Frustrated ITunes DeeJay Question
August 16, 2018 7:36 AM Subscribe
Please help me with a minor, but really frustrating, problem with iTunes on my iPad Mini - when I add a new song to an existing playlist, it will not let me re-order the list to put the new song where I want it. Detailed explanation inside.
I'mma get really granular with the problem here first, then hit you with some specs about the machine in question.
Suppose I have an existing ten-song playlist on my iPad, with things in a specific order the way I want them. Now suppose I want to add a new song TO that playlist, but I want it to be, say, the sixth song on the list. The process I use to attempt to do this is:
* Go to the playlist screen and hit "edit."
* Click on "add new music". Navigate to my music library and add the desired song in question. Click "done" to re-enter the playlist screen. The new song is at the end of the playlist, but I am still in the "edit playlist" window.
* Move the new song from the end of the list to the spot where I want it.
* Click "done" to exit the editing screen.
However, instead of the new song being in the sixth slot where I want it, the new song is back at the bottom again.
Things I have tried to resolve this:
* Enter the "edit" screen again and try moving the new song to the desired spot again, and clicking "done" again. The new song is back at the bottom.
* Enter the "edit" screen again and move all the other songs that should come after it, one by one, to the place below the new song, and clicking "done" again. Sometimes the new song is back at the bottom again, and sometimes the new song is now eighth in the list with the other songs I moved in a random jumbled order.
* Enter the "edit" screen again and move one of the other songs that should come after the new one,and clicking "done" again; then entering "edit" again to move the next song, then "done", etc., repeating the "edit-move-done" process one by one. This also sends the affected songs into a random jumbled order that bears no resemblance to anything I've arranged.
* Closing iTunes entirely, opening it up, and editing things again. The new song moves back down to the bottom again and doesn't stay in the spot i want it.
Literally the only thing that works is to delete the other songs I want to come after the new song and then re-add them to my playlist again, adding them in the order I want them to be. Which I guess is fine for when the new song should only be spot 6 on a 10-song list, but when I want it to be at spot 3 on a 20-song list....
Some details about the machine itself:
* This is an old-school iPad mini. The one I currently have is actually a NEW one, purchased to replace one with a cracked screen and touchpad digitizer failure; but I was having this problem on the previous one as well.
* I am using the most up-to-date version of the IOS and itunes.
* I do NOT use iTunes on my main computer; my iPad is the only place I use it.
* I have confirmed that the "shuffle" feature is OFF. Moreover, the playback for the playlist is in the proper order.
Literally the only problem I have is that when I add a new song to an existing iTunes playlist, it insists on keeping that song at the bottom of the list and will not let me save the new order if I re-order it.
I also grant that this is a pretty first-world-problem but it's been a source of annoyance, and I want to make sure there isn't anything super-dumb that i have just been overlooking. thanks.
I'mma get really granular with the problem here first, then hit you with some specs about the machine in question.
Suppose I have an existing ten-song playlist on my iPad, with things in a specific order the way I want them. Now suppose I want to add a new song TO that playlist, but I want it to be, say, the sixth song on the list. The process I use to attempt to do this is:
* Go to the playlist screen and hit "edit."
* Click on "add new music". Navigate to my music library and add the desired song in question. Click "done" to re-enter the playlist screen. The new song is at the end of the playlist, but I am still in the "edit playlist" window.
* Move the new song from the end of the list to the spot where I want it.
* Click "done" to exit the editing screen.
However, instead of the new song being in the sixth slot where I want it, the new song is back at the bottom again.
Things I have tried to resolve this:
* Enter the "edit" screen again and try moving the new song to the desired spot again, and clicking "done" again. The new song is back at the bottom.
* Enter the "edit" screen again and move all the other songs that should come after it, one by one, to the place below the new song, and clicking "done" again. Sometimes the new song is back at the bottom again, and sometimes the new song is now eighth in the list with the other songs I moved in a random jumbled order.
* Enter the "edit" screen again and move one of the other songs that should come after the new one,and clicking "done" again; then entering "edit" again to move the next song, then "done", etc., repeating the "edit-move-done" process one by one. This also sends the affected songs into a random jumbled order that bears no resemblance to anything I've arranged.
* Closing iTunes entirely, opening it up, and editing things again. The new song moves back down to the bottom again and doesn't stay in the spot i want it.
Literally the only thing that works is to delete the other songs I want to come after the new song and then re-add them to my playlist again, adding them in the order I want them to be. Which I guess is fine for when the new song should only be spot 6 on a 10-song list, but when I want it to be at spot 3 on a 20-song list....
Some details about the machine itself:
* This is an old-school iPad mini. The one I currently have is actually a NEW one, purchased to replace one with a cracked screen and touchpad digitizer failure; but I was having this problem on the previous one as well.
* I am using the most up-to-date version of the IOS and itunes.
* I do NOT use iTunes on my main computer; my iPad is the only place I use it.
* I have confirmed that the "shuffle" feature is OFF. Moreover, the playback for the playlist is in the proper order.
Literally the only problem I have is that when I add a new song to an existing iTunes playlist, it insists on keeping that song at the bottom of the list and will not let me save the new order if I re-order it.
I also grant that this is a pretty first-world-problem but it's been a source of annoyance, and I want to make sure there isn't anything super-dumb that i have just been overlooking. thanks.
Response by poster: Existing track order is a product of the order in which the songs were added. I made the list, it was great, then several months later I got a new song and thought "hey, I'd like to add it to this playlist - oh and I think I'll drop it on this list somewhere about....here. ....Except I can't seem to do that."
I don't think I could even tell you how the Genius function on my iTunes works if my life depended on it.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 5:01 PM on August 16, 2018
I don't think I could even tell you how the Genius function on my iTunes works if my life depended on it.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 5:01 PM on August 16, 2018
Forgive me if this is pedantry, but does "old school iPad mini" mean a first-generation model? If so, those don't update beyond iOS 9.3.5. (You can confirm your iOS version by going to Settings > About and checking the Version line.) And by "iTunes" do you mean the Music app?
FWIW, I dug up an old iPad of mine (non-mini) that's stuck at 9.3.5, to try to replicate your problem, but am sorry to say that I can't. Again, I'm able to push files around playlists with abandon. Frustrating. Doubly-so since it was happening on your previous iPad Mini as well, and one wouldn't assume it to be a hardware issue.
Sorry to keep chiming in with "works for me!" I guess a corollary of your iPad never being synched with a computer is that all of the music files on it must've been purchased from Apple. Are they downloaded to the device or in the cloud? More straw-grasping on my part, wondering what circumstance makes your experience unlike mine.
posted by mumkin at 7:52 PM on August 16, 2018
FWIW, I dug up an old iPad of mine (non-mini) that's stuck at 9.3.5, to try to replicate your problem, but am sorry to say that I can't. Again, I'm able to push files around playlists with abandon. Frustrating. Doubly-so since it was happening on your previous iPad Mini as well, and one wouldn't assume it to be a hardware issue.
Sorry to keep chiming in with "works for me!" I guess a corollary of your iPad never being synched with a computer is that all of the music files on it must've been purchased from Apple. Are they downloaded to the device or in the cloud? More straw-grasping on my part, wondering what circumstance makes your experience unlike mine.
posted by mumkin at 7:52 PM on August 16, 2018
Response by poster: Hi - yes, first-generation model of IPad Mini.
the songs in question are all downloaded to the device.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 1:53 PM on August 20, 2018
the songs in question are all downloaded to the device.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 1:53 PM on August 20, 2018
Response by poster: Although, piggyback problem - sometimes iTunes will just decide to randomly remove a downloaded track for no reason that I can ascertain. It's still on the cloud and I can download it onto the device again no problem, and it's only an occasional thing and there never seems to be any rhyme or reason about which song (it's always a different song), but that's another annoyance.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 6:27 AM on August 21, 2018
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 6:27 AM on August 21, 2018
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by mumkin at 2:23 PM on August 16, 2018