Smart playlist copying, i.e. grabs tracks referenced in playlist?

[Karson]

Hey folks, first time on the forum but rest assured I checked the FAQ and did a few searches before posting! ;)

I have an HTPC with a large MP3 collection and 3 iPods (one for me, one for my wife and one for the car), and I'm looking for a Windows tool that will let me specify music and playlist folders and do "smart" copy of playlists from the PC to the iPod, i.e. read the playlist, look for the playlist music files on the iPod, then copy over anything that's missing.

Are there any Windows tools that can do this? Thanks in advance!

[rockmyplimsoul]

If I understand you correctly, there is a way iTunes can help you manage this, but it requires that all your music is in your iTunes library (i.e. no "extra" music on one or more iPods that is not represented in your library):

a) In iTunes' source column, create a folder for each iPod you own (e.g. if you have a Nano, Video, and Mini iPods, create a folder for for each one).

b) You will want each folder to represent the entire contents of each iPod. So, create (or move) all the playlists that are specifically for each iPod to within their corresponding folder. If an iPod has some songs that do not appear in any playlist, that's OK, just create a playlist just for those songs. In the end you want each folder to completely encompass each iPod's contents.

c) Create a separate folder, call it something like "iPod Content Definitions".

d) Within the folder created in (c) above, create two smart playlists for each iPod. One defined as: Playlist -- Is -- (folder name), and the other defined as Playlist -- Is Not -- (folder name). Use the folder names from step (a) as part of the playlist definitions. Remember that iTunes treats folder names as if they were a playlist, so the above smart playlists will tell you what IS and what is NOT on the corresponding iPod. Note that you cannot put these playlists in the folders you created in step (a), otherwise they will not function correctly. Put them in the folder from step (c), or completely outside of any folder.

Now you have a way to determine what is and is not loaded on each iPod. From there you'll have to manually manage their contents, or get even more creative with smart playlists (and perhaps set each iPod to automatically sync to specific playlists).

I use a similar procedure to manage the contents of a Mini (which is sync'd manually and holds far less than my library) and a 60GB video (which is sync'd to specific playlists and holds my entire library). From my smart playlist as in step (d) I can tell what is and what is not currently on my Mini. I then use a "staging" playlist to move new material manually onto the Mini. Sounds complicated, but it's really quite easy.

[Karson]

LOL, I suppose that would work but it involves a lot more manual effort than I was looking for! This is the flow as I imagine it:

1. I plug in one of my iPods.

2. I click-drag a playlist on to the iPod.

3. The software checks the playlist to see what's on the iPod already, then checks my music folders to get the rest of the songs, alerting me if there are songs missing or if the iPod doesn't have enough room for the music files.

4. The software copies over the playlist and music files accordingly.

This process would work with any number of iPods, playlists and music folders. Some wrinkles would be updating an existing playlist on an iPod (easiest would be to overwrite with confirmation, no need to get fancy with merging etc.), and determining which song to use (i.e. if the PC playlist says to use c:\foo.mp3 and there's a foo.mp3 already on the player, but it might have a different bit rate etc. - maybe hashes can be used here).

I've found as my music collection has grown to 200GB that my playlists are my most valuable commodity, but the iPod tools I've tried enforce a workflow that emphasizes the music files first and the playlists a distant second. Has anyone else found their "paradigms shifting" this way as their music collection has bloomed?

[cjmnews]

The above process that rockmysould described would work, and initially it is a lot of work but in the end it would be very helpful.

iTunes does exactly what you asked for in your original message.

Unfortunately you can't drag a playlist to an iPod, you can enable it from the iPod settings of what playists to sync.

iTunes does steps 3 and 4 all of the time.

Different bit rate file replacement would not occur unless you removed the old file from your iPod and put it back on from iTunes.

Basically you just need to manage your iPods with specific playlists. Each one with it's own, or even some that are shared. You can even use nested smart playlists (http://filebox.vt.edu/users/channum/files/smartlist_management_v3.1.pdf) (not written by me) to randomized and update new music constantly.

[Karson]

The above process that rockmysould described would work, and initially it is a lot of work but in the end it would be very helpful.

iTunes does exactly what you asked for in your original message.

Unfortunately you can't drag a playlist to an iPod, you can enable it from the iPod settings of what playists to sync.

iTunes does steps 3 and 4 all of the time.

Different bit rate file replacement would not occur unless you removed the old file from your iPod and put it back on from iTunes.

Basically you just need to manage your iPods with specific playlists. Each one with it's own, or even some that are shared. You can even use nested smart playlists (http://filebox.vt.edu/users/channum/files/smartlist_management_v3.1.pdf) (not written by me) to randomized and update new music constantly.

Cool, I was hoping to avoid iTunes as I only need a simple tool for sending music back and forth to my iPods instead of the bloated beast which is iTunes 7 (and I hear it erases your music for you too!), but I'll give it a try and see if I can live with it.

Thanks for the tips folks!