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Using Playlists to Organize Your Music

If you’ve ever made a custom cassette tape of your favorite music, then you already understand the power of playlists. With a playlist, you choose which songs to play and the order in which to play them.
 
In iTunes, you can create as many playlists as you want, include as many songs as you want in each playlist, and rearrange the songs in each playlist until the order is just right. You might have one playlist for exercising, one for a rainy Monday, another that contains the music for your play rehearsal, and so on. The possibilities are endless.
 
 
 
Tips Step-by-Step
 
 

Include a song in multiple playlists

You can include one song in several playlists. Simply drag the song name from your library to each playlist in the Source list, and it will be included in each of your custom mixes.

Delete a playlist

To delete a playlist, select it in the Source list, and then press the Delete key. The playlist is deleted, but the songs remain in your music library.

Make a playlist with a specific duration

Whether you want music for your daily 30-minute walk, need songs that are exactly as long as a movie you’ve created, or want to burn a 60-minute CD that’s completely full of music, you can get duration information about each playlist to help you choose the right songs. With your playlist selected in the Source list, the bottom of the iTunes window displays the number of songs included in the playlist, total playlist duration, and the amount of disk space your playlist occupies.

If you no longer want to hear a song

After you import music to your iTunes library, you may find some songs you don’t want to listen to anymore. To the left of each song name, you’ll notice a checkbox. If you decide you don’t want to hear a song, simply deselect it. Deselected songs also won’t play in all playlists in which they’re included or be synced to your iPod.

Create a custom playlist by following these steps:
  1. From the File menu, choose New Playlist. An untitled playlist with a musical note icon appears in the iTunes Source list.
  2. With the untitled playlist selected, type a name for it.
  3. Select a song in your library, and then drag it to your playlist.
  4. Add as many songs as you want to your playlist. You can add multiple songs at once by holding down the Control (Ctrl) key as you select songs in your library.
  5. Click the icon representing your playlist in the Source list to view all the songs you’ve added.
  6. To change the order of songs in the playlist, select the song number column, and then drag the song names to different positions in the list.
  


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