Smart Playlist not working right after sync

Question

Level 1

5 points

Smart Playlist not working right after sync

Ok, I need a bit of help. I'm going crazy with the playlists on my new Touch.

Here's the scenario:

- I create a 'dumb' playlist with content defined by another series of smart playlists (I do this by pasting into dumb list)
- I create a smart playlist in Itunes pulling from the dumb list the 100 songs that have been added most recently that are also unrated

At this point all looks as expected in ITunes in the library display and the playlist even looks correct on the expanded display of the Touch in the Device list.

The problem is that as soon as I disconnect the Touch and look at the playlist on the device, the tracks do not match at all. As a matter of fact the tracks shown in that last playlist should belong in a pool of oldest added tracks that are not rated. It's like it's reversing the logic on the device. I mean it's not even having a chance to have a live updating issue. Shouldn't the tracks before playing at all match what's shown in Itunes playlist???

Can anyone try to replicate on a Touch?

Windows XP

Posted on Sep 14, 2007 3:01 PM

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Answer 1

toonz

Level 7

22,360 points

Sep 14, 2007 4:58 PM in response to Tim Watts

I'm seeing this behavior too. It appears that the iPod is processing the criteria of the smart playlist on its own and coming up with a different group of songs. I suspect that this is because it is using the date that the songs were added to the iPod's library, rather than iTunes' library. Interesting.

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Answer 2

Tim Watts Author

Level 1

5 points

Sep 14, 2007 6:50 PM in response to toonz

From my testing it seems to be using the dates from ITunes fine, it's just that the date based rules for selected by seem to all futzed up once the playlist makes it's way to the Touch. Like I said, Least Recently Added in the ITouch turns to Most Recently Added and vice versa. Least Recently Played is off to but it does not seem to be Most recently played either.

What is the best way to officially report this as a bug? This has to get fixed. I'm a SPL junkie.

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Answer 3

Sep 14, 2007 7:31 PM in response to Tim Watts

My iPod touch added whatever it wanted to my 2 only smart playlists. Called Apple and did not knoe anything about it and said I should wait for more people to report it and get a software update. Hate it since my smart playlist is of the most recently added songs.

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Answer 4

Tim Watts Author

Level 1

5 points

Sep 14, 2007 7:42 PM in response to Jeffrey Smithers

Well didn't you calling count as reporting it?? Is there a more official way to do this?

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Answer 5

Tim Watts Author

Level 1

5 points

Sep 15, 2007 4:16 AM in response to Tim Watts

Ok, new bug I discovered when syncing to playlists: Only songs where you change ratings update last played date/time on ITunes when synced.
These issues are really ticking me off. The device right now is a $400 paperweight! I cannot use it with smart playlists and since smart playlists are how I justified listening to my large library on a 16gb device. Ugh!

Please someone advise the best way to officially report.

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Answer 6

toonz

Level 7

22,360 points

Sep 15, 2007 8:51 AM in response to Tim Watts

I'm not seeing this problem. Last played dates are updating just fine for me.

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Answer 7

totaljoe

Level 1

0 points

Sep 15, 2007 4:43 PM in response to Tim Watts

I see this problem after trying to sync a smart playlist of top 25 most played songs. The list looks find in iTunes, but on the touch the list appears to be completely random.

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Answer 8

Tim Watts Author

Level 1

5 points

Sep 15, 2007 5:11 PM in response to toonz

Yeah, today the last play date is updating. Not sure what happened last night, about an hours worth of play data never synced.

I'll have to keep an eye on this. The problem is that my playlists are so messed up on the Touch.

By the way, this was posted from my Touch.

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Answer 9

toonz

Level 7

22,360 points

Sep 15, 2007 5:29 PM in response to Tim Watts

By the way, this was posted from my Touch.

Not exactly a paperweight, huh?

:-P

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Answer 10

Tim Watts Author

Level 1

5 points

Sep 15, 2007 6:00 PM in response to toonz

LOL - Point taken. The last played updating makes a big difference but I still know it didn't work last night for some reason.

The thing that may help explain my level of frustration is that the very way I convinced myself that I could listen to music the way i like on only 16gb was by using a series of SMART playlists.

Until the playlist logic is fixed, it may not be a $400 paperweight, but it isnt much of an IPod either.

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Answer 11

toonz

Level 7

22,360 points

Sep 15, 2007 9:58 PM in response to Tim Watts

So you know, I've alerted the appropriate folks about the smart playlist issue you initially reported.

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Answer 12

Sep 18, 2007 9:04 AM in response to totaljoe

Totaljoe....that is exactly my problem. All playlists transfer perfectly except my 3 smart ones one of which is 30 most played. The funny thing is that the actual song on them where probably the 30 most played about 3 months ago.

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Answer 13

Sep 19, 2007 12:41 AM in response to Jeffrey Smithers

Same here, this is REALLY bad. I can live with the screen issues, but the only way I can live with 16gb is smart smart-playlist support. This is awful. Does the iPhone suffer the same SP problems?

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Answer 14

JuTipton

Level 1

0 points

Sep 19, 2007 1:53 PM in response to Christopher Lang

Yep, I'm seeing this same thing. Googled it, and got this thread. This is quite a big problem. This bug is almost a showstopper in my mind, but Apple apparently thinks differently, they aparently want to trade off time to market for software quality.

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Answer 15

Sep 21, 2007 7:41 AM in response to Tim Watts

Yeah, I find this a big deal too, and personally...I just want to return the ipod and repurchase in about 3 months. This is very disappointing.

I realize everyone says not to but first gen products, but please...you shouldn't have to be leery of a gadget you just dropped $400 on. This is ridiculous.

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