Downtown Seattle, as seen from Aurora. Downtown Seattle, as seen from Aurora.

Seattle, WA
May 1, 2006
Apple | Cool | Disney | Entertainment | Fitness | Geek | Microsoft | Politics | Seattle Storm | Transit | Travel | UW MBA

« London, Reloaded: Day One | Main | London, Reloaded: Day Two »

June 26, 2006

Best. iTunes. Playlist. Ever.

The best iTunes playlist, ever
OK, I have discovered an incredibly cool iTunes playlist that I'd like to share.

It goes like this. Of late, the music I listen to has been feeling a little stale - the same stuff (Chicane, anyone?), over and over. So, making use of the iTunes Smart Playlist feature, I told iTunes to start serving me up some stuff that I liked, but hadn't listened to in a while. Specifically, I told it to give me songs that hadn't been played since last year, and that I'd rated with at least two stars or more.

(I'm a little embarrassed to note that some 45% of all my songs fit into this classification.)

Now that I've had this playlist for a bit, I can recommend it unreservedly. It's fabulous. Listening to it keeps delivering moments of, "Oh! I love this song!". I feel like I'm reconnecting with my music in a big, big way.

If your iPod is starting to feel a little repetitive, you might try this yourself. Just do the following:

  • Boot iTunes.
  • Go to the "File" menu and select "New Smart Playlist...". A window will appear.
  • Select "Artist" from the pop-up list and change it to "Last Played". Set the criteria picker to "is before" and give it a date that represents how far back you want to go (I chose 1/1/06).
  • Click the plus sign.
  • In the new pop-up, select "My Rating". Set the criteria picker to "is greater than" and then give the system a minimum-star threshold. Note that the star you pick will not be played - and you have to have rated your music for this to work. (You've rated your music, right?)
  • Click the plus sign.
  • In the new pop-up, select "Kind". Set the criteria picker to "does not contain" and then type "video" in the box. This prevents iTunes from adding video files (movies, TV shows, music videos) into the playlist.
  • Click OK, and give your Playlist a name. (I called mine, "Stuff I Like, But Don't Listen To That Much.")

Enjoy!

UPDATE, November 10, 2006: One or more of the original hyperlinks on this page expired, and has been dereferenced. The hyperlinked text is now underlined.

Posted by Gavin Shearer at June 26, 2006 8:45 AM. Posted to Apple | Entertainment.

Comments

More fun still - "limit to 25 songs selected by random" and it then gives you a rolling 25 track list - because as soon as you have played the first track it no longer meets the original criteria.

Somehow the 25 track list is easier to comprehend.

Posted by: Ian Yorston Author Profile Page at September 27, 2006 4:15 PM

Post a comment

Thanks for signing in, . Now you can comment. (sign out)

(If you haven't left a comment here before, you may need to be approved by the site owner before your comment will appear. Until then, it won't appear on the entry. Thanks for waiting.)


Remember me?


« London, Reloaded: Day One | Main | London, Reloaded: Day Two »

Copyright © 2004 - 2008, Gavin Shearer. All rights reserved.
The views and opinions expressed on this Web site are mine alone, and do not necessarily reflect the position(s) of any organization(s) I may be affiliated with.