06-03-2005, 07:50 AM

I have nearly made the decision to switch - actually I would do it tomorrow but the one thing stopping me is itunes.

I currently use Musicmatch Jukebox (which I love) with a library of around 3000 songs.

When first consiering switching, I downloaded the PC version of itunes (among other things) to see how I would like apple software. There are things in itunes that really bug me - enough that they currently are stopping me from buying a new powerbook. If anyone can help with the following issues I would appreciate it greatly:

1. All the songs in itunes are checked - I cannot uncheck them except individually - and there is no way I am going to do this 3000 times. I have tried selecting all, but cannot uncheck once every song is selected.

2. Every individual song is displayed in the library. Is there any way to compress this down to album only to make the scrolling more manageable?

3. Songs play in the order that they are listed in the library, I want them to play in the order I select them (and not just shuffle either). eg in MMjuke, there is a window in the top right (where the "burn CD" icon is in itunes). Clicking and dragging or double clicking a song from the library puts that song in that temp playlist window. You can easily stack songs in this window as your mood takes you, or you can put a whole album in there without having to create a whole seperate playlist. I dont use playlists at all, I pick songs that I feel like listening to in the order I feel like listening to them. Can I do this in itunes?

BTW - MMjuke does not have support for Mac or I would own an itunes free powerbook already.

I would appreciate any comments on how to do the above.

06-03-2005, 08:07 AM

1) Why do you care that they are checked?
2) Click on the browse button in the top right corner
3) Create a playlist and add your songs in the order you want them to play. When you drag it to the temp space you are creating a playlist. just a temporary one. To do this on iTunes you will sort of need to cheat. enable Party shuffle if it is not already. Create an empty playlist called "empty" or whatever. Set PartyShuffle to show the last 5 songs and 0 upcoming tracks and use the empty playlist. iTunes will warn you that you selected an empty playlist, just say OK. Now clear what is currently in the PartyShuffle. There you go. It will show the last 5 songs played and play whatever songs you drag into the PartyShuffle in the order you drag them.

EDIT: You can do #1 with AppleScript on a Mac by the way. I am just still not sure why.

Edit2: extended the answer to 3.

06-03-2005, 08:21 AM

I care if they are checked because sometimes I might want only 1 or two songs ... having them all checked means that it automatically goes to the next song on the list.

06-03-2005, 08:31 AM

Check the answer to 3 now. That is probably what you want. If it is playing a playlist by the way whether the song is checked or not in the main list does not matter. So it still seems counter productive to me but here you go. (Taken from smash's world http://www.smashsworld.com/2005/03/u...-in-itunes.php )

tell application "iTunes"
-- Script Edit by: smash; smashsworld.com
-- originally based off of a script "Doug" wrote:
-- http://www.malcolmadams.com/itunes/s...hecksametracks
copy (a reference to (get view of front window)) to thisPlaylist
if class of thisPlaylist is user playlist then
repeat with i from 1 to (get index of last track of thisPlaylist)
tell track i of thisPlaylist
set enabled of it to false
end tell
end repeat
end if
end tell

06-03-2005, 08:50 AM

Thanks for the tips - actually cntrl click worked to uncheck all (from the link you posted).

Found the browse feature. The playlist click and drag seems rather cumbersome, but just something you have to get used to I guess....

Cheers

06-03-2005, 09:34 AM

playlists arent that hard to make...right now i have 37 playlist and 14 smart playlists....all your questions can be pretty much solved by creating playlists, using the browse feature, also using the search feature and just screwin around with iTunes a bit more...good day
and hope you switch soon
-chris

06-03-2005, 09:50 AM

Well, with the party shuffle trick you can right click or <ctrl>click and select add to party shuffle. You can't double click though, sorry.

06-03-2005, 09:52 AM

Not sure if you can do this with MM, but in iTunes you can back up all your music or just purchased (itunes store) onto a DVD. Do you have a player? If not check out the iPod.

iPod + iTunes = Bliss

06-04-2005, 09:57 AM

Thanks to all who responded, in typing this now with itunes playing...

even worked out how to set individual equalizer presets for each song!!

My only remaining complaint with itunes is that you have to be careful when dragging a song into a playlist ... Ive put some into the wrong list by trying to be too quick, but I guess thats just practice.

Anyway, problems sorted, powerbook here I come.

06-04-2005, 10:02 AM

Congrats. BTW, iTunes is my favorite program for playing/downloading music.

06-04-2005, 04:19 PM

iTunes was part of the reason i switched. i figured if all of the mac's programs were that simple than i shouldnt be wasting my time on a pc. once you get accustomed to using iTunes, you'll wonder why you ever even used MM.

06-04-2005, 04:28 PM

Originally Posted by amendolair

iTunes was part of the reason i switched. i figured if all of the mac's programs were that simple than i shouldnt be wasting my time on a pc. once you get accustomed to using iTunes, you'll wonder why you ever even used MM.

This was my exact reasoning! I've used PC all my life. We first bought iPods and loved them. And after using iTunes on a PC, loved the program [much much better than MusicMatch] and assumed Apple was the way to go after experiencing the iPod and iTunes and speaking to friends with Apple. Few weeks later, I'm on my Powerbook. I am extremely pleased with everything. This operating system is amazing! Blows XP out the door.

06-04-2005, 05:32 PM

Hehe, just wondering, what's the diffrence if a song is checked or not?

06-04-2005, 05:49 PM

Originally Posted by BurntSmore

Hehe, just wondering, what's the diffrence if a song is checked or not?

a song that is un-checked in a playlist will not play when it comes time...it will simply skip the song..unchecked songs will play on your iPod though (i think)

im glad you have figured everything out mr. sillly and are making the switch, the placement into the wrong lists is something that happens even when i go too quickly...there is a work around though (at least on macs)...double click on your playlist and it will open in a new window...then drag and drop into the window...it will leave you a large area to drop the files..

good luck!
-chris

edit: remember user reputation points

06-04-2005, 06:10 PM

Originally Posted by coach_z

..double click on your playlist and it will open in a new window...then drag and drop into the window...it will leave you a large area to drop the files..

Cool beans, I did not know that one. I rarely open iTunes itself, I do everything through QS. (Gave you rep too recently though)