<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<page xmlns="http://projectmallard.org/1.0/" xmlns:e="http://projectmallard.org/experimental/" type="topic" style="task" id="playlists">

  <info>
    <link type="guide" xref="index#manage"/>
    <link type="seealso" xref="tags"/>
    <link type="seealso" xref="coverart"/>
    <desc>Create and manage playlists.</desc>
    <revision pkgversion="1.6" version="0.1" date="2010-05-26" status="draft"/>
    <credit type="author">
      <name>Paul Cutler</name>
      <email>pcutler@gnome.org</email>
    </credit>    
    <include xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2001/XInclude" href="legal.xml"/>
  </info>

  <title>Playlists</title>    
  
  <p>Playlists allow you to create and save a list of music tracks to be played
  in a specific order.  Playlists are convenient to create a list of your
  favorite songs or to split your library into smaller lists that are easy
  to browse through. Some portable media players even allow you to transfer the 
  playlist so you can take it with you on the go.
  </p>
  
  <p>Banshee supports normal playlists, which include songs you add to the
  playlist, as well as smart playlists.  Smart Playlists are automatically 
  generated playlists based on your listening habits, favorite music, or more.</p>
  
  <section id="manual">
  
    <title>Normal Playlists</title>
  
    <p>A normal playlist is a list of songs that you add and manage.  You might
    want to create your own list of songs by your favorite artist from 
    multiple albums, your latest favorite songs, or an upbeat playlist to listen
    to while you exercise.
    </p>
    
    <p>You can create a new playlist by pressing <keyseq><key>Control</key>
    <key>N</key></keyseq>, from the menu choosing <guiseq><gui>Menu</gui>
    <gui>New Playlist</gui></guiseq> or by selecing the track(s) you would like
    to add to the playlist.  Select the track(s), right click them, and choose
    <guiseq><gui>Add to Playlist</gui><gui>New Playlist</gui></guiseq>.
    You can also drag and drop them to a new playlist by selcting the track(s) 
    and dragging them to the left hand
    window pane over <gui>Music</gui>.  As you drag it over <gui>Music</gui>,
    a new option <gui><em>New Playlist</em></gui> will appear and you can drop
    the track(s) over <gui><em>New Playlist</em></gui> to add them to the 
    playlist.  You can repeat this process until you have added all the tracks
    you want in the playlist.
    </p>

    <p>To give your playlist its own name, select the playlist and right click
    on the playlist and press <gui>Rename Playlist</gui> and enter the name
    of your playlist.
    </p>
    
    <p>You can change the order of the playlist by dragging and dropping the
    song to the new position in the playlist.  Songs can only be re-ordered
    in the playlist when none of the columns are sorted.  To unsort a column,
    press the column until the up or down arrow is no longer showing and
    the column is blank and then re-order the playlist.
    </p>
    
    <p>To remove a track from the playlist, select the track(s) you wish to 
    remove.  Press the <key>Delete</key>, from the menu choose 
    <guiseq><gui>Edit</gui><gui>Remove from Playlist</gui></guiseq> or right
    click the track(s) with your mouse and press <gui>Remove from Playlist</gui>.
    </p>
  </section> 
  
  <section id="smartplaylists">
    <title>Smart Playlist</title>
    
    <p>Smart Playlists allow you to quickly generate a dynamic playlist based
    on a number of pre-set variables.  You can quickly create a new playlist
    based on a specific artist, favorites or more.  
    </p>
    
    <p>To create a new Smart Playlist, from the menu choose <guiseq>
    <gui>Media</gui><gui>New Smart Playlist</gui></guiseq>.  You will be 
    presented with a dialog to create a new Smart Playlist.  Enter
    the name of your playlist and then choose the criteria your playlist 
    should be based on.  You can choose from any field included in the song's 
    meatadata, such as Album, Artist or Year.  Choose the criteria and then
    choose from one of the following:
    </p>
    
    <list>
      <item><p>is</p></item>
      <item><p>is not</p></item>  
      <item><p>less than</p></item>
      <item><p>more than</p></item>  
      <item><p>at most</p></item>
      <item><p>at least</p></item>  
    </list>
    
    <p>You can also press the <gui>+</gui> button to add an addition query
    to the Smart Playlist.  For example, you could create a smart playlist
    that includes all songs from 2010 that you rated 5 stars.  To create this
    playlist you would choose:
    </p>
    
  <table frame="all" rules="rows" shade="rows">
  <tr>
    <td><p><gui>Year</gui></p></td> <td><p><gui>is</gui></p> </td> 
    <td><p><gui>2010</gui></p></td>
  </tr>
  <tr>
    <td><p><gui>Rating</gui></p></td> <td><p><gui>is</gui></p></td> 
    <td><p><gui/>5 stars</p></td>
  </tr>
  </table>
    
    <p>You can then optionally select how many songs are included by pressing
    the <gui>Limit</gui> to checkbox and choosing the number of songs to be
    included.
    </p>
  
  <p>Banshee also includes smart playlists already created for 
  you.  Press the <gui>Open in editor</gui> button to view how the playlist
  created was or to modify it.  If you press <gui>Create and save</gui> the 
  playlist will be automatically generated and saved for you.  The following
  playlists are included:
  </p>
  
  <list>
    <title>Banshee Smart Playlists</title>
    <item><p>Favorites (Songs rated four and five stars)</p></item>
    <item><p>Recent Favorites (Songs listened to often in the past week)
    </p></item>  
    <item><p>Recently Added (Songs imported within the last week</p></item>
    <item><p>Unheard (Songs that have not been played or skipped)</p></item>
    <item><p>Neglected Favorites (Favorites not played in over two months)
    </p></item>
    <item><p>700 MB of Favorites (A data CD worth of favorite songs)</p></item>
    <item><p>80 Minutes of Favorites (An audio CD worth of favorite songs)
    </p></item>
    <item><p>Unrated (Songs that haven't been rated)</p></item>
  </list>
 
   </section> 
 
</page>
