cubicle17

Putting my iTunes library "On Notice"

I have a large (~45GB) iTunes library, and as anyone with a library that large can tell you, it’s difficult to actually listen to all those tunes. In the past, I’ve tried smart playlists and considered drastic measures, but the smart playlists only worked for a week or two before ultimately failing and the drastic measures are just too drastic for my taste. So I’m trying something new: putting parts of my library “on notice”.

The process is simple: create a “dumb” playlist called “On Notice”, take from my iTunes library the artists/albums I don’t recognize, haven’t listened to, or can’t remember if I like and put them into the playlist.

Now, because my library is so large, I have the frequent problem of not being able to decide what to listen to, and since the trick to making a system like this work is actually listening to the music on the playlist, the new rule is to choose something in the “On Notice” playlist anytime I can’t decide what to listen to. If I like what I hear, I remove it from the playlist and keep it in my library. If I don’t, it goes immediately into the trash.

So far, I’ve trimmed a little fat from my library and discovered some good music I didn’t know I had. And it’s hard to complain about that.