Use iTunes' Copy to Play Order to control iPod song order

Aug 25, '05 08:49:00AM

Contributed by: Anonymous

I am a heavy-duty iTunes/iPod user, and my life revolves around a couple of Smart Playlists. The following may seem obvious to some, but I have never read about it here or elsewhere.

Suppose you have a Smart Playlist that selects a bunch of tracks to play each day. You have certain options up front for how to organize your tracks -- such as Random, by Artist, by Album, by Genre, etcetera. A problem arises if you select by anything but Random. If you sync your iPod to your computer without completely listening to your Smart Playlist, then iTunes appends new tracks to the end of the playlist. That is, the originally chosen organizing element can seem to get lost.

However, if you use the column organizers at the top and select "Artist" (for example), you can reorganize the playlist how you want it. Then control-click on the playlist name in the Source column and select Copy To Play Order from the pop-up menu. The playlist order will now 'stick' the way you want it to.

I like to listen to my iPod with all the tracks by each artist played together. And alphabetical by artist helps me to identify what I am hearing without looking at the iPod screen. But with this hint, you can have one playlist and organize it differently every day. Such as reverse alphabetical, or by genres, or whatnot. Again this might seem obvious but I really never have seen it documented. Hope it helps somebody.

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