iPod iPod shuffle and last played

[buckuxc]

This is a continuation of an earlier post of mine that I thought needed it's own subject line.

I recently bought an iPod shuffle (this past weekend), and while I really like using it, I only discovered today that it doesn't update my last played information. This is a real caveat for creating any smart lists that identify songs I've been listening to lately, especially since I listen to the majority of music on the go.

Has anyone figured out a work-around? I know the play count gets updated, but that doesn't help because I don't want to reset all of my play counts to zero all the time (then I have no top 100 list). I thought for a second that Date Modified would work because it would logically seem that updating the play count would modify the song, but that doesn't happen, I guess because it doesn't modify the actual file.

Does anyone have any ideas of what to do? with Applescript and the date modified field perhaps? I really like to use the shuffle, but last played was at the core of so many of my playlists.

 

[Applespider]

There's no 'clock' function in the Shuffle which is why 'last date' doesn't update.

Using the 'date modified' might possible but I guess the trick would be making sure that it only changed the Last Played date when the Shuffle was attached and incremented the play count, as opposed to when a normal iPod or iTunes incremented the play count.

The only thing I can see at the moment is a script here that allows you to change the 'Last Played' date. I suppose if you're not auto-updating the Shuffle, you might be able to select Shuffle tracks and then use the script to change the 'Last Played Date'

 

[buckuxc]

There's no 'clock' function in the Shuffle which is why 'last date' doesn't update.

Using the 'date modified' might possible but I guess the trick would be making sure that it only changed the Last Played date when the Shuffle was attached and incremented the play count, as opposed to when a normal iPod or iTunes incremented the play count.

The only thing I can see at the moment is a script here that allows you to change the 'Last Played' date. I suppose if you're not auto-updating the Shuffle, you might be able to select Shuffle tracks and then use the script to change the 'Last Played Date'

Yeah, I did some searching and discovered there's no clock. I understand the minimalist thing (obviously I bought one), but I don't understand why Apple would go and kill one of the major features of the whole iPod/iTunes experience by doing this. Would it have been absolutely impossible to get an internal clock in their (I don't know how small those things can go...)?

I don't have another iPod, so that's not a problem and I'm not sure what you mean by not allowing iTunes to increment the songs information. I just want a list of songs that have been "modified" recently (i.e., the songs have been played). Otherwise, I just can't keep track of my music listening, which is a key component of iTunes.

One of the major problems of not having a display is that you can't change a songs rating on the fly. I thought I would just make a recently played list and then I could sift through them in iTunes and rate them that way. But now I have to go through every single song in the shuffle's list.

I'm going to continue thinking of a workaround, but I just don't know Applescript very well, so hopefully someone can think of something.

 

[buckuxc]

solution

The only work-around I can think of is using Play Count by returning all songs to a play count of 0 once a week (or so). The only problem I have with this solution is that it makes my Top 100 list (sorted by most played) basically worthless. The solution allows me to keep track of the songs played over short peiords of time, but I lose the aggregated information of many, many listens. Does anyone use or know of a different way to keep track of the most listened to songs overall without using play count? Is there any applescript that could take each songs play count each week and add it up in some separate file?

An interesting side effect of thinking out this solution (at least I hope...I've only partially thought this through so it may turn out wrong for some reason I'm not thinking of) is that it effectively solves the "hotlist" problem I always had with my regular iPod: since iTunes always erases the previous last played date, there's never been a way to create smart playlist with parameters such as "all songs played at least 3 times within the past week." Now I can do this, as long as I zero all the play counts once a week.

So any suggestions about how to keep long term play count info?

By the way, to zero the play count of songs, you can use this last played count script. Also, if one wanted to change the last played column, you can use this script.