How can I browse iPod playlists by ALBUM instead of artist or song?

September 24, 2008 8:36 AM

How can I browse and listen to iPod playlists or genres by ALBUM instead of by artist or song title?

One of the annoying things about the iPod interface is that the only way to play by ALBUM is to go into the ALBUM section. If one gets to the music by GENRE, then the music is listed by ARTIST. And if one goes in though the PLAYLISTS, then the music is listed by SONG.

But, for example, I would like to scroll to GENRE and then SOUNDTRACK: SCORE to see my movie music and then select, say, "Battlestar Galactica" or "Harry Potter". I want to browse by the ALBUMS and select one to be played.

Is there a way that this can be done? Is there a Smart Playlist that can offer the music up this way?
Why wouldn't Apple have such basic functionality? Am I missing something?

I have Windows Vista, iTunes 8.0.0.35, and an iPod Classic (5th Generation). Thank you!

posted by stst399 to Technology (8 answers total)

I browse thru genre->artist->album all the time. I think this is why we hear those rants about having to do it Apple's way. I'll be watching to see if someone can answer anything besides, "No, you can't."
posted by pointilist at 9:09 AM on September 24, 2008

I think he means he wants a list of all albums in a specific genre listed out. To do that you would go Genre -> All.
posted by Aznable at 10:02 AM on September 24, 2008

If you have a 5th gen, you can install Rockbox on your iPod. With Rockbox, all you need to do is drag your music on to your iPod as if it were an external drive. Create any folder structure you like. Then you will have the choice of either browsing through your folder structure or by ID3 tag in the Rockbox interface.

Rockbox is confusing at first because it has so many options, but if you want to be 100% free of iTunes (and like to tinker a little) you will love it.
posted by quarterframer at 10:18 AM on September 24, 2008

My iPod does this just fine. I choose Music > Genres, and then the Genres are listed out in alphabetical order with "X Artists, X Albums" listed underneath each one.

Then I select a Genre, then All Albums, then I can pick an album.

Maybe there's something I'm missing about your request. I have a 160GB iPod Classic running OS version 1.0.3.
posted by bcwinters at 10:31 AM on September 24, 2008

Best answer: I think bcwinters has it. "Genres" then "Soundtrack" then click "All Albums" to get the list of albums. Works on mine, anyway.
posted by dnash at 10:58 AM on September 24, 2008

Response by poster: I don't know how I ever missed that ALL option! Thank you.
I guess, though, this is still not possible through the playlists, but this helps tremendously.
posted by stst399 at 11:08 AM on September 24, 2008

Note that this only works if all songs on the album are tagged as the same genre. With a soundtrack, for example, this isn't necessarily going to be the case. You might have a rap song and a spoken word and an R&B song and a few rock tunes. Listing this way, you are going to see only those tunes on that album that match the initial genre.
posted by caution live frogs at 11:22 AM on September 24, 2008

Best answer: I've jury-rigged an 'albums' playlist by using the Composer field as a tag -- so for instance, I put 'workout' in the Composer field and then when I go to Music --> Composer --> workout I get a list of all albums with that tag rather than having to scroll through every song in all of those albums.
posted by mattholomew at 12:09 PM on September 24, 2008