Looks like no one’s replied in a while. To start the conversation again, simply ask a new question.

Refreshing 'Random' Smart Playlist

Hi,

My iTunes library is too big to fit all of my songs onto my 4GB nano and I have made smart playlist which limits it to 800 songs so it can also fit some photos on, too.

It is all working fine so far, but I am unsure as to whether the smart playlist actually refreshes itself at all. Do I have to make a NEW 'Random' smart playlist everytime I want to update my iPod - or does it update itself as soon as I start itunes/plug my iPod in? If not, how can I make sure that it does?

Also, what is 'live updating' (I can select it whilst creating/editing a smart playlist)?

Any help would be much appreciated.

Posted on Sep 20, 2005 8:13 PM

Reply
8 replies

Sep 21, 2005 9:09 AM in response to Miss June

I am unsure as to whether the smart playlist actually refreshes itself at all.


A smart playlist cannot refresh itself unless you either manually delete songs from the playlist or else you have a rule to cause songs to drop off a playlist. If songs are not removed, there is nothing to be refreshed. Also, for playlists to be automatically refreshed, you need Live Updating checked.

The easiest way to force a refresh is to include a condition that causes the songs to drop off once they are played. One such condition is "Last Played is not in the last 30 days" (the number can vary). With this condition, you will only get tracks you haven't listened to recently. Another condition is "Last Played is not in the last 1 day". With this condition, only the music you have just listened to is dropped of the list. The condition "Limit to 800 songs selected by least often played" will rotate the music based on how often you have heard a track instead of when you last heard it. These are just some examples.

If you just want a randomized list, you could combine "Last Played is not in the last 1 day" with "Limit to 800 songs selected by random"

Another way to partially or completely refresh a playlist is to make a selection of tracks (for a partial refresh) or press Command-A (to refresh the entire playlist) and press Delete. All the songs selected will disappear and after a few seconds the list will be repopulated.

Sep 21, 2005 10:27 AM in response to Miss June

Miss June:

As the earlier poster replied, the Smart Playlist won't refresh itself until you either recreate it or change a condition.

If you really want to have a random playlist, you can build it off of the Party Shuffle function.

*Go to Party Shuffle in the souce menu, and set it to display 0 recently played songs and 800 upcoming songs.
*Right click on the Party Shuffle icon in the source menu, and select Export Song List
*Save the file as an .xml file on your desktop
*From the File Menu, select Import, and navigate to that .xml file, and click "Import"

You will now have a static playlist constructed from the random Party Shuffle. To refresh - go back to Party Shuffle and click on the Refresh button and repeat the export process (I'd delete or rename the original static playlist first, so you don't get confused when you import the new song list).

This took about 20 seconds to execute, and while it isn't as elegant as having a single Smart Playlist, you know you will get a new random selection every time you do this.

You may also want to try Block Party! from Doug's AppleScripts site.

Lita

Sep 21, 2005 10:43 AM in response to Lita Kaufman

Correct me, please, if I am wrong - but I don't think you can't manually add or delete songs to a smart playlist.


After just going to check on things in iTunes 5.0.1, I see you can no longer delete songs from a smart playlist. In iTunes 4.9 and earlier you could delete songs and I did so often to test replies to posts here. This was true of at least some of my smart playlists, such as the one I created as "Limit to 40 songs selected by least often played" (I don't recall testing deleting songs from such a playlist as "Artist is" or Genre is" with no other conditions and I can see how you wouldn't be able to delete in these lists). I just went and tried to delete songs in 5.0.1 and I can't. I had just assumed you could still manually delete songs, but with this update to iTunes my assumption was wrong.

After doing some testing, I found you can still delete songs from a smart playlist with the condition set to "Limit to (x number) songs selected by random".

You can still delete songs from Party Shuffle.

You could never manually add songs to a smart playlist.

Sep 21, 2005 11:47 AM in response to Lita Kaufman

An alternative is to use AppleScript to delete the tracks from a Smart Playlist. See: Refresh Live-Updating Smart Playlist on Doug's AppleScripts - Missing Menu Commands.

I've a Smart Playlist which depends on four other Smart Playlists, and they all need refreshing to update themselves correctly. I therefore created an AppleScript based on the one I mention above in order to do so.

Refreshing 'Random' Smart Playlist

Welcome to Apple Support Community
A forum where Apple customers help each other with their products. Get started with your Apple ID.