idea for changing behaviour of file browser

[alexwallis646]

Hi. I have an idea for changing the behaviour of the file browser.

Would it be possible to add a feature in so that it automatically takes you to the folder you were last in when you shut down the player?

as at the moment you always get returned to the players root. But if you want to listen to a different song in the same folder as the track you were last playing, you either have to manually navigate to the folder, or press play to resume your playlist, then stop the track to scroll to the song you want to hear. or assuming its a folder above what you were previously listening to, again that creates work.

I realise some people might prefer to be returned to the root, so perhaps this could be made a setting to remember the last folder being used before shut down, of course I am not exactly sure what you would call such a setting, but it has always bothered me that rockbox doesn't remember the last folder you were in when the player was shut down.

[evilnick]

I think that I'm missing the point of this request. You can already get to the folder very quickly, as you've pointed out by having Follow Playlist turned on then resuming playback (or hitting Play) then Stop.

Do you mean that you want the startup-screen to be the folder that you were last in?

[alexwallis646]

I guess that is maybe what I mean. In fact, perhaps such a setting would go nicely under the startup screen section. Perhaps if it were to go there the files option should be renamed player root, and an option should be added called last working directory or something. as yes, I would like rockbox to be able to automatically place me in the last folder I was in before shutting down the player. as lets just say for example the folder you wanted was one level above the one you were in previously after shutting down the player, and you have a hard disc player, you either have to navigate through layers of folders just to get to one item, or you have to start your playlist which means a disc spinup, you then have to navigate to a given track you want to play and hit play, which means another disc spinup. I think such a feature of remembering the last folder being used would be particularly useful if you wanted to listen to a song way down the playlist as you could scroll to it, hit select once on it and therefor save yourself a disc spinup. I think this feature would be particularly useful for very complex folder structures.

Or lets say for example you are listening to audio books, and you finish a book and so that's your dynamic playlist finished, you can't resume your playlist to quickly get to the folder so you can go one level up to find another book by the same author.

[Topy]

Even if the description is slightly confusing: I agree, thats a "feature" i have been missing. Often after listening to one album i want to listen to another album by the same artist, but that means i either have to navigate back into the directory or restart the just finished playlist just to get to the place i was before. In general, i think it would be better behaviour for rockbox to always remember the last accessed directory and place the file browser in there. That should however be an optional function, as i am sure some people would like to turn it off.

[AlexP]

I'm pretty sure I opened a feature request for this many years ago, back when the tracker accepted them.