Create ready-to-sync playlists for Shuffles in iTunes 7

Sep 29, '06 07:30:02AM

Contributed by: JimAkin

This excellent hint suggested a partial remedy to my main (and pretty much only) gripe about iTunes 7 -- its elimination of the ability to keep a disconnected iPod shuffle in the Source list, so that new contents can be pre-loaded between syncs (manually and/or by autofill).

That capability can be approximated by the following steps:

  1. Create a Smart Playlist limited in size to the iPod Shuffle's storage capacity, and check its Live Update setting.
  2. Set the Smart Playlist filters to meet any Shuffle-specific criteria you might have. For instance, I block songs shorter than 1 minute to screen out most stage announcements, and set a maximum song length of 15 minutes, which just allows Vodoo Chile to slip in once in a while.
  3. Delete any or all items from the resulting list, and let Live Update replace them until you've got a group of songs you like.
  4. Clone the Smart Playlist by dropping it on the PLAYLISTS header in the Source list (the method described in the aforementioned excellent hint).
  5. Tweak the resultant static playlist as you see fit, and either drag it onto the Shuffle the next time it loads into the Source list, or use it as the autofill source for the Shuffle's next update.
  6. To build another standby Shuffle list, select all the entries in the Smart Playlist, press Delete, and repeat step three to five above using the new live update results.
A variation on this has always been possible, by manually creating an empty static playlist and dragging Smart Playlist contents into it, but this requires far fewer clicks and practically no typing. I say practically none, because all cloned static playlists are given the same name as the Smart Playlist, and iTunes won't complain a bit if you create a dozen playlists all called "Shuffle." You may want to rename the clones to help tell them apart.

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