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Topic: iPod Classic Owners - What data can you use to shuffle by? (Read 4453 times) previous topic - next topic
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iPod Classic Owners - What data can you use to shuffle by?

Hi all

I'm preparing my music collection for playback from PC/iPod.  Haven't got it yet, but will soon have an iPod Classic 160gb. 

Once you have selected Shuffle in the global settings, I understand that you can then select a genre, artist, etc. and the iPod will shuffle playback just in that category.  But can you select things like rating or year? 

Could someone please ALL the metadata categories which can be selected for shuffled playback?

Many thanks

Max

iPod Classic Owners - What data can you use to shuffle by?

Reply #1 –
Quote
But can you select things like rating or year?
Yes!.  You can make a Smart Playlist based on almost any metadata, and then shuffle while you play it.

I don't use ratings, but I have playlists by decade, plus an "Early 60s" playlist.  I've excluded "special" Genres like Christmas.
 

iPod Classic Owners - What data can you use to shuffle by?

Reply #2 –
Thanks for the reply. 

I was asking more what can be chosen on the iPod itself though, rather than through software and the use of playlists/smart playlists....

Cheers

iPod Classic Owners - What data can you use to shuffle by?

Reply #3 –
Quote from: MaxDread on
Thanks for the reply. 

I was asking more what can be chosen on the iPod itself though, rather than through software and the use of playlists/smart playlists....

Cheers

From memory, One can choose Artists, albums, genres, or playlists within the iPod and then select random (shuffle) play. The smart playlists of iTunes give you a lot more options. I think many of your questions will have obvious answers once you play around a bit with the iPod.

iPod Classic Owners - What data can you use to shuffle by?

Reply #4 –
Quote
But can you select things like rating or year?
Yes.  If you have not downloaded iTunes, download it and take a look.  Like I said, I made an early 60's playlist that includes years greater than 1959 and less than 1966 (or something like that).  Then, I excluded certain genres.    I think I also made a smart playlist that includes "dance" and "disco".

You can include ratings equal-to, greater-than, or less-than. But like I said, I don't use ratings.

Quote
Could someone please ALL the metadata categories which can be selected for shuffled playback?
I don't have iTunes on this computer, so I can't look right now, but there must be 40 different "things" you can use!!!    For example, you should be able to make a playlist that includes (or excludes) all songs with "love" in the title.    Or songs with rating of 2 or more stars with "love" in the title, and newer than 1990...

Quote
I was asking more what can be chosen on the iPod itself though, rather than through software and the use of playlists/smart playlists....
After "synching" with the iPod, your playlists (created in iTunes) will appear on the iPod menu.  You can select and play from a playlist with shuffle on or off.

There is an option to automatically update smart playlists (turned-on automatically by default, I think), so when you add music (or otherwise change something) your smart playlists will be updated.



P.S.
By default, the "year" is normally the year the CD or digital album was released.    So, Beatles albums (which were released before CDs existed) or any "greatest hits" CDs (that cover more than one year) won't show the year of the original song release.  i.e. If you want Elvis Presley to show-up on your 50's or 60's playlist, you'll probably have to edit the metadata.

iPod Classic Owners - What data can you use to shuffle by?

Reply #5 –
Based on some other posts, the OP is trying to avoid using iTunes. He may not yet understand that much of the "brains" of the ipod are in the software used to load it (e.g., iTunes and its smart playlists, etc.).  The iPod itself is a fairly dumb device, it doesn't read the tags of the music files, etc. (these are read by the software loading the ipod (eg. iTunes).  Thus the software used to hold/read the music library is important; it is not simply down to doing everything on the ipod itself.  That software can be iTunes (what I use, strictly for purposes of loading my iThings with lossy copies of my music) or some other software that can work with iPods (foo dop, etc.).

iPod Classic Owners - What data can you use to shuffle by?

Reply #6 –
Well, if one wants an iPod Classic to be smart, it's always possible to run it with Rockbox via EmCORE. (Note that the RB build that ships with it is pretty ancient by now and should be updated with a current one.)