Doesn't iTunes keeps a playcount?

Yes.

What I'd like is an MP3 player program for Windows that would play all the files in my iTunes folder, and also update the playcount (and hopefully also be able to use the iTunes playlists and smartplaylists.)

So you're saying you want something that's not iTunes to do what iTunes does?

I'm confused.

I just want to say thanks to the heavens for my iPod FM transmitter. It got K-Bug and I through the drive to and from Phoenix with much music and no static. Was quite pleased.

Doing the iPod happy dance.

tommy -- yes, exactly. Well, the thing I don't want it to do is to selfishly grab a whole bunch of memory while it plays, which is what iTunes is doing.

I just really like the playcount stats. It makes me sad that I can't somehow combine the playcounts on my home iTunes and work iTunes to make a super-playcount.

tommy -- yes, exactly. Well, the thing I don't want it to do is to selfishly grab a whole bunch of memory while it plays, which is what iTunes is doing.

Ok, that makes sense.

I just really like the playcount stats. It makes me sad that I can't somehow combine the playcounts on my home iTunes and work iTunes to make a super-playcount.

Me too. I get around the problem by only using my iPod to play music at work.

Anyway, there must be some sort of solution. The playcount info is kept in an xml file, so it'd be fairly straightforward to write a program to add recently played playcount stuff from one playlist to another. (That is, if you're using iTunes at both locations.)

I wonder if you could write a script that would copy your playcount stuff from a web or ftp server each time you start iTunes. My guess is that there would be... problems with this approach.

When I get a second, I'll google and check the iTunes script site....

Hey other production peeps -- I'm thinking of asking for an AJA Io for my office. Anyone ever used one and liked/disliked it?

More iTunes stuff:

One of the problems with this is keeping your music collection interesting. You’ll want to hear newer songs more often than older ones, yet at the same time you’ll want to make sure that the old music doesn’t get lost. You want to hear your favourite songs slightly more often than everything else, but you don’t want to keep listening to the same old tracks over and over again. As such you need to make sure your playlists have a good degree of variety as well as and a high churn rate.

The way to achieve this is by utilising smart playlists, however it can be quite difficult getting the right balance.

[link]

I do some of what this guy recommends, but I generally don't have playlists based on other playlists.

Huh. I just leave my iPod on shuffle all the time.

I do that some of the time. But I have a shitload of songs and I generally want to hear my favorite and/or newly added songs more often than randomly selected songs.

Crap. I had a solution for one of Theo's problems, but then I rememberd that iTunes is scriptable only on a Mac.

but you don’t want to keep listening to the same old tracks over and over again.

Sure you do.