This was posted in the General forum in response to a query from me there (I had asked about pane views of playlists since I used to have a "Zen" playlist I populate with the music I want on the Zen), but Crowfan's method of syncing is so brilliant, I thought I'd post it here for the benefit of all handheld users (I should note that with 60GB of space on the Zen, figuring out what's on there, and what in the 90GB of files in MC should be on the Zen can get a little hairy).
Crowfan:
This doesn't really answer your question, it provides a work-around. But I thought it might be helpful to you. I have an iPod, and this is how I manage syncing to it.
I created a library field called "iPod." Then, I created a view scheme with the Artist/Album/iPod fields visible in the panes (and I restrict it to show only mp3 and AAC). Then I enter Tagging Mode, and tag the songs that I want on my iPod with a value of "Yes" in the iPod field.
Then I created a Smartlist that has one rule: iPod = Yes. When I sync, I sync this smartlist.
This would achieve what you want, in the sense that you could then use the view scheme to browse what is on your Zen. You could even create a second view scheme, identical to the first, but that also specifies Zen = Yes, and then shows Genre/Artist/Album in the panes, so you could see only what is on the Zen. You could then use the first view scheme to manage what you want synced, and use the second one just to see what has been synced.
Nolo:
Crowfan, that's very clever! Plus, there's another advantage to your scheme, which is that you control what's in the playlist not by dragging or deleting but by changing a tag (which could be done in batches). But let me make sure I understand what you've done (I'm at work so I can't fire up MC). And, if you set up the view scheme right, you can go into a genre or artist and toggle between what's on the portable and what's not by clicking the appropriate category in the pane (see next paragraph)
Let me make sure I understand what you're saying correctly:
I would create a custom "Zen" tag field, select what I want in MC and make the field "yes" using a mass tag edit.
Then I would create a library view scheme with four column panes: Zen/Genre/Artist/Album. The zen column should show three entries, "all," "yes" and "unassigned." If I click on "yes", then the 3 panes to the right will show only what's on the Zen; if I click on "unassigned," the three panes to the right will show only what's not on the Zen.
Anything showing with "unassigned" clicked that I want to add to the Zen, I would select and do a tag edit to change the Zen tag to "yes". Conversely, anything showing with "yes" clicked that I want to remove from the Zen, I select and tag edit to clear the yes field. Then all I need to do is to sync the "Zen = yes" smartlist I've created.
Like I said, very slick! Thanks. Actually, this is even better than what I was asking about because of the ability to toggle between Zen and non-Zen (or, in your case iPod and non-iPod)
Crowfan:
Yup, that's pretty much it. It works well for me. Hope it works as well for you!
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Topic: Brilliant way to manage syncing (Read 1550 times)