Playlists
Mac Tip #158/21-July-2004
Playlists are one of the most magnificent things about iTunes. You can mix and match tracks to suit yourself. You can set up music for every occasion and mood. And best of all, you’ll find yourself hearing the music anew.
I have playlists for going to sleep, for books I’m listening to, for my favourite tracks, tracks I haven’t heard for a while, and for particular themes.
There are two kinds of playlists: manual and “smart”, and of course there are various ways to go about creating the playlists.
It’s important though to distinguish between your library of music and a playlist. The library is like a room full of CDs. Importing a track and thereby adding it to your library is like buying a CD and storing it in the CD room.
A playlist though is like a piece of paper on which you’ve written the names of some tracks.
If you delete a track from the library then you remove it from your collection. If you delete a track from a playlist then it’s like erasing the name from your piece of paper.
Smart playlists meet several conditions of your choosing.
One way to add a manual playlist is to click on Library in the Source listing and then select some tracks. Then choose Select All from the Edit menu. Next choose New Playlist from selection from the File menu. Finally type in a name for the playlist. Depending on your selection the computer might suggest a name.
If you change your mind about the Playlist then you can delete it. The tracks themselves are safe on your computer.
A smart playlist is exactly that. Go to the File menu and choose New Smart Playlist…
Now you can choose all sorts of criteria. Make sure to click the plus sign at the end of one condition to be able to call up a further condition.
In my screenshot you can see I’ve compiled a list of 50 tracks I haven’t heard within the last week and where the Artist’s name contains LoDuca.
This is an extremely powerful feature. Go ahead and have a play!
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