Shuffle 2G clock

[irregardless]

Does anyone know if the newly announced iPod Shuffle has an internal clock? The lack of one on the previous gum-pack model was a deal-breaker since most of my playlists rely on the "Date Late Played" attribute.

[skubish]

Originally Posted by irregardless

Does anyone know if the newly announced iPod Shuffle has an internal clock? The lack of one on the previous gum-pack model was a deal-breaker since most of my playlists rely on the "Date Late Played" attribute.

I don't think iPods are managing smart playlists anyway. That is done thru iTunes. At least the shuffle new or old can't have playlists are at. You pick 1 playlist or library to sync to and thats it.

[wPod]

iPods dont manage smart playlists, but lets say you play a song today on your iPod. and you have a playlist that is set to songs played today. when you sync your iPod the timestap of the last played time of the song will be updated on your computer. then your computer will update the smart playlist which will then be synced with your iPod. i organize my smart playlists this way. "not played in the last month" "not played in the last week" "not played ever" i really like keeping track of this. so i dont listen to the same songs 5 times in one week!

this is what the old shuffle did. it would not date stamp the song as played, but if you had played it, then it would be stamped with the time you sync the iPod with the computer. Example: you play a song 2 days ago. then today you sync. then song will show up as played today. so if you sync every day then you get an acurate(ish) date stamp from the shuffle.

i dont know if the new shuffle has a clock, but if you do what i described above, and sync every day, then it mostly works (unless you are trying to get down to not played within the last hour or something like that!)

[irregardless]

Originally Posted by wPod

iPods dont manage smart playlists, but lets say you play a song today on your iPod. and you have a playlist that is set to songs played today. when you sync your iPod the timestap of the last played time of the song will be updated on your computer. then your computer will update the smart playlist which will then be synced with your iPod. i organize my smart playlists this way. "not played in the last month" "not played in the last week" "not played ever" i really like keeping track of this. so i dont listen to the same songs 5 times in one week!

That's precisely why I need the Date Last Played updated; I've got elaborate playlists that makes songs ineligible for random shuffling if they've already been played recently. Plus I like to use it to keep track of my listening habits.

Thanks for the description of the 1G Shuffle behavior in this regard. I've always read that due to the lack of clock, it didn't update the Last Played, just the Play Count. I'm glad to hear differently.

[robPOD]

yeah or you could buy a real ipod

[irregardless]

Originally Posted by robPOD

yeah or you could buy a real ipod

Ha Ha. I've actually got three.

[irregardless]

Now that the 2G Shuffle is in the wild, can someone answer this question? Does this new model have an internal clock?

Much obliged, thank you.

[settledown]

Dude, I think you are missing the point with the shuffle.

But ask away....

[irregardless]

Originally Posted by settledown

Dude, I think you are missing the point with the shuffle.

But ask away....

Please don't insult my intelligence; I understand the shuffle just fine. I just want to know if it tracks the date and time of played songs like the non-shuffle iPods do.

[milo]

Originally Posted by irregardless

Please don't insult my intelligence; I understand the shuffle just fine. I just want to know if it tracks the date and time of played songs like the non-shuffle iPods do.

I don't think it does. If it's like the original shuffle, it sets the play and skip times to whenever it's synced. Close enough for my use.

[johnnyjibbs]

I have a new shuffle. To my disappointment it has no internal clock and thus all my last played tags get set to the time and date that I next sync with iTunes.

That sucks...

I'm going to write a review shortly because, while I love its simple operation, there are a number of [mainly software] issues... NO FIREWIRE CONNECTOR (I understand why, but USB2 is so much slower, even though it's supposed to be faster), CAN'T CHARGE WHILE POWERBOOK IS SLEEPING (my old 4G iPod can), CAN'T REARRANGE TRACKS MANUALLY (they always revert to ordered by artist, or whatever), NO GAPLESS PLAYBACK (why the hell not?!)

[milo]

Originally Posted by johnnyjibbs

I have a new shuffle. To my disappointment it has no internal clock and thus all my last played tags get set to the time and date that I next sync with iTunes.

That sucks...

I'm going to write a review shortly because, while I love its simple operation, there are a number of [mainly software] issues... NO FIREWIRE CONNECTOR (I understand why, but USB2 is so much slower, even though it's supposed to be faster), CAN'T CHARGE WHILE POWERBOOK IS SLEEPING (my old 4G iPod can), CAN'T REARRANGE TRACKS MANUALLY (they always revert to ordered by artist, or whatever), NO GAPLESS PLAYBACK (why the hell not?!)

People often complain about the USB2, but in actual tests of iPod transfers, it comes out about the same as firewire. And if you can't rearrange tracks manually, something is messed up with either your iPod or iTunes. I rearrange tracks manually all the time on the original shuffle, including podcasts, and it works perfectly. I'd be shocked if they made it worse on the second generation. Any other 2G owners, does ordering tracks work or not?

[irregardless]

Originally Posted by johnnyjibbs

I have a new shuffle. To my disappointment it has no internal clock and thus all my last played tags get set to the time and date that I next sync with iTunes.

Great. Just the information I was searching for. Thank you very much; it is appreciated.

[russed]

Originally Posted by milo

People often complain about the USB2, but in actual tests of iPod transfers, it comes out about the same as firewire. And if you can't rearrange tracks manually, something is messed up with either your iPod or iTunes. I rearrange tracks manually all the time on the original shuffle, including podcasts, and it works perfectly. I'd be shocked if they made it worse on the second generation. Any other 2G owners, does ordering tracks work or not?

Ordering tracks works fine for me!