So I was listening to the MacBreak Weekly, and this episode “Hey Macarena”, the subject of iPod playlists came up.

The question that came up was: “Can you have a DJ-style playlist?”, one where you have many sub-lists, and one controller list, randomly playing 1 or 2 picks from each of the sub-lists.

As it turns out, you can, and here’s how:

1. Open iTunes 7
2. Select some songs and make a playlist. This playlist can be smart or editorially selected. Repeat this for each pool you wish to use in the master list.
3. Now, create a new smart playlist that selects a few songs from each list you created in step 2. Be sure to select “Limit to (n) items”, and choose how they’re gathered (random is good, as is “least played”)

Once you’ve done that, you need to create your “master” list.

1. Create a new smart list, with multiple rules with “Playlist is…”
2. Make sure “Match any of the following rules” is checked
3. Set your song limit, “selected by” attribute (least played), and “Live Updating”.
4. Enjoy your new radio station.

Of course, you could decide that you want to make it even more insane by creating a “master master” list, consisting of many “master” lists, but that’s a little too fractal for me.

I’d do screenshots, but I’m at work, and that takes awhile.

Earlier: RJS Templates

Later: Periodic Table of (Adobe) Elements