Thanks Drew -- I'm glad you found it helpful.
The only thing I changed was I use Include rather than Exclude.
Regarding using "Include" rather than "Exclude," there are specific advantages to using "Exclude" for typical iPod management. Your workflow may of course be different, but I think most people would probably benefit from using the "Exclude" method for the following reasons.
When you rip new songs, this field is blank by default. This means that these songs will AUTOMATICALLY be "included" in your iPod syncs without having to specifically tag them to be included. My assumption is that when you rip new songs, you'll want to include them on your iPod by default, in which case using "Exclude" saves you the extra step of having to tag them as "Included." This is nice because ripping a new CD is as easy as it's always been -- you rip it and you're done. You don't have to remember to go into BOTH user's View Scheme and tag these songs as "Include" since they're already included by default.
If you typically DON'T want to include new rips on your iPod, then using an "Include" tag would be a better choice. If you DO like to include new rips on your iPod, however, then using "Exclude" is more elegant since it saves you the extra step. When you use "Exclude," the only time you have to edit the iPod tag is if you want to STOP including these songs on your iPod. I would think that in most circumstances, most songs will ALWAYS be included on people's iPods. This means that by using "Exclude," you'll NEVER have to edit the iPod field of most songs -- not even once.
I just though this might be helpful given that I considered using "Include" at first as well, but I quickly changed to using "Exclude" for the above reasons. I wanted to be able to rip new CD's and have them included on our iPods wihtout ANY further action. Using an "Exclude" tag rather than an "Include" tag makes this possible.
Larry