Mac OS i love you, iTunes however...

[SgtP3pp3r]

I feel like switching over to Mac from Windows PCs is almost like i got a divorce. I still get to see my kids (my Engineering specific programs that only run on Windows), which i love, though i have to do it with a prior appointment (virtualization). And i love Mac, don't get me wrong. I wouldn't have married her if i didn't. The only problem is some of the extra luggage. It's like these new Mac based apps for the same things i used to do in windows are my stepkids. And most of them are just great, i love them just as much as my biological kids, but one of them in particular is having trouble coping with me as the new father figure...

iTunes

On the most part, i like the way it works, and it does sorta simplify my huge music collection and makes it manageable. It makes it accessible, however i do have one specific gripe:

Why, oh why, won't it play my unchecked music tracks continously on my playlists?

I use checking and unchecking songs to control which songs from my 80gb music collection sync over to my 32gb iPod. But on the computer i still wanna be able to listen to those tracks without having to check them.

Is there some configuration trick, or plugin to get this to work?

Oh and don't give me that "just make a smart playlist to sync your music" line, cuz i really dont wanna use a huge playlist to sync my iPod... checking and unchecking is just a lot more logical. If there is just no way around this, i guess i could always send it to boarding school... then just use iTunes to sync, and some other music player to actually listen to songs. But i don't wanna do this, i think it's placing unnecessary strain on my fledgling marriage.

 

[GGJstudios]

Why, oh why, won't it play my unchecked music tracks continously on my playlists?

Because it's designed to work that way. Only checked music will play continuously. The benefit is that if you want to play a playlist but skip some of the songs, just uncheck what you don't want to play. It's quite simple. Using a playlist to identify what you want synced is the most logical approach. It sounds like you're just viewing it backwards. Instead of using checks/unchecks to identify what syncs, and using a playlist to solely identify what plays, reverse them.

 

[iLog.Genius]

Or...you could just manage your manually then you're free to control iTunes the way you like. I never did like auto. syncing. Sure it's a lot easier, just plug and go, but you run into problems like connecting other iPod's. At least with manually managing, you can do whatever you want without having to worry about what does and doesn't get synced.