How do iTunes smartlists compare to Media Centers

Disadvantages == less powerful criteria.

iTunes' Smartlists can't: Apply sorting by rule (you must apply sorting by clicking on column heads in the list view); sort a smartlist randomly (MC9 == ~sort=Random) Use "is empty" as a criteria Pull all tracks from a listed album (MC9 == ~a) Handle within-criteria "AND" and "OR" operators -- Can't do "Rock or Pop, 4 stars"; you get all rock, all pop, and all 4-star songs Refresh the contents of "at random" or "limited" smartlists without deleting/recreating the smartlist (or without using Playcount- or LastPlayed-based rules that you may not want to use) Fill smartlists from a given playlist, rather than from the library in general (MC9 == playlistid==xxxxxx) Use the existance/non-existance of album art as a criteria (MC9 == ImageFile=[1]) -- Useful for finding which of your songs need art stillMC9's Smartlists can't: Use "contains" as an operator -- Useful for typing in "Rock" and getting "Punk Rock", "Hard Rock", "Grunge Rock" and etc

I think MC9 and iTunes smart lists managed differently. iTunes uses iPod firmware capability, there is some rule limitation in opposite to MC9 software based smart lists.

Kurt missed a few key ones (IMO).

iTunes Smartlists Can't:

Check for duplicates in a smartlist. MC9 has a "No Dupe" modifier which allows you to specify what you consider to be a duplicate (i.e. Artist/Song Name or just Song Name)
iTunes doesn't support custom fields, as such you can't use these in smartlists (which can be very handy in creating lists of tunes based off of other ways in which you organize your media).

Adam

Originally posted by c.c.r.

The workaround has been "So, put in a 'Last Played' or 'Playcount' modifier... that'll make it so that when you play the one song it has, it will change up". This is not acceptable. I don't want to factor in criteria that I don't want to factor in!! I want one freakin' Pearl Jam song. Period. I don't want one Pearl Jam song that hasn't been played in a week. I don't want one Pearl Jam song that has a playcount of 0. I want one Pearl Jam song, pulled at random from my library.


I have the same type of smartlist, but I added LastPlayed that hasn't been played in the last day. This may be unacceptable to you, but not to me.

I personally like that it doesn't remove tunes from the list until you listen to them (or, more specifically, they no longer meet the criteria of the smartlist). The dynamic aspect is fantastic.

Its nice to not be forced to sync up just to refresh a smartlist. I have a "Drive Home" smartlist that is limited to 40 minutes of my faves...when I got stuck in major gridlock the other day, I exceeded the 40 minutes. All I had to do was select "Drive Home" again, and I had a fresh batch of tunes calming my nerves. :D

Some of the other limitations are much harder to live with, in my opinion.

To each his own. I, for one, am just happy that Windows iPodders actually have two great apps to choose between. (I never considered MusicMatch a real option, and I want an all-in-one solution) Each have their pros and cons, but we get to make the choice.

Mac