Playlist overview

A playlist is a custom compilation of songs and video. You might want to create a playlist to:

• Suit a specific mood or occasion. For example, you could create a playlist for a dinner party, a wedding, or your morning workout.

• Select certain songs to share with others on your local network or to sync with your iOS device.

• Burn a CD of songs.

• Organize your iTunes library.

There are four kinds of playlists; you create the first kind yourself and iTunes creates the other three for you.

• Standard playlists: You create these playlists by dragging items to them.

• Smart Playlists: Specify some rules for iTunes to follow, and it creates a Smart Playlist that updates automatically as your library changes.

• Genius playlists: Select a song in your library, and iTunes creates a Genius playlist of similar music in your library.

• Genius Mixes: iTunes creates an ongoing playlist in a particular genre—like a commercial-free radio station—using the songs in your library.

With iPhone, iPad, and some iPod models, you can also create playlists on the device when it isn’t connected to your computer. For information about on-the-go playlists, see the documentation that came with your device.