Hi Randi, The instructions I sent earlier for creating a playlist (listed below in the earlier reply) should work. Here's the concept: you can either create a new blank playlist with Command-N, and do it from anywhere in iTunes, then move to the songs table and select songs to add to it by using Command-Shift-M, which brings up the song's contextual menu, or you can create a new playlist from your selection by starting from the songs table, selecting a song, and using Command- Shift-N to create a playlist from your selection.
When you create a playlist, a dialog window appears asking you to name the playlist. Type in a name and press return. If you don't type in a name, a default playlist name will be assigned. It will be "untitled playlist" the first time you create a playlist with no assigned name, and "untitled playlist 2" the next time, etc. The dialog windows also have buttons for "cancel" and "OK", so in the case of more complicated dialog windows you might want to VO-Right Arrow through the entire window to familiarize yourself with all the options. Pressing return is the same as choosing the default button, which is "OK". Pressing the escape key is the way to cancel the window and close it. This works for all dialog windows, and pressing escape is easier than navigating to the "cancel" button to press it (with VO-Space). After you have named a playlist, your focus will be on that playlist in the sources table. Playlists appear in alphabetical order in the sources table, after your libraries and the iTunes Store. In order to fill the playlist, you'll have to select some songs and add them to your playlist. Select a library or playlist in the sources table and tab to its corresponding songs table. For example, press "m u" or VO- Up arrow to move to the Music library as your source table selection, then use tab to navigate to its songs table. Once you've (interacted and) selected a song, bring up its context menu with Command-Shift-M. One of the menu options will be "Add to playlist". If you press "a" you'll be taken to that option. You'll also hear "submenu" after. Press your right arrow to move to the submenu, which will contain a list of all playlists in your sources table. Navigate the submenu with your up and down arrow keys, or by typing the first few letters of the playlist you want. Press return, and your selection will be added to the playlist you chose. You can continue to select songs in the songs table and add them to your playlist using the context menu. If you want to check what playlists a song has been added to, arrow down in the context menu from "Add to Playlist" to "Show in Playlist", and right arrow to its submenu. I said you could create empty playlists with Command-N and add to them or select tracks and create a playlist with Command-Shift-N. You could have started in the songs table at your selected track, used Command-Shift -N to create a playlist populated with your selection, and then named the newly created playlist in response to the dialog prompt. Here the default name will be the Artist Name followed by a hyphen, followed by the Album Name. However, it's inefficient to add items song by song. You can select multiple items (e.g., hold down your Shift key and arrow down from your current selection), and add them to a playlist in a block with the context menu. You can also add these to playlists with copy and paste, by using Command-C to copy tracks in the songs table, navigating to the sources table and selecting a playlist, then using Command-V to paste. This feature was added in iTunes 8. A better way to select blocks of songs is to use the search text field to restrict song table entries to items that match your search terms. With your music library selected in the source table, tab to the search text field and try typing in the name of your album. Then tab to the songs table and interact, use Command-A to select all, and use Command-Shift-N to create a new playlist from your selection. An even better way to select blocks of songs is to use the browser in iTunes. Toggle this on or off with Command-B. Delete your entry in the search text field. Tab to from the search text field to the browser's genre column, then to its artist column, and next to its album column. Interact and either arrow down or type the first few letters of your album title. Now stop interacting and tab to the songs table. You'll find tracks for all the songs in your album. You could select all these tracks with Command-A and either create a new playlist from your selection with Command-Shift-N, or you could use the context menu (Command-Shift-M) and add these to an existing playlist. However, an even slicker thing to do, if you are creating a new playlist from selection, is to simply work from the album selection you made in the file browser, issue the Command-Shift-N shortcut to create a new album from selection, and make your album playlist that way. The file browser can also be used to browse your iTunes libraries (grin -- not to be obvious). Let's say you have music by Wynton Marsalis, who worked with both classical and jazz pieces. You want to search for a track from one of his classical works. You select "Wynton Marsalis" under the Artist column of the browser, then Shift- tab (or VO-Left arrow) to the Genre column. If both genres of work show up in your library, you select "Classical". Then you tab to your songs table to find tracks that match these search criteria. If you remember part of the name of a specific track or set of tracks you want, you can also type this into the search text field. What shows up in the songs table will be the result of all these selections. If you want to get rid of the file browser, toggle it off again with Command-B. (Your songs table will repopulate since the browser selection criteria have been removed.) HTH Cheers, Esther On May 11, 2009, at 3:34 AM, rayna424 wrote: > > I'm sure this will make sense eventually haha. So, to create my own > playlist, can you walk me through where I start from and what command > to do? Is it in the sources menu? And then VO shift B? And, I know > when I first downloaded an album, I was able to access a list of > albums, but now I don't remember how I did it. > > So here's what I want to do for now, I want to make a classical list, > and add 3 albums to it. Then, I want to make a songs list, and I'll > have 2 albums and a few songs to add to it for right now. Can you walk > me through step by step how I'd do this? I like the VO shift M way of > doing it. In that menu, it will give me an option to add to a > playlist? > > This is really really great information guys! I think I'll get one of > those Voiceover podcasts too. I don't know all my commands yet, so its > kinda like trying to read a brail book before knowing all the letters > lol. > > Thanks!! > Randi > > Scott Howell wrote: >> Esther, thanks, that was what I had wrong. I had forgotten in which >> column to use the VO key sequence. ONce I used VO+\ in the album >> field, it put the tracks in their proper order. >> >> >> On May 10, 2009, at 10:01 PM, Esther wrote: >> >>> >>> Hi, >>> >>> Try making a playlist of your albums by using the file browser. >>> Select your Music library in the sources table and use Command-B to >>> toggle on the browser. Now when you tab from the Sources table to >>> the >>> search text field you'll reach your Music library entries >>> organized by >>> Genre (first tab past search text field), Artist (second tab past) >>> and >>> Album (third tab), before reaching the Songs table. Tab to the >>> Album >>> column in the browser (4 tabs after you stop interacting with the >>> source table). Interact (VO-Shift-Down Arrow), and either arrow down >>> to find your album, or type the first letters of the album name to >>> navigate there. When you've selected an album, use Command-Shift- >>> N to >>> create a new playlist from your selection. A dialog window will pop >>> up prompting you to name your playlist. The default name in the >>> field >>> will be the Artist followed by the Album with a hyphen in between. >>> >>> The browser and search text field, "winnow down" your source >>> selections by only showing entries in the songs table that match >>> what >>> you type -- including parts of words. But the search text field is >>> matched to any keyword that's displayed in the Songs table -- >>> whether >>> it's part of a song name or an album name. The browser lets you >>> search by category, in any combination you want. You can select >>> entries or combinations in any of the browser columns, then check >>> what >>> shows up in the Songs table. >>> >>> As mentioned before, you can start with a blank playlist (Command-N >>> and name the playlist), or one made from a selection (as in the >>> example given above). You can add to the playlist by selecting >>> songs >>> in the songs table and using the context menu (VO-Shift-M) and >>> choosing the "Add to Playlist" option, then Right-Arrow to the >>> submenu >>> of playlists and select the name of the playlist you want to add >>> to. >>> >>> The order of the playlist is the order in which you added songs. >>> But >>> you can change that by sorting columns in the songs table of the >>> playlist. Sorting with VO-Shift-Backslash under the Album column >>> should preserve album order of songs. A second VO-Shift-Backslash >>> reverses a sort from ascending to descending order. >>> >>> HTH >>> >>> Esther >>> >>> On May 10, 2009, at 3:32 PM, rayna424 wrote: >>> >>>> >>>> Alrighty then, VO shift and M worked like a charm. Finally got the >>>> song haha. Thank you thank you! Next step is learning how to make >>>> playlists and organize the music the way I want. The website Esther >>>> gave me makes it sound really complicated, and thats for itunes >>>> seven. Any pointers for me? I think I've mastered the store. Though >>>> the two podcasts I tried failed in downloading so that was >>>> disappointing haha. >>>> >>>> I had given up and walked away. So glad I looked here again. >>>> >>>> rayna424 wrote: >>>>> >>> >>>> > > --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "MacVisionaries" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/macvisionaries?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
