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I don't have a lot of what could be termed 'music videos', but I'm struggling to get those I have sensibly organised in iTunes. No, not yet moved to Catalina, but I suspect Music will exhibit the same problem for me.

 

Apart from issues with how iTunes displays and stores 'Music Videos', it wants to play these videos when selecting to play an Album or all tracks of an Artist - depending on whether the video is associated with an Album or just the Artist. My problem is that when I select an Album or Artist to play, iTunes puts all the tracks into its 'up next' (or whatever it's called) list and that includes any associated videos. I REALLY don't want this. I just want to play the music, but have the ability to play a Music Video if I particularly want. I realise some users live and breath Music Videos, but for me, they're fairly inconsequential, although I do want to be able to access them when I want. So…

 

Is it possible to somehow tell iTunes to NOT play Music Videos when selecting an Artist or Album to play?

 

I've not found anything in iTunes prefs to control this, but is there perhaps some other way to control this playback behaviour?

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If you uncheck the music videos, then they won't play in an album or playlist. To do this, either uncheck the checkboxes next to the videos, if they display (they only display in certain views), or right click on one or more music videos, then choose Uncheck Selection. 

I write about Macs, music, and more at Kirkville.

Author of Take Control of macOS Media Apps

Co-host of The Next Track podcast.

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Ah, thanks Kirk. Finally a use for those checkmarks. But…

 

This only seems to work when in 'Song' view (with Column Browser above of course) and then when simply hitting the Play button, only checked items are played, whether they be audio music tracks or music videos. However, if you view by Artist and right click an album you want to hear and choose 'Play later' (or next I think), it simply adds everything to the play/'next up' list, audio and video items, irrespective of whether anything is checked or otherwise.

 

I would in any case be concerned relying on those checkmarks to determine what gets played as they are too transitory and can get inadvertently changed too easily. However it doesn't help when playing music in the manner I described.

 

So I think it's just going to be simpler to NOT keep anything other than music in iTunes (or later equivalent apps) and rely on Plex for everything as that works really well for everything I throw at it. Plex also doesn't keep trying to sell me more stuff I don't want and it acts as my DVR.

 

These days, Apple seem to be moving in directions that hold no interest to me, or are even detrimental to my use of their products. Macs, iPhones and iPads are still best in class as far as I'm concerned, but Apple seem intent on introducing new farkles at the expense of robust operation.

 

Anyway, thanks again for the point about using checkmarks.

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As I said, if you don't see checkboxes, then right-click and choose Uncheck Selection. 

 

When you "uncheck" tracks, they show as dimmed, even if there are no checkboxes. 

I don't see why those checkboxes would get "inadvertently changed too easily." If you want to make sure, create a playlist for all your music videos, and you can check it from time to time to make sure that not of the checkboxes have been checked. And then you can select all, right click, then choose Uncheck Selection. 

 

I'm not sure what this has to do with "Apple seem to be moving in directions that hold no interest to me." This specific feature has been in iTunes / Music for as long as I can remember, and probably since the very first version. 

 

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I write about Macs, music, and more at Kirkville.

Author of Take Control of macOS Media Apps

Co-host of The Next Track podcast.

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I am well aware of what the checkboxes are and how to (un)set them, but their effect on whether a track plays or not is inconsistent, as I mentioned. In particular, from Artist view, select an album to play and even unchecked items get added to the list and played, so this is not the universal solution I was looking for. Also, I find it very easy for checkboxes to get changed inadvertently or if you want to make use of them for any other purpose. So I'm afraid not really a solution at all.

 

The last part of my previous post was simply that with no method to configure iTunes to NOT play music videos 'in-line' with music audio, I will not try and use iTunes in this way any longer and that lead on to other unrelated gripes about Apple. So yes, somewhat off-topic. My apologies.

 

Thanks for the response though as even a negative confirmation is valuable.

 

Enjoy the snow.

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