Smart List selected by Most often Played selected alphabetically

Question

Level 3

573 points

Smart List selected by Most often Played selected alphabetically

I have a Top 500 playlist which is intended to select the most often played (ie the highest play counts), limited by many criteria, including several playlist is not criterion, which themselves include playlist folders.

In practice, it selects songs according to those criteria, but not those with the highest play counts. Rather it selects them alphabetically, from the end of the alphabet. So I get only ones that are W-Z artists, in my case.

Sure seems to be a bug.

It seems that the "playlist is not {group playlist}" could be the culprit. I could test by removing them, but I have dozens, so want to ask here first if anyone has seen this issue.

Mac Studio

Posted on Sep 7, 2025 05:18 AM

Reply

Answer 1

ed2345

Level 9

63,422 points

Sep 7, 2025 09:45 AM in response to Loren Ryter

Loren,

"Playlist is not.." should correctly handle its argument being a playlist folder instead of a playlist, at least I have not noticed a problem.

You may have discovered a new bug. However, given the intricacy of the rules as you describe, there may be something being overlooked. Can you create a simpler version of the logic and see if it works as expected, and then expand it to the full desired functionality? If you care to post the rules here, perhaps someone can take a look.

Reply

Answer 2

Loren Ryter Author

Level 3

573 points

Sep 8, 2025 11:47 AM in response to ed2345

Thanks, I should have thought of that. Definitely the problem is including "playlist is not" (may be other problems but that triggers it every time).

can anyone (pref. someone with fairly large library), test same conditions, please?

Baseline conditions:

limit to 50 items selected by most often played

Plays > 2, Skips = 0

Result: selected normal distribution of artists alphabetically, with high play counts (all > 50)

Demonstration:

Added condition,

Playlist is not {playlist} [just one playlist, not playlist folder, any playlist same result]

Result: selected all artists at end of alphabet (in my case, all starting with numbers), each with play count = 3 *

Note: original "problem" playlist also had play count = 3 (i.e. play count minimum condition > 2)

Sanity check:

added other condition:

last played in the last 3 months

result: expected normal distribution alphabetically, high play counts

see: image #3

Reply

Answer 3

turingtest2

Level 10

277,723 points

Sep 8, 2025 12:18 PM in response to Loren Ryter

Smart playlists with Playlist is/is not rules may not sync correctly to devices, and are excluded from your Cloud Music Library if you have Apple Music or iTunes Match. A possible workaround is to use keywords, in say the Grouping field, to mark out tracks for inclusion/exclusion in various circumstances.

tt2

Reply

Answer 4

Loren Ryter Author

Level 3

573 points

Sep 8, 2025 12:53 PM in response to turingtest2

i do not use cloud Music, all local files. not interested in that kind of work around, we're talking more files than i'm legally allowed to disclose. :)

but as always: appreciate your dedication man, you've really helped me in the past.

also: not syncing any devices. this is all on Mac Music, with local Mac files, on playlists created on Mac.

Reply

Answer 5

ed2345

Level 9

63,422 points

Sep 8, 2025 06:15 PM in response to Loren Ryter

Loren Ryter wrote:

Thanks, I should have thought of that. Definitely the problem is including "playlist is not" (may be other problems but that triggers it every time).

.......

Loren,

I ran a few tests similar to your "demonstration" and "sanity check." It definitely gave wacky results as you found! However, when I changed "most often played" to "random" it behaved normally again, even with "playlist is not..." still in place.

Looks like you found a specific combination of rules that makes it choke. Not sure if some criteria other than "most often played" would meet your needs, but it may help.

Reply