This is pretty obvious, but still fun. You can turn your regular hard-drive iPod into an iPod shuffle.
First, make a up a smart playlist called Non-shuffle; you'll need one criterion for each kind of track you don't want to show up on your fake shuffle, such as > Genre > Is > Spoken Word and > Genre > Is > Christmas and such. (This playlist is actually a very handy thing to have for making other playlists out of.)
Then create a new smart playlist called ^ iPod shuffle. (The symbol ^, which is Shift-6, puts the playlist at the very top of the Source window in iTunes and also at the top of your iPod's list.) The criteria will be "> Playlist > Is not > Non-shuffle" and then "Limit to > 1000 > MB selected by > random".
It doesn't really Autofill: once in a while, you'll have to empty out the playlist in iTunes and let it refill. But otherwise it's a pretty good way to mimic the shuffle with a regular iPod. Sticking a post-it note over the screen is optional.
genEric's addition to jjunker's post (just after this one) is the perfect way to add Autofill to the fake iPod shuffle. Just add "Last Played > Is not in the last > 1 > days" to your list of criteria for the active playlist, and you're all set; you'll automatically update, so you aren't listening to the same songs over and over again. Very clever.
I find I'm using the fake-shuffle playlist all the time these days, because it's nice not having any idea what's coming next. Adding jjunker's/genEric's autofill idea is the icing on the cake.
by pyramus on Feb 11 | 9:07 am
This is brilliant - - thanks! Provides a welcome, "random" alternative to Smart Playlists that are somewhat predictable due to their defined characteristics (e.g., music type, BPM, ratings, etc.).
Yeah, I'm adding a comment to my own post.
genEric's addition to jjunker's post (just after this one) is the perfect way to add Autofill to the fake iPod shuffle. Just add "Last Played > Is not in the last > 1 > days" to your list of criteria for the active playlist, and you're all set; you'll automatically update, so you aren't listening to the same songs over and over again. Very clever.
I find I'm using the fake-shuffle playlist all the time these days, because it's nice not having any idea what's coming next. Adding jjunker's/genEric's autofill idea is the icing on the cake.