Non-alphabetical arrangement

[pandapandapie]

Is there any way to make Rockbox stop arranging everything alphabetically? I want my music to be arranged by track number and it's not working. I would rather not have to go through my 7,000 songs and manually add a track number to the beginning of each song title.

[Chronon]

And how is the File Browser supposed to know what order to list songs if you don't put a number at the beginning of the filename?  Also, it's not like you have to do it manually.  There are a number of programs that will read ID3 data and rename your tracks accordingly.

[onkel_enno]

If you mean the database: You can configure it for your own needs:
http://www.rockbox.org/twiki/bin/view/Main/DataBase

[pandapandapie]

And how is the File Browser supposed to know what order to list songs if you don't put a number at the beginning of the filename?

I'm not asking it to automatically sort everything by track number, I only want it to not put it all back into alphabetical order when I sort it by track number.

[melancholydm]

if you want it to be sorted by track number then use database~ otherwise you will have to number your tracks

[Llorean]

What do you mean by "When I sort it by track number?" Rearranging the order the files are in a folder on your computer usually is just rearranging the way your computer displays them, not actually moving anything.

[bascule]

Let's go back to the beginning here, because I don't really understand the problem...

I want my music to be arranged by track number and it's not working.

File Browser or Database?
How are your files named?
Do your files have ID3/Vorbis metadata?
What are you expecting Rockbox to do, exactly?
Are you aware that Rockbox has a setting for file display including 'alphabetical' (default) and 'modified date'?

I'm not asking it to automatically sort everything by track number, I only want it to not put it all back into alphabetical order when I sort it by track number.

...and I'm sorry, but that sentence makes no logical sense at all. The Rockbox File Browser has no automatic sort by track number, only alphabetic by filename, but if the filename happens to contain the track number at the beginning, then by default alphabetic is the same as 'by track number'.

[pandapandapie]

I was rearranging their order by going into the hard drive with my computer, I thought that would work but it didn't. After the Database was recomended, though, I used that and it does exactly what I want, which is allow me to play the songs in order by track, unlike just going into the music folder in Files. So, anyway, problem solved. This is my first time ever using Rockbox, I only found it because someone on the product forums on Amazon said it was great. I'm still not familiar with all of it's little features and how to access them, but the database is exactly what I wanted, so thank you.

[AlexP]

I was rearranging their order by going into the hard drive with my computer, I thought that would work but it didn't

That is just changing how your operating system on your computer displays the files.  How did you expect that sorting information to get to rockbox?  I'm glad the database does what you want, but this isn't a rockbox limitation, it is how filesystems work.

[pandapandapie]

Well, I'm no computer expert. I thought that since I was in the actual hard drive of the player, it would rearrange them on the player.

[ssuukk]

May I actualy refresh the thread? File view is much more useful than databese. So is there any reason why isn't it possible to add "By track number" to existing options ("Alphabetical", "By Date", "By Newest Date", "By Type") in "Settings -> General Settings -> File View -> Sort Files"?

And don't ask me where to get it from. The track number is stored in ID3 tag...

[AlexP]

No, it is a file browser.  Sorting can be achieved based on file attributes that are stored by the filesystem.  If you have to open every file every time you enter a directory to read things like track number it becomes incredibly slow.  If you keep the information you find so you don't have to rescan next time, then you have the database.

[ssuukk]

If you have to open every file every time you enter a directory to read things like track number it becomes incredibly slow. 

Even if it does isn't it user's problem? If user wants to have slow directory listing it's his choice...

No, it is a file browser.  Sorting can be achieved based on file attributes that are stored by the filesystem. 

I understand your point. Probably I am too used to Directory Opus which is able to sort by any available tag stored within file (be it ID3, EXIF or whatever).

[AlexP]

If you have to open every file every time you enter a directory to read things like track number it becomes incredibly slow. 

Even if it does isn't it user's problem? If user wants to have slow directory listing it's his choice...

To an extent - someone has to take the time to code it, it adds extra code, it adds another option - it is whether it is worth it, especially when the database already exists for just this sort of thing.  If what you want isn't possible with a custom tagnavi, I think it'd be better to fix/extend the database rather than hack up the filebrowser.

Incidently, I use the filebrowser and have it sort by track number - my files are named tracknum - title.mp3

[ssuukk]

Incidently, I use the filebrowser and have it sort by track number - my files are named tracknum - title.mp3

Well, yeah - I know. That was quick and dirty hack I used on original software. :-)