It’s not too often that I put up software tips on this here blog thingy, but I’m trying to blog more and this is what’s on my mind, so here I go.
I don’t know about you, but my iTunes library hit north of 5,000 tracks some time ago. It’s big. And unruly. Sometimes I have to put it in time out just so it’ll behave.
The worst part of having so much music is keeping all of it in order. The best part is that I can listen to music for 16.9 days straight without stopping. But how does one keep such a largish library in check?
Well, by scouring online, I’ve found some useful smart playlists that assist with this; and some I’ve even come up with myself. There aren’t many, but maybe they’ll help you out a little:
no album: self-explanatory, right? If I haven’t defined which album a track is from, it shows up in there no questions asked. Once I add the album info, it’s gone like the wind.
no genre: same concept, but with genre info.
no rating: I think you’re probably getting the idea. Sometimes I’ll just click through here and rate music like a mofo.
no info: This one’s a little different. You ever import your girlfriend’s mix CD to discover (to your horror) that all the songs are cryptically named “Track 01, Track 02, etc.”? Sorry, Friends. “Get CD Track Names” does nothing for you because Gracenote uses the CD itself to look up that info.
Well, I use this playlist to collect all of these poor orphaned tracks so I can track down their info later. And all the OCD peeps said “Wha What?”
NOTE: A tool I’ve found very handy to help with naming these tracks in bulk is IEatBrainz. You should check it out if you’re anal like me. Oh, and on a Mac. Sorry Windoze Friends, I don’t know of an equivalent over there in your world.
Forgotten Tracks: With such a huge, um, library, sometimes I lose track of music that I once loved. This playlist solves that problem. Basically, if I haven’t listened to something in more than a year, it pops up in there. Most of the time at work, I’ll shuffle through this playlist. If something pops up and I think “Yuck, why did I ever have that?” I delete it. Otherwise, I bask in music long-forgotten from the Days of Yore.
NOTE PART DEUX: If any of you are my IM buddies or we’re friends on Last.fm, and you watch what I’m listening to, don’t be freaked out – you’ll see AC/DC pop up right after something by Hillsong right after something by 50 Cent. I like to shuffle, what can I say.
Never Played: Yes, there are plenty of songs that I have imported but apparently never played. Songs I have never heard. Wonderful songs. Terrible songs. This playlist is a fun one to shuffle through from time to time if there’s anything in there. Which there hasn’t been in a few months now.
What are some other smart playlists that are cool? Sound off.
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