Playlists, iPod and DICE

A playlist is just a list of tracks that you want to be able to listen to all together. You do not HAVE to create playlists, but it's convenient. If you like to listen to one album all the way through, you create a playlist with its tracks. If you like to listen to all the songs of one singer, you create a playlist with her songs. If you like to listen to specific songs, you put them in a playlist. If you buy a lecture series from The Teaching Company, you put all the lectures of the series into a playlist.

The naming of playlists is for your convenience, so that you know which playlist is which. You should give each a name that means something to you. Playlist names can be long, but only so many letters will show up on the iPod screen, so keep them to that size, or make sure the first part of the name is distinctive. If you have a playlist called "RockandrollsongsfrombeforeElvis_1" and another called "RockandrollsongsfrombeforeElvis_2" you won't be able to tell from the index which is which.

Unless they've changed it in the latest software version, you can create sub-folders in iTunes, but not on the iPod itself.

It's all pretty easy and self-explanatory. You set up everything in iTunes (which you download for free from Apple) and when you plug your iPod into the computer and run iTunes it will show your iPod as a folder, which you can open and manipulate by dragging and dropping to or from or within the iPod as well as within iTunes.

There is an option to have iTunes automatically update the iPod so it always has the same arrangement as iTunes. I have that shut off, as I have more in iTunes than I want to keep on the iPod, such as audio books and lecture series that I've already listened to.

 

in itunes you can make "Smart Playlists" that automatically create a specific playlist for a certain artist, genre, date, played time, etc so you dont have to physically drag and drop songs.