Q: How do I delete a playlist and/or On-The-Go playlist from my iPod after I’m done listening to it? I deleted all of my playlists on iTunes but it wont sync correctly and I can’t delete it from the iPod itself. How do i do this? I’m mainly worried about the On-The-Go playlist.
– Justin
A: You can’t actually delete the On-The-Go playlist itself, however you can clear out the content of it prior to syncing with iTunes.
Normally, if you add any tracks to the On-The-Go playlist, they will remain stored until you sync your iPod with your iTunes library, at which point the content of the On-The-Go playlist will be transferred back to your iTunes library, with a name of “On-The-Go” following by a sequence number. Once the On-The-Go playlist has been transferred back to your iTunes library, it becomes a new standard playlist, and will be synchronized back to your iPod as any other playlist would. The content of the built-in On-The-Go playlist on the iPod will be cleared, preparing it for the next time you want to queue up additional tracks.
To delete the On-The-Go playlist that is created in the iTunes library, it’s simply a matter of selecting it and deleting it as you would any other playlist. This will also remove the corresponding playlist from the iPod itself. The built-in On-The-Go playlist cannot be removed from the iPod however, but it should be empty following a successful synchronization with your iTunes library.
If you want to prevent your On-The-Go playlist from syncing back to iTunes, the solution is to simply clear it prior to connecting your iPod to your computer. To do this, simply select the On-The-Go playlist from your iPod “Playlists” menu, and scroll down to the bottom until you see the “Clear Playlist” option. Select this and all of the tracks in your On-The-Go playlist will be removed. This will prevent an On-The-Go playlist from being created in iTunes when you sync your iPod.