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iPhone 3.1 - Broken Smart Playlists and Podcast organization

O

odyssey924

macrumors regular
Original poster
Sep 25, 2006
118
5
At some point while using 3.1 Beta 3, my Top 250 Song Playlist (based on play count) has been randomly creating a new list of 250 songs whenever I enter the playlist on the iPhone, but NEVER the actual Top 250 list that is on iTunes. Another similar smart playlist says there is no music available. Other smart playlists work exactly as intended...

After updating to 3.1 Final, I see that not only is this issue not fixed, but my podcasts are no longer in chronological order and are all mixed up.

Just curious if anyone else is seeing these issues on 3.1. If you are, please post whether you were using the 3.1 beta or not. If it looks like the beta caused this, I guess I might have to restore as a new device, which would royally suck.
 
I organize my audiobooks using smart playlists and 3.1 mixes the files up... I only have to change it every 7 or 8 hours of listening but it's still a bit of a pain.
Out of curiosity does it arrange your files by the date they were added to your iTunes library?
I was not using the beta, I guess this is how 3.1 works. Still, for my purposes I'd rather have this than 3.0 and 3.01 losing my place every time I sync.
 
Something's definitely wrong with the Smart Playlists in 3.1, and I never used any beta release. I upgraded from 3.0.1. Specifically, the ### Most Recent Additions playlists I have that are x number of songs "most recently added".

The playlist shows up fine in iTunes, shows up fine when viewing the playlist that's supposed to be on the iphone in iTunes, but the playlist is completely messed up on the phone itself - the playlist contains songs that aren't in the playlist at all and is missing a bunch it should have - as well as completely being out of order.

I'm wondering how I should try fixing this, aside from blowing away my phone and restoring the backup?

EDIT: Looks like I have a lot of company... ugh. http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=2151606&tstart=45

- T
 
Well, I tried restoring my iPhone to 3.1 and then restoring from backup and it didn't fix the problem. I really don't want to set up my phone as a new device as I would lose all my app data as well as the pains of having to reset all my settings... Please fix this Apple!
 
I haven’t checked my smart playlists, but I have the issue with the unsorted podcast episodes.
This is totally frustrating and I filed a bug report with Apple.

I really hope they fix this in the next few days and don’t wait for the regular scheduled 3.1.1. update.
 
Don't setup as a new phone odyssey. I don't think the problem is related to the beta. Lots of people seem to be having the problem with smart play lists. I am too.
 
colorblindpicas said:
Don't setup as a new phone odyssey. I don't think the problem is related to the beta. Lots of people seem to be having the problem with smart play lists. I am too.
Click to expand...

Smart playlists are causing me trouble as well.

EDIT: Temporary fix--Unchecking "Live Update" seems to let the playlists sync properly. Obviously this is less than ideal, but it at least fixes some of the playlists I rely on the most.

It seems that ever since at least iPhone 3.0 the sorting of smart playlists has happened ON the iPhone, which wasn't the case with previous iPods (that I've had anyway). And although I like this feature for my playlists that choose songs I haven't heard in a while, for example, I wonder if that's what is causing this problem.
 
Really annoying

This happened to me too. It really sux as I recently loaded lots of music and was trying to use the "Recently Added" smart playlist to listen in my car. Imagine my surprise when music from months ago started to play. :mad:

Apple:apple:, please fix immediately.:(
 
This is single-handily the most frustrating bug.

I purchased an iPhone in order to converge my iPod/Phone, and now that the iPod playlist that I use the most (recently added) is broken, my iPod is severely crippled.
 
A current work around is to uncheck 'live updating' for each of your smart playlists. This ensures that the list is synced across to the iPhone in the same order as on your computer. The lists will still update on your computer in a semi-live fashion (I don't really know what live updating is supposed to do in this regard), but not as you play on your iPhone.
 
mrkgoo said:
A current work around is to uncheck 'live updating' for each of your smart playlists. This ensures that the list is synced across to the iPhone in the same order as on your computer. The lists will still update on your computer in a semi-live fashion (I don't really know what live updating is supposed to do in this regard), but not as you play on your iPhone.
Click to expand...

Thanks, will try this.
 
mrkgoo said:
A current work around is to uncheck 'live updating' for each of your smart playlists. This ensures that the list is synced across to the iPhone in the same order as on your computer. The lists will still update on your computer in a semi-live fashion (I don't really know what live updating is supposed to do in this regard), but not as you play on your iPhone.
Click to expand...

Then of course they will not update on the device, not much of a solution IMO :(
 
mattpol said:
Worked. Thanks much! Curious though, what functionally did I lose in iTunes by turning "Live Updating" off?
Click to expand...

It basically means you're turning your smart playlist into a dumb one. Say your "recently added" looks a certain way and you turn off live updating; next time you rip an album into your library it won't show up in your recently added playlist because the playlist isn't actively looking for songs that constantly fit that criteria.

Another example would be if you made a smart playlist of your 100 most played songs. Once you turn live updating off, it doesn't matter if all of a sudden you listen to a track 230 times because it won't show up in that playlist because iTunes isn't tracking changes to it anymore.
 
Podcasts

my podcasts are out of order as well since I upgraded to 3.1, really annoying. Until they fix it, I can only load 1 episode onto my phone, listen to, and then load the next episode.

How do you let Apple know about this? Do they read these forums to see what problems people are having? I posted on the Apple support discussions.

This round of updates have been really bad. Since OS 10.6.1 my Time Capsule keeps disconnecting; I've had to turn off my 5GHz network and use 2.4GHz band only. Hope there's an update soon.
 
same problem here, very frustrating. particularly with the Recently Added playlist as it was one of my favorites. unchecking "live update" in iTunes effectively breaks the playlist (and any playlist that rely on usage statistics). i left feedback at apple.com on the product pages and i hope the rest of you do as well. http://www.apple.com/feedback/
iTunes 9; iPod touch 3.1.1
 
And even when I uncheck live updating, my podcasts aren't listed under the recently added like were before itunes 9

My recently added now only shows recent downloads & purchases.

Terrible bug:mad:
 
The Podcast issue is fixed with 9.0.1 released today, but the Smart Playlists are still messed up if you include Podcasts along with non-podcasts. For example, I have a bunch of old Coast to Coast shows that were downloaded directly from the server and when combined in my Coast to Coast Smart Playlist with Podcasts, they are in completely random order still.

The Podcasts, however, are in order now. Please continue to submit feedback using the link above to let Apple know the Smart Playlist (dis)organization issue is still present if you encounter the same.

Since this is an iTunes issue, post your feedback here: http://www.apple.com/feedback/itunesapp.html
 
*note i haven't updated to 9.0.1 yet*
i did find a work around for the Recently Added smart playlist problem. make a new smart playlist and just have the contents be your Recently Added playlist
(Playlist = is = Recently Added). you can keep it live updating. sync your iPhone or iPod and include that playlist. this worked for me.
[edit] n/m doesn't work on subsequent syncs. :(
 
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