iPod v1.2 - iTunes 3 problem Updated: 4/13/04; 9:50:32 PM.
Most of the information here (specifically the “Problem”) is out of date, see the followup story on how iTunes 4 solves the checked song issue.
After playing around with the iPod 1.2 update, I decided to change my mp3 ‘workflow’ from manual to synchronized. This would allow me to use a cool new feature called smart playlists. I just needed to figure out how select which songs to sync from my huge mp3 library to the 10GB iPod. Let me say that the documentation on selective sync-ing is ‘hard-to-find’, as I figured, you just need to check which songs you want to sync to your pod in the iTunes library.
No problem, I can handle that. The only problem was, it didn’t work, I was missing something and I didn’t know what. Finally, I stumbled across the preference that was hiding in plain sight. The one that not only instructs iTunes to go into ‘sync’ mode with the iPod, but there’s also an option to have iTunes observe the check marks and not to send the ‘unchecked’ songs to the iPod. Thus allowing you to have a 20GB iTunes library live happily with a 10GB iPod.
So I’ve got my selective sync going, everything is fine right? Wrong, I set up a few Smart Playlists and then noticed something strange…
Even though a song was ‘unchecked’ in the iTunes Library, it was marked as ‘checked’ in the smart playlist and consequently getting sync’d - weather I wanted it to or not (see below).
The problem is iTunes will put unchecked songs from your Library into a Smart Playlist thus defeating the purpose of using “Only Update Checked Songs” in the screen above. Apple needs to add a checkbox field to the Smart Playlist Dialog that says “Only Update Checked Songs” or allow “Song is Checked in Library” to be one of the match conditions.
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