iPod How to: Delete Playlist w/ its Songs from iPod (SOLVED)

then I suspect you need to not manually manage your ipod that way, when you connect and sync, whatever is deleted from your library will be removed from the ipod

You can't delete the actual song from a 'Playlist'. Songs in Playlists are just links to the actual song which located in the 'Music' section of the 'Library'. This is should be the top folder on your iTunes page. Delete the songs from the 'Music' there.

Also - if you are moving files/mp3's around within iTunes using the 'Finder' that is a BIG no-no! You should only work within iTunes using iTunes - not the Finder. iTunes is really a database with a music player interface at the top. Almost all my playlists are what are called 'Smart' playlists that take advantage of the power of the database. But I do burn a music cd periodically from a playlist similar to what you are trying to do. I make a 'non-smart' playlist. Drag songs from the iTunes Music Folder (top folder on the iTunes page). Burn my cd and then delete the 'non-smart' playlist. The actual songs still remain in the Music folder. If I don't want the songs at all anymore they can be deleted from the Music folder.

Try the different 'Sort' arrows at the top of each of the columns across the top of the iTune page. Or, set up iTunes to display star 'Rating' (View - View Options). When you are ready to delete assign all the songs a 0 or 1 star rating (just click on the rating). Then go to your 'Music' folder and sort by star rating.

I highly encourage using 'Smart Playlists'. For example: - Sorry LONG post:

The huge advantage of a Smart Playlist is that you only have to ‘work’ a song one time - when you first import it. I like lots of different types of music - Rock, Pop, New Age, Country, Latin, German and others. I also have my favorites for each of those genres.

So I have a ‘Rock’ playlist and a ‘Rock Favorites’ playlist. When I first import a rock song into iTunes I assign it characteristics. By highlighting the song and doing a ‘get info’ command you will get a screen. Click on the ‘Info’ tab and you can modify the ‘Genre’ however you want. Maybe you want the song to go into your ‘Rock’, ‘Pop’, and ‘Latin’ playlists. You can do that here by separating your genre’s by commas like this - Rock, Pop, Latin. That song will now go into any playlist where you tell that playlist to look for one (or more) of those genres. But I also really like this new song so I assign it a ‘Star Rating’ of 5. I have a ‘Rock Favorites’ playlist that looks for the genre of ‘Rock’ but also a ‘Star Rating’ of 4 or greater. Now my song will also automatically populate that playlist. It is now in two places - the ‘Rock’ playlist AND the ‘Rock Favorites’ playlist.

By the way - ‘Star Rating’ can automatically update iTunes FROM your iPod if you have iTunes set up to do that. So I have yet another smart playlist that I call ‘Under Review’. When I first import new songs I usually set their genres and give them all an initial 3 Star rating. My ‘Under Review’ playlist is set to gather all songs that have a ‘Star Rating’ of 3 or Less AND have been played less than 4 times. If I listen to my ‘Under Review’ playlist I have three opportunities to change the ‘Star Rating’. If I do nothing then after it has played 3 times it will automatically drop out of the ‘Under Review’ playlist. But it will still remain in the appropriate genre playlist. If I change the ‘Star Rating’ to 4 or 5 it will drop out of the ‘Under Review’ playlist. It will remain in the appropriate genre playlist BUT will also go into the appropriate ‘(genre) Favorites’ playlist.

Aside from the smart playlists thing, which is a great idea. i concur that you really should only be using iTunes to interface with your ipod.

I think I understand what you want to do now though. Rather than have iTunes automatically sync your library to your ipod you need to change some settings.

When your ipod is connected and you've loaded up iTunes click on it's icon and settings and then find the tab related to Sync selected playlists, then you can decide which playlists to have on your ipod. Unticking them keeps the songs and playlists in your library but removes them from your ipod.

Hope that is what you're looking for.

There may be better ways - but you can do multiple 'edits' within iTunes under 'get info'. You might have to experiment a bit with your column sort. But you can highlight multiple songs (stay inside iTunes) just like selecting multiple files using the Finder. Then do a 'get info' and when the window comes up you can can change multiple things, like genre, all at once.

Glad to be able to help.....