WANTED: itunes Tutor

[Slydude]

I can't double check this at the moment but your screenshot reminded me of something. If I'm not mistaken the Recently Added playlist is a "Smart Playlist" it may be set to limit itself to a certain number of items (default 25 I think)/

Right click that playlist and choose Edit. You can change the number of items in the resulting sheet where the rule is defined. Don't ucheck live updating or it will always show the same content.

 

[mikehende]

You are correct [thanks!], it now shows 1709, any ideas why it it's not showing the total 1722 songs?

 

[mrplow]

One way or another the tracks you've added aren't meeting the smartlist criteria.

 

[mikehende]

Hmnn, I had thought as long as itunes itself would read tracks then any imported tracks wouldn't have any playlists problems but this is not a big problem, for me.

 

[mikehende]

I am encountering a new problem now, when I add a folder of tunes and try to drag them to the smart playlist it is not doing it?

 

[Slydude]

Someone will correct me if I am wrong I;m sure. The problem here is that you cannot drag content into a "Smart Playlist, They are rule driven and only contain content that meets the rule(s) for that playlist. New content is added to the list whenever it matches the rule.

What you can do is create a regular playlist and and whatever content you like whenever you like. Let's suppose you have just added all the tracks from an album and know you want the playlist to stay that way. A regular playlist is better for those situations How to Make an iTunes Playlist | eHow

 

[mikehende]

Well, since I essentially have no need for smart playists, that'll work, thanks! I just noticed something, there's a playlist named "mp3 tag" which just showed up in the left sidebar, I didn't create it, what's the deal with that please?

 

[Slydude]

I'm not sure. I don't remember that being one of the "stock" playlists and it's not showing in mine. Coule this have been created in the past accidentally or as part of a test?

 

[mikehende]

I have no idea, it simply appeared after I dragged newly imported files from recently Added to one of the playlists. I will delete it and try to see when it appears again to narrow this down, get back to you.

 

[chas_m]

When you tried to drag a group of files into the playlist area, iTunes assumes you want to turn that group of files into a playlist, and tries to name the playlist based on a common tag, file format or something else the files have in common.

I'd bet that group you tried to drag in in the screenshot above was mostly MP3 files ... yes?

 

[mikehende]

Yes, it's all mp3's, thanks for the explanation, just curious why it only happened that one time so far when i created more playlists in the same way and it hasn't happened again but it's no issue for me, I am adding my collection daily a little at a time.

 

[peterbj7]

Glad I'm not the only person who finds iTunes gratuitously opaque and complicated. Sadly I have to use it as the only way of communicating with my iPad - otherwise I'd have left it uninstalled.

 

[acas7i11o]

Glad I'm not the only person who finds iTunes gratuitously opaque and complicated. Sadly I have to use it as the only way of communicating with my iPad - otherwise I'd have left it uninstalled.

To each its own, but I remember the old days of using Winamp or equivalent and music management was always a mess. I ended up creating folders by Artist name and putting everything there, but it is inconvenient as **** when you want to find tracks of the same genre for instance. Not to mention that the search field included in iTunes is very convenient. So I do not think of this as a bad thing. It might not be simple, but the alternative has the potential to be a mess and is limited as well.

 

[mikehende]

To each its own, .

That's accurate. My opinion of itunes is it's efficient enough for a free software but main problem with itunes, for me is getting support for it, I can't see a reason why Apple can't give support for it since people use that software to purchase music from Apple?

For example, I have 2 itunes issues right now and going through **** trying to get help with it but seems like this is a dead end so Apple's idea is we have to live with our problems with itunes?

 

[peterbj7]

The name iTunes suggests it's music- related software. As that it's probably fine. But why do Apple use it as the sole means of communicating with their portable devices? I don't use my iPad for music, yet I have no direct access to the directory structure and have to route via iTunes. I find that absurd and very inconvenient.

 

[mikehende]

But why do Apple use it as the sole means of communicating with their portable devices? I don't use my iPad for music, yet I have no direct access to the directory structure and have to route via iTunes. I find that absurd and very inconvenient.

I don't think anyone could have said this any better! All the more reason for them to offer direct tech support for itunes instead of everyone having to rely on "users" to help solve each other's problems and what bugs me is the fact that my 2 current issues does not even involve 'technical" support just average user support and I can't get an answer to 2 very basic itunes operation issues

 

[acas7i11o]

That's accurate. My opinion of itunes is it's efficient enough for a free software but main problem with itunes, for me is getting support for it, I can't see a reason why Apple can't give support for it since people use that software to purchase music from Apple?

For example, I have 2 itunes issues right now and going through **** trying to get help with it but seems like this is a dead end so Apple's idea is we have to live with our problems with itunes?

Mike the problem is that you software companies are out there to make money. When they give away a product they provide some sort of reasonable support, meaning taking care of users for major bugs and things like that. Even when you buy commercial software the kind of support you would get is rather limited and they state that in the fine print with things like we cannot guarantee to solve all your issues, etc.

The other part is a problem of the users. You cannot reasonably expect Apple to answer every question you might have since a lot of the things you asked could have been easily solved by reading the Help files and the introductory videos that iTunes have. A company selling or giving you a piece of software does not have the obligation to train you as a user. It has never been like that and I would not expect that to change in the foreseeable future. And as far as iTunes is concerned, free or not, I haven't tried anything yet that comes close to it, even if it has become a jack of all trades.

 

[mrplow]

I don't think anyone could have said this any better! All the more reason for them to offer direct tech support for itunes instead of everyone having to rely on "users" to help solve each other's problems and what bugs me is the fact that my 2 current issues does not even involve 'technical" support just average user support and I can't get an answer to 2 very basic itunes operation issues

This thread is long and extensive. Can you post the 2 issues you still have please?

 

[acas7i11o]

The name iTunes suggests it's music- related software. As that it's probably fine. But why do Apple use it as the sole means of communicating with their portable devices? I don't use my iPad for music, yet I have no direct access to the directory structure and have to route via iTunes. I find that absurd and very inconvenient.

Because of legacy code mostly. iDevices started with the iPod, and that is a music device which made perfect sense to sync with iTunes. The iPod itself acquired video capabilities so it still made sense to sync the whole thing with iTunes. Sure they could have a separate app and with the iPad becoming more of a laptop replacement than an accesory, at some point they will have to address that, but so far it works.

 

[mrplow]

The name iTunes suggests it's music- related software. As that it's probably fine. But why do Apple use it as the sole means of communicating with their portable devices? I don't use my iPad for music, yet I have no direct access to the directory structure and have to route via iTunes. I find that absurd and very inconvenient.

If you're looking for a device with directory structure access, iPad is not the device for you.

I'm only guessing, as you don't say, but you sound like your wanting to copy files directly to the iPad and you're having to use the App tab in iTunes to do so? Dragging content directly into apps?

If this is the case what's the issue with using iTunes? Sure it could be a app called iPad file transfer but it would still do the same job. I suspect the issue you have is how the iPad and iOS works rather than iTunes.

But if you're having a specific issue someone may be able to help. Post here or start a new thread.