music: itunes hack - track # smart playlist

I remember the chaos when the original iPod shuffle was released.

I rushed out the day before Easter to Micro Center, where there were reports a shipment had just arrived (yes, there was that kind of fervor about even the shuffle when it first dropped).

After ecstaticly loading my new toy (I named it “Little 15″, after the Depeche Mode song..oh yes, I’m quite clever)with music for the first time I began poking around online reading about it.

One thing that seemed to come up again and again, were people theorizing that their shuffle could somehow ‘read’ their mood, and would play music accordingly.

I was intrigued.

Although my own results in this regard were mixed, a recent ‘hack’ I’ve discovered seems to point to another esoteric element within album releases in general.

If you’re ready for a bit of musical mysticism, read on.

MY PROBLEM

As I’ve mentioned several times here on UM, my music collection is both vast and quite eclectic. Typically, I’ll use party shuffle when listening to music at home. I like it because it allows me to get a random sampling of music going, but then slide specific tracks in as well.

Sometimes however, the sampling gets a little too random.

An example:

Depeche Mode? Nat King Cole? Arcade Fire?

All fine artists in their own right, naturally. However, listening to the above is not exactly a ‘flowing’ experience, sonically speaking.

This is actually a bad example. Normally, the tracks themselves prove annoying, as iTunes seems intent on dredging up any musical missteps in my past (can you say orchestra hit laden Shamen remixes from the early 90’s anyone?) and playing them all together when I shuffle through my entire library. Gawd.

MY SOLUTION

On a whim one day, I started playing around with ’smart playlists’. SP’s basically filter tracks from your library based on any number of criteria you select. They’re called ’smart’ because they continue to work as new songs are added to your collection.

What I found, and again, I recognize that this is venturing into the ether of possibility, is that with my library, doing a smart playlist based on TRACK #, and choosing TRACK # 9 specifically, yielded surprisingly cohesive and enjoyable listening.

For some reason, track #9 on most of my albums seems to be pretty good.

Just a few examples?

• Booth & the Bad Angel - Butterfly Dream
• The Bravery - Unconditional
• The Cure - A Letter to Elise
• Depeche Mode - Clean
• Ivy - Midnight Sun
• Ladytron - Playgirl
• Morrissey - Hairdresser on fire
• Radiohead - There There
• U2 - Tryin to throw your arms around the world

Anyway you get the idea.

Do artists consciously put a great song in the # 9 position on albums?  I doubt it.  Does it help me find a great mix for my party shuffle?  I know it.