Not many people know that the Zune 2.1 software release was a complete re-write of the software. We wiped the slate clean and started over. So, it wasn’t as simple as porting features over, we literally had to re-write the application from the ground up. Features like autoplaylists are no simple task to implement, and while we wanted them in the first 2.1 release, it just wasn’t possible. Now we have them, so it’s moot point, but I wanted to enlighten you as to why they weren’t included until now.
It was almost serendipitous that the “July Zune News” email was sent out earlier this week, and guess what the tip and trick was? You guessed it, how to create autoplaylists. (See this link for explicit instructions on how to create and sync autoplaylists) I thought, “awesome segue for my next blog post, sweeeet…”
Enough babbling, dude, show me some autoplaylists…
I have a few autoplaylists that I listen to religiously, I think you’ll find them useful as well. I won’t go in depth on basic setup (see link), but I will give you a few ideas on some parameters to start with. Here goes…
“Auto faves”
This is the quintessential autoplaylist. All of the songs you have rated as a heart will be added, and as you mark new songs with a heart rating, they are added to the list. I play this one more than any other playlist I have. This one is super simple to make; fire up the autoplaylist editor and select the Rating drop down, and then choose the heart (like) rating. Set the limit to no limit, and you’re done. (ps- a different spin on this one is to create a separate autoplaylist of songs you haven’t rated yet. I have found more than a few gems I had forgotten about using this method)
“100 Songs I have never heard”
This one is easy to setup, and is blast to listen to. Leave all music filters set to “all”, with the exception of “song plays”. In the song plays drop-down menu, choose “never played.” Set the limit to 100 songs, and let it arrange them randomly. The software will automatically scan your collection for songs you have never played and generate a random list. Then, each time you play one of the songs from the playlist, it is removed, and another song you haven’t played is added in its place. I was amazed that I hadn’t listened to Master P since Zune 2.1 came out, but Percy and I are back on good terms now…
“Songs added in the last 7 days”
Since I have the Zune pass, I am a fiend for new music Tuesdays! I download most of the new albums that come out on Tuesday, jam them over the week, and then keep the albums I really like. Rinse and repeat. To accomplish this, I fire up autoplaylists and select the Recently added drop down and choose “in the last (days):” and enter in the number 7 (you can obviously tweak # of days as you see fit). Then choose to arrange the songs by date added. I choose no limit to the songs as a personal preference, but you can choose to limit it if you like. Voila, now you have a running autoplaylist that will continually refresh itself with the new tunes you acquire.
“50 most played songs”
When I made this one, I realized that I listen to Radiohead way too much (is that even possible?). Start by setting your song plays to More Than 5. Then choose to arrange the songs by most played. Set the limit to 50 songs and you’re done. As you play songs more and more, they will be added to the list, as you stop listening to others as much, they will drop off of the list. Good way to find your uber-favorites.
How about some tricks?
Ever want to listen to a list of all of the Daft Punk, Radiohead, and Gorillaz tracks in your collection? I know I do. You can add multiple artists to the same autoplaylist by using a semi-colon. So, in the Album Artist field of the autoplaylist editor, choose your artist, then put a semi-colon after it, then type in another artist, and repeat. My album artist field in the editor looks like this (without quotes) “Radiohead; Daft Punk; Gorillaz”. Now you can add any artists you like together. I even have one with OutKast and Goodie Mob when I am in a southern hip hop mood. (Note: you can also do this with multiple genres. Like Hip Hop and Electronica? Try it out.)
If you’re like me, you have multiple genres listed for the same kind of music. Electronic, Electronica, Electronic/Dance, Electronica & Dance, etc. Wow! How about Hip Hop, Hip-Hop, Hip Hop/Rap, Hip-Hop/R&B, etc. Yikes! Thank god (or our developers) for including a wildcard matching algorithm. In the genre field of the autoplaylist editor, just type in “electro” (no quotes), and the editor will pull every genre that starts with “electro”. For the hip hop dilemma, type in “hip” and it will pull all of the hip hop variant genres in your collection. You can do this with any genre. This is one of my fave features of autoplaylists hands down.
Alright, I have talked long enough. What say you loyal readers? Do you have a favorite autoplaylist that you can’t live without? Have another trick that you use to make the editor more powerful? Post a comment and share your faves with the other readers.
Experiment, have fun, and be excellent to each other…