Shuffle options?

No.

You could try setting up a Smart Playlist in your iTunes Library, using the rule "playlist to contain songs with Play Count less than X". Then Sync that playlist to your iPod. Or you could set a Smart Playlist to exclude songs from the Playlist if they have been Played in the last X time.

In both cases, the Playlist will drop songs that no longer fit your criteria. With the "Play Count" list, the list will eventually empty out and you would then have to change the number of Plays (in the list) for it to fill up again.

But with the "Played is not in the last X" list, which I use, a song is dropped from the list once played and then added back into the list when the time you have chosen passes. Strangely enough, I was considering how best to arrange timing of this list just this morning. That is, how long do songs need to be excluded from the list so that the Playlist remains interesting and useable.

If either of these ideas appeal to you, let me know which one and I'll post the step-by-step instructions on how to do it - if I can remember my day-dreaming this morning 😁.

pmikk wrote:

can I set up a regular playlist including the songs I have hand-selected, and then have the smart playlist select from the first playlist based on the "played is not in the last X" criteria??

Yes you can. Needless to say, that "master list" needs to be on the iPod as well, but if you name it in an obvious way, then you'll know what it's doing there.

Your Smart Playlist can include songs from any other regular playlist, albums, genres and individual songs in any combination. I have not found any issues with that. Make sure though, that Playlist/is/<playlist name> has the exact spelling of the other Playlist. You probably knew that already, but I state it for other reader's benefit too. (I think I'm right in saying that if you subsequently re-name the master list, the Smart Playlist will pick that up without any effort from you.)

Note though, that I stated "regular playlists". In other words, not another Smart Playlist. I suggest that restriction because then it does become convoluted and you may find that one smart rule conflicts with another smart rule. But that shouldn't be much of a problem since you still have a lot of other options.

The thing I was musing about was the length of time to exclude songs from the Smart Playlist, and this is where you will have to experiment. Too long and the Smart Playlist list runs out of songs. Too short and songs reappear too quickly and may be played too often for your liking while excluding others.

So it's a trade off between the number of songs in your master list and how many you listen to a day or a week. The more songs in the master list, the longer you can exclude them from the Smart Playlist.

You've got nothing to lose by trying it, other than a bit of time. But didn't someone say we had all the time in the world? 😉

I'm pleased it works for you.

enjoy reading the forum, as always, since the users truly help each other out ... I've been using the "plays less than x" for long time. For a brief halcyon time the iPhone would actually drop off the song or video from the playlist after it played - didn't have to sync it with Tunes. That was lovely. Knew when the list(s) were empty it was time to sync again and add another number to the list. No more. So now it's like have to sync daily just to get the smart lists to adjust themselves. What a pain. I'll switch to the time range option and give that a shot.

Here's a bonus I've always wanted to see: a way to bookmark the playlists. Sometimes I don't want to shuffle! I'd like to listen to the music album by album! But if I happen to switch to another playlist - no good. I've lost my place on the phone. It really cannot be that hard but I guess it is. if y'all know of a way to handle that issue I'd appreciate it.

Win 7

HP

iPhone 4G

I admit that I have my iPod on shuffle most of the time, so even when using the self-regulating Playlist, I have no idea what's coming next.

But there is a curious issue that I have been trying to analyse.

On my iPod Classic, some of my Smart Playlists update as they are being used, while others do not, but I cannot work out why some do and some don't. For instance, if I return to the Smart Playlist that excludes songs once played, I expect the played songs to have been be dropped there and then, not when I Sync to iTunes. Likewise, if I change the rating for a song, it does disappear from the old rating Smart Playlist and get put into the new rating Smart Playlist while the song is playing.

So if this was something I could confidently predict, then going back to a Smart Playlist would "in effect", begin from where it left off - the very feature you want.

I also use an iPod Touch, but in a different way to the Classic. But I haven't yet invetsigated this issue of live updating of Playlists on the Touch. If I do work it out and find a solution that makes the process more precise, I'll let you know.

Glad to read your comments about the usefulness of the forum. We try our best to help.

pmikk,

I don't think you can view how many times a song has played on your iTouch, though you can on iTunes.

Shuffle should stay on for the playlist nomatter whether you stop or skip or anything, the shuffle will only turn off if you manualy turn it off.

~Lt. Leviathan

Your Welcom! I'm glad to help out. 🙂

~Lt. Leviathan

pmikk wrote:

... do I understand you correctly that the subsidiary playlist I created (the one that chooses songs from another playlist that have "plays less than #") only updates when I sync with iTunes? I was wondering, because it seems like songs I thought should have dropped off (due to multiple plays) are still there.

That's the issue.

Some lists appear to update without a Sync with iTunes, others do not. I'm trying to work out what causes the difference. I don't think it's when one list is dependent upon another.

In the end, it it's not the end of the world. But if we fully undertsood why, when and how the Smart Playlists are updated without Syncing, we'd have more control.