How to use Smart Playlists with Apple Music

Playlists are sets of songs that you build for yourself. Apple Music is no exception. You can add songs to playlists by tapping on the elipses "..." icon of the currently playing track. Then choose "Add to a Playlist..." and pick the one you'd like to add the song too. Any time you want to listen to these songs, you can tap the "My Music" tab at the bottom of the Apple Music app. Then tap "Playlists" at the top. Here you will see all the playlists you have created. Granted, every streaming service provides a way to build these collections. But one feature none of the others provide is smart playlists. iTunes has offered smart playlists for a long time. What makes them different than regular playlists? They are automatically populated with songs based on criteria you set. For example, I have a smart playlist called "Best of 2015" which automatically includes songs that I added to My Music in 2015 and that I've rated above three stars. Another smart playlist is "Best of Coldplay" which similarly automatically adds any Colplay songs that are in My Music and rated above three stars. One last smart playlist idea is "100 Most Played". This collection is built with songs I listen to most and is sorted by frequency. Just from these examples, you can see how powerful smart playlists can be. These smart playlist must be created on iTunes on your PC or Mac with Apple Music and iCloud Music Library turned on. But once you've created them, they will be populated from your iPhone or iPad. The fact that no other streaming service includes smart playlists sets Apple Music on a pedestal.