i was talking with matt about how i organize itunes and it sounded like a good explanation so i figured i would blog it here. but first, i should explain how i rate my songs. in itunes, there are 6 levels; 1 star to 5 star inclusive, and unrated. unrated i use for new songs that are well, unrated. one star songs are pretty much songs that i shouldn’t have in my library (ie i never want to listen to them) but have for consistency (ie i might have ripped an entire album). two star songs are the ones which are alright but i don’t want to listen to them everyday; that is the average level. three star songs are good, i like them; four star songs are great, these are awesome tracks; and five star songs are the classics, my favourite songs. anyways, i use these ratings in my discussions to follow.

i used to have all sorts of playlists, but i’ve finally found a good one to settle on. basically i have 4 playlists that i draw on to create my master playlist. i have one for * or ** star songs that i haven’t listened to in four weeks, *** or **** songs that haven’t been played in the last week, ***** songs that i haven’t heard in two weeks (don’t want to overplay the good ones!) and a playlist for songs i haven’t rated. from there i construct my master playlist by choosing the least often played tunes from those playlists in a 2:8:1:4 ratio.

now, i’ve only had this setup going for little while so i’m not too sure about the ratios but here’s my take on it. i want the unrated component to be high, because they’re the new songs so they should get more exposure. as i listen to them, i’ll rate them and they’ll go back to their normal rate. i put the low rated songs in at a low ratio, because i won’t want to listen to a crappy song too often but i’ll also get some variety instead of listening to good songs all the time. i don’t want to listen to ***** songs that often because i’ve listened to them a lot already, and i fill up the rest with decent songs that i like.

anyways, i think this playlist works because it plays songs you like more often than crappy songs but also makes sure to play through your library so you won’t be stuck listening to the same songs over and over.

oh btw, my itunes total time played is >52 days now!

Posted by Kevin in Blogs Tags: itunes, music