I set up an iTunes smart playlist on my iPod to include everything with a play count of less than 4 (since it can’t do equal or less than). I was all ready to go, OK let’s play a song! And I opened up the playlist and it was FULL of Beatles songs. Like, all of them. Which, clearly, I have listened to all of those AT LEAST dozens of times. So — time to troubleshoot.
I think the issue is that this iPod is relatively new to me, and apparently iPod play count and iTunes play count don’t sync up. And, some of the song files are quite old, including lots from college (which was back in the days of Napster). So although the files made it from mp3 player to mp3 player as I upgraded, the additional metadata like play count did not.
So I have tweaked my playlist to be less stupid. It’s now excluding stuff I know I’ve listened to lots:
- play count less than 4
- genre is not Podcast (that got rid of a lot of stuff! I need to keep up on my podcasts better apparently)
- Artist does not include:
- Beatles
- Simon & Garfunkel
- Abigail Washburn (but please go listen to her if you haven’t)
- A.J. Roach
- America (apparently I went through a serious cheesy 70s folk-ish music phase)
- Architecture in Helsinki (I only have the album In Case We Die)
- Chuckanut Drive
- Counting Crows
- Cream, Clapton, Blind Faith, any other incarnations of same
- Crosby, Stills, Nash, & Young
- Dar Williams
- The Decemberists
- Fleetwood Mac (also from the high school era)
- Gaelic Storm
- George Harrison
- Guster
- India.Arie
- Iron & Wine (seems to be all I can listen to lately)
- Janis Joplin
- John Lennon
- Laura Viers
- Louise Attaque
- Mayor West
- The Monkees (where did these even come from?!)
- Neko Case, The Old 97s, Rhett Miller (how is it possible that it thinks I haven’t played these??)
- Ozma (a band I found through Sho)
- Paul McCartney
- Paul Simon
- The Proclaimers
- Wings
- Willie Nelson
- Album is not:
- Blue Horse (Be Good Tanyas — Hello Love gets to stay)
- Glory by Anna Coogan and North 19
- Funeral by Arcade Fire
- Rock Spectacle or Stunt by the Barenaked Ladies (Born on a Pirate Ship gets to stay; I don’t think I’ve listened to it all the way through. Rock Spectacle is a high-school-era album but I continue to listen to it occasionally still so it’s off-limits.)
- Dear Catastrophe Waitress or The Life Pursuit by Belle & Sebastian. (Total lies. I listen to these All The Time. Their other albums are still on the list though.)
- Songs for Ducks and Robots or Music for Cherry Blossoms, two mix CDs that Sho made for me and which I listened to extensively, of course.
- The Cream of Clapton
- The Campfire Headphase by Boards of Canada (this was my preferred music for reading Infinite Jest on the bus)
- From the End of Your Leash, Young Criminals Starvation League, OK – I’m Sorry, or The Longest Meow by Bobby Bare Jr. Boo-Tay stays.
- Broken Social Scene
- Feast of Wire, by Calexico
- Ghosts of Fashion and Your Favorite Music, by Clem Snide
- Still Crooked, by Crooked Still. Their other albums get to stay
- Decoration Day, by the Drive-By Truckers
- XO, by Elliott Smith
- Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots, by the Flaming Lips
- Les Misérablesoriginal Broadway cast recording (ugh, so embarrassing)
- Fool for Love, by Paul Burch
- Automatic for the People, by R.E.M.
- The Hot Rock, by Sleater-Kinney
- We Brave Bee Stings and All, by Thao and the Get Down Stay Down
- Joshua Tree, Achtung Baby, and The Best of 1980-1990 by U2
- Yankee Hotel Foxtrot, by Wilco
Stuff I’m leaving in just because it’s been so long (5+ years) since I’ve listened to it:
- Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness (man, that takes me back …)
- Immobile by Autour de Lucie
- I’m Alive by Jackson Browne (hi Josh)
- Laid by James
- White on Blonde by Texas
- The Past Didn’t Go Anywhere by Utah Phillips and Ani DiFranco
This still leaves me with 2590 songs. Yikes.
OK let’s play a song!