Database play albums in order

[shoe]

Hi,

I notice that when I use the database to play all songs of a particular artist or genre, the tracks are sorted in alphabetical order.  It would be very useful (to me), if the songs were played in order through each album (I notice it is done this way on the Ipod).  

Ideally, in my view, they would be played as though they were sorted by genre/artist/album/trackNum, or maybe even sort the albums chronologically: genre/artist/year/album/trackNum.

I have no idea if this is easy to implement, or if other people would like this feature.  Maybe have it as an option in settings.  

Any comments?

[Llorean]

If you want them sorted like that, why not insert your "Genre" filter into a playlist?

[shoe]

If you want them sorted like that, why not insert your "Genre" filter into a playlist?

Hmmm.  I'm not sure what you mean by filter.  Do you mean I could create and save a playlist for each artist and each genre, by adding the albums to playlists one at a time?  The problem is I have hundreds of albums, so this would be quite a project.

I've read through the user manual, and looked for an answer to this question on the forums without success.  Perhaps I should explain a little more clearly.

I've loaded the songs using Sharepod (arranged as iTunes does), so I can use the dual-boot feature on my Ipod (4Gen, 40gb).  Thus I am using the database, as opposed to the file system navigation.  If I insert all songs by "The Rolling Stones", for example, into a playlist they are in alphabetical order by song title.

What I want to do is play each Stones album in order, one album after another, without having to add them one at a time to a playlist.  Since there is no particular use (that I can see) playing the songs in alphabetical order by title, it might be nice if this were the default action, or a setting.

[Llorean]

Long-press Select on the "Genre" option, in the main database list, and then choose Playlist->Insert

[Nate!]

I'm not a database user.  Is this a TagNavi.config issue or more accurately tagnavi_custom.config: http://www.rockbox.org/twiki/bin/view/Main/DataBase#tagnavi_config_v2_0_Syntax

[shoe]

Thanks.  I hadn't seen the tagnavi.config stuff, it looks like that will do it.  

I still think it would be nice if it were the default behavior of the Insert command as described:

Long-press Select on the "Genre" option, in the main database list, and then choose Playlist->Insert

By the way, I think Rockbox is really great.  Many thanks to all those who make it happen.

[Llorean]

Did you try it as I described? What did you get?

[shoe]

Did you try it as I described? What did you get?

Hi I did try it, it inserts sorted by alphabetical order, based on song name.  Do you think it is a bug?

[Llorean]

I'm not sure. I suppose it just uses the 'All Tracks' list from the Genre filter.

[bascule]

I'm not sure. I suppose it just uses the 'All Tracks' list from the Genre filter.

Yes, it does. There is no way currently to get the Database to operate in what you might call 'album mode', using a whole album as the atomic unit, rather than track.

I thought there was a patch of some sort on Flyspray, though...

EDIT:
http://www.rockbox.org/tracker/task/6960 This is not the one I was thinking of, but this does random album play...

[Flid]

To be honest, I would really hope that someone didn't change the order of tracks represented in Artist ---> All Tracks (or Genre---> All Tracks). If I go through this route to find a song by an artist.... I want them sorted alphabetically, not by album order. That'd be daft (IMHO).

[Llorean]

In my opinion, if you insert the "Genre" you shouldn't get "Genre->All tracks" but rather a progression through the rest of the filters.

So if you've got Genre->Artist->Album->Track, and you click insert on say, the Artist, you should get songs, in track order, one album at a time.

In my opinion it should basically "walk" the filter, inserting songs in order. Probably a slower process than using the all tracks list, but it would allow a large amount of flexibility.

[Flid]

Horses for courses I guess.
Personally, I rarely listen to an album in order after the first couple of weeks of owning it (unless it's a live album and I'm in the mood for it). Variety is the spice... and all that. However, that doesn't mean I can't imagine someone else wanting to ALWAYS listen to their albums in order (in the way the producer / artist wanted it).

If I wanted to achieve this, I'd go Genre>Artist, then long-select each album individually and "insert last" which (from memory) seems to insert each album in the correct order.

Surely you wouldn't want to select a whole genre non-randomised? This would give you all the same albums and songs in the same order every time. I couldn't imagine anything worse!  

edit:-

Re-thinking after re-reading Lloreans post.... maybe default behaviour *should* act in that manner (ie. playlist insert on an "Artist" inserts tracks in album order). However, this shouldn't effect the < all tracks > being in alphabetical order. Obviously, you would be able to playlist insert on < all tracks > as an entirely different approach to just selecting the artist.

This raises another question. Should albums be ordered chronologically. And if so, should the playlist insert of an artist insert in chronological album order? (I think so).

[Llorean]

See, that's what I think should happen:

If you insert "Genre" it should go through, and insert each Artist, in order, which then goes through and inserts each Album in order (if you have Genre->Artist->Album->Track, that is), but if you just go into Genre, and insert the "All Tracks" option, it gives them all in alphabetical order instead.

That way you can do both, easily. Then of course, you can always do "Insert Shuffled"