Skip Next Song?

[Wrathernaut]

I can't find any build that has this feature, perhaps I'm looking in the wrong place, but very often I am listening to a random shuffle to a song I like, but the next song isn't what I'm in the mood for. Any way to change the next song without waiting for it to start?

Using a gigabeat 40gig.

[nls]

open the playlist viewer and remove the next song from the playlist

[Job Van Dam]

Or go to the File Browser or Database, find a song you'd like to hear next, hold the centre cross as it's selected, Playlist, Queue Next.
The song you selected will play next when the current song is done also it won't permeantely be added to the playlist. Choose Insert Next to permeantly add it to the playlist.

[Wrathernaut]

So I guess the answer is no?

My rockbox rarely leaves my car, so 99% of the time I just have it on a shuffle play all, and both of those methods are a bit more involved than glancing at the player and hitting a key. I prefer to keep maximum eye to road time.

[Falco98]

well, a slightly more involved (beforehand) solution would be to, instead of simply doing a "random all" when car-listening, build it more selectively by inserting only those artists / albums / tracks you like before setting it to shuffle mode.

if you REALLY need it to skip the next song before it even loads, of course you could always view the current playlist and remove the next track; however that solution probably doesn't meet your criteria for simplicity as stated above.

it seems to me that if my first suggestion here doesn't satisfy your needs fully, by far the most simplistic and intuitive solution is simply to wait for the current song to end and then reach over and hit track-skip next.  it's just one button press, and if you're quick enough, your ears won't have to be offended by (much of) the one you didn't feel like hearing.  though you could always beg someone to write a patch allowing you to hold some button while also hitting next and change its behavior to do what you liked.... but i'm afraid not enough people would need it all that badly to get it into source, most likely.

[nls]

I just wanted to add something here. This is a type of request we get fairly often (not for this particular feature but some feature that makes something slightly more convenient) adding lots of these features will make the whole UI _less_ convenient and more complex no matter how small, unintrusive or simple it is we need to carefully consider if it is actually worth it since most of the time the same effect can be reached in several different ways already.

[polygonal]

And if you want this feature bad enough, you should meddle with the source and code yourself one. That's part of what are so wonderful about open source stuffs.

[shoe]

I like this idea.  I listen to my music in shuffle mode a lot, and since we have this great feature that allows us to see the next song on the WPS, it would be useful to be able to skip it without waiting for it to start.  It is certainly worth a feature request, in my opinion.  I'll try to make a patch that uses SELECT from the WPS Context Menu (not used currently) to skip or remove the next track from the current playlist.  No promises, I am pretty busy these days and my coding ability is not advanced.

[Llorean]

Select is used to select menu items on the WPS context menu, as it is in every menu list...

[yegods]

I'll try to make a patch that uses SELECT from the WPS Context Menu (not used currently) to skip or remove the next track from the current playlist.

advocating my double-click patch... you could assign a double-click to the next track button to a "skip next track" feature.

[shoe]

I actually meant the Quick Menu, not the WPS Context Menu, sorry for the confusion there.  That way to skip the next song, you would press a Long MENU, then SELECT.  

Actually the "double click" idea is probably better, since the Quick Menu deals with settings, not actions.

[GodEater]

I'll try to make a patch that uses SELECT from the WPS Context Menu (not used currently) to skip or remove the next track from the current playlist.

advocating my double-click patch... you could assign a double-click to the next track button to a "skip next track" feature.

I thought your double click patch broke the skip to next album, "short click, long click" feature we already have ?

[Wrathernaut]

I'm not sure about other players, but on the gigabeat, we have two volume controls, not including the remote. I'd willingly sacrifice the volume up or down on the main pad for this feature.

I clearly understand the point of avoiding feature bloat, but Shoe hit it dead on, that this would make the next song preview meaningful.


The reason I posted this here was to see if a feature like this existed, buried in there somewhere amongst Rockbox's many features.

When you keep the player in your car, you don't really spend a lot of time creating playlists for moods, and you're a little preoccupied.

Plus, two situations:
#1 - Song A is playing, you're not in the mood for B but are powerless to change it until A finishes. A finishes and you skip through B, C, D, E, F and G, until H gets up there, and is the right song for your mood, so you let it play.
#2 - Song A is playing, you are not in the mood for B, C, D, E, F or G, but during the 3-4 minutes you were checking the road, glancing at the player, and skipping each one. G came up and you let it stay in the next slot until it started.

#2 is clearly the winner. No mood-fulfilling music downtime, and you can pick when to be distracted by changing the song.


So maybe I will have to delve into the programming side of the Rockbox scene... But sometimes programmers aren't the best interface engineers, and vice versa.  

[Llorean]

So, you're suggesting we should add a feature that makes it more likely the user will look away from the road at his player, rather than depending on his ears?

Honestly, this is a minimal-use feature, and adds code complication and bloat to an already complex playback system. It's not a case of "interface engineering" it's a case of "There are disadvantages to adding any feature, and this one probably isn't worth the cost in added complexity."

[yegods]

I thought your double click patch broke the skip to next album, "short click, long click" feature we already have ?

i fixed that.  it doesn't interfere with that type of click detection anymore.