What's the point of playlists and browse?

stevegongruistevegongrui
Posted:
in iPod + iTunes + AppleTV edited January 2014
1.



I don't quite understand why people have like, trillions of playlists.



I don't have a single playlist. Whenever I want to play a song I just use the search box.



I guess some people like to put some songs in order, but do you really know in advance what songs you want to listen to? (I usually change my mind if I use a playlist)





2.



Also, what's so useful about the browse feature?
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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 26
    messiahtoshmessiahtosh Posts: 1,754member
    Playlists are great for setting a general mood, or going along with one you are in. I happen to enjoy mixing and matching songs and seeing how they flow.



    The browse feature allows you to narrow your search for songs, I use it all the time, personally. It shows artists, albums, and then the individual songs. Browse is a very convenient and efficient way of scowering your music library rather than going song by song.



    Simple.
  • Reply 2 of 26
    rokrok Posts: 3,519member
    if i may be so bold, i think it may be the difference between the fine music connoisseur, who can assemble groups to establish tone, mood, etc., and ear-candy folks who have lots of favorite songs, but possible compiled more from pop and mainstream, as well as singles culled together into one catch-all itunes library.
  • Reply 3 of 26
    idunnoidunno Posts: 645member
    I have one playlist of my girlfriends fave music (because she hates my tastes), and also two Smart playlists... one for the 50 most recently added songs to iTunes, and one for the 25 least listened to songs.
  • Reply 4 of 26
    stevegongruistevegongrui Posts: 771member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by Messiahtosh



    The browse feature allows you to narrow your search for songs, Browse is a very convenient and efficient way of scowering your music library rather than going song by song.



    Simple.



    Sorry, but isn't the search box a lot easier?
  • Reply 5 of 26
    stevegongruistevegongrui Posts: 771member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by rok

    if i may be so bold, i think it may be the difference between the fine music connoisseur, who can assemble groups to establish tone, mood, etc., and ear-candy folks who have lots of favorite songs, but possible compiled more from pop and mainstream, as well as singles culled together into one catch-all itunes library.



    The fine music connoisseur does not mix music around.



    For example, it's just wrong to take the second movement of beethoven's 5th symphony and mix that with mozart's sonatina facile.



    It's ok for the ear candy folks, but not ok for the connoisseur because it is wrong in principle.



    These pieces were written to stand as one. Break the movements and it is no longer a single piece.





    So yes, I think you are mistaken
  • Reply 6 of 26
    cosmonutcosmonut Posts: 4,872member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by stevegongrui

    Sorry, but isn't the search box a lot easier?



    Okay, say that you have 3 albums from John Mayer and you decide, "Hey, I want to listen to John Mayer." With Browse, you can select him from the library and start a song. From that point on, only his songs will play because that's all you selected in Browse.



    Maybe you want to listen to all things Jazz in your Library. Select that genre in Browse and they (and only that genre) are ready to go for you.



    Yeah, I suppose you can do most of the same with Search, but many of us prefer Browse. To me, Search is for finding that song that you can't remember who sang it kind of thing.



    As far as playlists go, I'll give you some examples:



    Good Day Mix: Songs such as "Brand New Day" from Sting, "Don't Worry, Be Happy" from Bobby McFerrin, and "Everyday" from Dave Matthews Band. I sometimes play this list in the morning while I'm getting ready for work, or when I'm kind of blue.



    Study Music: A mix of songs from various genres, artists, etc. that work really well as background music while studying or doing other mind-using things. It doesn't get in the way, but it fills the void.



    Driving Mix: Several songs with heavy rhythms or upbeat music for rolling down all the windows on that perfect-temperature day and driving about 90MPH down the highway.



    So what do you think?
  • Reply 7 of 26
    ipodandimacipodandimac Posts: 3,273member
    i have 100% smart playlists... i use them to sort through genre/ratings. its nice out on the ipod, cause you know you cant search on the ipod. i just use them to keep different kinds of music readily available.
  • Reply 8 of 26
    digitaldavedigitaldave Posts: 445member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by stevegongrui

    Sorry, but isn't the search box a lot easier?



    The search box is OK if you know what you're looking for . I like the browse feature, because I don't always know what I want to list to - I'll fire up iTunes, thinking "I want to listen to something, but I really don't know what", so I'll browse through, maybe by artist, and see what catches my eye - I've found some long forgotten gems recently using this method .



    As for playlists, I personally don't use them, but that's probably due to me not knowing what can be done with them . However, they have loads of uses, some of which people have covered above. Another use is to organise stuff on iPods. For example, a couple I know have two iPods and one computer. They've loaded all their songs in to one iTunes library, but they have two playlists - one for 'his' music, and one for 'hers' - they just manually sync up their own playlist, thus avoiding music they don't want on their iPod's. Apparently it works really well.



    So search, browse and playlists all have their uses - it just depends on your need .



    Dave.
  • Reply 9 of 26
    silentechoessilentechoes Posts: 288member
    Its all a matter of preference. Why is there 2000 different ways to get to your applications folder? Its just the way Apple makes things.
  • Reply 10 of 26
    lucaluca Posts: 3,833member
    I never really use browse mode, but I do use playlists for when I'm listening to my iPod (or when I'm listening on my Mac, either way). It's good for when I only want to hear my highly-rated songs of a particular genre. So, I am careful about how I label my genres (I don't tolerate things like "Rock/Pop" coexisting with "Rock" or "Pop"), and I rate songs as much as possible. Over two thirds of my library is rated. Each genre has a playlist that only includes the 4- and 5-star rated songs from that genre, and I also have a "top rated" playlist that contains all my 5-star songs.



    It's very useful when I'm working at the library and I don't want to have to switch songs often. Instead of going Browse > Genre > All Artists > All Albums, I just do Playlists > Genre and it filters out all the songs I'm not all that crazy about.



    Oh, and ratings on the fly is awesome. It's the main third-generation iPod feature I use. I have very few 2-star songs, and I use the 1-star rating mainly to flag songs that I want to delete, re-rip, fix the tags, etc. So, my ordering system relies heavily on ratings. Unfortunately I still have some 500 songs that need to get rated, but a lot of those are ones I dislike somewhat anyway and just can't give a rating to. I think I'll go on a major purge of the ones I dislike pretty soon.



    P.S. SilentEchoes, great first post here! You make a great point - there are lots of ways you can organize your music, so everyone can find a way that's best for them. Same with managing windows and views in Finder.
  • Reply 11 of 26
    silentechoessilentechoes Posts: 288member
    Hey thanks Luca Rescigno. Yeah I noticed this the other day while helping my dad with something, He had his dock full of icons and I had no idea where anything was. Thats when I realized that its not the look OS X thats sooo customizable like a lot of people say, its the user experience.
  • Reply 12 of 26
    stupider...likeafoxstupider...likeafox Posts: 1,618member
    I use the browser when I want to, well, browse.

    I use the search box when I am, how can I put this, searching.

    And I use playlists when I want to hear a, you know, playlist of songs.



    Where is the confusion here?



    Or more constructively:



    Do you own an iPod? Skipping tracks will eat your battery. you're much better to use a playlist.



    Have you ever read/watchced high fidelity? Music geeks sf the type depicted in the book/film know that there is an art to making playlists.



    I think (inferring wildly) that your problem is listening to classical music. Until Apple implements the new grouping tag properly then it doesn't make sense to use shuffle as it breaks up songs that should be 'grouped' together. Smart playlists and Browser selections work best in random mode.



    Browsing is also perfect for listening to entire albums straight through as you can just double click the album name and it starts playing.
  • Reply 13 of 26
    tchwojkotchwojko Posts: 139member
    I have a playlist titled "Not Children's Music", and my kids (all < 7 yrs old) each have a playlist. I don't think you can do that with the search functionality with one click. The kids can recognize their names and know how to double click. Again, search and browse won't work for them.



    In iPhoto, you need a playlist to run a slideshow with more than one song.
  • Reply 14 of 26
    buonrottobuonrotto Posts: 6,368member
    I use playlists, particularly smart playlists to organize songs into :



    Moods: slow, upbeat/dance, silly, angry, etc. It's nice if I'm doing certain tasks or at certain hours.



    Offensive or inoffensive material: whether or not I can play them aloud at work, with family, etc. I have a lot of stuff with explicit content, so the playlist acts as a filter.



    Certain artists: one artist might be in 3 or more bands, and it's easier to create a playlist than to hunt for the stuff all the time. Bill Leeb,for example, has no less than about 10 bands or side projects in his career, so I can keep them all in one place and play them.



    Favorite songs: I have my current favorites or newest purchases, and my all-time favorites. I can use a playlist to put them in one place quickly and not have to go through a bunch of good-but-not-great songs or albums.



    Mostly, playlists are when I want to just play music for an extended period but not have to mind iTunes the whole time. They help especially when you have an iPod.



    Browse is great for what CosmoNut mentioned, especially useful if you're not sure what you're in the mood for. Remember, it's not search, it's browse, despite that the two words are often mixed up in other contexts.
  • Reply 15 of 26
    brussellbrussell Posts: 9,812member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by stevegongrui

    1.



    I don't quite understand why people have like, trillions of playlists.



    I don't have a single playlist. Whenever I want to play a song I just use the search box.



    I guess some people like to put some songs in order, but do you really know in advance what songs you want to listen to? (I usually change my mind if I use a playlist)





    2.



    Also, what's so useful about the browse feature?



    You're just being silly.



    1. Playlists are for playing more than one track of your choice in a row. Do you search for a track, and then play it, and then search for another, and then play that, and on and on, every single time?



    2. Browse is for when you're searching for something but you're not sure what, so you can't type anything in the search box. Don't you ever want to listen to music, but you're flexible on what exactly, and so you just want to look through your music and see what grabs you?
  • Reply 16 of 26
    pscatespscates Posts: 5,847member
    It's a personal preference thing, Steve. You don't have to use either of these features if you don't want to.



    BuonRotto and BRussell both nail it. Nothing more to say.
  • Reply 17 of 26
    idebaseridebaser Posts: 121member
    i'll tell you what is annoying and i always take out of my browse window is the genre...CDDB gets them so messed up, it's an annoyance...grrrr

    but it is helpful when perusing someone's library on the network...



    playlists are the coolest for loading onto your iPod...then you don't have to load it up w/ albums, just songs you are in mood to hear that day or trip or whatever...or when you're , y'know "busy" w/ a friend...don't need to stop the groove...
  • Reply 18 of 26
    pscatespscates Posts: 5,847member
    What, "Songs to knock it out to"?



    - Roadtrip

    - Jogging

    - Sad Mondays

    - Screwing

    - Dance



    Barry White, Enigma and R. Kelly (uh, well...).
  • Reply 19 of 26
    rokrok Posts: 3,519member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by BRussell

    1. Playlists are for playing more than one track of your choice in a row. Do you search for a track, and then play it, and then search for another, and then play that, and on and on, every single time?



    i know i am probably in the minority here for doing this, but i have itunes always on shuffle, and then i just hit play. if it plays a song i don't want to hear, i hit the "forward track" button until something plays that i DO want to listen to. strange, i know.
  • Reply 20 of 26
    cosmonutcosmonut Posts: 4,872member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by rok

    i know i am probably in the minority here for doing this, but i have itunes always on shuffle, and then i just hit play.



    I *sometimes* do that too. Every now and then I get in a mood of, "I want to listen to something, but I don't know what. Let's see what iTunes randomly comes up with for me!" I'll click it to random and then scroll up and down with my eyes closed and double-click somewhere in the window to get it started.
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