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How to Update Smart Playlists

Smart playlists in iTunes allow you to make a playlist from your music collection that includes only certain types of music. You can choose to make a playlist with songs that only have a high rating, or a playlist with only jazz songs, or a playlist with only songs added from a specific date period, or any other selection criteria you think of. You can make as many of these smart playlists as you like and keep them updated to include new music you've added, or new ratings you've given to songs.

Things You'll Need

  • iTunes
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Instructions

    • 1

      Make a smart playlist. Open iTunes and choose File from the top menu. Scroll down until you reach "New Smart Playlist" and click.

    • 2

      Check the box that says "Match the Following Rule" and then make selections from the drop-down menus. Choose the conditions you want to filter the playlist by and fill these in. To add additional criteria click the "+" sign at the end of the line.

    • 3

      Decide if you want to limit the amount of songs in the playlist, the length of the playlist, or the size of the playlist. If so, check the box that says "Limit To" and then fill in accordingly. If you do not wish to limit anything, leave the box unchecked.

    • 4

      Check the box that says "Live Updating." This allows iTunes to update the playlist when you add, remove or change things in your iTunes library. This means that if your playlist is for jazz songs, then as soon as you add a new jazz song to your library it will be placed in this playlist.

    • 5

      Click "OK." Your smart playlist will now appear in the left side of the iTunes window under "Playlists." You can now name the playlist whatever you would like. To alter the playlist in any way, such as to change what is in it or what is filtered, right-click on the name of the playlist. The window from before will appear and you can change the rules that you previously set.

Digital Music

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