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Submitted by jrumple on
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This thread is geared towards sharing the Smart Playlists that we've developed in iTunes with other Manager Tools members. This way I can share multiple playlist definitions in one location and shorter posts.

Smart Playlists are your way of delegating the task of managing your music and podcast libraries to iTunes. It is a way of teaching iTunes your preferences so that content is served up ready to go, just the way you like it. Spend a little bit of time up front teaching iTunes what you like, and it will help you get back to do the things you enjoy, like listening to music and podcasts.

You'll see some of my earlier posts at these links to give you more background in Smart Playlists and iTunes 9.0:
http://www.manager-tools.com/forums-4154#comment-59259
http://www.manager-tools.com/forums-4296

Programs other than iTunes, like Windows Media Player, have similar features, like Auto Playlists. However I don't have as much experience with them. With 70% of MP3 players sold being iPods, most of you are probably using iTunes and Smart Playlists. If there are Blackberry users out there with recommendations, please add them here as well.

Jack
Colorado

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It makes sense to start this thread with a Smart Playlist that will keep all your Manager Tools episodes together in one place and chronological so you can listen in order.

  • Match all of the following rules
  • Album contains Manager Tools
  • Kind is audio
  • Play Count is 0
  • Limit to 500 MB selected by least recently added

I like using the MB or GB limits because episodes may vary in length or compression, but I'm trying to fit everything into a limited space on my iPod. I usually start with 100 MB which gives a lot of content in terms of podcast listening time. You can see that older, smaller and hopefully cheaper iPods can still contain a bunch of content. You may consider checking the flea market or eBay for some used players to have available to your team.

Variations
Here are some things you can do to modify this basic format for other Smart Playlists

  • Change the Album, which is the podcast titles you are subscribed to, like Career Tools
  • Use Media Kind is Podcast or Podcast is true. Both of these were added after the Kind attribute, so I'm accustomed to using Kind
  • Replace Play Count is 0 with Last Played not in the last 20 weeks.
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I've always had a Smart Playlist that contained the latest episodes of any podcast I subscribed to. When I switched from a 2 GB first generation iPod nano to a 16 GB iPhone 3G I was able to turn on the automatic 3 most recent unplayed episodes of all podcasts. In iTunes 9.0 it was causing a conflict. I recommend turning that checkbox off and replacing it with a series of Smart Playlist like this one.

  • Match all the following rules
  • Media Kind is Podcast
  • Kind contains audio
  • Play Count is 0
  • Limit to 300 MB selected by most recently added

Video Variation
To make a similar Video Podcasts - New Smart Playlist replace the Kind rule with these two rules:

  • Kind does not contain audio
  • Kind does not contain PDF

There are four different values for the Kind attribute: video, movie, audio, and PDF. Video and movie are basically the same when viewing, but different for the person creating and posting the episodes. There is probably a math major out there who studied set theory who can give the background to it, but in order to use the Match all rules (AND logic) and get either movies or videos, you have to set rules to say you don't want audio and you don't want PDFs in this playlist.

Oldest to Newest Variation
This new playlist is great for news programs, like Aero-News Network or Downrange, but you may also want to clear out your oldest podcasts in the order they were downloaded. Switch the Limit from most recently added to least recently added.

New Subscription Transition
This works great after you've been subscribed to some podcasts for a while and they are downloaded as they are released so the Release Date is roughly the same as the Date Added to iTunes. Unfortunately there is no way to select by Release Date. This means if you just found Manager Tools and used the Get All button to download all the back episodes available in the feed, they were all recently added. In the Playlist display, right-click on the column headings and add the Release Date column. Then click on the column heading to toggle between sort ascending and sort descending. Now you can listen to the episodes in the order you want of the episodes in the playlist. It isn't perfect, but it gets you through the transitions after you subscribe to a new podcast.

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I just realized that I forgot the first step in the posts above. That is how to create a Smart Playlist.

File Menu
The easiest place to start is to open iTunes and select the File menu. In there you'll see New Smart Playlist. This will open a new window. You'll see the Match all of the following rules, room for a rule, and the Limit checkbox with a few other things. To the right of blank Artist rule, you'll see a button with a plus sign (+) and a button with a minus sign (-). These buttons add rules and delete rules respectively.

When starting out use the examples here and try to build them in this window. Once you see what the resulting playlist looks like, try the different variations. When you have a feel for these playlists, start reading through the other options available from this dialog box. Just like learning to manage, getting in there an practicing with these techniques is the best way to get better.

Playlist Button
Some of you may already be familiar with the large plus button at the bottom of the iTunes window, below the source list. This will create a new blank Playlist. If you hold the Shift key down, you'll see the icon changes from a plus sign to what looks like a gear. With the Shift key down, when you click on this button, it will create a new Smart Playlist.

Playlist Folders
For me, once I figured out how to build some basic Smart Playlists like the ones listed above, I wanted to create Smart Playlists for everything. I quickly had a slew of playlists, and sorted alphabetically and not by topic. This is where Playlist Folders come in. Use the File Menu to create some Playlist Folders and drag your Smart Playlists into them to help organize them better.

When you're deciding what playlists to sync with your iPod or iPhone, you'll see them in the same sets of folders. You'll also be able to turn on or off an entire folder with a single click. You may want a folder of playlists you listen to at the office, a folder that you like when you're travelling by air, and a folder of playlists you need for a roadtrip. Then when you need to rearrange what is syncing to your iPod you just have a few checkboxes and you don't have to remember what all of the individual playlist definitions are. It is like having a small duffle bag with all your gym stuff ready to go, and with Smart Playlists you know that everything inside is clean.

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Sometimes it is good to have a playlist that randomly selects downloaded podcast episodes, instead of newest or oldest. I have about a 20 minute commute to and from work. Sometimes I don't want to get in the middle of something and then have to wait until the end of the day to finish it. I would rather get anything that I've subscribed to which is not longer than my trip. I use the following Smart Playlist for that.

  • Match all of the following rules
  • Media Kind is Podcast
  • Kind is audio
  • Play Count is 0
  • Time is less than 10:00
  • Limit to 50 MB selected by random

With iPods starting a 2 GB, this may sound tiny, but this playlist is nearly two hours of very short episodes.

Variations
I also do a Short version for Time is less than 2:00, which is great for waiting in lines or at the bus stop. Of course too many episodes this short all jammed together becomes tiresome. It does give you a single place where you know you'll find something you can get through when you have a short wait, even on a flight layover, waiting at the gate.

I also set a rule of Date Added not in the last 2 months. Things more recently are in my new podcasts playlist. Adding this rule means that I'll be working through some of the older content in my library and I may pick up a podcast which has stopped downloading due to neglect.

Setting rules like Album does not contain Lit2Go can help you avoid podcasts which are sequential and you don't want them played back in any random order.

Jack
Colorado