to create a playlist that eliminates the majority of songs that you don't want in your normal rotation when you listen to your music. We all have those songs that we don't want to get rid of, yet we don't want to always listen to them either. We can approach this process of elimination by cutting the Genres that we don't want to appear in our playlist. Let's say, for instance, you don't want to hear any Classical or Country music while you exercise. Seeing as how Christmas has come and gone, we can toss out the Holiday music as well.
First, you define the conditions. For this particular example the conditions would be, 'Genre does not contain Holiday', 'Genre does not contain Classical', and 'Genre does not contain Country'. Make sure that you are matching 'all of the rules', and not 'any of the rules'. This is very important because it states that 'all' conditions must be met in order for a song to appear in your playlist. Whereas if you were matching 'any' of the the rules, a song could make it into the list that does not contain one of those conditions, but still contains one of the other two, thus making the playlist pointless.
If you are limited on space, or you just don't want your playlist to be too huge, you can set a limit. In this particular example, we are limiting the playlist to the 250 most recently added items (tracks). You can also limit by size, as opposed to number of items. For example, say you were trying to fill a 4 GB iPod Nano, you could limit your playlist to 3500 MB (3.5 GB). Make sure you have some space remaining for other data on your iPod. Checking the 'Live updating' box, ensures that your playlist will stay up to date. As you add new music to your collection, the playlist will update for you.
The following picture indicates what the configuration of the smart playlist should look like. As mentioned, some aspects can be changed to suit your needs, but this should give you a general idea. Click the picture for a larger view.
Now, we have a playlist set up that provides you with only the most recent songs that you want to hear, and none of the music that you don't want. However, due to the limitation, whether it be by size or by number of items, you may have cut some of the older works of your favorite artists. Regardless of how long ago the songs were added to your library, you may want them to always show up in your playlist.
To ensure that these songs are always available to you, we can create a second playlist. This time the conditions will specify a list of artists. For this example, we will use the conditions, 'Artist is Paramore', 'Artist is Jay Z', and 'Artist is Linkin Park'. We want to make sure we are matching 'any of the following rules', as it will guarantee us, that in order for a song to appear in this playlist, it must contain any of the artists listed. We also want to un-check the Limit box. This will ensure that every song by each artist is included in the playlist. Keep 'Live updating' checked, so that as you add songs to your library, they will be added to this playlist.
So, now you have two playlists set up. One that defines what Genres to exclude, and one that indicates specific Artists to include. Of course, the concept of having two separate playlists is not very appealing. If only there were a way to take the results of both playlists and merge them together. Actually, this can be accomplished quite easily by creating a third and final smart playlist.
Finally, your goal is to take both playlists and merge them together. This time, define your conditions to state, Playlist is 'Genre Playlist' and Playlist is 'Artist Playlist'. This may vary based on what you named your first two playlists. Also, be sure 'match any of the following rules', and do not set a limitation. Basically what you have here, is a playlist that takes the results of the first two playlists and combines them into one.
There you have, one playlist that should meet all your essential music listening needs. Of course, everyone is different and we all have our own preferences when listening to our music. I highly encourage you to experiment with smart playlists, and see what kind of gems you can create. If you have any suggestions, or would like to share your own smart playlists, please share in the comments.
