Open Radar

 
Summary:
The UI for “Add to Playlist” encourages the user to take an action which does not work.

Steps to Reproduce:
1. Connect an iPhone or iPad to the computer
2. Select one or more songs, movies, etc in iTunes
3. Choose “Add to Playlist” from the right-click menu
4. Look at the list of  playlists offered.  At the top are the playlists that are synced to the device.  Below that, separated by a faint divider, are the playlists in iTunes.  There is an icon and label to indicate that these are the playlists from the device, but it is so similar to the playlists that it blends in and you don’t notice it.  It’s very easy to not see that there are two separate sections of playlists listed.

By definition, all of the playlists on the device will have local counterparts if you sync frequently.  And if you choose the device version of the playlist to add your items to instead of the local version, which is a natural thing to do since it’s closer to the top of the list, there is no error message and no action either.  The items are not added to any playlist.

Expected Results:
To only see the local playlists, since they are the only ones I can actually add anything directly to.

Actual Results:
I was shown playlists that are invalid for the action I was taking.

By contrast, if you select one song or other media item and click on the “…” button next to the title, then chose “Add To”, a much better list of playlists is displayed, which clearly differentiates between device and local.  You should be using that one in both places.