Q: Smart playlists not live updating on Ipod classic

Smart playlists act like regular playlists on the iPod.  They are only "smart" (automated) in your iTunes library on the computer.  When you sync the iPod, the changes you made on the iPod, such as song Rating or play count, syncs back to your iTunes library.  Live updating immediately updates your smart playlists appropriately, and they are synced back to your iPod with any changes (during the same sync).

I have a test playlist that looks for tracks that I rate 5 stars. When I rate them on the Ipod it updates in the playlist without syncing.

Good to know.  I guess the iPod classic is "smart" enough to do handle that bit of processing...  My older "classic" iPods are just simple media players. 

cutoutcraig wrote:

 

Thank you for the reply.

 

Looking deeper into this, certain smart playlists do live update on the Ipod.

That is normal.

As a guide, I've found that the more complex a Smart Playlist, the less likely it is to update on the iPod itself.

They update fine on iTunes but I shouldn't need to sync it to update the smart playlists, otherwise they're not all that smart.

I wouldn't lose to much sleep over it, they are smart. It's simply a limitation of the iPod Classic, which is nowhere near as powerful as a desktop computer. Don't forget, if you Sync the iPod with your iTunes Library, using Smart Playlists will relieve you of a lot of work managing that Library. Simply plug it in, get on with something else, check back with iTunes to see if the Sync has completed and when it has, you're done!

As an example of how I manage my iPod, one particular playlist I have depends on five other Smart Playlists and it has the following rules:

1. Songs rated 4 or 5 stars, not played for 165 days (approximately five-and-a-half months)
2. Songs rated 3 stars, not played for seven months
3. Songs rated 2 stars, not played for 14 months
4. Sixty songs, not rated and not played for 18 months
5. Eighty songs not played since adding them to my Library

This Playlist effectively monitors the whole of my music Library and usually has approximately 500 songs in it (from a full Library of many thousands). It's little wonder that the iPod doesn't update it. It has a varied selection of music that suits my tastes and I use it all the time in my car. *

Meanwhile, my Sleep Playlist monitors a Playlist Folder, which contains 34 songs within eleven Regular Playlists. Once a song in the Regular Playlist is played, my iPod Classic will update the Sleep Playlist, removing that played song.

There may of course be a good reason for this... for example:

if you are playing your 2-star rated songs Playlist, and you change the current song's rating to 3 stars, then in theory, since it's no longer a 2-star rated song, it should immediately stop playing, which most people would find very annoying.

* updated after initial posting by the fiend

I have used Smart Playlists for years, and one that has worked perfectly up until Itunes 12.4 update.  Now it wont live update on the Classic.  Seems on another forum many are having the same issue, a Smart Playlist that worked fine for years up till Itunes 12.3, and as soon as 12.4 was installed, they quit live updating.  

I'm having the same problem.  My smart playlist would live update just fine until a recent iTunes update, and now it won't.

Try editing the properties of the list. There is a new section at the start of smart playlist rules that begins Match <Media Kind>. Evidence from other threads suggests you may need to set/alter this value and then sync again.

tt2

Okay, I tried messing with that, and I removed some of the playlist rules, since it seems I don't have to keep iTunes from putting old deleted podcasts in the list anymore.  Still not working right.

I'm going to try creating a brand new playlist and see if that works.

Same here.  Mine worked just fine until this iTunes update.

Is there any indication that Apple knows about this and cares to fix whatever they broke?

Didn't work.

Same here.  Just stopped live updating on my iPod even though it used to work.

iPod classic software version 2.0.5

Windows

iTunes 12.4.3.1

If you believe the iPod is not operating properly (something that previously worked does not work now), try doing a Reset (restart) on the iPod, if you have not already.

Learn how to reset your iPod - Apple Support  (See section iPod with a click wheel)

Hi Kenichi,

I have reset many times -- it has made no difference.  The symptom appeared after the new version of iTunes came out.

I've found that new versions of iTunes can change logic used to transact smart playlists that then in turn affect my Classic's smart playlist behavior.  (Or maybe Apple has added a sync parameter that I'm not aware of.  I don't see anything, but that doesn't mean it isn't buried somewhere new.)

As well, happily, new versions (such as the one that just came out) of iTunes can correct problems, such as my having to reset my Classic every time I would connect to my desktop and attempt to sync with my library.

Unfortunately, 12.4.3.1 didn't correct my smart playlist problem.  The list's logic is very simple: All conditions must be met.  Album name contains "Podcast".  Play count is "" (blank).  Live updating (checked off).  Within iTunes on my desktop, if I play an entry within this smart playlist, the entry drops off from the list because its play count is no longer null. e.g. it functions properly.

This doesn't happen when I play an entry from the smart playlist on my Classic.  The entry stays there even though the play count is no longer null.

Doug

I would use Media Kind is Podcast.  And Plays is 0 (zero).  That may make the processing simpler for the iPod to handle. 

My older iPod can't do any of that onboard processing for smart playlists.  I don't think "smart playlist" was an iTunes feature yet, when it was sold as new.  But it still works, because iTunes does the heavy lifting.  For your example, Plays becomes 1 on the iPod when I fully play podcast episode (but playlist does not change).  The next time I connect iPod and it syncs, the updated Plays data syncs to my iTunes library.  During that same sync, the smart playlist (in my iTunes library) gets updated to remove the played podcast episode, and (still during the same sync) the updated playlist syncs to the iPod removing the played episode from the iPod.

There was a recent change related to smart playlists.  In the screenshot above, note the setting (checkbox at the top) that starts with Match.  Before, that first dropdown selection (it says all media in screenshot) was not there.  Open the Edit Smart Playlist window for your smart playlist.  IF that dropdown selector says Podcasts in your case, try changing it to All Media.  That may allow the iPod to handle this smart playlist processing like before.