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[gpvillamil]

Well, I looked at iTunes and it's OK, not great. Lots of things are missing.

HOWEVER, the Smartlist editing interface is perfect - really, really well done. One single, well-organized dialog with well-explained options and drop down menus. Really the right way to do it.

I build some long, complex smartlists, and scrolling back and forth in the MC search box is a real PITA. Between this, and a one-step update/import, usability of MC for me would really take a jump.

[Doof]

I agree about the Smartlist stuff. Although it's not quite perfect. You shouldn't have to type in the name of an Artist, for instance. Too easy to make a mistake. If you could combine iTunes's wizard with the check boxed list that MC has, THEN it would be perfect.

[ashawley]

I totally disagree that it's perfect.  I think it's frankly pathetic.  Typing in Artist names??

No way, give me my checkboxes.  

Doesn't mean there isn't room for improvement in MC9, I'd much prefer a "true" wizard that walks you through the process.  I like actually the natural language scripting in WMP of all things, but it's way too limited.

Adam(S)

[Kurt Young]

Ditto ditto ditto!

The interface for building Smartlists in iTunes is exactly what I like.  It makes perfect sense when I use it.  It's much better than the Smartlist Wizard in Windows Media Player 9, and I believe that it's also much better than the Wizard that MC9 uses.

I do love, however, that I can just type in code for smartlists in MC9.  That rules.  But in the GUI department, I think that iTunes wins.

[gpvillamil]

Well, typing code directly in MC9 is actually quite powerful. However, what sucks is typing it into a tiny little box, and having to scroll back and forth!

At the very least, give us the option to open it up as a bigger edit field - I end up cutting and pasting between NotePad and MC.

And re the previous comments, you're right, having to type in names is not so good, combining it with MC check boxes would be a good idea.

Oh, and while we're at it, can we express things like "Last Played" as months, days, hours, not just minutes? I was trying to explain to my gf how [Last Played]=>10080 really meant "Last Played more than one week ago"...

[NoCodeUK]

Yes you have to type in iTunes but only a few letters as it has auto complete within the text box for all files in your library...MC used t have this too...any chance of it making a return?

Adam

[gpvillamil]

Ok, the MC9 smartlist editing interface has GOT to get better...

I have a smartlist that goes:

[Genre]=[Arabic],[Bollywood],[Brazilian],[Folk/Rock],[Indian],[Latin],[Lounge],[Merengue],[New Age],[Pop, Japanese],[Reggae],[Salsa],[Tango],[Tribal],[World] [Intensity]=<=3 [BPM]=<=70 ~sort=[Random]

And I wanted to edit it to:

([Genre]=[Arabic],[Bollywood],[Brazilian],[Folk/Rock],[Indian],[Latin],[Lounge],[Merengue],[New Age],[Pop, Japanese],[Reggae],[Salsa],[Tango],[Tribal],[World] or [Playlist]=[World Soundtracks]) [Intensity]=<=3 [BPM]=<=70 ~sort=[Random]

Well, you can't imagine what a trauma this was - the "Insert Modifier" or "Insert Rule" only inserts at the end of the playlist, and typing directly [Playlist]=[World Soundtracks] doesn't work - you have to type '"playlistid==409169973", apparently.

It was completely unpredictable as to whether I was editing at the token level (underlined phrases) or at the character level.

And of course, all this within a one line box that only showed me the first 30 or 40 chars of the smartlist definition, so I was constantly having to right-click to select "Edit by typing" after scrolling back and forth.

iTunes has shown us the way forward in this one area, it would make life sooooo much easier.

[lee269]

Well, I havent tried iTunes, but Ive long advocated a 'proper' smartlist wizard for MC. Currently I think the power of being able to type in expressions freestyle is fantastic for quick filters, and the dialogs from the search box dropdown list are great. However I think that the absolute control and flexibilty of smartlists, which is one of MCs greatest strengths, is definitely too well hidden for new users to find and utilise easily.

I think there should be some kind of classic stepped dialog wizard to walk people through smartlists using the main categories, modifiers and presets that appear in the dropdown menu. Maybe iTunes implements this differently. Whatever. I think an easier way of creating smartlists, however implemented, should be priority for MC10 (or JRiver project X  - whichever is due out soonest ).

[gpvillamil]

Also, since Smartlist and search spec syntax are basically the same, this could be a much more generally useful tool. You could basically use it to manage a library of search specs.

Or how about using it to import and export smartlists, so that they could be exchanged among users? It should be able to identify dependencies, and export all linked smartlists as a package...

For example, you could assign snippets of Smartlist code to entries on the "Insert Preset"" menu...

On another note, "Last Played" doesn't appear in the "Insert Rule" menu, I have to enter it by hand.

However, a basic wizard should be out ASAP, in v9.1...

[LisaRCT]

I know that I am barely scratching the surface of the capabilities of Smartlists because I do find that they are sometimes difficult to work with.  
And yes that time format is confusing, who deals in minutes only in real life??   ?

[nila]

Wizard is definitely excellent.

This is how I'd always hoped MC would do it's search wizard.

It's clear and easy for anyone, even a beginner to understand.