iTunes Smart Playlist Adventure

I almost always listen to music via iTunes while I’m working, but I do find myself gravitating to the handful of recent albums purchased. At some point I created a Smart Playlist that shows me music that hasn’t played during the past year. It’s a nice eclectic mix of tunes, with 121 items covering 9 hours. It’s what I turn to when I need to unshackle my brain a bit. Here’s what’s currently on deck:

“Sub Oslo Vs. Bookshelf Speakers,” Sub Oslo

“Hush, Hush, Hush,” Paula Cole

“It Could Be Sweet,” Portishead

“Seven Days,” Sting

“Of Thee I Sing (Alternate Take),” Stan Getz

“Distance Between,” Mark Thibideau

“Coming In To Land,” Badly Drawn Boy

“Gone!,” The Cure

“Your Song,” Ewan McGregor

“Philadelphia Freedom,” Elton John

And here’s the Smart Playlist that makes it happen. (In iTunes, choose New Smart Playlist from the File menu, or Option-click the plus-sign button in the lower-left corner.) It tells iTunes to grab songs not played in the last year, and excludes podcasts, movies, and radio stations (kind does not contain “stream”). I may see if I can power through the entire nine hours over the next few days, and see how many other songs come up on the one-year mark.

Published by Jeff Carlson

Author, photographer, and late-nighter Jeff Carlson writes for outlets such as Popular Photography, DPReview, Creative Pro, and others, and is a contributing editor for TidBITS. He is the author of Take Control of Your Digital Photos; The Photographer's Guide to Luminar AI, Take Control of Apple Watch, and Take Control of Your Digital Storage, among many other titles. View all posts by Jeff Carlson