Hi Paul, Odd, but I don't have this problem. First of all, you don't need to select the artist first if you want to directly select the album by title. That's simply a convenience if you want to view a list of albums by the artist. This sounds like a focus issue. I usually route my mouse cursor to my VoiceOver cursor (VO-Command-F5) and then click with VO-Shift-Space when I am on the first entry I wish to select. You can check what items are selected at any time with VO-F6. If I then press Shift+Down Arrow, my selection is extended, and VoiceOver tells me I have two rows selected. I can continue to hold down the Shift key and arrow down to extend my selection. I can also press Command+A to select all after that initial VO-Shift-Space.
When you do a VO-F6 after the first VO-Shift-Space, does VoiceOver correctly identify the item you have selected? I'm wondering if this is a focus issue in Lion, since I'm running Snow Leopard. Also, I was puzzled by a post Ray and Candie made in early October about not being able to keep Mouse Keys on in Lion. I'll explain that in some situations using VO-Shift-Space to click doesn't seem to work. It's the software implementation of a keyboard click in VoiceOver, so I call this a "software click", and it used to be that in apps with transitioning accessibility (the early versions of iTunes and Automator, for example, and in some third party apps) that clicking this way didn't register as a click. (In the present case, it would mean that the track you clicked on wouldn't be selected, for example, or announced when you checked with VO-F6). However, if you click a physical mouse button, or press your trackpad, or turn on Mouse Keys by pressing the Option key 5 times quickly in succession when you have this configured under Universal Access options for the keyboard, then pressing the "i" key on my laptop keyboard (or the "5" key on the numeric keypad of a desktop keyboard for the Mac) works just like a "hardware click" from mouse or trackpad. Something similar did happen once for a version of iTunes in Leopard, when using the column browser, for a very brief period of time, and we had to work around the order of clicking and selecting. In this case, I might not see the same behavior if this were a Lion-specific focus issue. To answer your question about why you might want to use playlists, iTunes has a very powerful feature called "smart playlists" that allows you to select contents of playlists by rules instead of directly selecting individual tracks or groups of tracks. The smart playlists support a feature called live updating. Here's a quick and simple example of how this would work. Suppose I listen to an audiobook on my iPod nano, which only has a limited capacity. Further, suppose that my files are MP3 files, because I want to use them on another player that only handles MP3 files, and these files were ripped from the individual tracks of an audio CD some time ago. I can create a smart playlist for this audiobook with two rules: "Album is <name of of audiobook>" and "Plays is 0". I select all the tracks in this book from the music library, press Command-I to "Get Info", and change the Media Kind pop up button from "Music" to "Audiobook" on the Options tab. This switches the tracks from "Music" to the "Book" library folder. I also set the pop up for "Remember Position" from "No" to "Yes", which will bookmark the last played position so that listening will pick up here when I start playing the track again. In my iTunes library I can play this book from the smart playlist. My position in each individual track is remembered, because I turned on "Remember Position". Because I am playing from the playlist, I listen to each of the book tracks in succession. As soon as I finish a track, the playcount for the number of "plays" increments to "1", and the track rolls off the top of my playlist, because the playlist is "smart" and is using the "Live updating" feature to check the status of tracks. Now consider what happens when I sync that playlist to the iPod nano (or it could be an iPhone or iPod Touch). Only the tracks on the smart playlist (that I haven't yet listened to) get synced over. When I play from the smart playlist on that device, even though I'm not connected to iTunes on my computer, tracks automatically roll off the top of the playlist as soon as I finish listening to them. (They are still on my iPod, just not in my smart playlist.) The live updating feature continues to work on the iPod, and always keeps my current position. Further, if I sync my iPod again to my computer, the smart playlist status will update so that if I play the smart playlist on my computer, I can continue listening where I left off the book on my iPod. Even better, when I automatically synced, all the tracks that I listened to, that now no longer meet the criterion of "Plays is 0" get rolled off my iPod. You can reuse the smart playlist again by resetting the "Plays" playcount of the tracks to 0 using the context menu. This is a very simple example of how smart playlists can be used. Typically, people use them to automatically update podcast listening without having to manage track content. Or they make workout smart playlists that can have rules for being exactly 30 minutes long, with songs that have a specific BPM (beat per minute), and that are rated 4 or 5 starts and are by a favorite artist. Since smart playlists let you put in all sorts of rules -- like all tracks that were added to the library within the last 3 months (or even within a specific date range), in a specific genre, and rated between 3 and 4 stars, but not by artists, x, y, or z, you can use them for all sorts of quick searches, and not bother to keep them. The shortcut command is Command+Option+N to create a new smart playlist. Then you can match any or all of the rules you set up, and keep adding new ones. There's an old post of mine called "Introduction to Smart Playlists": http://www.mail-archive.com/macvisionaries%40googlegroups.com/msg01294.html It needs to be updated, because there are new features, and some of the keywords have changed (like "Plays" instead of "Playcount"), but it gives an idea of how these work. So I can create a temporary smart playlist on the fly just as a way to search my iTunes library. HTH. Cheers, Esther On Nov 6, 2011, at 10:22, Paul Erkens wrote: > Hi Esther, > Again this answer is worth saving for later reference so I did that, but I > still have questions. > > 1. I'm trying to find tracks, all belonging to one album from one artist, > present in my itunes library, and I want to get rid of them in itunes. Here's > what I do, but it fails. > 1. Start itunes, go to the music browser. > 2. Select an artist and then an album. > 3. From the songs table, I hit vo command f5 to pull the mouse over to the vo > cursor, and then I click with vo shift space, just to get itunes focus into > the songs table. > 4. Now, I move to the first song and I hit shift plus down arrow, keeping > shift down, and repeatedly I hit down arrow. This does not select any tracks, > while if I shift arrow down in the songs table when I did not use the music > browser before trying to shift arrow, selection works just fine. In other > words: if I open up itunes, and I start shift arrowing in the songs table, > then selection happens just fine. However, when trying to select tracks after > having narrowed down the songs table, by selecting an artist and album from > the music browser first, then selection does not work any more. Any idea what > I'm doing wrong here? > > 2. Why would you want to use playlists anyway? Are they necessary in order to > delete tracks? Only time I can think of, when a playlist is necessary, is if > I want to make an audio cd from selected tracks, because then, I must add > them to a playlist, in order for itunes to go burn them to cd. When wanting > to delete tracks from my itunes library, do playlists come into play at all? > > Curious. > Paul. > > On Nov 6, 2011, at 9:11 PM, Esther wrote: > >> Hi Paul, >> >> Can you select and use the Shift+Arrow keys in the songs table if you first >> click in this table with VO-Shift-Space? First, I find that I can select the >> album in the column browser and create the playlist directly from there If I >> click on the selection with VO-Shift-Space and then press Command-Shift-N to >> create a new playlist from my selection without having to navigate to the >> songs table. If I want to create a playlist after navigating to the songs >> table (e.g., I stop interacting with the column browser and navigate to the >> songs table and interact), I'll first click with VO-Shift-Space and then >> navigate around to do my selections, including holding down the Shift key. >> However, I can only delete tracks if I select them from the songs table, and >> not from the column browser. >> >> When you delete tracks from playlists you generally do not delete them from >> your iTunes library -- only from the playlist. If you want to force >> deletion of tracks that you select from a playlist, you have to press >> Option+Delete instead of just Delete. Then iTunes will prompt you with a >> dialog window asking you whether you really want to delete these tracks from >> your library. >> >> Hope this answers your questions. Write back if anything is still not clear. >> >> Cheers, >> >> Esther >> >> On Nov 6, 2011, at 09:41, Paul Erkens wrote: >> >>> Hi Esther, >>> To clarify my last message, I forgot to add that once I have found an album >>> using the music browser, itunes will not let me select any tracks. Usually, >>> I can do it using the shift and vertical arrows, but this is not possible >>> after I narrow down the tracks listing inside the itunes music table, by >>> selecting an album using the command b music browser. Any idea why shift >>> arrows does not work? It would be the easiest way to find and get rid of >>> tracks. >>> >>> Best, thanks in advance. >>> Paul. >>> On Nov 6, 2011, at 2:13 PM, Paul Erkens wrote: >>> >>>> Hi Esther, >>>> Thanks for your as always thorough and clear response. I have been playing >>>> around with the music browser a few days now and it seems to work for me. >>>> I even cleaned up stuff I didn't even know I still had in my library, and >>>> I was also able to correct a few genres. >>>> >>>> I still have a question though. After I select an artist and then an album >>>> in the music browser, why is it that I cannot select any files in the >>>> music table? I want to delete an album once I found it. How do you delete >>>> an album once you got it displayed? >>>> >>>> Paul. >>>> On Nov 2, 2011, at 9:54 PM, Esther wrote: >>>> >>>>> Hi Paul, Doug, Aser, and Others, >>>>> >>>>> A more useful general way to access your music in iTunes by Artist (or >>>>> Album, or Genre, or other categories) is to use the Column Browser, which >>>>> can be toggled on or off between the "Show" and "Hide" positions with >>>>> Command+B. You can configure this under the "View" menu on your iTunes >>>>> menu bar. Use either VO+M or the general OS X shortcut of Control+F2 to >>>>> navigate to the menu bar, press "V" to go to the View Menu, arrow down, >>>>> then press "C" or use arrow keys to move to the "Column Browser" menu >>>>> option. Press either your right arrow key or VO-Space to move to the >>>>> "Column Browser" submenu. You can arrow down and press "Return" to check >>>>> or uncheck entries you want to be shown once the Column Browser is >>>>> toggled on. (You need to do this for each item you want to check or >>>>> uncheck.) For example, I have Artists, Albums, and Composers checked, >>>>> and I have my column browser set to display on top, with options to >>>>> "Group Compilations", and "Use Album Artists". >>>>> >>>>> Then, when the browser is toggled on, you can navigate to separate column >>>>> listings of Artists, Albums, and Composers (or whatever options you have >>>>> chosen). These work to filter the results in your songs table by >>>>> categories, and I generally keep my library displayed in list view >>>>> (Command+Option+3). For example, you can either go directly to an >>>>> alphabetical list of album titles in the browser (if you checked "Album" >>>>> as one of the items to be displayed), highlight the album you want, and >>>>> then create a playlist of it with the Command+Shift+N "New playlist from >>>>> selection" shortcut. Or, you could first select the "Artist" in the >>>>> alphabetical list of artists in the browser, again assuming that was one >>>>> of the options you checked, then navigate to the "Albums" column of the >>>>> browser to view all albums of works by that artist. Or, you could select >>>>> a Composer in the browser, then select an Artist, and view Albums by an >>>>> artist interpreting a classical composer's works, for example. Using >>>>> selections by categories in the column browser, possibly in combination >>>>> with inputs into the search text field, provides a very fast way to >>>>> locate and tailor tracks listed in the songs table of your iTunes >>>>> library. (The column browser works for other categories than just Music, >>>>> but the options you can check will be different.) >>>>> >>>>> This feature has been around since the first accessible version of >>>>> iTunes, and earlier, and I basically just restore the iTunes options to >>>>> something like the original settings, which were, from memory, "Genre", >>>>> "Artist", "Album", and "Composer", viewed "On Top", and "Group >>>>> Compilations". This last settings shows up albums that cannot be >>>>> associated with single artists, e.g., "Cinema Classics of 2009", under a >>>>> "Compilations" category, where they can be found by album title. I >>>>> believe the default setting of the browser now is to only have "Artist" >>>>> checked, and to display "On left", but I don't recall the specifics. >>>>> >>>>> Paul, in general, iTunes on your Mac can be configured to do a lot more >>>>> than on your iOS device, an pretty easily. >>>>> >>>>> HTH. Cheers, >>>>> >>>>> Esther >>>>> >>>>> On Nov 2, 2011, at 06:58, Aser Tolentino wrote: >>>>> >>>>>> In iTunes, move one element left of iTunes search, where you should find >>>>>> something called view mode, interact with that and select grid view. >>>>>> When you then scroll passed the source list, you should eventually >>>>>> encounter buttons that allow you to group by artist, album, genre etc. >>>>>> Select which one you want and then keep scrolling until you hear >>>>>> VoiceOver say "grid view, one item selected" or something similar. >>>>>> Interact with that and you should find your music sorted by the criteria >>>>>> you selected above. >>>>>> >>>>>> HTH >>>>>> >>>>>> Aser >>>>>> >>>>>> Sent from my iPad >>>>>> >>>>>> On Nov 2, 2011, at 9:29 AM, Doug Lawlor <doug.law...@gmail.com> wrote: >>>>>> >>>>>>> I seem to remember a plugin for doing this some ware but can't remember >>>>>>> where I saw it. I would love to know if this is still possible. >>>>>>> >>>>>>> Doug >>>>>>> >>>>>>> >>>>>>> >>>>>>> Sent from my iPhone >>>>>>> >>>>>>> On 2011-11-02, at 1:04 PM, Paul Erkens <paul.erk...@gmail.com> wrote: >>>>>>> >>>>>>>> Hi all, >>>>>>>> >>>>>>>> On an iphone, you can sort the itunes library by artist. On my mac, I >>>>>>>> only see tons of songs, and if I want to delete an entire album, or >>>>>>>> all songs from 1 artist, I need to carefully select each of them, and >>>>>>>> then delete them from the itunes library. Is there a better way on the >>>>>>>> mac, to view the itunes library by artist, or by album, without seeing >>>>>>>> the artist and album names 16 times vertically, once for each song in >>>>>>>> a given album? >>>>>>>> -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "MacVisionaries" group. To post to this group, send email to macvisionaries@googlegroups.com. 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