This is one smart playlist
by Volker Weber
When I recently folded three iTunes libraries into one, I reset the database and imported everything from scratch. So I also got the default set of playlists. And Apple has added an interesting smart playlist that was not in my default set when I initially installed iTunes. It plays your newest tracks in the library. Highly recommended.
Comments
I'd also recommend a smart playlist with no condition but a limit to e.g. the 25 songs least recently played with live updating on. Rotates through the complete library and seems to work better than using shuffle play for that purpose.
With this I often find some gems I had completely forgotten about.
one question: some time ago you wrote about your disgust over itunes' m4a-files, which no other system is able to use and which you all reconverted into mp3s. today is i just dragged a folder of m4a-files on the VLC-player symbol and he plays them.
sorry, i'm shure everybody knows that since years...
mp
I have a “least recent” smart playlist too, and it’s pretty nifty. I would second Oliver: it seems to work better than shuffle play on the whole library (which seems to be disproportionately in favour of the Fun Lovin’ Criminals in my set-up :o)
Manfred, the AAC format (m4a) in and of itself is fine, and can be interpreted by other systems. I think vowe was talking about m4p which is Apple’s DRM implementation of the AAC format for use with the iTMS.
No, Ben, I actually dislike AAC completely.
Martin Pittenauer has corrected me insofar, that AAC is an open standard and that there are other implementations besides Apple's. Manfred, you have just discovered one. In that respect I was wrong about claiming that Apple tries a customer lock-in. However, in practice, life is much harder if your music is encoded with AAC. For instance, you can't burn a 100 title playlist as "MP3 CD" to play it on your DVD player or in your car.
Therefore I maintain that MP3 is preferable.
BTW: For similar reasons ZIP is preferable to ARJ, RAR or ACE, even if they compress slightly better. You don't have to educate the people who receive your files on the latest and greatest archiver. I recently witnessed a freeware author who contributed a piece of code and who is very interested in the success of his contribution educating the prospective user on a new archiver. ;-)
it is a bit difficult to reconvert them, that is true. i tried to do that for my little son's mp3-player by reconverting them within itunes into mp3s, then throwing all the mp3 copies into the wastebin, and then burning the contents of the wastebin with dragon burn...
time to develop some non-apple portable m4a players...
mp
