Description (en)

SmartPlaylist is the most advanced playlist generator for iPod/iPhone/iPad with many unique features.

There are 26 smart playlists (SmartPlaylist A-Z) which you can use and name as you wish.

In each SmartPlaylist you can combine more than 20 search rules to filter and sort your iTunes music library. These rules can be saved in iCloud.

Available search criteria:
● Text search: Genre, Grouping, Composer, Artist, Album-Artist, Album, Title, Comments, Lyrics and/or iTunes-Playlist
Search for exact matches („is equal to“), for any partial matches („contains“) or use wildcards („is like“ ?/*).
Use logical operators to unite (" OR “), intersect (" AND “) or exclude (“ NOT “) certain songs
Example: The rule "Genre contains blu OR zz" will give you all your blues and jazz songs in 1 playlist.
● Numerical search: Rating, Play Count, Skip Count, Duration, Track Number, BPM and/or Year.
● Date search: Added, Last Played, Last Skipped, Released (how many days, weeks, months or years ago)
You can search for values less than, equal to / from-to (=) or more than the limit you set
● Property search: is in compilation, is in iCloud, is music video (all/yes/no)


The titles loaded in SmartPlaylist also become the playback queue of the Music app and the now playing title is also shown in the lock screen and the control center, where you can play/pause, fast-forward, skip, etc.

There are many settings to configure, e.g. what search rules you want to use and what info you want to see in the list of titles.

General procedure:
1. Select a smart playlist (a)
2. Set the search rules (a)
3. Tap „Load titles“ (a)
4. Scroll through the list of matching titles (b)
5. Press on a title in the list to play it or tap to see all its details (c).


a) THE MAIN SCREEN: The search rules of a smart playlist (e.g. „SmartPlaylist A“)
● Use „Menu“ to open the settings and help, copy/paste rules and backup/restore with iCloud
● Use „(i)“ to open the details of a search rule (there, use „(+)“ to open the pick list for genre, artist, etc.)
● Use „All/Active“ to toggle between showing all search rules and showing only the active rules (yellow)
● Browse your music collection hierarchically by Genres > Composers > Artists > Albums > Titles
● Use list operations to add, subtract or intersect the results of SmartPlaylists
● Limit the number of titles per artist or per album, or limit the list to x minutes, hours or titles
● Sort with multiple criteria, e.g. 1. by Artist, 2. by Rating (per artist), 3. by playCount (per rating)
● With „Show only“ you can load another SmartPlaylist while the previous list is still playing in the background
● If you do not set any search rules „Load titles“ will load all titles in your music library


b) THE LIST VIEW: The list of titles matching the search rules
● Long-press on a title to play/pause
● Pinch in/out to change the row height (S-M-L) and toggle the display of the artwork
● Use quick-search to search within the loaded list or mark certain titles
● Scroll to the now playing song in the list with „Now playing“


c) THE DETAIL VIEW: All the details/infos for the selected song
● If you have selected a song which is not being played, you can scroll up and down through the title list with „^“ / „v“
● When you are in the „Now playing mode“, „^“ / „v“ will play the previous or next song, respectively.
● Enlarge the cover artwork up to full screen (tap/double-tap or pinch in/out)
● Tap on a line to open the values in a text view where you can copy the text or look up the definition of words, etc. (e.g. in the lyrics)
● Add the selected song to another smart playlist or remove it from the current one (i.e. make exceptions to the rules, which can also be edited in the corresponding search rule)
● Load all songs with the same genre, artist, year, etc. as the selected song

10 comments:

  1. Hi, I have a big question about this app... Is there any way to save the list I make to the music app so I can use it and view it just like any other playlist? Thanks!

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    Replies
    1. I have just added this question to the FAQ page. Please see the answer there. Thank you.

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  2. I'm from Brazil and I've bought your app.
    It is a excellent and very powerful one.

    There are one bug: Sometimes the list after press "load" doesn't play even if "load for playback" is selected.

    Two requests.
    1) The app should accept down and up drag gesture for change volume playback. The only way is press the real buttons on the iphone side. However, it's affect the all sound device's setting.
    2) The App should support browse the existing playlist not just genres->artists->....

    Thanks,
    Paulo

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    1. Regarding the second suggestion:

      Maybe SmartPlaylist can let the user select playlists and genres at same time. It would be possible change the view (Playlists or Genres) touching a button in the screen ([Playlists] / [Genres] ). After the user can select artists, etc.

      Other feature that it would be nice: In song details implement a gesture to hide and show the details besides album/song/title and artist. It would be cleaner.

      I also think that is nor relevant that "Is Equal To" be case sensitive.




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    2. 0) SmartPlaylist should never start playing by itself. THAT is a bug. "Load" only loads, either for playback (without starting to play) or just for display.

      1) Don't forget the built-in slide-up Control Center with the volume slider. Apple does not support different volume control methods any more, other than with a slider.

      2) Interesting idea. I will see if I can do this but can’t promise anything yet. Personally I have no need for this feature.

      3) If you hide those details it is half empty :-(. Just enlarge the cover artwork to hide the clutter.

      4) „Is equal to“ is just that: Everything must be equal, also the case. That is how the methods work which I use in my code.


      Obrigado!
      Daniel

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  3. For numeric filters such as year, is there a way to search a range of values? For example, all songs between 1990 and 1999?

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  4. Very nice!!
    I would like to make a feature request, but it might not be possible (seeing as it can't be done in iTunes). I've been dieing to find a way for smart play to utilize formulas. Example, I'd like to have a playlist of all my 5 star rating songs with the played count higher than the skip count. Once I've shipped it more than I've played it, it would no longer be on the playlist.

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  5. Thank you, this is a very interesting feature you request and it is not impossible to implement. However, this would require some notation rules and this would be too complicated for 95% of the people. Many people are already overwhelmed by all the features offered in SmartPlaylist as it is ... (AND / OR, fusion, quick search, ...)
    I will keep it in mind and maybe implement it in the future once the idea has matured in my head and I see an elegant way to fit it into SmartPlaylist.

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    1. Thanks for replying, if it helps the GUI could be quite simple for the play count rule. If text were allowed in the play count field, one could input "play count > skip count".

      Thanks again, I've loving play with this app. As for the fusion, I found a awesome use for it. [A] contains the songs I want in the list and [B] sets a rule for songs skipped > 5 times in the last 6 months. Then fusion -B to A.

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