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iTunes - play a single song

R

retrovertigo

Guest
Original poster
I know this has probably been asked about 100 times, but I searched and I don't think I'm using the correct search terms. Anyway, I was wondering if there was a way to make iTunes play a single song (in other words, not move to the next one when the current song is done) aside from dragging it to the Source column and making it a single-song playlist?
 
Actually, it doesn't look like that works. That just stops the current PLAYLIST from repeating. What I am looking for is a way for it to not skip to another song after playing the current song, when playing from the Library instead of a playlist. Is this possible?
 
This button has several modes that you can click through: no repeat, repeat all or repeat one. The last one is the one you want, I think.
 
No, repeat 1 only repeats the same song. I want to play one song and be done. The only way I see to do this is to drag it to the left column and turn it into a one-song playlist, which is pretty lame.
 
You're right, iTunes isn't able to do what you want easily. It's yet another Apple interface blunder.

Here are some workarounds:

- Drag the song over to the playlist bar (so that you have a playlist of one song). Delete the playlist when you're done.

- Enter the song title into the search box until only the one you want is displayed (or is at least at the bottom of the list), then select and play.

- Ctrl-click the track and show song file. Put the Finder window into column mode and play it from the preview.

- Install this into your scripts menu (you should have Script Editor under Applications/Applescript to make it into a proper script file).
 
It's even easier than that. Just type the full name of the track, with the artist name into the spotlight search in the top right of iTunes...
 
This is something that has had me scratching my head for some time, but I never bothered to figure out why.

Sometime when I play a song it will play that 1 and stop, exactly what the OP is asking how to do. Nothing else will play after that 1 song, even if its from a multi track cd. Other times it will play that song then go into the next song and continue to play until the end of the list.

There doesn't seem to be any rhyme or reason why it does this from 1 time to the next. I'm not making single song play lists, I'm not hitting repeat 1 or anything else that might cause this behavior.

What I do it select the artist I want from the library list, choose the cd I want, then select the 1 song I want. Sometimes it plays the next song from that cd, and other times it stops after the song I selected. Weird.
 
If you uncheck a song, it won't be played "next."

If you uncheck *all* songs, you disable the "automatic track forward" feature of iTunes, meaning that it will play that song and stop until you tell it to play another song.
 
ChrisBrightwell said:
If you uncheck a song, it won't be played "next."

If you uncheck *all* songs, you disable the "automatic track forward" feature of iTunes, meaning that it will play that song and stop until you tell it to play another song.
Click to expand...
But it's not possible to uncheck all the songs in the library and have them only checked in the playlist. That'd be a great solution, but once a song is checked in the playlist, it becomes checked in the library. I think retrovertigo has a legitimate beef. Apple should fix this.
 
Thanatoast said:
But it's not possible to uncheck all the songs in the library and have them only checked in the playlist. That'd be a great solution, but once a song is checked in the playlist, it becomes checked in the library. I think retrovertigo has a legitimate beef. Apple should fix this.
Click to expand...
Yep, and the other problem is that you lose the checkbox's iPod sync usefulness if you go messing around like that. This really should be another state on the shuffle button or something.
 
Playing single songs on iTunes

I had the same problem and was very frustrated with the answers I got from the workers in my Apple Store. I was putting on a show and didn't want the music to continue until I was ready for it. Searched everywhere with no luck. Then one day it came to me. First create your playlist of the songs you want included. Then uncheck the check next to each song in the list. When you double-click a particular song, it will not repeat or go to the next song. Couldn't believe how simple the solution was!
RDevinoff
 
Here is a solution, do you see the symbol beside the Apple that looks like three dots and three lines? After you play the song that you want click on it and click clear all so that no other songs will play next. I use this software regularly and performance and found that this is the best way to do it! If this is the best solution please mark me as best answer! Always search Jamin Tymes for all of your stock audio music and instructional needs.
 
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