iPod Critical Mass

You're not alone, at least as to part of your comment. I'm on eMusic's Connoisseur 200 plan (200 downloads a month), which is a use-'em-or-lose-'em plan. Because I don't want to needlessly lose the credits, sometimes I'll download in a short period more than I can listen to, or at least really digest and appreciate. So lots of songs turn up as happy, new surprises when I put my iPod Classic on shuffle.

But that's okay. It means I've got stuff to look forward to whenever I'm randomly flipping through my iPod.

I'm finding it helps to make a playlist for any new album, and to be vigilant about deleting the list when I've listened a few times and can actually remember that the record is on there.

One function I wish the (at least my) iPod had is the ability to see a list of the most recently downloaded albums/songs. That way, I could easily locate what I downloaded in a feverish rush and give those new discs the attention they deserve.

can't u just create a 'smart' playlist for that?

Maybe. Will investigate. I want a self-generating list (like "Most Listened-To Songs"), so I don't have to do the work, and I'm not sure the "smart playlist" feature will do that.

yeah i have a "new music" smart playlist, though plenty still slips by me.

"Date Added is in the last 7 days" live updating

I guess if you've got a recently added playlist and you recently added a shit ton of songs it wouldn't be very helpful.

ha xp

i also use the genre tag to label music sort of based on how I acquired it and whether I've decided yet that I want to keep it. It's a weird system I invented, but I wasn't using the genre tag for its intended purpose anyway, and that allows me to go into my iPod and just listen to "shit I've downloaded but not listened to (enough) yet"

I'm working on it now (thanks for the tip), but the problem Wilter mentions is what I'm facing. That is, my smart playlist options seem to be limited to recently-added "items," i.e. songs, rather than recently-added "albums," which is what I want. Any way to correct this?

Click the smart playlist option and then choose "album" in the pulldown menu. It should allow you to make a list named for the album and add all its tracks.

One useful smart playlist for me is:

date added is not in the last 1 month and play count is 0

Put that one on random and it's all stuff you've probably forgotten you had.

The "Album" option is in the same pull-down screen as "Date Added." Choosing the former necessarily eliminates the latter.

Am I missing another pull-down screen or option?

(xp)

BTW, I like Drench's suggestion, too. Gives priority to the lost items.

i pretty much don't download more than just a track here and there from blogs (and theyre usually things i already have on wax or things i am looking for on wax) and i dont use bit torrent at all. i download strictly deejay mixes for the most part, and even that can get out of hand. but i feel less bad about deleting them after i have checked them a couple times. my peak period of downloading music was from like 01-03 when i used slsk to grab house, techno, and electro that i was looking for on vinyl. since i have either bought most of the stuff i got or added it to my permanent mental wants list, i have just been keeping up with real music buying.

i used to have this problem with my 80GB ipod. Then it broke and I got an iphone with 4GB and started listening on that. Forced me to be more attentive.

If you choose "album," you can type in the title and it'll automatically load it all into the list.

One useful smart playlist for me is:

date added is not in the last 1 month and play count is 0

Put that one on random and it's all stuff you've probably forgotten you had.

-- drench, Wednesday, June 11, 2008 10:28 PM (38 minutes ago) Bookmark Link

This is a good tip, actually -- I only have a 30G, but I know I have not listened to all these albums all the way to the end.

Is there a way to browse artists and albums within a playlist? That's what I am really looking for. To go to a smart playlist that has 200 songs in it and just start combing through them seems like a waste of time.

What I mean is, once you open a playlist, does the iPod force you to look only at song titles.

I have four smart playlists that work out really well for me...

100 Newer: Play Count is not zero. Last played in the last 30 days. Limited to 100 selected by random (random plow through recent songs I've kept)

100 Older: Play Count is not zero. Last played is not in the last 120 days. Limited to 100 selected by random (stuff I haven't heard in awhile)

100 Unplayed: Play count is zero. Limited to 100 items selected by least recently added (tracks I may have forgotten)

New Albums: Play count is zero. Limited to 200 items selected by most recently added (large enough selection to cover complete album. I have this sorted by album)

Is there a way to browse artists and albums within a playlist? That's what I am really looking for

Not on the iPod, but in iTunes you can go to View -> Album View

Oddly enough, when I got my iPhone as a replacement for my iPod, I used it even less for music listening (and my iPod use was starting to be fairly limited). We'll see how often I do use it for music on the upcoming trip. So rather than critical mass I'm content to stay away from both the drowning-in-info model and the 'must listen to the new stuff this INSTANT' approach. If I ever ended up with a basic little shuffle I might use it for the latter, though.

We'll see how often I do use it for music on the upcoming trip.

Ah, see... I get this little 30-50 minute forced trip twice a day every weekday. And without an iPod, I would just listen to train noise.

But I don't have ANY smart playlists! I am not getting the most out of my fine Apple products!

I think it's the name that turns me off. "Smart." I balk. "Oh, a wise guy, eh?"

<cough> ...NARC! ...<cough>

(kidding)

I get this little 30-50 minute forced trip twice a day every weekday

Hey, I do the same with the bus. But I don't feel the impulse to always plug in on the way in and back. Very rarely, actually.

I dunno... it's certainly the thing to do. It's mot like I'm going to strike up any conversations anyway. Of course, we are all collectively making that impossible even if it's possible that we *might* do that one day...

At least I know I am not alone in my self-imposed seclusion.

That is, my smart playlist options seem to be limited to recently-added "items," i.e. songs, rather than recently-added "albums," which is what I want. Any way to correct this?

-- Daniel, Esq., Thursday, June 12, 2008 3:25 AM (4 hours ago) Bookmark Link

Whenever I rip or download an album into iTunes, I put the word "Album" in the Comments field of each song on the album. Then create a smart playlist (called Newest Albums), where Comment Contains "Album" and Date Added is in the last 2 weeks. In your Recently Added smart playlist, just add a rule that says Comment Does Not Contain "Album".

Now you've got 2 playlists, one with newest albums, one with newest tracks.

Using the comments field is the most powerful way to create really flexible smart playlists.
I have thought too much about this in the past. I even wrote a little metadata standard for adding extra info in the comments field when I was bored at work one day.

Yeah, I add lots of keywords to the comments field - Live; Bootlegs; Vinyl; etc - that way, along with the other fields, you can create a smart playlist to cover just about anything.

Yeah, does Daniel know that you can add more than one option to a smart playlist's definition?

when loving music turns into administrative assisting

heh. does anyone know how to create these smart playlists on a Creative Zen for non-iPod owning people such as myself?

You can do a similar thing with Windows Media Player, if that helps. It's just much, much easier on iTunes.

So I've heard... but I got the 60g Zen for my birthday so I'm not about to be grouchy about it. Yeah, I can generate a "recently-added" playlist on WMP, but it won't load on the player itself. I think they use different formats for playlists. I'm trying to find out if there's some way to convert the WMP playlist format to one that's compatible with the zen - so far, no such luck. :(

Good suggestions here on smart playlists -- I'm going to have to fool around with this more.

Right now I have smart playlists for items added in the last 30 days, last six months, and last year ... these help me find what I haven't heard yet and what I want to revisit.

How're folks dealing with this issue? My music acquisition has gone way down (temporarily, I hope) but it's given me a chance to really dig into stuff I haven't played in years, and the smart playlist thing makes it easy - I sync a new unlistened-to album each time as well as a random playlist of recently added stuff that I haven't listened to.