iPod touch Shuffle songs from a particular genre

Create a smart playlist in iTunes with the rule "Genre is whatever" and sync it to your iPod.

That should do it. Shuffle if you want.

After selecting the genre, at the top of the next page appears "All Albums". Choose that, then "All Songs", then "Shuffle". Enjoy.

DaMob said:

Yeah I figured that out, but I don't want every song of a genre.

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Wait, you want to automatically be able to shuffle from among all the songs of a given genre, except the ones that you don't want shuffled? How on earth is your iPod supposed to know which ones those are?

DaMob said:

Every song in my library has been assigned with a genre, but when I want to play the songs in a particular genre, it only plays that one song. I want it too play every song in that genre, if possible in shuffle mode.

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DaMob said:

but I don't want every song of a genre. So I started making a playlist where I put the songs I want on my iPod.
But to start making a playlist for every different genre, is just annoying.

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DaMob said:

I mean that I make a playlist in iTunes in which I put all the songs I want on the iPod and then sync that playlist. But if I have to make a different playlist for every genre it would be quite annoying.

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Can I just say:

DaMob said:

After I select all albums it says it has no music in it. This is possible cause not a single song in my library has been given an album...

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So you've torn out your guinea pig's larynx and you're pissed it doesn't sing anymore?

Just curious: why did you remove the album information in the first place?

Please choose:

• I didn't want to enter the info by hand and I didn't know iTunes could get all the album info automatically.

• My sources are not quite legitimate.

• iTunes did remove the album information all by itself. rolleyes

It looks like I did you wrong; and I'd like to say sorry.

There might still be a way around that problem. What happens if you fill the album field for some or for all songs with something like "Every album"? Do these songs appear on your iPod in the above mentioned way (cf. post #4)?

Here's another possible solution.

1. In Settings, set Shuffle to Songs.
2. Return to the Main Menu, then select Music > Genres.
3. Scroll until your desired genre is highlighted. Now, instead of hitting the Select button, press Play.

This will start playing random songs from that genre.

EDIT: I've just confirmed this with any of the genres on my nano, so I'm rather sure it'll work for you.

I understand about the no album/artwork thing. Some of the best club/house/techno/trance music is available only on 12" vinyl singles with little if any artwork. I had to record a sizable chunk of my vinyl collection into my computer after searching in vain for a CD-based replacement.

DaMob said:

No hard feelings!

At the person above, it's possible I'm blind, but when I go to settings, I don't see any option to shuffle.
But I think you're talking about a normal iPod, with the select button etc...

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Oh, you have an iPod touch? I'll have to see if there's a similarly-functioning version of my suggestion on my wife's touch when I get home this evening. If there is, I'll post those instructions, so that you don't have to remember to put a space in the Album field everytime you get a new song.

DaMob said:

I've selected all my songs and put a simple space in the album tag and now I can select all albums and go through every single song in that genre.

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Glad it worked.

dXTC is right of course: you'll have to remember to do that every time you import stuff. Otherwise the files will be invisible to the shuffle mode.

Maybe you can set up a smart playlist where the album name is not [space]. Every time the playlist is not empty, there's work to be done.

DaMob said:

You're posting in the iPod Touch forum, so yes I have one

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Pardon me while I send myself a Picard Facepalm. Wow, did I fail.

Unfortunately, I also fail at finding a better solution to your problem; my wife's collection is too well tagged to determine a "blank" genre to test. I'd go with Cinematographer's suggestion of a smart playlist. You should be able to update from that playlist en masse every so often. It's hard to believe there isn't a way, though, as the touch is more versatile overall than the nano.

Play Genre

DaMob said:

Every song in my library has been assigned with a genre, but when I want to play the songs in a particular genre, it only plays that one song. I want it too play every song in that genre, if possible in shuffle mode.
I've looked through the forums, Google and any settings on the iPod itself, but haven't found anything.
Anyone has a solution?

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I have two solutions.
Method 1) - Use SIRI and say "PLAY ALL JAZZ"
SIRI will find all songs in your JAZZ Genre and play them, shuffled.
Only one hitch. SIRI only works if connected to a network.

Method 2) - Start your music app
- tap MORE ... Lower left on screen
- Tap GENRE on next screen
- Pull screen down till you see search bar at top
- Type JAZZ into search bar ... Tap SEARCH
- Scroll down next screen till you find GENRE
- Under GENRE find the word JAZZ and tap it
- Pull next screen down till you see SHUFFLE ALL SONGS
- Tap SHUFFLE ALL SONGS
All songs in your JAZZ Genre should start playing

Good luck! I hope this helps all of you that were struggling with this problem as I was. This function was easy and intuitive on my Ipod Classic. Too bad APPLE couldn't make it as easy on this later technology. I am a little disappointed!