Q: I want to be able to set up a smart playlist which lists, in order, the tracks I have played the most over a seven-day period. Thus each day, I get a new ‘Top 10’ of the previous seven-days’ most played tracks. Is this possible? I’ve failed so far to get anything more than the last 10 tracks played or a cumulative top 10 which began on the day I bought the machine.
– David
A: This is certainly an interesting idea for a smart playlist, but it’s not possible with the way iTunes currently keeps track of play counts and dates.
As it is now, iTunes only records the total number of play counts, and the date that the song was last played. With only this rudimentary bookkeeping, a playlist such as the one you’ve proposed can’t exist – you would need to know a date associated with each playcount.
Theoretically, this could be done with a complicated AppleScript that periodically kept tabs on how play counts change with time, but to our knowledge, no such utility exists.
Alternatively, you could simply reset your playcounts to zero every week, by selecting all of your tracks, right-clicking, and choosing “Reset Play Count.” However, this solution may not be desirable to you, as cumulative play counts are clearly fun to keep track of, as well.
