Playlists


SyncTunes will allow you to select any 'user' playlist, i.e. not the full Library or shared playlists from other computers. Once selected the amount of diskspace needed for the playlist will be calculated, be combined with the space required by podcasts, and displayed in the status area in the main window.

Note: To ensure that the correct playlist is used it must have a unique name within the iTunes Library. Likewise, if a folder playlist is selected both it and its child playlists each must have names that are unique within the iTunes Library.

Tracks can synchronise ['replace' option] those already in the specified Playlist Subfolder within the Destination Folder or be merged with them. If the playlist is flagged as 'smart', SyncTunes can be set to refresh the playlist before transferring the tracks during the Sync.

When a folder playlist is used to sync it can act as a 'Library' and so reduce the effect of having multiple instances of a track on the destination just because it was in many playlists. Each playlist within the iTunes folder playlist will have an associated M3U or PLS format playlist created, if playlist creation is selected in the Volumes advance settings.

Sometimes the playlist may not be required during the current Sync, if this is the case there is an option in the main window to ignore the playlist settings.

Note: If both playlist and podcasts are set to be ignored, but there is a selected Volume, a Sync can still be performed. In this case any M3U playlists will be regenerated, if M3U playlists are set to be created.

Main Window (basic) settings
Playlist-main

Podcast settings are described here.

  • Select any iTunes playlist you have created
  • Defaults to last playlist
  • Replace or merge with existing tracks
  • Auto-refresh smart playlists
  • Ignore playlist and sync only podcasts
  • Transferred tracks' played count and date updated

Buttons and options¹:
  1. Playlist button [P]: click to open a browser listing the available playlists: this includes Folder playlists. Select a playlist by highlighting the list item and clicking OK, or by double-clicking the list item. Clicking Cancel in the browser will result in no playlist being selected and the Selected Playlist field will be blanked.
  2. Selected Playlist: this field displays the playlist that was selected using the Playlist button (1). If the last used playlist is not available, and a playlist called SyncTunes is detected when the SyncTunes app is launched, this playlist will be automatically selected.
  3. Current PDA tracks will be either/or selection: If the Replaced option is selected then the current tracks on the memory card will be synchronised with the selected iTunes playlist [in simple mode the card's tracks are deleted and all tracks are re-cpoied from iTunes]. If the Merged option is selected then the new tracks will be added to the memory card's existing playlist tracks.
  4. Smart playlists will option [L]: if the playlist is detected to be a Smart playlist or Folder playlist then this option will be available. If selected, then all tracks in the playlist will be deleted, which forces a refreshing of the playlist contents. For Folder playlists, any Smart playlist that is a child of the Folder playlist will be refreshed. NB this requires that the Live Update option to be selected for the smart playlist in iTunes too.
  5. Ignore playlist during sync option [I]: this option is useful if you have a SyncTunes playlist automatically selected on launch, and don't want to transfer a new set of tracks.

Advance Menu settings
Playlist-adv

  • Select destination subfolder for playlist tracks - choose from 32 predefined names or specify your own
  • Set whether to update iTunes play counters

Options:
  1. Playlist destination subfolder name list/text file: this option allows the name of the Playlist Subfolder to be set as either the iTunes playlist name, from the list or by entering the name into the field. Depending on the destination device the Playlist Subfolder may be required to be a specific name, use this option to set the name.
  2. Reverse playlist sync order option: the normal sync order is LAST to FIRST, as this has least impact when smart playlists auto-shuffle when the time and played count are updated. Selecting this option will reverse the sync order to FIRST to LAST. Probably most useful for audio players that only provide playback in an oldest to newest creation date order.
  3. Sync updates iTunes' ... option (only available when reverse order sync is not selected): this option will set the track's 'Last Played' date to the time of the sync and with increment the 'Play Count' by 1.


Notes:
¹ Some options have associated keystrokes, e.g. [P] denotes that the p key activates the option