Music

How to open your iTunes playlists in separate windows

In older versions of iTunes, you could easily open a playlist in a separate window. It was both a great time-saver and a boon to your productivity, especially on large screens.

For reasons unknown, Apple has removed that functionality from the iTunes 12 update which was overhauled around a single-window workflow.

Thankfully, the company has reinstated the ability to open playlists in new windows with iTunes 12.6. Here's how to open your playlists in their separate windows using iTunes for Mac.

How to open your playlist in a new iTunes window

1) Launch iTunes on your Mac.

2) Choose Music from the menu near the upper-left corner, then click the Library tab.

3) In the lefthand column, right-click or Control (⌃)-click your playlist underneath the All Playlists heading, then select the option Open In New Window from the popup menu.

This will open a new iTunes window containing the selected playlist, as shown top of post.

You can drag songs at will between the playlist windows and open as many playlists in separate windows as you like. I don't have that many playlists created in iTunes so I was able to open “only” four playlist windows, but it worked like a charm.

How to open an Apple Music playlist in a new window

Playlists on Apple Music cannot be opened in their separate windows unless they're in your iTunes library. To do so, follow the steps below:

1) Launch iTunes on your Mac.

2) Choose Music from the popup menu near the upper-left corner of the window, then click either the Library or the For You tab.

3) Find a playlist on Apple Music and click the three dots in the lower-right corner of playlist graphics to bring up the contextual menu, then choose the option Add to Library.

4) With the selected Apple Music playlist now in your iTunes library, switch to the Library tab, right-click it underneath the Apple Music Playlists heading in the lefthand column, then select the Open in New Window command.

Just like that, the selected Apple Music playlist from your library opens in a new window.

iTunes playlists windows and Split View

Sadly, playlists windows in iTunes don't support macOS's useful Split View feature.

If iTunes supported Split View properly, it could have been a great multitasking feature. In other words, you cannot browse your iTunes library in the main window and have your favorite playlist in its separate window in macOS's Split View mode.

And that's it, boys and girls!

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If you have any questions, please post a comment below.

Apple Music now supplies song snippets to Musical.ly

As of today, Apple Music is providing snippets of songs to Musical.ly, a social app for video creation, messaging and live broadcasting. Musical.ly will also permit paying Apple Music subscribers to listen to the full songs within its iPhone app.

Recode reported Friday that Apple has now joined U.K.-based provider 7digital in supplying the songs to Musical.ly. The partnership will help the app expand its global reach and Apple will benefit from the exposure of its service to Musical.ly's users.

iOS 11 to bring new video features to Apple Music, 10 original series planned this year

Bloomberg BusinessWeek today ran an extensive profile of Jimmy Iovine, 64, who runs Apple Music. In it, he reveals some of Apple's plans for the service, including new video-centric features coming to Apple Music as part of iOS 11. Iovine says Apple could release up to ten original series on Apple Music this year. Essentially, it boils down to turning Apple's music-streaming service into a one-stop shop for pop culture.

Puff Daddy’s documentary hitting Apple Music on June 25

Billboard reported Thursday that a new documentary about Sean “Diddy” Combs aka Puff Daddy is coming exclusively to Apple Music on June 25. Titled “Can't Stop, Won't Stop: A Bad Boy Story,” it chronicles Combs' and his record label's precipitous rise in the mid-90s to the top of the music business.

Among other topics, the film deals with “the trials and tribulations” Combs faced in putting together last year's 20th anniversary Bad Boy reunion shows in two weeks time and with artists who hadn't performed in years, noted Billboard.

This tweak keeps your music playing while you record video

If you’ve ever tried listening to music and recording video from the Camera app at the same time, then you’ve probably noticed the app is designed to automatically silence your music the moment you tap on the record button.

A new free jailbreak tweak called Dndmymusic by iOS developer Demy Kromhof circumvents this restriction by allowing you to continue listening to music as you record footage from the Camera app.

Issues with your Apple Music subscription or iCloud storage? You’re not alone

As acknowledged on Apple's System Status webpage, an unknown percentage of Apple Music subscribers have been experiencing issues with their subscriptions since Tuesday, ranging from the inability to download tracks for offline listening to being unable to connect to the service at all.

According to complaints on Reddit, some folks are also being greeted with a “Cannot Connect to iCloud” error message when attempting to upgrade or downgrade their iCloud storage plan.

Facebook confirms Apple Music integration coming soon to Messenger

Apple has offered an Apple Music API for some time now and Facebook leveraged it to integrate the service with Music Stories, a song-sharing feature available within its mainland iOS app. Soon, Apple Music will integrate with the Messenger platform, too (currently used by more than 1.2 billion people every month). At the F8 conference today, the social networking behemoth announced that Spotify integration will be available on Messenger at launch and Apple Music real soon.

Don’t Stop the Party! keeps your music playing during resprings

One of my pet peeves in terms of having a jailbroken device is how any music I'm listening to while installing tweaks on my device gets silenced with every respring. Anyone who peruses Cydia and installs tweaks a lot will find this to be a buzzkill.

Fortunately, a new jailbreak tweak called Don’t Stop the Party! by iOS developers David Goldman and Wizages helps fix the problem once and for all by letting the music play straight through the respring process.

New app being developed would finally bring Spotify onto Apple Watch

There's a new app in the works that would finally bring Spotify onto Apple Watch. Called Snowy and created by developer Andrew Chang, it will permit Apple Watch owners to play their favorite Spotify tracks, browse playlists, access a Now Playing screen via a complication and more.

According to Chang's recent update on Reddit, Spotify will be working with him to add Apple Watch functionality and playlist syncing into its mainland iPhone and iPad app.

This tweak displays song ratings throughout the Music app

If you use the stock Music app to listen to your favorite songs on your iPhone or iPad, then you owe it to yourself to use your jailbreak to enhance the app the best you can.

A free jailbreak tweak called I See Stars III by Pat Sluth improves the Music app by displaying media ratings in the playlist tables, otherwise known as song lists.

Algoriddim’s djay Pro is now on Windows 10 with Surface Studio & Dial integration

djay Pro, Algoriddim's award-winning iPhone, iPad and Mac app aimed at pro and wannabe DJs, is now available on PCs as a native Windows 10 application.

The app features built-in support for iTunes, Windows Media Player and Spotify music, plus Surface Studio and Surface Dial integration. Built specifically for Windows 10, djay Pro provides a complete toolkit for DJs of all skill levels.

Some of the more powerful features include pristine sound quality, high-definition waveforms, four decks and audio effects, as well as native support for external audio interfaces and over 60 MIDI controllers from Pioneer DJ, Reloop, Numark and others.