Building and Listening to Standard Playlists


Although they aren't as smart as their younger siblings, standard playlists are definitely very useful because you can choose the exact songs included in them and the order in which those songs will play. In this section, you will learn how to create, manage, and use playlists.

Creating a Standard Playlist

You have two ways to create a playlist. One is to create a playlist that is empty (meaning that it doesn't include any songs). The other is to choose songs and then create a playlist that includes those songs.

Tip

You should create standard playlists for CDs that you burn because you always can be sure of the songs a standard playlist contains.


The place you start depends on what you have in mind. If you want to create a collection of songs, but aren't sure which specific songs you want to start with, create an empty playlist. If you know of some songs that you are going to included, choose them and create the playlist. Either way, creating a playlist is simple and you end up in the same place.

Creating an Empty Standard Playlist

You can create an empty playlist from within iTunes by using any of the following techniques:

  • Choosing File, New Playlist.

  • Pressing Ctrl+N (Windows) or +N (Mac).

  • Clicking the Create Playlist button (see Figure 16.3).

    Figure 16.3. This playlist has been created and is ready to be renamed.


Whichever method you use will result in an empty playlist whose name will be highlighted to show you that it is ready for you to edit. Type a name for the playlist and press Enter (Windows) or Return (Mac). The playlist will be renamed and selected. The Content pane will be empty because you haven't added any songs to the playlist yet. You will learn how to do that in the section called "Adding Songs to a Playlist" on page 271.

Tip

Remember that you can choose a group of songs that are next to one another by holding down the Shift key while you click them. You can choose multiple songs that aren't next to one another by holding down the Ctrl key (Windows) or the key (Mac) while you click them.


Creating a Standard Playlist with Songs in it

If you know some songs you want to place in a playlist, you can create the playlist so that it includes those songs as soon as you create it. Here are the steps to follow:

1.

Browse or search the Library to find the songs you want to be included in the playlist. For example, you can browse for all the songs in a specific genre or search for music by a specific artist.

Tip

You can also create a new playlist containing one or more songs by selecting the songs and pressing Ctrl+Shift+N (Windows) or +Shift+N (Mac).

2.

In the Content pane, select the songs you want to place in the playlist.

3.

Choose File, New Playlist from Selection. A new playlist will appear on the Source List and will be selected. Its name will be highlighted to indicate that you can edit it, and you will see the songs you selected in the Content pane (see Figure 16.4).

Figure 16.4. Because I created a playlist from selected songs, the new playlist contains the songs I selected when I created it.


iTunes will attempt to name the playlist by looking for a common denominator in the group of songs you selected. For example, if all the songs are from the same artist, that artist's name will be the playlist's name. Similarly, if the songs are all from the same album, the playlist's name will be the artist's and album's name. Sometimes iTunes picks an appropriate name, and sometimes it doesn't.

4.

While the playlist name is highlighted, edit the name as needed and then press Enter (Windows) or Return (Mac). The playlist will be ready for more songs.

Tip

For still another way to create a playlist, try this: Select a group of songs and drag them onto the Source List. When you do so, iTunes will do the same thing as it does when you create a playlist using the New Playlist from Selection command.

Adding Songs to a Playlist

The whole point of creating a playlist is to add songs to it. Whether you created an empty playlist or one that already has some songs in it, the steps to add songs are the same:

1.

Select the Library as the source.

2.

Browse or search the Library so that songs you want to add to the playlist are shown in the Content pane.

3.

Select the songs you want to add to the playlist by clicking them (remember the techniques to select multiple songs at the same time). To select all the songs currently shown in the Content pane, press Ctrl+A (Windows) or +A (Mac).

Tip

You can also move songs from one playlist to another one. Just select a playlist instead of the Library in step 1.

You can select and add the same song to a playlist as many times as you'd like to hear it.

4.

Drag the selected songs from the Content pane onto the playlist to which you want to add them. When the playlist becomes highlighted and the cursor includes a plus sign (+), release the mouse button (see Figure 16.5). The songs will be added to the playlist.

Figure 16.5. You add songs to a playlist by dragging them onto the playlist in the Source pane.


5.

Repeat steps 2 through 4 until you have added all the songs you want to include in the playlist.

Note

The Source Information area becomes very important when you are creating a CD because you can use this to make sure a playlist will fit onto a CD.

6.

Select the playlist on the Source List. Its songs will appear in the Content pane (see Figure 16.6). Information about the playlist, such as its playing time, will appear in the Source Information area at the bottom of the iTunes window.

Figure 16.6. This playlist, called (in a burst of creativity) "Big Band Boogie," contains music from an album of the same name.


Removing Songs from a Playlist

If you decide that you don't want one or more songs included in a playlist, select the songs you want to remove in the playlist's Content pane and press the Delete key. A warning prompt will appear. Click Yes and the songs will be deleted from the playlist. (If this dialog box annoys you like it does me, check the Do not ask me again check box and you won't ever have to see it again.)

Setting the Order in Which a Playlist's Songs Play

Just like an audio CD, the order in which a playlist's songs play is determined by the order in which they appear in the Content pane (the first song will be the one at the top of the window, the second will be the next one down, and so on). You can drag songs up on the list to make them play earlier or down in the list to make them play later.

Tip

You can also change the order in which songs will play by sorting the playlist by its columns. You do this by clicking the column title in the column by which you want the Content pane sorted. You can set the columns that appear for a playlist by using the Edit, View Options command, as you learned to do in the previous chapter.

You can use the iTunes Shuffle and Repeat features with playlists just like you can use them with other sources. For example, to hear the songs in a playlist in a random order, select the playlist you want to hear and click the Shuffle button. The songs will play back in random order. The setting of these buttons, just like song order and view options, is remembered with the playlist. So if you set a playlist to Shuffle, it will shuffle whenever you play it until you unshuffle it again.


Listening to a Standard Playlist

After you have created a playlist, you can listen to it by selecting it on the Source List and using the same controls you use to listen to a CD or music in the Library. You can even search in and browse playlists just as you can the Library or CDs. (That's the real beauty of iTunes; it works the same way no matter what the music source is!)

Deleting a Standard Playlist

If you decide you no longer want a playlist, you can delete it by selecting the playlist on the Source List and pressing the Delete key. A prompt will appear; click Yes and the playlist will be removed from the Source List. (Make sure to check the Do not ask me again check box if you don't want to be prompted in the future.) Even though you've deleted the playlist, the songs in the playlist remain in the Library for your listening pleasure.



iPod + iTunes Starter Kit
iPod and iTunes Starter Kit (2nd Edition)
ISBN: 078973463X
EAN: 2147483647
Year: 2003
Pages: 187

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