iTunes Bugs Me When: Episode 1

itunes playlist issues.png
Originally uploaded by bigyahu.

iTunes remains the poor cousin in the Apple software family, being the result of third-party software it doesn't quite work as well as it could do in many respects. A couple of issues have been bugging me enough lately for me to blog them. So the first in this series of "iTunes Bugs Me When..." themed posts:

iTunes bugs me when I can't have a playlist that plays back my most recently-added albums, with the tracks in album order (i.e. track 1, then track 2, then track 3, etc.)

Please, correct me if I'm wrong (I often am) but I don't think this can be done.

iTunes' Smart Playlist feature ain't that smart. Although you can combine multiple search criteria, there's only the AND Boolean operator available, and when it comes to sorting, you only get one sort option. Creating a playlist like the one above would require something like:

Select 'Date Added'+'In the last'+''variable'+'days'
Sorted by 'Most recently added' then 'Album name' then 'Track number'

It's not rocket-science, but it's one in a number of user interface failings that really shouldn't be there in the world's leading music software.