diff my iPod and iTunes libraries?

March 20, 2006 7:56 PM

iPodFilter: Now that my iPod is nearly full, and I can't rely on automatic updating, is there any simple way to do, essentially, a diff between my iTune music library and my iPod?

Back when I used auto update, everything was easy. But now I add things to my library and then have to scroll through both the iTunes library and the iPod, album by album, to see what's missing.

I searched through as many iPod posts as I could stand, but I never found mention of a utility that would specifically do this. How do the rest of you deal with this?

I'm running WinXP. I have two iPods (20GB 4th gen and a 30GB 5th gen).

posted by wheat to Computers & Internet (6 answers total)

one option is to make playlists for all the albums that you have, that way there is less to scroll through when you are updating.

probably not what you were looking for but thats how i do it.
posted by I_am_jesus at 8:35 PM on March 20, 2006

Best answer: I think I understand what you want to do:

Create two smart playlists: one which has music added within the last n-days and one which has all music. Tell iTunes to sync by playlist; drag the "Recently Added" to the top of the Playlist list. When syncing, iTunes starts at the top of your playlists and works down. When it runs out of room, it stops. By having your Recently Added music at the top, you can ensure that those tracks always make it to your iPod.

I used to do this with my 3G 30GB.
posted by nathan_teske at 9:12 PM on March 20, 2006

I go through and uncheck the songs I'm not likely to want to hear on my iPod. That way, I can still do automatic update and just not load unchecked songs.

Of course, I have some music that I never listen to and am not likely to listen to, and I just keep it around because I have room on my drive.

You could also just create a smart rancom playlist that is the size of your iPod, and update automatically from that instead of from your whole library. then you wouldn't know which songs wouldn't be on your iPod which I wouldn't care for as much, but it's another way to do it.
posted by willnot at 9:17 PM on March 20, 2006

Best answer: Quit unchecking/checking.

Use only "playlists" syncing...and create a smart playlist of stuff you like (plus regular ones.) Then just create a smart playlist that has the other playlist songs...to calculate the size of eveytying.
posted by filmgeek at 9:23 PM on March 20, 2006

Actually combine me and filmgeek for your best answer - you have to build a smart playlist which pulls from the recent playlist and then the library.
posted by nathan_teske at 12:09 AM on March 21, 2006

drag the "Recently Added" to the top of the Playlist list

My playlists are ordered alphabetically, both in the Source list and in the iPod preferences. Can you really drag to rearrange them?
posted by sudama at 6:32 PM on March 21, 2006