Playlisting

[darkenvy]

So I searched and searched but cnat find much on what I'm wondering. I love Rockbox in every way but the default iPod menu has 1-up in one region.... play-listing. All you have to do is hold down center button and it adds it to the playlist! cant beat that. That's not a big deal though, I do not like to have to execute a playlist just to then change menus to view the songs within the playlist. I would like to access the playlist menu while listening to the current song. I like to start playlists by the song currently in my head, not the beginning of the playlist.

Mod or modification that I could do w/o recompiling?

[AlexP]

I have no real idea what you are asking.  Please try again, being clear.

[darkenvy]

In rockbox if you choose a playlist it starts playing the first song.
In Official iPod if you choose a playlist you are presented a submenu of the songs in the playlist. The first song does NOT start playing.

What I want is Rockbox to be more like the official ipod firmware and let me view the contents of a playlist without playing the playlist.

(You also have to change menus in rockbox after loading each playlist just to view its contents but not in the official ipod firm.)

[[Saint]]

I would like to access the playlist menu while listening to the current song.

You realise you can already do this, no?

Try opening the context menu in the WPS, you might be pleasantly surprised.



[St.]

[darkenvy]

What I have found is "View Catalog" which stops the song that is playing and starts playing the playlist I selected.

There is also "View Current Playlist" but this will only show me songs if I am already playing A song from it's palylist.

So right now in order to get to a song in mind I have to start a playlist (stops current song, plays first track) with "View Catalog" then switch context menus to "View Current Playlist" in order to look inside a playlist.

I hope I didn't lose anyone as this is already such a complicated question.

[Llorean]

If you want to get to a song in mind, can't you just select the song rather than browsing for it within a playlist?

[darkenvy]

Well I'm ot sure how the rest of the world utilizes playlists but it was my understanding that they were invented on MP3 devices to make categories for a given mood ect. It makes finding music over 3x - 4x faster on the official iPod firm., then after the song you had in mind stops it would then play a similar song by a different artist. That's why playlists rock!

Anyways this is the one thing I have against rockbox and I usually have nothing but good stuff to say about it ^^

[soap]

then after the song you had in mind stops it would then play a similar song by a different artist.

That snippet appears to be describing iTunes' smart playlists, a dynamic playlist which pieces together a series of tracks based upon various settings.  Rockbox only supports static playlists, literally a list of songs to play. 

Now, Rockbox has many ways to create, modify, and manage playlists, but I think we're getting away  from your original point which was:

All you have to do is hold down center button and it adds it to the playlist!

Since you're talking about iPod, the way to do that is a long-press of select while highlighting said song, "insert next".

Mind you Rockbox has at least ten times the options of the Apple firmware, so Rockbox just can't map them all to single button presses like Apple does.

[darkenvy]

then after the song you had in mind stops it would then play a similar song by a different artist.

That snippet appears to be describing iTunes' smart playlists, a dynamic playlist which pieces together a series of tracks based upon various settings.  Rockbox only supports static playlists, literally a list of songs to play. 

Now, Rockbox has many ways to create, modify, and manage playlists, but I think we're getting away  from your original point which was:

All you have to do is hold down center button and it adds it to the playlist!

Since you're talking about iPod, the way to do that is a long-press of select while highlighting said song, "insert next".

Mind you Rockbox has at least ten times the options of the Apple firmware, so Rockbox just can't map them all to single button presses like Apple does.

Woah! This if far from what I'm saying. I am NOT describing the smart playlist, but a static playlist that I would have created which would have been a collection of songs from different artists. Like Goa-Psytrance favorites in one playlist; many artists but static playlist.

I understand that Rockbox has far more options and that you can only map so many buttons. But the fact of the matter is that in order to search WITHIN a playlist you must open the playlist. Opening a playlist means that the first song will start playing, the menu goes to the "current song" screen and that I must then change to a different menu to view the CONTENTS of the playlist.

I don't understand why I cant look inside (for the contents of the playlist) without having to execute (play the first track) of the playlist. Sometimes I decide its not that playlist I want and then I just wasted lots of unnecessary loading time.

[Llorean]

Why not tag the files well with Genre tags and other tags, and use the Database to manage it? As well then it could automatically update categories as new songs are added.

It sounds like this is closer to what you want if you don't know the specific song.

[soap]

Woah! This if far from what I'm saying. I am NOT describing the smart playlist, but a static playlist that I would have created which would have been a collection of songs from different artists. Like Goa-Psytrance favorites in one playlist; many artists but static playlist.

Thank you for clarifing.  I took your words "it would then play a similar song by a different artist" to mean "it" was making the decision, not your predetermined list.

I don't understand why I cant look inside (for the contents of the playlist) without having to execute (play the first track) of the playlist.

Open with the text editor?

[darkenvy]

I already am using my own custom search filter using the tagnavi and the comment tags of the ID3s. I have over 200GB of music. I need these multiple 'shortcuts' to get around . The thing is that I could use comment section of the ID3 tags to view my playlists in the database but this defeats the entire purpose of ease of use and I would have to use a ID3 editor every time.

Thanks for the effort, seriously. But I am not looking for an alternative to this, I want to be able to navigate like so:
Rockbox Root Menu -> Playlists -> View Catalog -> [playlist-name] -> select song -> Now Playing

Currently it is like this:
Rockbox Root Menu -> Playlists -> View Catalog -> [playlist-name] -> (plays random song) -> View Current Playlist -> select song -> (plays song)

The problem with the way it is currently is it takes time to load, more menu navigation and it chooses a random song in the playlist to start playing. Even with the shuffle off I dont want the first song to start playing. I desire to peer within the playlist(s) before even deciding that is the playlist I want. Oh this is important because I drive with my iPod a lot and silent loading times and too much menu navigation sucks.

I am willing to go far to modify what I need to. As for compiling, I took a programming course but I don't know how to get started here though. (SVG trunk, preparing compiler, ect). So if it comes to that  I might need help

[Llorean]

So you're willing to manually add a song to dozens of playlists, but not willing to tag the song with categories in the comment tag?

How is using an ID3 editor any different than using a playlist editor?

I mean they're called "playlists" because they're play lists. They're meant to be played... There might be some use for "playlist editing without starting playback" but they're not really intended as a primary organization tactic for finding music, but rather for a way to group music that's meant to be played as a group.

[soap]

Ok, I grok what you are doing, but how again is the Apple firmware faster in this?  I am not familiar with how it does the same (or similar) thing faster. 

I appreciate the step-by-step for Rockbox.

What is the step-by-step for Apple?

[darkenvy]

Llorean, I may only put one song in one playlists, I dont usually overlap. But yes I am willing, and already did, tag the comment section of the ID3. Why don't you think I did so? Especially when I said I did (about me using the custom tagnavi). Also I don't want to use a ID3 editor because it has to be connected to a computer. I want to do everything I need on the ipod.

@soap
The Apple basicly does the same as what I'm trying to accomplish.
Apple's Root Menu -> Playlists -> [playlist-name] -> select song -> Now Playing
Takes only 3 clicks [no loading time in-between clicks]

Rockbox Root Menu -> Playlists -> View Catalog -> [playlist-name] -> (plays random song) -> View Current Playlist -> select song -> (plays song)
Takes 5-6 clicks [3 clicks then loads, pause song [optional], 2 clicks then loads]

Apple's is faster because you can jump right into a playlist without having to load it up, start playing a song then redirect the menu to "View Current Playlist" just to get in it.