How is the on the go playlist creation for SD cards?

[glahoiten]

Hello rockbox people. I was wondering if anybody with experience with rockbox could describe how it is for making on the go playlists with an external SD card (if that is even possible). I've had many experiences where I got excited for an mp3 player only to find that their on the go playlist creation for external SD cards sucks or is non existent, and I wanted to make sure rock box had beaten the problem.

So yeah, just wondering: Is making playlists with regular and external SD card songs possible using the mp3 player alone? Is it convenient? (how many button pushed minimum or on average does it take to add a song to your current playlist, or a playlist?) Is there a limit to the number of on the go playlists you can make? (why mp3 players choose to do this I have no idea...)

And I'm looking into the sansa clip plus, but overall, I'd be a-ok with any player that supported 32 gb sd cards (or possibly a 16 gb player that supported a 16 gb SD card). Very much appreciate your help, and sorry if I'm overlooking a place where I can find this info conveniently. The posts I've found on SD cards and playlists don't seem to address this issue (one seemed to say it was possible, but it seemed to be talking about playlist creation on the computer)

Thanks bunches in advance for your help, if hopefully I should get it!

[saratoga]

Take a look at the manual for the player you're interested in. Its has an overview of playlist handling and the key maps.

[glahoiten]

Tis true, but it doesn't specifically mention if this still works for SD cards, and experience has shown to not assume that they act the same.

[glahoiten]

(the other topic also seemed to imply there was a distinction to be made with regards to SD card songs, though it did provide a workaround (for playlist creation on the computer), though perhaps I'm misreading
http://forums.rockbox.org/index.php/topic,35029.msg199776.html#msg199776
(I'm thinking it's for computer created playlists since the fix mentions modifying file directories, and I would think you wouldn't be able to modify directory paths on the player.))

[saratoga]

Like that topic says, the SD card is just the <microsd1> folder in the root of the file system.

[glahoiten]

So you mean to say that the SD card acts exactly the same as internal memory for rockbox, except that it is under a different folder for when you originally look for songs?

(merely mean to confirm, because for reasons unknown, other mp3 players seem to consider the SD card as a seperate beast, with seperate playlist-creation abilitiy. And because it seemed that in the other topic, the mention of the directory was addressing the problem of playlist creation on the computer, not necessarily for playlist creation on the go. (sorry if I'm being dense or misreading))

edit: great, now I'm still left uncertain of whether the SD card works for on the go playlist creation. *sigh* so close, and yet so far. If anyone could please confirm that it works (either by paraphrasing what the implications of the other thread are that I'm not seeing, or from personal experience) (either for the sansa clip plus, or another 32 gb sd card mp3 player), or if, Saratoga, you could explain if the microSD card being the root directory means that it can, in fact, make playlists on the go using the microSD card, that'd be great.

[[Saint]]

Lets not overcomplicate things here.

You've made a few assumptions, or drawn some incorrect conclusions, worrying about something that's a lot simpler than you seem to think it is. Here's how it is in layman's terms:

"You may think of /<microsd1> as any other directory on the internal storage, and treat it as such."

That's great! But...

"Can I create 'on-the-go' playlists from media located on the microSD card?"

Yes.

The microSD card simply shows up as the directory /<microsd1> in the File Explorer and you can access the media on it just as you would access media on any other directory in the internal storage. If you use the Database, you will literally see no difference at all, any media files found during a database refresh will be added to the Database regardless of their location (be they located on internal or external storage).


[Saint]

[glahoiten]

Hooray! Thanks saint. And I really wouldn't have ever thought it a problem if there weren't so many other mp3 players that seem to treat external memory differently for the purpose of playlst creation, for reasons unknown.