[Gunni]

Guys - i am desperate. Can anyone help me solve this one?

First, my equipment:
G5 PPC iMac running OS 10.5.6, iTunes 8, iPod 2nd generation Shuffle.

Next, my problem:
I purchased and downloaded 56 songs from Amazon late last year, loaded them onto my Shuffle, and everything worked perfectly.

Last week, I deleted them from the Shuffle and loaded some other music for a trip,

This week, I deleted the songs I loaded for the trip and once again loaded my Amazon-purchased songs along with some other songs I had copied to iTunes from CDs I had purchased.

All of the songs from CDs will play, not one single Amazon-purchased song will play.

I have sought help from the Apple Discussion board and other groups and no one can dope out what's wrong.

Can you folks help?

Many thanks,
Gunni

[smax013]

Do they still play on your iMac?

Have you tried contacting Amazon?

[Tom_Diola]

Okay I'll ask the question:
Did you load those amazon songs into iTunes (I'm asking because if they're on iTunes we might be able to do something)...

[Gunni]

Thanks so much for your replies.

In answer to your questions:

1. Yes, those .mp3 downloads from Amazon do play on my iMac.
2. Yes, I emailed Amazon.com yesterday; no response yet.
3. Yes, I have loaded the songs into iTunes 8.

BTW, I have tried resetting the Shuffle, then reloaded it, but the Amazon .mp3 songs still won't play.

Gunni

[Gunni]

A few more clues that may help someone diagnose this problem:

I changed the .mp3 format of the Amazon songs to AAC, but I still have copies of the original .mp3 files.

These AAC and .mp3 files play in iTunes.

When I move the Amazon songs in AAC format to my Shuffle and press the play button on the Shuffle, the Shuffle button displays alternating green and orange, indicating: ERROR - no music has been loaded.

With the Shuffle connected to the iMac and with the Shuffle's songs highlighted in the iTunes window, clicking these tunes will play them in iTunes/on the iMac.

Does this offer any further clues to what is the problem here?

Many thanks,
Gunni

[Gunni]

OK. This is to anyone who stumbles across this thread in an effort to solve the same problem.

I called Amazon.com .mp3 support number. Great support! They set me to download anew of all the songs I had purchased.

That did it; transferred them to my 2nd. Gen. Shuffle and they play just fine.

No idea of what happened to those original Amazon songs, which will continue to play in iTunes 8, but not after being transferred to my Shuffle.

Gunni

[smax013]

Gunni said:

A few more clues that may help someone diagnose this problem:

I changed the .mp3 format of the Amazon songs to AAC, but I still have copies of the original .mp3 files.

These AAC and .mp3 files play in iTunes.

When I move the Amazon songs in AAC format to my Shuffle and press the play button on the Shuffle, the Shuffle button displays alternating green and orange, indicating: ERROR - no music has been loaded.

I was going to ask if you had tried the original MP3 files with the Shuffle, but it seems you have a solution anyway.

[Gunni]

Man, I am going to look like a fool here, but I'll go ahead and confess just to save someone else going through what I went through.

Long story short: in the individual song settings, I had set somehow set the Amazon.com downloaded songs to Skip When Shuffling. Brilliant!!!

May I take this opportunity to admit that I have always been a bit confused with two similar settings on the iPod.

In the first screen that appears on the iPod, toward the bottom, is Shuffle Songs. If I choose this, it will pick ANY file from my iPod and play it in random order. Right?

OK. On that iPod I have language files that I would like to exclude from being played when I hit Shuffle Songs, so I exclude them by going to each file I wish to exclude, doing a Get Info, and checking the box for Skip When Shuffling.

To continue: Also on the first screen that appears on the iPod is Settings. Under Settings is yet another Shuffle choice. You can choose to shuffle Songs or Albums or shut it off. I thought that this second Shuffle setting applied to individual Playlists. If I chose this shuffle, then navigated to a playlist and saw the shuffle icon in the upper right hand corner of the screen, that songs within that Playlist would be shuffled. That works for most, but not all of my Playlists. I have an Italian language Playlist, for example that, even when the shuffle icon is showing on the screen, it will only play one file/song.

So, is there any setting that will allow you to shuffle within a playlist yet exclude certain files from being played when you choose Shuffle Songs noted above.

[smax013]

Don't know off the top of my head on the shuffling stuff...don't current use that feature with my Shuffle. I will have to fire up the old desktop and hook up the iPod Shuffle and see.

[Tom_Diola]

I think smart Playlist will do the trick for you.
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1801


Do not pray for tasks equal to your powers;

Pray for powers equal to your tasks.

-Phillips Brooks,

bishop and orator (1835-1893)

[Gunni]

Bingo, Tom; that's the solution, I am almost positive.

Spent hours last night Googling variations of shuffle and iPod and i think you have hit on the solution.

This is my plan:

1. First uncheck the Skip While Shuffling box for every song and spoken file.

2. Use the five stars to make Smart Playlists.

3. Make a 1-star smart playlist for all classical.

4. Make a 2-star smart playlist for all classical, no opera.

5. Make a 3-star smart playlist for all opera, no classical.

6. Make a 4-star smart playlist for all Rock,

7. Make a 5-star smart playlist for all the language files.

8. Memorize the star rating, then label each smart playlist @, @@, @@@, etc., to move them to the top of the list on my iPod.

9. If I decide I would like to make additional smart playlists, I believe I can set them up by using yet other criteria.

Sound like a plan?

Gunni

[smax013]

You can use "Genre" to setup your Smart Playlists instead of the stars. Set one playlist as "classical"....one as "opera"...one as "classical" and "opera"...one as "rock"...one as "language" files. You might need to "clean up" some of the Genres for some "songs" depending on how they are set/imported, etc, but you can do this easily (it might take a little work, but not as much work as the star bit).

There are other ways too.