iTunes as a program is okay, it’s got a nice GUI, importing music is easy…but what personal music software doesn’t? Those are the two building blocks of the program; without them, the program is useless.
One thing that makes iTunes nifty is Smart Playlists. The ability to create a playlist of songs that meet particular criteria is quite useful, and can easily help group similar songs. I am going to list the smart playlists that I have created that I have found extremely useful. BOOKMARK THIS PAGE and come back every so often to have a squiz at any new ones I have created. Another good resource for this is at the iTunes Lounge. They have a whole thread dedicated to them!
Before I put down all the smart playlists I use, I suggest you take a look at my post on how to speed up your iTunes – as once you have a lot of smart playlists, it can slow down your iTunes significantly!
Some other useful links about iTunes –
iTunes Help – Rebuilding your iTunes library
iTunes Help – Moving Your iTunes Library From A PC To A Mac (And Vice Versa)
iTunes Help – How to Quickly and Accurately Rate Your Music
iTunes Help – Creating good playlists
I will post a description and a picture of the rules that I use to create the playlist.
1. Personalised Radio Station (see Step 2)
2. Fresh Mix – For those songs you haven’t listened to in the last week
3. Hidden – Songs that you like, but haven’t listened to in a while
4. New – Songs you have rated highly, but haven’t listened to yet
5. Top 100 – Your 100 most played songs
6. Top Shelf – Only the Best of the Best make it here! (read the post I have linked to, so you can understand all the rules)
7. SILVER, GOLD and PLATINUM (see Step 5 in the hyperlinked post) – For those songs that you love.
8. Up and coming – For those tracks that are about to break into your SILVER, GOLD and PLATINUM playlists.
9. Scientific Random – This is a very unique playlist that requires a combination of playlists.
10. Money’s Worth – For those songs you have bought in the iTunes store, but seem to get lost in your library.
Maintenance playlists
To help keep your iTunes in order, you occasionally need to perform some maintenance on your songs. Here are some playlists to help.
11. Unrated – All songs you haven’t rated yet
12. Unloved – Songs you haven’t listened to yet.
13. Missing (! files) – When song links become broken, they will no longer sync with your device. Make sure to fix these! (read the post to understand how it works)
I’m sure there will be more, but currently, these are some of the main smart playlists that I use to keep my music organised. What smart playlists do you have? Let me know!
SUBMEG 
Great site, did you do your post on the scientific random playlist.
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Not yet, I will get around to it soon! Perhaps tomorrow?
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Hi Andrew, not yet, will do that soon, so much going on at the moment!
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