Can't shuffle all files on my iRIVER H340

[H340_diehard]

Hi Everyone.

I have a H340 and love it.  I also have deep admiration for the Rockbox project however after hours of experimentation with the player in Rockbox mode and having trawled this forum and the manual many times I can't for the life of me work out how to randomly shuffle through all tracks on the player. 

Hopefully this is a simple problem and someone can point me in the right direction with out too much pain.

This is what I have tried so far.

From the 'main menu' - 'Playlists' - create playlist

it then tells me it's creating /root.m3u8

inserting 4700 tracks

when I click 'View Catalog' it tells me there are 'No Playlists'

However the root.m3u8 file is definitely located on the root directory of my player.

This is the first strange item...

I even tried a reboot but the same thing happens

Next

So then I go to the 'Settings' menu - 'Playback Settings' - 'Shuffle' = yes

'Settings' menu - 'Playback Settings' - 'Auto-Change Directory' = Random

Main Menu - 'Plugins' - 'Applications' - 'Random_folder_advance_config' - Generate folder list.

Reboot

Now when I try and play a file from the 'Files' menu it will always randomize all of the tracks in a single directory then eventually skip to a new directory.

All I want to do is be able to play one totally random track from a totally random directory then skip to another totally random track from a totally random directory and keep doing this.

Please tell me this is possible and if so how?

I could do it when booting into the original firmware by selecting 'Shuffle - all' with the 'record' button on the main screen.  However their random function is how should we say 'less than random'.

This is my first post to this forum so please be gentle.

Thanks!

[Llorean]

The playlist catalog looks in a specific directory, it doesn't track all playlists on your folder. If the manual doesn't explain this, please post a bug report about it, as it should.

There is no way to make sure songs are always played from different directories (and the original firmware didn't do this either). If you'd like to shuffle all songs on your player so that statistically you're quite unlikely to get two songs from the same directory in a row, you should just play that playlist you made of all songs shuffled.

[Serenity]

Short answer: when you save a current playlist, Rockbox saves it in the root directory.  When you browse your Playlist Catalogue, Rockbox only looks in the default Playlists folder (which is found in your File tree).  I believe you can change which folder it checks for your catalogue.  The Playlists folder is mentioned in the manual on page 34.

Shorter answer: your randomised playlist is automatically saved in the root directory, so it won't show up when you browse your Playist Catalogue unless you move it into your "Playlists" folder.

I actually don't mind this quirk--all my new on-the-go playlists are always in the root directory, and if I still like one after a few months, I just move it to my Playlists folder for safe keeping.  Otherwise, I just delete it.  That way, all the playists in my Playlist catalogue are 'lists I know I like.

I'll shut up now.