It is ironic that wireless devices like the iPhone, iPad or iPod touch [...]]]> “I hate it” was my answer when asked about my feelings on iTunes at a public forum I moderate. Love it or hate it, iTunes is difficult to ignore. All Apple iOS devices—iPhones, iPods, iPads and Apple TVs—are tied to iTunes.

It is ironic that wireless devices like the iPhone, iPad or iPod touch must be connected by a USB cable to a computer running iTunes to get patches, fixes and system updates. This incongruity is compounded because iOS devices have an elegant, graceful, simple user interface (UI) that makes them easy to learn and use, while iTunes has an inelegant, awkward, and complex UI.

iTunes has useful features buried within its over-burdened interface. One of the nicest is the Smart Playlist (SP). Regular playlists are static groupings of audio or video files. We must manually change regular playlists to add or delete items. Updates to SPs are dynamic and automatic. Apple describes the SP as, “An easy way to keep track of your music by genre or artist….” If we have a Beatles Smart Playlist that lists all our Beatles tracks, any additions or deletions to Beatles in the music library will automatically update the playlist.

Create a Smart Playlist

1. Click on the File—>New Smart Playlist… menu.
            This brings up a dialog window.
2. Set up one or more rules.
3. Click the “OK” button when done.

The new playlist appears in iTunes in the left side panel under the Playlists section. If the initial results are not what we expect, right-click on the playlist name and select “Edit Smart Playlist” from the context menu.

Create a Holiday” Smart Playlist of Christmas music

1. Create a new Smart Playlist.
2. Make the rule Genre::contains::holiday.
3. Click on the + button.
4. Add a second rule, Genre::contains::christmas.
5. Click on the + button.
6. Add a third rule Album::contains::christmas.
7. Click on the + button.
8. Add a fourth rule Album::contains::holiday.
9. Change the “Match” at the top of the dialog “all” to any.
10. Click the OK button.
11. Rename the list if you want.

Now when you add new music to iTunes if it has Christmas or holiday in the album title or music genre, it will automatically be added to the SP. No further action is required of you.

You may wonder why there are four rules and why we use the match any selector rather than match all. We want to be inclusive and capture all the Christmas and other holiday music in our collection.

For example, I own the Andy Williams Live Christmas Treasures album. All the songs are labeled with the Pop genre. The album will be missed if I only search for the genres holiday or Christmas. So we search Album too.

We match any of the rules because that is the broadest result. Using any is the same as saying “or” in this instance, where as all means “and”, meaning all the conditions must be met. Using all would probably result in nothing in the SP.

Since iTunes is primarily a database that catalogs audio and video files on your computer, you may think of an SP as a saved query. It is similar to a Google search. We tell the computer what music to search for and it provides results. A well-constructed query will return the results we expect. A poorly constructed query will not. Google does a great job in providing “fuzzy” results. Smart Playlists do not do fuzzy searches. So it is important that you carefully build the SP’s search parameters and test it, lest you get more or less than you want.

Once you have an SP set you can drag it to your iPod, iPad or iPhone, when they are connected to the computer. iTunes will synchronize the music to your mobile device and add the playlist too!

Yesterday I installed a Logitech Squeezebox Boom for a client. He purchased it on a friend’s recommendation. The unit retails for $299.99. Logitech describes it as a, “…compact all-in-one Wi-Fi music player that combines award-winning Squeezebox functionality with an integrated amplifier and speakers to deliver crystal clear [...]]]>

Yesterday I installed a Logitech Squeezebox Boom for a client. He purchased it on a friend’s recommendation. The unit retails for $299.99. Logitech describes it as a, “…compact all-in-one Wi-Fi music player that combines award-winning Squeezebox functionality with an integrated amplifier and speakers to deliver crystal clear sound—in any room in your home.”  

My client was unable to set it up on his own. The device requires a network connection, wired or wireless, and registering for an account with Logitech at mysqueezebox.com. You then configure various streaming Internet services and finally you listen. So I first set up a wireless network. It took me a few minutes to install and configure the newly purchased Linksys wireless router.

I next configured the Squeezebox to connect to the Wi-Fi’s encrypted SSID. I also installed a “server” application on the iMac that was supposed to connect the iTunes music collection to the Squeezebox. I had to configure the iMac server IP address on the Squeezebox. This step is likely to confuse many home users. We did not successfully access the iMac’s music. This was of no consequence as he had only two music files in iTunes.

We next subscribed to some “apps” at mysqueezebox.com that are installed on the Squeezebox. We installed Pandora and hooked to my client’s Pandora account without issue. I also installed the Shoutcast app to provide the client with a large choice of Internet audio streams.

The Squeezebox works. Once configured it can be controlled and programmed from the on-device controls, the small remote control or via a web application from any computer. It is easy to add a stream you like to your favorites and then to find and play it later. The sound quality is good and the choice of audio streams is large.

I prefer and recommend Sonos systems over the Squeezebox. Sonos is more elegant, simpler to control and more flexible in whole house audio configuration. Sonos is also more expensive. It you cannot afford a Sonos system then the Squeezebox may be what you are looking for.