Use separate libraries and smart playlists in Apple iTunes

Smart playlists
One of the best things about iTunes is the Smart Playlist feature. Unlike normal playlists in other applications, Smart Playlists are not static. Instead they dynamically add and remove tracks from their list according to criteria you select when you create them.

For example, you could create a smart playlist that selects the tracks in your library that you haven’t listened to for a long time, or alternatively set one up that creates a list of the tracks you most listen to.

Let’s look at an example. First of all press Ctrl & Alt & N to open the Smart Playlist window. We’re going to create a smart list that is limited to 40 minutes of music and plays reggae tunes from our library, encoded at a higher bit rate than 128Kbits/sec and that we haven’t listened to for some time.

Click the down arrow in the first box and select Genre from the list. Select Contains in the second box and then type Reggae into the third box. Click the + button at the end of this line to create another rule. On this new rule line select Bit Rate in the first box, ‘is greater than’ in the second box and then enter 128 in the third box. Now tick the ‘Limit to’ box on the next line, enter ‘40’ in the second box and select ‘minutes’ in the third box.

In the fourth box, select ‘least recently played’. Finally tick the ‘Live updating’ box to make sure the playlist automatically updates and, click OK and then Give the Playlist a Name. Your playlist will update and provide tracks that comply with your rules.

Duplicate tracks
If you’ve got a large library of songs built up from different sources, the chances are that you’ve got some duplicated songs. Duplicated tracks not only waste disk space, but can also affect randomised playlists and general day-to-day management of your library.

Thankfully, iTunes provides a way of identifying and removing duplicated tracks. First select Music in the left-hand window pane and then click on the File menu and select Show Duplicates. Select the version you want to get rid of and press Delete key. Just make sure you are deleting a duplicate track and not just a different version of a track.

It’s good to share
If you’ve got more than one computer linked up via a wired or wireless network at home or at work, you can use the iTunes sharing feature to share libraries and playlists with up to five other users on the network.

To share a library go to the Edit menu, select Preferences, click on the Sharing tab and then select ‘Share my library on my local network’.

You can now either choose to share your entire library, or if you’re embarrassed about having lots of Bee Gees tracks in your collection, you can choose to share just selected playlists that you’ve created. You can also add a password so that those who want to see your library or playlists will need to enter a code before they’re given access. When you’ve selected what you want to share just click on OK to save the changes you’ve made.

Network users who want to be able to see your library need to set up iTunes to look for shared libraries. They need to click on Edit, choose Preferences and then on the Sharing tab. Tick the ‘Look for shared libraries’ box. Any library available on the local network should appear below Shared in their iTunes window.

These are only a selection of the more advanced features that iTunes offers, but hopefully you’ll find them useful. To find more tips for iTunes, visit the support section of the Apple website.