Rudolfensis
Level 1 (47 points)

Q: Playlists missing from Smart Playlist drop-down

I recently did a clean install of Lion, and copied over my iTunes library — everything works, except, when I look at the settings of Smart Playlist that I made before, it's source (normal) playlist's name is simply a line in the drop-down: —————

 

Screen Shot 2011-08-21 at 19.07.22.png

 

The playlist is meant to be called "Workout". When I rename it, all of a sudden, it does in fact appear there — without me selecting it.

 

When I click the drop down, it's not there, and 3 other playlists are also missing:

 

Screen Shot 2011-08-21 at 19.07.59.png

 

These playlists are missing (from the sidebar in iTunes):

 

Screen Shot 2011-08-21 at 19.09.29.png

 

How do I fix this without having to rename all my playlists?

 

(If I rename them to something else, it fixes it, but when I rename them back — it happens again! How weird is that?)

MacBook Pro, Mac OS X (10.7)

Posted on Aug 21, 2011 10:15 AM

by Rudolfensis,Solvedanswer
Rudolfensis Rudolfensis
Level 1 (47 points)
A:

Figured it out! This is not a solution, but basically, I found that all of a sudden iTunes (in Lion) doesn't like playlists that are called the same name... even if they're in different folders, and even if one is a Smart Playlist and the other just a regular Playlist.

 

The solution, for now: rename the playlists to be something different (even putting a space after the name works).

 

(Even a Playlist Folder and a Playlist can't be called the same.)

Posted on Aug 23, 2011 9:59 AM

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Rudolfensis

Q: Playlists missing from Smart Playlist drop-down

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  • Helpful answers

  • by turingtest2,Helpful

    turingtest2 turingtest2 Aug 22, 2011 10:39 AM in response to Rudolfensis
    Level 10 (86,362 points)
    Apple TV
    Aug 22, 2011 10:39 AM in response to Rudolfensis

    That's a new one on me... Probably best to duplicate the current lists, change the rules of dependent smart playlists to link to the new copies, delete the originals, then rename them.

     

    Option-(or cmd)-click on a playlist should give you a context menu with a Duplicate playlist function. Duplicate your Workout playlist, then look at each Smart Playlist that refers to Workout and link the relevant rule to Workout 1 instead. Delete the Workout playlist and rename Workout 1 as Workout.

     

    Hopefully that will fix it, even if it doesn't explain why. If it works repeat for the other playlists.

     

    tt2

  • by Rudolfensis,

    Rudolfensis Rudolfensis Aug 22, 2011 1:19 PM in response to turingtest2
    Level 1 (47 points)
    Aug 22, 2011 1:19 PM in response to turingtest2

    Hi, thanks but that's the first thing I tried (probably should have mentioned it in my post).

     

    Even if I make a new playlist with nothing or something else in it, and call it "Workout", or any of the other ones (Cardio, Recent, etc.), all of a sudden it becomes invisible in the drop-down in Smart Playlists.

     

    If I move it somewhere else — like inside another folder (refer below to see how I've organized) — it still gets ignored. It just doesn't like the names for some reason... happened after upgrading to Lion (though I did a clean install and dragged over my iTunes folder from a Time Machine backup).

     

    Screen Shot 2011-08-22 at 22.15.24.png

    Perhaps instead I should restore from the backup differently? For example, open the ~/Music folder, then open Time Machine.app, and restore that folder through that? I always thought that manually dragging the "Latest" backup from the disk should do the trick the same way? Or can files be somehow excluded?

     

    Though I don't see how it could have caused this problem — as for example, all of my songs and everything (old or new) did get transfered over.

  • by Chris CA,

    Chris CA Chris CA Aug 22, 2011 1:31 PM in response to Rudolfensis
    Level 9 (79,577 points)
    iPhone
    Aug 22, 2011 1:31 PM in response to Rudolfensis

    You don't need to restore the entire iTunes folder.

    I'd start by reinstalling iTunes.

     

    Then, if still not working, restore just the iTunes library.itl file.

     

    If still not working, quit iTunes and drag

    ~/Library/iTunes/Preferences/com.apple.iTunes.plist to the desktop and launch iTunes.

  • by Rudolfensis,

    Rudolfensis Rudolfensis Aug 22, 2011 1:47 PM in response to Chris CA
    Level 1 (47 points)
    Aug 22, 2011 1:47 PM in response to Chris CA

    The new update for iTunes did not help: http://support.apple.com/kb/DL1426

     

    I tried all of those except re-installing iTunes... I'm running on a Mac. Should I just delete the iTunes.app?

  • by Rudolfensis,

    Rudolfensis Rudolfensis Aug 22, 2011 1:53 PM in response to Chris CA
    Level 1 (47 points)
    Aug 22, 2011 1:53 PM in response to Chris CA

    Is there a way to just make iTunes reset itself somehow.. something similar to how you can start iPhoto by holding down a few keys and reset thumbnails, caches, etc.?

     

    Somehow make iTunes check itself and the library?

  • by Chris CA,

    Chris CA Chris CA Aug 22, 2011 2:46 PM in response to Rudolfensis
    Level 9 (79,577 points)
    iPhone
    Aug 22, 2011 2:46 PM in response to Rudolfensis

    Somehow make iTunes check itself and the library?

    Not really.

    Try this.

    Quit iTunes.

    Drag /Music/iTunes/iTunes library.itl file to the desktop. (Do not delete it)

     

    Launch iTunes.

    It should rebuild the iTunes library.itlfile using the iTunes library.xml file.

    If it doesn't, File > Library > Import playlist and select /Music/iTunes/iTunes library.xml.

  • by Rudolfensis,

    Rudolfensis Rudolfensis Aug 22, 2011 2:49 PM in response to Chris CA
    Level 1 (47 points)
    Aug 22, 2011 2:49 PM in response to Chris CA

    It should rebuild the iTunes library.itlfile using the iTunes library.xml file.

    Do you mean that it should show my iTunes library exactly how it was before? Because it doens't, it looks as if I'd have bought a new Mac without any music.

     

    If it doesn't, File > Library > Import playlist and select /Music/iTunes/iTunes library.xml.

     

    Will rebuilding based on the xml file put everything back the same way, e.g., date added, etc.?

  • by Chris CA,Helpful

    Chris CA Chris CA Aug 22, 2011 2:52 PM in response to Rudolfensis
    Level 9 (79,577 points)
    iPhone
    Aug 22, 2011 2:52 PM in response to Rudolfensis

    Everything should be there.

    I don't believe Date Added will be what it was (it will be now).

     

    However, you can quit iTunes and copy the original iTunes library.itl from the desktop back to the iTunes folder (whic is why you do NOT delete it) and everything will be exactly as it is now.

  • by Rudolfensis,

    Rudolfensis Rudolfensis Aug 22, 2011 3:17 PM in response to Chris CA
    Level 1 (47 points)
    Aug 22, 2011 3:17 PM in response to Chris CA

    Thanks. By the way, I had an intricate network of Smart Playlists set up — and thought perhaps that's the problem. What I did was find out which playlists weren't showing, and duplicate them — leaving their names as the new one. I then went and updated all the playlists that needed updating to suit the new ones. Deleted the old ones and took a look. The results are interesting.

     

    Here is what was invisible before (marked red):

     

    Screen Shot 2011-08-22 at 22.48.47.png  Screen Shot 2011-08-22 at 22.49.19.png

    (basically, the playlists in the "Smartly Recent" folder at the bottom generally used the normal playlists in the "Original" folder as their sources, plus a few gimmicks — like only the most recently added, etc.)

     

    So after all that tweaking and re-doing I did... all of them became visible. So it can't be the rules I'm applying... it just doens't like the names! Blacklisted...

     

    (I have an iPod shuffle, and have limited space, so that's why I have these intricate playlists.)

  • by Rudolfensis,Solvedanswer

    Rudolfensis Rudolfensis Aug 23, 2011 9:59 AM in response to turingtest2
    Level 1 (47 points)
    Aug 23, 2011 9:59 AM in response to turingtest2

    Figured it out! This is not a solution, but basically, I found that all of a sudden iTunes (in Lion) doesn't like playlists that are called the same name... even if they're in different folders, and even if one is a Smart Playlist and the other just a regular Playlist.

     

    The solution, for now: rename the playlists to be something different (even putting a space after the name works).

     

    (Even a Playlist Folder and a Playlist can't be called the same.)