Introduction

Let’s say I want to create a playlist that only plays Rock music with a rating of at least 4 stars and I want new music released within the past year. Oh yeah, and I want this playlist to stay up to date as I add new music and time moves on.

This can all be done with Auto Playlists in Windows Media Player. Auto Playlists are dynamic playlists that automatically update as your library changes and grows based on criteria you give it.

Learn By Example

I think this guide will be able to show you how to manage auto playlists by giving you an example. You can learn from the example, play with it and create your own.

The Criteria

• I only want Rock music
• Rated 4 stars or higher
• Ripped within the last year only

This is a very simple example of an auto playlist.

Create an Auto Playlist

1. Open Windows Media Player.
2. Click the Library tab.
3. Right-click Playlists in the top left of Windows Media Player and select Create Auto Playlist.
4. Give your new auto playlist a name in the New Auto Playlist window next to Auto Playlist name.

   [1]

5. I’m going to tell it to only play Rock music. Click Click here to add criteria under Music in my library and then select Genre.

   [2]

   Note: In this example I’m creating an auto playlist for music in my library. You can create playlists for any type of media in your WMP library by clicking Click here to add criteria under and also include instead of adding criteria under music in my library.

6. Now I’m going to set the type of Genre to Rock by clicking Click to set next to Genre is and select Rock.

   [3]

7. Now I’m going to tell it to only show songs I’ve rated 4 or more stars. Click Click here to add criteria under the Rock criteria I just set. Select My Rating from the list and change it to Is At Least 4 Stars.
8. The last criteria I’m going to set are I only want to listen to music I ripped to the library within the past year. Set the last criteria to Date Added to library Is After 1 Year.

   [4]

9. Click OK when you are finished giving it your criteria and you are ready to go.

There you go. The sky’s the limit with auto playlists. Play with it and come up with your own.