iTunes playlists for artist folders?

[kirkbross]

I have folders for a few hundred bands inside my "iTunes Music folder" yet they don't show up under playlists to the left.

I can drag each artist folder (one by one only) to the playlist area and it'll make a play list, but if I drag them all at once, it just puts them in the general Music area under LIBRARY.

Is there a way to automatically create playlists for each artist folder in the main "iTunes Music" folder?

 

[GGJstudios]

I'm not sure I understand. You want a playlist for each artist in your library?

 

[kirkbross]

I'm not sure I understand. You want a playlist for each artist in your library?

Yes... without having to create a New Playlist and then drag all the songs into it. It creates a playlist if you drag a single artist folder from your iTunes Music folder into the Playlist area in iTunes, but not if you drag them all at once.

 

[GGJstudios]

I just have to ask: why would you want to do this, when it's so simple to search/sort by artist? That's a LOT of playlists (in my library, over 2,500 artists) and it's not the best use of the playlist function.

 

[jpyc7]

I just have to ask: why would you want to do this, when it's so simple to search/sort by artist? That's a LOT of playlists (in my library, over 2,500 artists) and it's not the best use of the playlist function.

I agree.

Another way, if you absolutely want a playlist is to use a single Smart playlist
that you can edit to filter by artist name. You'd give it a generic name like "Choose Artist Playlist" and then when you want to listen to a specific artist, you edit that playlist appropriately.

 

[mjsmith3]

I also would like to be able to have a playlist for each artist, and then be able to nest the folders in bigger playlists.

The reason is that I use this ipod strictly in my car, which accesses the ipod through the navigation system. In the car, it takes awhile to scroll to the middle or bottom of the Artist list via the navigation system. It would be much easier to get to something like "Soundgarden" by going thru playlists such as S-Z->Soundgarden rather than scrolling all the way down the Artist list.

That said, it doesn't appear to be possible to do this. Apple should address this. Given the ubiquitous nature of ipods, Apple needs to realize that many many ipods are being accessed thru third party systems (in the car, in home audio systems, etc) so they should make it easier to customize listening for these systems...

 

[hifitodd]

I am trying to do the exact same thing!

I have an Audi rns-e Navigation system, and I have it integrated with an Alpine 425i which is an Ipod interface that enables native control over the Ipod functions with the nav unit controls.

I have to scroll through my artists 1 artist at a time... I have hundreds of artists! If I want to find something by a band that starts with 'T' for example, I have literally like 5 full minutes of scrolling to do.

I figured I could create a smart playlist for each letter in the alphabet... which I did, but then it's just a big messy pile of songs in the playlist!

What I want to do is select my 'T' playlist, then be able to choose my artists, ie. 'Tortoise,' and then choose the album.

Anyone know of a way to do this?

 

[atgodfrey]

I can't tell if this has been answered, but it looks like nobody has written anything in a while. I was looking for an answer to something else, but thought I could help.

Try adding Smart Playlists and choosing the following from the dropdown menus:

"Artist" "starts with" "A"
"Artist" "starts with" "B"
"Artist" "starts with" "C"
etc.

The only one that would screw you is "T" because it looks like it will include all the artists starting with "The". Hope you figured this one out, but if not give that a shot.

Cheers.

 

[GGJstudios]

I can't tell if this has been answered, but it looks like nobody has written anything in a while. I was looking for an answer to something else, but thought I could help.

Try adding Smart Playlists and choosing the following from the dropdown menus:

"Artist" "starts with" "A"
"Artist" "starts with" "B"
"Artist" "starts with" "C"
etc.

The only one that would screw you is "T" because it looks like it will include all the artists starting with "The". Hope you figured this one out, but if not give that a shot.

Cheers.

That isn't a solution. The thread title and topic is about creating a folder for each artist. Your recommendation would put Aerosmith, ABBA, Alabama and Arget all in the same folder. Another case of someone joining the forum just to resurrect an old thread to post something useless.