# Can you find out when an iTunes playlist was made? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 6, 2011, 2:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-find-out-when-an-itunes-playlist-was-made/588028 "2011-07-06T14:06:18Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2011, 2:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-find-out-when-an-itunes-playlist-was-made/588028/1 "2011-07-06T14:06:18Z")
Just what the title says. I’m wondering if iTunes has a function that allows you to look at a playlist and see when it was created. I haven’t been able to find one on my own. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2011, 2:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-find-out-when-an-itunes-playlist-was-made/588028/2 "2011-07-07T14:52:15Z")
Bumping this once - I guess other people are curious and I’m hoping someone has an answer. ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2011, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-find-out-when-an-itunes-playlist-was-made/588028/3 "2011-07-07T15:27:49Z")
If you go to your iTunes directory (on Windows 7 the default directory would be C:\Users[you]\Music\iTunes) there is a file called iTunes Music Library.xml that is basically a database of all your music and settings. I did a search in that file for one of my playlists and there is no data associated with the playlist that is a date. It’s just the name, some iTunes assigned IDs, then IDs of tracks on the playlist. The only thing you could tell from that file (and that’s the only place you’ll find your playlists saved) is what order your playlists were created. ---
**Author:** ![s28928](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/838e76/32.png) [@s28928](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/s28928)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2015, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-find-out-when-an-itunes-playlist-was-made/588028/4 "2015-06-08T19:15:48Z")
> [@ZipperJJ](#): > > If you go to your iTunes directory (on Windows 7 the default directory would be C:\Users[you]\Music\iTunes) there is a file called iTunes Music Library.xml that is basically a database of all your music and settings. > > I did a search in that file for one of my playlists and there is no data associated with the playlist that is a date. It’s just the name, some iTunes assigned IDs, then IDs of tracks on the playlist. > > The only thing you could tell from that file (and that’s the only place you’ll find your playlists saved) is what order your playlists were created. Where did it list the play-lists by the order in which they were created? I did not see it in the file; they were listed alphabetically. ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2015, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-find-out-when-an-itunes-playlist-was-made/588028/5 "2015-06-08T19:57:11Z")
> [@s28928](#): > > Where did it list the play-lists by the order in which they were created? I did not see it in the file; they were listed alphabetically. I assumed that the playlists were created in the order of their Playlist ID. ---
**Author:** ![s28928](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/838e76/32.png) [@s28928](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/s28928)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2015, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-find-out-when-an-itunes-playlist-was-made/588028/6 "2015-06-08T20:43:36Z")
> [@ZipperJJ](#): > > I assumed that the playlists were created in the order of their Playlist ID. Okay. I will take a look. But does that mean that I have over two-thousand play-lists? "\Name\\Syper III 2\ \Playlist ID\\22616\ \Playlist Persistent " ---
**Author:** ![s28928](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/838e76/32.png) [@s28928](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/s28928)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2015, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-find-out-when-an-itunes-playlist-was-made/588028/7 "2015-06-08T20:52:03Z")
> [@s28928](#): > > Okay. I will take a look. But does that mean that I have over two-thousand play-lists? > "\Name\\Syper III 2\ > \Playlist ID\\22616\ > \Playlist Persistent " Okay. So I found it, and well… copy-and-pasted it above. So, as I said, does that mean that I have/have made “22,616+” play-lists? I probably could have posted this in just one post… oops… ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2015, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-find-out-when-an-itunes-playlist-was-made/588028/8 "2015-06-08T21:00:26Z")
No, they are using unique IDs that are also assigned to other stuff, like tracks. Looks like there won’t be a Track 112 and a Playlist 112, they all have unique numbers. ---
**Author:** ![s28928](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/838e76/32.png) [@s28928](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/s28928)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2015, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-find-out-when-an-itunes-playlist-was-made/588028/9 "2015-06-08T21:07:56Z")
> [@ZipperJJ](#): > > No, they are using unique IDs that are also assigned to other stuff, like tracks. Looks like there won’t be a Track 112 and a Playlist 112, they all have unique numbers. But the higher the number mean the later it was created, right? Also, what does persistent mean? (in the context out of “\Playlist Persistent”) ---
**Author:** ![s28928](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/838e76/32.png) [@s28928](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/s28928)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2015, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-find-out-when-an-itunes-playlist-was-made/588028/10 "2015-06-19T19:56:58Z")
So the higher the number, the later it was created, right? ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2015, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-find-out-when-an-itunes-playlist-was-made/588028/11 "2015-06-19T20:10:36Z")
I dunno. It’s a guess.