Ever since I began using the 3g iphone in July, I've noticed that the playcount is only sporadically being updated. Syncing is normally done every evening. (For reference, I'm using the latest versions of both the iPhone firmware and itunes - 2.1 and 8.0 {on a macbook}, respectively. iPhone has also been reset and reformatted as a new phone subsequent to updating firmware.) However, this problem began even with previous versions. I've tried different configurations in the iTunes software. Although I've found that checking the election to sync only the checked songs improves the consistency, it's still not foolproof. There are still many times where songs I have listed to during the day are not reflected in either playcount or last played columns. This affects certain playlists I have created based on playcount. I've verified that this problem does not happen when I'm using any of my other ipods (3g, Nano 2g, Nano 3g); it's specific to the iPhone 3g. Any others experience the same? Or any advice from forum users who have overcome this problem?
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iPhone 3g not updating Playcount or Last Played in iTunes
- Thread starter tinfai
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It's not just the iPhone 3G, also the first gen with 2.x firmware. Don't know about the Touch, but I assume it's also affected.
I have mine set to sync only "new" podcasts, and it's been a major pain since the ones I listen to on my iPhone gets synced right back as "new" since the play count is not updated. I was hoping the latest updates will fix this problem, but nope.
I have mine set to sync only "new" podcasts, and it's been a major pain since the ones I listen to on my iPhone gets synced right back as "new" since the play count is not updated. I was hoping the latest updates will fix this problem, but nope.
I would wonder why Playcount is so important to anyone that they would look for help on a forum. The answer is, there is no fix for it, deal with it and move on. Note the operative portion of the name of the device. iPhone. That portion denotes the device's mission in life, a cellular telephone with above average media capabilities. If you want something to perfectly manage your music and playlists, get one of the new iPods, if you want a phone which happens to have an exceptionally good media player in it, stick with the phone.
Yes the 2.0 firmware is quirky in this stuff. Whats more depressing is the fact that Apple isnt paying much attention to it. The tradition which began popularly in 2001 has since declined and today only a few handful iPod models can boast of this feature!
P.S.: Quincy.... its a great feature and I love it. Also please dont be under he impression that EVERYONE is asking for your help.... its an open forum and we come here to DISCUSS things as well! So kindly be a bit polite next time before posting off as SEARCH and POINTLESS.....
P.S.: Quincy.... its a great feature and I love it. Also please dont be under he impression that EVERYONE is asking for your help.... its an open forum and we come here to DISCUSS things as well! So kindly be a bit polite next time before posting off as SEARCH and POINTLESS.....
Thanks very much for your contribution, Quincy. One wonders why a person who is above such triviality would even trouble himself to impress upon the others his view on the (lack of) importance of such a feature.
Have a good one. Dave.
Agreed. It could very well be that, as Quincy points out, that Apple has made it a priority to iron out the phone problems and has relegated the ipod features/bugs to that of a secondary importance. Personally, I have viewed the iPhone to be more of a computer substitute with certain inherent phone features. This convegent device has enabled me to take a single unit with me rather than carry a nano, my nokia and a small notebook. Certainly I recognize that there will be some compromises in such a unit, but I would have thought the playcount feature is a very basic one carried over from the release of the first ipod unit and supporting itunes software.
If what you say is true, Apple should have named the media app on the iPhone something other than iPod. Steve Jobs himself stated about this app: "It's the best iPod ever." And it is. Also, if you used smart playlists, you would care deeply about this bug. Remember, the world does not revolve around you.
I'm surprised that this thread got so little attention, or do most people share the rather ridiculous view of the quote below.
So, is this a widespread problem with every iPhone or just a few? There seems to be a pretty long thread of at Apple's discussion pages.
My experience of this problem is that the play counts go up unless I listen to over a certain amount of songs (usually over about 15) and then it starts forgetting the plays at the beginning of the day.
The reason why play counts matter is because people use Smart playlists to populate their iPods and iPhones. It's also useful to have accurate stats. And your comment about 'if you want a proper music player, buy an iPod' - I'm paying an extra £10 a month for an iPhone and I expect one of it's primary (yes, primary) functions as an iPod to function correctly and as advertised. If you're going to post idiotic statements like the above, please go away.
So, is this a widespread problem with every iPhone or just a few? There seems to be a pretty long thread of at Apple's discussion pages.
My experience of this problem is that the play counts go up unless I listen to over a certain amount of songs (usually over about 15) and then it starts forgetting the plays at the beginning of the day.
The reason why play counts matter is because people use Smart playlists to populate their iPods and iPhones. It's also useful to have accurate stats. And your comment about 'if you want a proper music player, buy an iPod' - I'm paying an extra £10 a month for an iPhone and I expect one of it's primary (yes, primary) functions as an iPod to function correctly and as advertised. If you're going to post idiotic statements like the above, please go away.
So Quincy9219....
Riiiggghht... So if you went and bought a brand new BMW or Mercedes or even a Ford Focus, drove it off the lot only to realize the radio didn't work or only back windows would roll down etc.. that you would be fine, because hey, it's car. Get's you from A to B, screw the features right?
Wrong! If you pay good money for a feature rich device, things should work, and if they don't work they should be fixed.
Riiiggghht... So if you went and bought a brand new BMW or Mercedes or even a Ford Focus, drove it off the lot only to realize the radio didn't work or only back windows would roll down etc.. that you would be fine, because hey, it's car. Get's you from A to B, screw the features right?
Wrong! If you pay good money for a feature rich device, things should work, and if they don't work they should be fixed.
I hope that Apple fixes this bug soon. It being broken has completely buggered up a Smart Playlist I depend upon to keep track of some conference recaps I listen to.
What's weird is that if I rate an item on the iPhone, then the Last Date Played and Play Count for that item properly sync to iTunes.
If you're having this problem and haven't already done this, please take 1-2 minutes and fill out an official bug report. Be sure to change the "Feedback Type" drop-down on the form to Bug Report. Thanks.
http://www.apple.com/feedback/iphone.html
What's weird is that if I rate an item on the iPhone, then the Last Date Played and Play Count for that item properly sync to iTunes.
If you're having this problem and haven't already done this, please take 1-2 minutes and fill out an official bug report. Be sure to change the "Feedback Type" drop-down on the form to Bug Report. Thanks.
http://www.apple.com/feedback/iphone.html
Still not fixed with 2.2
Firstly... I have submitted a bug request to Apple (thanks Aristobrat). I think everyone who is experiencing this problem should do so.
This is a widely recognised issue on various forums and there has been no response from Apple (that I'm aware of) which is really disappointing.
I have the problem with the latest firmware 2.2 and had it with 2.1.
I've "manually managed music" as well as trying "sync checked songs only" but both have the same problem. It is sporadic in the sense that sometimes it's updated but most of the time it isn't.
I can't see why this should be so hard to fix. It's simply a case of the iPod/iPhone updating some sort of xml/DB with a count once half the song's been listened too!!!
This is so frustrating!
Firstly... I have submitted a bug request to Apple (thanks Aristobrat). I think everyone who is experiencing this problem should do so.
This is a widely recognised issue on various forums and there has been no response from Apple (that I'm aware of) which is really disappointing.
I have the problem with the latest firmware 2.2 and had it with 2.1.
I've "manually managed music" as well as trying "sync checked songs only" but both have the same problem. It is sporadic in the sense that sometimes it's updated but most of the time it isn't.
I can't see why this should be so hard to fix. It's simply a case of the iPod/iPhone updating some sort of xml/DB with a count once half the song's been listened too!!!
This is so frustrating!
That's weird because 2.2 seems to have fixed the problem for me *touches wood*. I've had three days of not forgetting any play counts since updating... the real test will be when I next leave it a day or two before syncing.
Still happening for me unfortunately. Indeed, even more random than ever, it sometimes decides post-sync that I'm half way through listening to a podcast that I'd finished listening to before the sync.
There seem to be quite a few bugs in the iPod application that haven't been fixed for some time.
Phazer
Quincy wrote: " I would wonder why Playcount is so important to anyone that they would look for help on a forum ... " Quincy, you are a jerk.
FWIW, the iPhone is meant to work as a media player and this would be a very useful feature if it worked correctly. It is perfectly reasonable to expect it to; if Microsoft were to screw up something so simple and leave it unfixed across multiple upgrades, Mac fan boys would be touting it as due to their not caring about users, how Steve Jobs would have Apple do it better than you could possibly imagine, etc.
I have problems, with a 2G iPhone synced across iTunes on a MacBook pro, in that recently I see no play count updates, whereas before it mostly worked. All my software and firmware is fully up to date.
FWIW, the iPhone is meant to work as a media player and this would be a very useful feature if it worked correctly. It is perfectly reasonable to expect it to; if Microsoft were to screw up something so simple and leave it unfixed across multiple upgrades, Mac fan boys would be touting it as due to their not caring about users, how Steve Jobs would have Apple do it better than you could possibly imagine, etc.
I have problems, with a 2G iPhone synced across iTunes on a MacBook pro, in that recently I see no play count updates, whereas before it mostly worked. All my software and firmware is fully up to date.
Last Play Count - Now updating
I did a test to try and find out why some songs update and others do not. In iTunes, I noticed that certain songs play to the end and update the last played date. Others seemed to skip to the next song with a few seconds left and did not update the last played count. I decided to try turning off Crossfade and now those songs play to the very end and update the Last Played count.
This is in iTunes. I'm not sure if it will apply to an iPhone or iPod. I also do not know why some songs are affected by this and others are not.
Hope this helps!
Mike McNamara
Delran, NJ
I did a test to try and find out why some songs update and others do not. In iTunes, I noticed that certain songs play to the end and update the last played date. Others seemed to skip to the next song with a few seconds left and did not update the last played count. I decided to try turning off Crossfade and now those songs play to the very end and update the Last Played count.
This is in iTunes. I'm not sure if it will apply to an iPhone or iPod. I also do not know why some songs are affected by this and others are not.
Hope this helps!
Mike McNamara
Delran, NJ
I have the same problem on an ipod Touch running 3.0 and latest iTunes (8.2), though it has obviously been going wrong for a while with earlier versions. The music (~ 1400 songs) is synced manually (what difference should that make to the ipod count?) and crossfade is off (so the songs are playing their last 5 seconds, so should count). If I look at the ones in the ipod music listing that do count (about 140 of them), I see a few songs each month that "count" and where "last played" is registered. This despite listening to ~40 songs/weekday. Of course I have "smart" (?) playlists depending on this so that's pretty useless. I suppose it accounts for the feeling I have that the shuffle feature behave weirdly, as it also ought to use these fields.
Has anybody tried resetting the playcount just on all songs on the ipod? I wonder how to do this and whether that would help.
Apple clearly has some fixing to do as this is a major iTunes feature which is clearly broken, and for some time. If it only works under certain conditions then, come on Apple, you've got the code, tell us which ones!
Has anybody tried resetting the playcount just on all songs on the ipod? I wonder how to do this and whether that would help.
Apple clearly has some fixing to do as this is a major iTunes feature which is clearly broken, and for some time. If it only works under certain conditions then, come on Apple, you've got the code, tell us which ones!
Im having the same problem and it really sucks. Im on a 3.0 iPhone and i rarely get the Playcount updated in iTunes, even though i listen to the song till the end.
It majorly screws my smart playlist and wish Apple would move their collective a$$ to fix this longstanding bug.
Cheers
Xav
It majorly screws my smart playlist and wish Apple would move their collective a$$ to fix this longstanding bug.
Cheers
Xav
Same problem here too
Yeah I'm all up to date software wise on iTunes/iPhone etc etc.
It's an important feature to me because my OCD dictates that everything like play counts must be just right!!
Yeah I'm all up to date software wise on iTunes/iPhone etc etc.
It's an important feature to me because my OCD dictates that everything like play counts must be just right!!
This bug seems to come and go.
I'm not having it on iPhone 3.1.1/iTunes 9.0.1, but if you are, please be sure to fill out an official bug report with Apple, please.
http://www.apple.com/feedback/iphone.html
Be sure to change the feedback type to 'Bug Report'.
I'm not having it on iPhone 3.1.1/iTunes 9.0.1, but if you are, please be sure to fill out an official bug report with Apple, please.
http://www.apple.com/feedback/iphone.html
Be sure to change the feedback type to 'Bug Report'.
Place in audiobooks not being remembered
I just submitted a bug report to Apple for both the play count and also the current position in an audiobook not being remembered after syncing. The playcount doesn't bother me as much however find it very annoying to have to find where I left off in an audiobook. I have tried to remember to glance at my place in the book and remember what it is but my memory isn't always the greatest on this detail...
I just submitted a bug report to Apple for both the play count and also the current position in an audiobook not being remembered after syncing. The playcount doesn't bother me as much however find it very annoying to have to find where I left off in an audiobook. I have tried to remember to glance at my place in the book and remember what it is but my memory isn't always the greatest on this detail...
I'm facing the same problem with an iPhone 3G S (3.1.2) I recently purchased and iTunes software (9.0.1)..
My Top 25 Played list on my macbook is entirely different from the one on my phone.. Any suggestions? I'm about to restore my iPhone to see if that helps.
My Top 25 Played list on my macbook is entirely different from the one on my phone.. Any suggestions? I'm about to restore my iPhone to see if that helps.
Still nothing?
I've seen this problem before when I was on a windows machine over a year ago and a firmware came out (can't remember which one) and it was fixed. Now I have my new iMac and the problem is back. It would really be nice to see this fixed across the board.
I've seen this problem before when I was on a windows machine over a year ago and a firmware came out (can't remember which one) and it was fixed. Now I have my new iMac and the problem is back. It would really be nice to see this fixed across the board.
i have a similar problem. got my hands on a lot of music recently and created a playlist of the top 25 songs with a play count of 0. the smart playlist on my iphone and laptop are completely different. and looking at itunes, some of the songs in the iphone unplayed playlist have a play count of at least 1
Did the new version of iTunes released yesterday (9.0.3) help any? I thought one of its fixes involved smart playlists...