January 2008 Archives

This video shows you step-by-step how to create a Scheduled Playlist using all of the songs in your iTunes library with PlayDJ.  It shows you how to select all of the songs in your iTunes library and then create Scheduled Playlists that are automatically stored in your iTunes and then save them directly to your iPod.  We have found that many iPod users just select random and play and live with the frustration of hearing clumps of music from the same artist, this is what we call the pain of ramdom.

It's not that your iPod likes some artists more than others, it's just how random works.  PlayDJ eliminates this pain by automatically spreading same artists, genres, tempos, and ratings and balancing them across a complete playlist.  Using PlayDJ you'll  hear songs you haven't heard in a long time and you won't wear out your skip button.

Give the method in this video a try and let us know what you think, we're always happy to hear from you about what you like and don't like about PlayDJ and any new features you think we should addd.  Just add a comment to this blog or call our comment line at (214) 615-6505 ext 4507 and leave a voice comment.

This short video demonstrates how easy it is to create a Scheduled Playlist from a list of selected artists in PlayDJ.  You can use this method to create Raw Playlists with other selected attributes like genre, tempo, rating, years, etc.  Once you have created your Scheduled Playlist it explains how to save it to iTunes and sync it with your iPod.

This is the first in a series of videos about PlayDJ and we'll be adding to the list frequently, so check back often

The Filter Builder inside PlayDJ takes the blank page in the center of your PlayDJ screen and easily fills it with the songs you want for your Raw Playlist. 

Remember, it’s the songs in your Raw Playlist from which you’ll create a balanced, Scheduled Playlist, the very heart of PlayDJ.

A blank page becomes a Raw Playlist

Here’s the quickest way to easily build a Raw Playlist:

Use the tabs in the Filter Builder to choose the artists, years, genres (or other attributes) you wish to include in your Raw Playlist.

1. Click the filter icon and see the songs you’ve selected appear in the center of the screen.  Notice the top of the PlayDJ screen shows the number of songs you’ve added so far. To add more songs to this list, repeat step 1 
2. When you’ve created a large Raw Playlist containing songs you want for a certain situation (for example, fast songs for the drive to work, your daily commute, or this Saturday’s party), you’ve arrived at the point where PlayDJ is ready to work its magic. 
3. Save this Raw Playlist into iTunes for later use then go ahead and create any number of balanced, Scheduled Playlists.  The songs in your Raw Playlist become a “pool” from which PlayDJ selects songs to go into your next Scheduled Playlist.

Then, you can call up your Raw Playlist instantly whenever you want to create more completely different, balanced, Scheduled Playlists whenever you need them.  And, of course, you can create as many Raw Playlists as you wish.  For example, you may have a Raw Playlist with a mix of rock and hip-hop songs, another one containing only songs before 1980, and another with soft, romantic music.  In each case you can use these Raw Playlists to create an unlimited number of Scheduled Playlists for either playing directly from PlayDJ, or for importing to your iPod for your Scheduled Playlists on the go.  

Hot tip:  avoid doing this in reverse.  Some PlayDJ users try to select all songs, then uncheck at few attributes and wonder why the list doesn’t change. 

Here’s why:  When you check all songs you naturally get all attributes of everything in your iTunes library. If you then uncheck a few artists, years or genres, most songs you want to remove from your Raw Playlist will not disappear because they will probably contain one or more other attributes keeping them visible (like one of your playlists, for example).  Although you can’t do this yet, this feature will be activated in a future version of PlayDJ.  Read on.   

Create new “workout playlists” every day, filled with your favorites

Let’s say you workout every morning for an hour.  Use the Filter Builder inside PlayDJ to quickly create an unscheduled, Raw Playlist of 250 songs you love to workout to, then save it to your iTunes. 

Then, whenever you’re ready, bring up only that saved Raw Playlist and create five, 1-hour Scheduled Playlists for each weekday next week.  Save each of those Scheduled Playlists to iTunes and sync with your iPod.  Then you can play one each morning, and each one will be completely different, but still filled only with your favorite songs. 

FUTURE FEATURE:  Instead of starting with a blank page and building the Raw Playlist, a large number of PlayDJ users have requested that we add the ability to do that in reverse:  to check any specific artist, genre or other attribute, then unselect those you want to remove from this list. 

Consider it done!  This cool feature will appear in the next version of PlayDJ. 

Thanks for your suggestions…keep’em coming.  Email any other ideas to Support@PlayDJ.com.