A smart playlist for all your purchased iTunes songs…
I would like it if that “Purchased” playlist they give you in iTunes actually listed all the stuff I purchased in iTunes. That would be nice. Then I could just select that list to backup all those purchases on a DVD. Unfortunately it doesn’t do that for me as I keep messing around with it, and changing computers, and *cough*. Whatever. It’s Apple’s fault. Right.
It would be extra nice if Apple added an obvious choice to pick iTunes purchased music when you’re making a smart playlist. But it doesn’t. Oh well, after searching in vain for a solution on Google and messing around with iTunes for a bit I finally just opened up the iTunes library XML file in BBEdit and looked for something in the protected files that would identify it to the smart playlists. Lo and behold there was.
To list all your iTunes purchased songs, do this:
- Select File ยป New Smart Playlist…. (or use Command+Option+N)
- Select Kind from the first drop down box.
- Select Contains from the second drop down box.
- And type Protected AAC audio file in the text field.
- Hit OK and you should have a new playlist with all the iTunes purchased songs that are in your library.
Now I’m sure someone has figured this out before I have, but I couldn’t find it so I thought I’d share.
Edit: Corrected some grammar mistakes.
May 27th, 2006 at 9:34 pm
great tip! just what i was looking for.
August 18th, 2006 at 11:54 am
Add “Audible File” to a second “Kind” field if you use Audible.
September 16th, 2006 at 8:33 pm
That’s just awesome, thanks a bunch!
September 19th, 2006 at 1:10 pm
Great tip! It may be obvious, but I’ll point out that you can get the opposite effect if you just change “contains” to “does not contain.” I’m behind a pretty strict firewall at work, and I simply cannot get any of my protected files to authorize.
Making a playlist of my ripped CDs lets me skip around at will without getting that annoying “authorize” screen.
March 16th, 2007 at 10:31 am
THANK YOU! Finally…
May 7th, 2007 at 10:34 pm
Awsome , simple and really quick! Thx for finding!
October 28th, 2007 at 5:34 pm
This is really helpful! Thank you so much! I never would have figured this out on my own.
February 10th, 2008 at 10:30 pm
Searching for simply “Protected” will also find protected videos.
To also find iTunes plus purchases, which do not use a protected file format, search for “Purchased” in the kind field.
You can also find purchases from the Amazon MP3 store by searching for “Amazon” in the comments field.
June 4th, 2008 at 6:44 pm
Great tip, thanks!