HappyPants wrote:
Why can't my criteria simply be limit size to 14800MB ...
So I guess checking random just selects random songs, it's not actually a criteria. So really that Should be a criteria....Random. Just that.
I Just want a certain number/size of random songs.
You have to have at least one criteria, which can be something as simple as "Bitrate Is Greater Than 1 kbps" which all your music would meet, then set it to select 14800MB selected at random. iTunes will grab 14800MB worth of songs, selected at random, but the contents won't change unless you include criteria that forces songs out of the playlist to be replaced. Otherwise, the playlist contents will never change. Make sense?
HappyPants wrote:
In my case I really don't want to use the criteria as you suggest, "last played is not in the last 'x' days" because sometimes I like to hear the same songs over and over again ... I just can't fit all my music on my ipod and wanted the nano for it's size. So the best solution for me is to just have it randomize my songs a bit every time I sync.
Then how is iTunes supposed to differentiate between the songs you like to hear over and over and other songs that it needs to select "at random"?
HappyPants wrote:
After some thought, I chose to do: last skipped is not in the last 1 day.
That should change quite frequently before putting a song back into the playlist, and it should keep the songs that I like listening to over and over.
Now you're thinking 😉
I still would like there to just be some way of just limiting the size and having it random though.
You
can do this (see my first suggestion in this post). However, what you're asking is for iTunes to somehow know what songs you want to keep on your iPod vs. the songs it is supposed to pick at random.
I would recommend you make a regular playlist (not smart) that holds the songs that you always want on your iPod, then a smart playlist that randomly selects from the rest of your music. In the smart playlist, include the criteria "playlist is not (other playlist name)" so that you don't double up on the same songs.
If you want to manage an iPod that is smaller than your library, I would recommend you spend some time reading an excellent paper on how to do this:
http://www.keepandshare.com/doc/view.php?id=1154607&da=y