Use a Smart Playlist to clean up iTunes (pictures)
Quickly pull together all the lame, forgotten media clogging up your iTunes collection, and purge it from your computer.
iTunes is overrun
If you're looking for some extra room on your hard drive, one of the easiest places to trim the fat is your iTunes library. It's probably filled with music that you never listen to, not to mention old podcasts, TV shows, movies, and audiobooks.
To see a video version of this tutorial, head over to the original blog post on CNET How To.
To see a video version of this tutorial, head over to the original blog post on CNET How To.
Smart Playlist to the rescue
So how do you carve out the rotten stuff while saving the media that you can't live without? Here's where a Smart Playlist comes in handy.
Go up to the File Menu and select New Smart Playlist. We're going to make a Smart Playlist with three rules. Rule No. 1: the media in this playlist will have been played less than two times.
Go up to the File Menu and select New Smart Playlist. We're going to make a Smart Playlist with three rules. Rule No. 1: the media in this playlist will have been played less than two times.
Smart Playlist rule No. 2
To make our second rule, hit the "+" button on the right side of the first rule. Set the second rule to wrangle up any media that has been skipped over more than five times.
Smart Playlist rule No. 3
And just in case you've been rating your songs, let's make a third rule that collects all the songs that you've rated between 1 and 2 stars.
Because there probably won't be many things that satisfy all of these requirements, go to the top of the window and change "Match all" to "Match any." Then, hit OK.
Because there probably won't be many things that satisfy all of these requirements, go to the top of the window and change "Match all" to "Match any." Then, hit OK.
All the duds
You now have a playlist filled with all of the bad, ignored, or frequently skipped media in your iTunes library. If you don't see much, you can right-click on the playlist, select edit, and adjust the numbers to pull in more media.
Another useful trick is to right-click the column headers and add a column for size, so that you can sort by file size and delete the big stuff first.
Another useful trick is to right-click the column headers and add a column for size, so that you can sort by file size and delete the big stuff first.
Delete away
The problem is, if you've ever deleted a song from an iTunes playlist, you probably noticed that it just deletes the song from the playlist -- not from your computer. In a Smart Playlist, the delete key is basically useless since you have no manual control over the list. Unless, of course, you know a trick.
This keyboard shortcut comes to us from our friends over at Lifehacker. It turns out that you can delete iTunes media from your computer directly from a playlist by holding down the Option key on a Mac while pressing Delete, or Shift + Delete on Windows.
To see a video version of this tutorial, head over to the original blog post on CNET How To.
This keyboard shortcut comes to us from our friends over at Lifehacker. It turns out that you can delete iTunes media from your computer directly from a playlist by holding down the Option key on a Mac while pressing Delete, or Shift + Delete on Windows.
To see a video version of this tutorial, head over to the original blog post on CNET How To.
More Galleries
My Favorite Shots From the Galaxy S24 Ultra's Camera
My Favorite Shots From the Galaxy S24 Ultra's Camera
20 Photos
Honor's Magic V2 Foldable Is Lighter Than Samsung's Galaxy S24 Ultra
Honor's Magic V2 Foldable Is Lighter Than Samsung's Galaxy S24 Ultra
10 Photos
The Samsung Galaxy S24 and S24 Plus Looks Sweet in Aluminum
The Samsung Galaxy S24 and S24 Plus Looks Sweet in Aluminum
23 Photos
Samsung's Galaxy S24 Ultra Now Has a Titanium Design
Samsung's Galaxy S24 Ultra Now Has a Titanium Design
23 Photos
I Took 600+ Photos With the iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max. Look at My Favorites
I Took 600+ Photos With the iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max. Look at My Favorites
34 Photos
17 Hidden iOS 17 Features You Should Definitely Know About
17 Hidden iOS 17 Features You Should Definitely Know About
18 Photos
AI or Not AI: Can You Spot the Real Photos?