[subego]

Just had my third playcount wipeout in iTunes.

As I have far more music in my collection than I actually listen to, my playcounts served to help direct what I'd listen to much of the time. I assume others do this, so tell us how important the playcounts are to you and how miserable you are when the get all fuxed.

[Sealobo]

how did you get em wiped?

[ghporter]

Like ratings in iTunes, I really don't pay much attention to playcounts. But if it's something that bothers you, maybe we need to figure out what's happening to yours. I'm interested in how they got lost...

[subego]

The first was a corrupted iTunes database. This was back in 2004 or so. I can't remember the second, but it was temporally close to the first.

The recent one was beautiful. I was updating all my music in iTunes Match and I frigging clicked "remove from iCloud" when I deleted all my matched songs.


I've almost never used the ratings. I'm glad they're there, but I'm too obsessive-compulsive to do something like that without having a bulletproof rating criteria, which sounds like too much work.

So I use playcounts.

Unsurprisingly, I'm OC about those too. I pretty much refuse to listen to something from my collection unless the device registers a playcount, and always play it through the end so it registers. I really like Pandora, but still get a twinge when something I own plays and I know it's not registering.

Needless to say, I've had to reevaluate this.

[Tiresias]

I used to have this exact problem. My playcounts were how I organized my music. But I managed to wipe them out three times migrating my data to new machines.

I would like to suggest a very simple and elegant solution.

Set up a smart playlist called Favorites or maybe Starred with the criterion: "Match the following rule: rating is ☆☆☆☆☆."

Every time you listen to a track you particularly like, give it five stars. It automatically appears in the smart playlist. (The rating can also be changed on your iphone).

Over time, your favorite tracks migrate into the playlist.

I have about 1,600 of about 10,000 gleaned together this way.

The smart playlist is also my default sync for my iPhone.

Trust me, it's the best way to manage your music.

[andi*pandi]

I use playcounts, because I have a playlist for "never listened to" that I sometimes play so those songs won't feel bad.

"We're on the island of unlistened songs... "

I have lost playcounts (and ratings) though when migrating music/changing computers.

[subego]

What was extra obnoxious about this wipeout was I had gotten really good with migration. My attitude was this was my playcount list for life. I even somewhat often lamented that the counts from my original blowout in 2004 weren't represented.

OTOH, my playcount obsession was based somewhat on the pre-cloud, SSD storage starved life of the mid aughts. My shuffle only had a gig, so I wanted it to be a good gig.

Now, not only can I get everything via cloud, but should I desire, my whole collection would fit on my phone anyways. Being forced to take a new look at this isn't the worst thing.

At least, that's what I keep telling myself.

[SSharon]

Originally Posted by Tiresias 

I used to have this exact problem. My playcounts were how I organized my music. But I managed to wipe them out three times migrating my data to new machines.

I would like to suggest a very simple and elegant solution.

Set up a smart playlist called Favorites or maybe Starred with the criterion: "Match the following rule: rating is ☆☆☆☆☆."

Every time you listen to a track you particularly like, give it five stars. It automatically appears in the smart playlist. (The rating can also be changed on your iphone).

Over time, your favorite tracks migrate into the playlist.

I have about 1,600 of about 10,000 gleaned together this way.

The smart playlist is also my default sync for my iPhone.

Trust me, it's the best way to manage your music.

Relying on star ratings has the same problem as relying on playcounts though. You still trust Apple not to screw them all up on your next migration. The one benefit that I can see (which isn't all that practical) is that it is much easier to manually restore ratings compared to playcounts.

I use playcounts, but I probably wouldn't start a thread about them if I lost them all. (I like them, but I'm not that attached to them.)

[subego]

Originally Posted by SSharon 

Relying on star ratings has the same problem as relying on playcounts though.

I also think there's a deeper issue in that once you start listening to that list, it becomes tough to break out of it.

I'm thinking this is worse with playcount method since in a sort of Heisenbergian way, you can't listen to something without it altering your future listening habits.

[subego]

Originally Posted by SSharon 

...but I probably wouldn't start a thread about them if I lost them all.

What exactly are you trying to say here?

[ort888]

I use ratings and playcounts.

I have like 20,000 tracks and they are all rated. I've transferred this library to about 4 different Macs and never had a problem. You just need to do it the right way.

[RAILhead]

I never care about play counts because I'm a random-play guy. I rarely ever fire-up a specific album (unless it's one I just bought, but rarely then). I have vinyl for album listening.

[OAW]

I never use Play Counts. All my smart playlists are organized around Ratings, Genre, and recent additions to the iTunes library.

OAW

[Face Ache]

^Same.

[subego]

I definitely use recent additions and recently played.

The second is probably the worst example of a playlist that if you get trapped in, you're never going to get anything new.