Prior to the release of iTunes 11, iTunes had a feature called a "playlist window" whereby a playlist could be opened in a separate window. Tracks could be dragged between the playlist window and the main iTunes window and a playlist window had pretty much all the conventional features of a playlist in the main window.
Playlist Assist provides a floating window to which tracks from iTunes can be dragged, arranged, and then saved back to iTunes as a new playlist, thus providing broader visual means of creating playlists; the ability to eyeball the track content of two playlists side-by-side, for example.
However, even though the Playlist Assist window resembles the retired iTunes playlist window it shouldn't be assumed that it provides all the features of a playlist window. It does not and its features are comparatively fewer. But it does offer several helpful features reminiscent of the playlist window.
Launch Playlist Assist. Position it so that its main window will float alongside iTunes while iTunes is active.
Tracks can be dragged between iTunes and the Playlist Assist window.
• Currently only audio and video tracks are accepted. Books, audiobooks, iTunes LPs, PDFs, radio tracks, tracks from mounted devices, and the like may be supported in a future version.
• A playlist, Smart playlist, or Playlist Folder can be dragged from iTunes to add its entire track contents to the Playlist Assist window. However, the track contents of Master Playlist Libraries ("Music", "Movies", "TV Shows", and so on) cannot be dragged this way. If you really want to add the entire contents of a Master Library, you will need to select all the tracks and drag them.
Enter the name to be used for the playlist by clicking the "untitled playlist" text box and typing a new name.
• The default name for new playlists is "untitled playlist". This can be changed by selecting "Change Default Playlist Name" from the Playlist menu.
• Tracks can be sorted by clicking the header of the column you want to sort by. Columns can be dragged to a new order by click-and-dragging the header.
• Columns can be shown/hidden by selecting View Options... from the "View" menu or Control-clicking/Right-clicking any column header.
• Sorting tracks by Play Order—the farthest-left column—will enable tracks to be dragged to a new order.
• Selected tracks can be played in a Quick Look window by pressing the Spacebar while one or more tracks are selected. Only tracks with local files can be loaded to a QuickLook window. TIP: By putting the QuickLook window in fullscreen mode, the selected tracks will play contiguously.
• Tracks in the Playlist Assist window with local files can be dragged back to an iTunes playlist or dragged to the Finder where a copy of their file will appear.
The Search Field can filter the tracks that appear in the window by All text-oriented tags or a discrete tag in the search category menu.
iTunes Match or Purchased tracks that are not stored locally will be colored blue. These files cannot be dragged out of Playlist Assist but they can be saved in a playlist. Also, these tracks cannot be be played via Quick Look.
The changes you make to the playlist in Playlist Assist are not automatically relayed to or in any way sync'd with iTunes. You must save the Playlist Assist playlist to iTunes using the commands below:
When the tracks are arranged to your liking, press the Save... button (or choose "Save..." from the "Playlist" menu). The tracks in the Playlist Assist window will be assembled into a new playlist in iTunes.
• The name used for the playlist can be entered by clicking the "untitled playlist" text box and typing.
The new playlist can be saved in a Playlist Folder by clicking the Save to Playlist Folder... button (or by choosing "Save to Playlist Folder..." from the "Playlist" menu). A list will be displayed from which an existing Playlist Folder can be selected or a new Playlist Folder created.
Both Save... and Save to Playlist Folder... will create a playlist using just the tracks that are selected in the Playlist Assist window.
These commands are accessible by click-and-holding the Option key and selecting from the Playlist or Selection menu.
The playlist will be saved to iTunes, added to Up Next, and played.
Right-clicking or Control-clicking on a track will display a panel with track information and these options:
Information about all or just the selected tracks in Playlist Assist can be exported in a variety of formats. File-copying commands can only copy local files; files stored by iTunes Match or un-downloaded Purchased tracks will be skipped.
These commands can be accessed from the "Export..." submenu in the "File" menu:
The file of each track can be copied to a selected folder location.
Export a M3U playlist file using the absolute paths of the tracks' files.
Export the files of the tracks to a selected folder along with a M3U playlist file that contains relative paths to the copied files.
Creates a tab-delimited text file containing the tag data of the visible columns. This file can be imported into spreadsheets and databases.
Creates an XML playlist file that can be imported into iTunes as a playlist.
• To import this file into iTunes, use the "Import Playlist..." command in the "Library" submenu of the iTunes "File" menu.
Playlist Assist is not intended to be used as a track tag editor, but some simple "touch-up" track editing is available as a convenience.
While a single track or multiple tracks are selected in Playlist Assist select "Edit Info..." from the "Edit" menu.
Changes made are not automatically relayed or sync'd with iTunes. After making any changes in the Edit Info window they must be saved to the corresponding tracks in iTunes by clicking the "Save Changes" button.
If changes are made to tracks' tags in iTunes after they have been dragged to Playlist Assist, this command will update the track info in Playlist Assist by essentially re-fetching the data for all the tracks from iTunes. This is a purely optional operation in the interest of convenience.
| Quick Look | ||
|---|---|---|
| Play Selection | Spacebar | |
| File Menu | ||
| Re-Fetch Tag Data From iTunes | Command-R | ⌘R |
| Edit Menu | ||
| Edit Info... | Command-I | ⌘I |
| Playlist Menu | ||
| Save... | Command-S | ⌘S |
| Save and Play...* | Option-Command-S | ⌥⌘S |
| Save to Folder Playlist... | Control-Command-S | ⌃⌘S |
| Selection Menu | ||
| Select All | Command-A | ⌘A |
| Select None | Shift-Command-A | ⇧⌘A |
| Save as Playlist... | Shift-Command-S | ⇧⌘S |
| Save as Playlist and Play...* | Option-Shift-Command-S | ⌥⇧⌘S |
| Save as Playlist to Folder Playlist... | Control-Shift-Command-S | ⌃⇧⌘S |
| Delete Selected | Command-Delete | ⌘⌫ |
| Delete Non-Selected | Shift-Command-Delete | ⇧⌘⌫ |
| View Menu | ||
| View Options | Command-J | ⌘J |
| List Font Size Large | Command-+ | ⌘+ |
| List Font Size Small | Command-- | ⌘- |
* Will be visible in the menu when the Option key is pressed.
Copyright © 2013, Doug Adams. "iTunes" is a registered trademark of Apple, Inc.