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Level 1

112 points

Playlist sort order?

The iOS 5 update seems to have messed up playlist sort order again.

First, the lists themselves are sorting in yet another different way than in iTunes. I've been using special character (-, |, etc.) to force my lists into a particular order, getting my most important ones to the top. Now in iOS 5 these are all treated as whitespace and the sort order is just alphabetical regardless of leading characters.

Annoying.

Furthermore, I've noticed that some playlists seem messed up. I use one smart playlist that includes recent podcasts, putting the latest ones up top. But now it always syncs with the newest on the bottom, regardless of how I have sorting set in iTunes. Oddly, if I sort it alphabetically in iTunes then it will do the same in the iPhone. But sorting either by date or track number always goes in ascending, never decending, order.

Posted on Oct 14, 2011 11:05 PM

49 replies

tcb3

Level 1

4 points

Feb 12, 2012 4:05 PM in response to TNNT

This is exactly the problem i'm having, i have a playlist with the sort order from "date added" so i don't miss my newest stuff. Only on the iPhone it lists it from the oldest to the newest... of course i want the newest stuff on top like it is in my iTunes playlist. Not a problem on my Nano.

Feb 15, 2012 10:39 AM in response to tcb3

I just got an ipod touch.

I have a bunch of playlists, some smart that are sorted by BPM, others I need in a particular order. Problem is that after syncing the order on the ipod touch is not the same as on my macbook in itunes.

Has this problem existed forever?

Will it be fixed?

I also have an ipod classic that works perfectly the playlist order matches itunes after a sync.

Rysz

Level 8

44,391 points

Feb 15, 2012 10:43 AM in response to Ken Stone2

It's an issue with iOS. If you wish to submit feedback to Apple, you can do so here:

http://www.apple.com/feedback/

Feb 15, 2012 10:54 AM in response to Rysz

Thanks Rysz I'll do that.

Stema001

Level 1

128 points

Feb 15, 2012 11:07 AM in response to Robert Hurt1

Dear Apple Community!

Actually I have an iPhone 4S (iOS 5.0.1) and a correct created intelligent "Recently added Playlist". Unfortunately iTunes (10.5.3) is syncing this playlist the opposite way (reversed) to the iPhone. To my iPod (3rd Generation) it's syncing correctly. (In iTunes the playlist is also shown correclty!)

I also tried to recreate the playlist several times, but this doesn't help.

Is this a bug of iOS 5.0.1 or do I have made a wrong set up? If I set it up in a wrong way, how could it be that it is synced correctly to the iPod?

In advance I thank you for any help or request.

Rysz

Level 8

44,391 points

Feb 15, 2012 11:09 AM in response to Stema001

How about just reading the previous posts in this discussion, rather than asking the same questions again?

Stema001

Level 1

128 points

Feb 15, 2012 11:17 AM in response to Rysz

Well, I've read the previous posts, but they didn't helped me...

The "correct answer" is completely helpless.

I have the correct settings.

TNNT

Level 1

0 points

Feb 17, 2012 3:49 PM in response to Rysz

Is it safe to assume that they (Apple) blatantly know about the issue now? If so, it just seems so weird that it wouldn't be fixed by now considering that it was something that worked for so long before this....

Robert Hurt1 Author

Level 1

112 points

Feb 17, 2012 4:33 PM in response to TNNT

Well, we will find out in a couple weeks when 5.1 comes out. I reported this on the feedback page when I first discovered it. The chance of Apple noticing scales with the number of people who do the same.

Apple did not seem particularly concered with bug fixes in 5.0.x other than security issues. Hopefully they at least will care enough to deal with it on a major incremental update.

Feb 18, 2012 5:54 AM in response to Robert Hurt1

After several month of anoying scrolling on my iPhone I almost got used to the skipped sorting of playlists. But surprise surprise today this changed. I really don't know what I did, but now my playlists and inteligent playlists are in order on my iPhone.

Here is what I can remember:

- My iPhone has iOS 5.0.1 on it (no changes recently)

- I updated to iTunes 15.5.3 yesterday

- I opened and saved the settings of my inteligent playlists (I was just checking the settings)

- I synced my iPhone wired because of a huge file transfer to be fast (normally I do it over the air - WiFi)

Surprisingly my Playlists are now in order and managing the playlists is updating automatically after syncing. I can't tell you exactly what solved the issue but I'd guess it is either fixed with iTunes 15.5.3 or it's the combination of iOS 5.0.1 and iTunes 15.5.3.

Can anyone of you confirm this...?

Feb 18, 2012 6:34 AM in response to chieferson

I have iPod Touch 5.0.1 and iTunes 10.5.3 (3) no luck with having the playlists in the correct order.

Also I've looked around on the iPod itself for a place to disable shuffle but I don't see it.

jsiddo

Level 1

5 points

Feb 22, 2012 10:51 AM in response to Robert Hurt1

I have figured out a pretty easy solution that worked for me...

I have a 'faves' playlist that I have sorted by "Date Added" on iTunes with the newest songs first. No matter what I did, I could not get the same sort order on my iPhone, it would always be different. After a ton of frustration here's what I did that worked:

- Create a new playlist

- Make sure that the songs in the old playlist are in the order that you want them. Then drag them all into the new playlist.

- Delete the old playlist

- Sync with iPod/iPhone

When I synced my iPhone after doing this, all the songs in the new playlist were in the correct order.

Why this works I have no idea. For some reason, you have to start with a new playlist to get it to work. It just didn't like the existing one for whatever reason...

Hope this helps someone. :-)

Mar 13, 2012 3:21 PM in response to Ken Stone2

I just updated the ipod to 5.1 then synced. Play lists are still out of order.

It seems like shuffle is turned on and there is no way to turn it off.

May 5, 2012 1:18 AM in response to jsiddo

THANK YOU SO MUCH!

This worked wonders for me. You were able to fix something the genius bar couldn't thank you tons!

kiki19

Level 1

0 points

May 10, 2012 7:48 PM in response to Robert Hurt1

I just updated to 5.1.1 and I don't seem to have a problem with song sorting within playlists, but the playlists themselves won't sort correctly in the Music app, though they do sort correctly in iTunes (10.6.1.7). Like other posters, I also use special characters to sort my playlists and would really like to have that functionality back. Perhaps it's not fair to say, because I'm not a programmer, but it seems to me this a basic user requirement that should be a relatively easy/fast fix to make on Apple's end.

Playlist sort order?