NeMon'ess's Journal: My feedback to the iTunes team

Realizing that Apple has rigid GUI ideas that prevent iTunes from ever being customizable like Winamp, I asked for something simple.

I asked that iTunes remember its position in a playlist. That way I can switch playlists or turn off my computer and when I come back to that playlist, it remembers where I was. This by extension means that if I've shuffled a playlist, iTunes should remember the shuffled order, which it already does, but also remembers which songs it played, and has yet to play, which it doesn't.

I want this feature because I can't be the only person who has songs that are nice to hear once in a while, but not too often. I want Random-With-A-Memory. If the last random song I hear before shutting down the computer and going to bed is by random chance the first song I hear when I wake up, that's dumb, stupid, and sucks ass. I have 5000 songs, some of which I've played out and don't want to hear very often.

Why could my Sony Discman, Iomega HipZip, Diva compact flash mp3 player, and Winamp all remember what song they left off at but iTunes can't?

BTW, the Party Shuffle has a check box to "play higher rated songs more often", but one reviewer found that out of 1500 songs, his 20 five-star songs, with no other songs rated, played far more often. As in one played twice in 15 minutes. I know there's a variable attached to that function under the hood. Where other programs would have an "Advanced" mode or "Preferences" tab for these sorts of things iTunes doesn't. Isn't this just arrogance on Apple's part? Arrogance that doesn't let me turn off displaying the Album name in the Mini Player because I really don't care about that, but would like to see how long the track is without clicking. Arrogance that could fit "Soul Asylum - Miss This" on one line of the Mini Player when I stretch it out, but it still vertically scrolls and I have to wait for it to or click the display to make it switch.

Smart playlists...

[arb]

If the last random song I hear before shutting down the computer and going to bed is by random chance the first song I hear when I wake up, that's dumb, stupid, and sucks ass. I have 5000 songs, some of which I've played out and don't want to hear very often.

I know this isn't quite what you want, but it is possible to create a smart playlist which will not select a song if it has been played in the last x days. Or select a couple of hundred songs that have not been played recently.

There's all sorts of go

Re:Smart playlists...

[NeMon'ess]

Thanks. That journal you wrote was actually one of the reasons I gave iTunes a try. Seeing how versatile it's playlists are was impressive. Unfortunately it's going to take quite a while to rate lots of songs. I'd like to hurt a programmer's boss at Apple for not letting Ctrl-1,2,3,4,5 change the song ratings. Are they nuts expecting me to Get Info and then hit Ctrl-N FIVE THOUSAND TIMES in a row as I rate songs?! Fuck that! When a good song comes up and I remember, let me click the Mini Player and C

Re:Smart playlists...

[NeMon'ess]

Haha, I have egg on my face yet again, but that's all right. I just googled and found how I can rate songs by clicking over the "My Rating" column for a song. That is easier than I had realized was possible. I'd still like to press Ctrl-5 when the Mini Player is open. Otherwise I have to go to the icon in the system tray, Right-click, go up to My Rating, and click. I may often prefer the mouse, but I like keyboard shortcuts when they save time.

Re:Smart playlists...

[arb]

Are they nuts expecting me to Get Info and then hit Ctrl-N FIVE THOUSAND TIMES in a row as I rate songs?! Fuck that! When a good song comes up and I remember, let me click the Mini Player and Ctrl-5 to rate it.

While a keyboard shortcut would be a good thing, you do realise that you can set the rating in the main player view without using "Get Info"? Just show the "My Rating" column and you can click (and drag) to set the rating. An "Unrated" playlist is pretty darn handy here too.

Say, can you tell me th

Good Request

[Oculus Habent]

I have submitted a request of this same nature in response to your journal. Hopefully others will, as well.

Pitch In [apple.com]

Re:Good Request

[NeMon'ess]

Thanks! When that feature is added I look forward to making a giant playlist and adding several copies of songs I love/have highly rated. Then I'll shuffle the massive thing and start playing. Several weeks later when it reaches the end, I'll shuffle it again and start from the top.