Playing ALL Music (Sansa Clip Zip)

[bbildman]

Been through the manual and now I am asking how do I play ALL the music using Rockbox for the Sansa Clip Zip.

The manual says this::

"By using the Main Menu
To create a playlist containing all music on your player, you can use the Create
Playlist command in the Playlists menu found in the Main Menu. The created
playlist will be named root.m3u8 and saved in the root of your player’s disk."

On the Rockbox firmware for the Zip, there is no "Playlists" Menu found in the Main Menu, only a Playlist Catalogue Menu. So, how do I enable this so that ALL the music is included both from the Zip memory as well as the Microdisk I have installed.

Also is there a way to sort the ALL music playlist (if I can figure out how to do it) in an order other than how it is occurring on the Sansa, for instance by Directory, or Artist name, such that the resulting playlist is ordered and saved that way, thanks for any help.

[saratoga]

I think playlist catalogue was renamed to playlists, so probably you are using a newer manual with an older version of Rockbox.

For what its worth if you want to sort things by tags I think you need to use the database. If you select all artists in the database does it do what you want?

[bbildman]

I'm using the latest Rockbox, 3.13.

Will try what you said re: sorting the database, but what I want sorted is the "ALL" playlist, rather than the database.

Again, from the LATEST Manual for the ZIP dated March 16th, this is what I read::

"By using the Main Menu
To create a playlist containing all music on your player, you can use the Create
Playlist command in the Playlists menu found in the Main Menu. The created
playlist will be named root.m3u8 and saved in the root of your player’s disk."

There is NO Playlists menu on the main menu.

Thanks

[saratoga]

3.13 is the latest stable build but its over a year old. If you download the manual for Rockbox as it is today some things will have changed.  You can find the the 3.13 version of the manual here:

http://download.rockbox.org/release/3.13/

[bbildman]

I have the latest dev release installed on the zip, I thought THAT firmware ought to mimic the current manual, but it does not.

My original questions stands, how do I make a playlist that includes all the songs on my clip zip, though the instructions talk about the Playlist menu that doesn't exist on my main menu.

I WILL go back and check out the 3.13 Rockbox pdf file, thanks

[bbildman]

Have downloaded the Rockbox manual (version 3.13) Sansa Clip Zip and it also includes this information::

"By using the Main Menu
To create a playlist containing all music on your player, you can use the Create
Playlist command in the Playlists menu found in the Main Menu. The created
playlist will be named root.m3u8 and saved in the root of your player’s disk."

Again, there is no Playlist menu in the Main menu.

[[Saint]]

Sorry...I'm a little late to this thread, flooding wiped out my Internet over the weekend.

"Playlists" no longer exists, it was replaced with "Playlist Catalogue" in the main menu, and tiny bits of the context menu (IIRC) were also changed to suit it.

The Playlist Catalogue re-work was committed with absolutely no documentation (you know who you are), pretty much making that section of the manual irrelevant - ridiculously confusing at best.

As for the original question of "How do I create a playlist that includes all my media", the answer here lies within the context menu. To include all your media from the file browser it is as simple as creating a playlist from the topmost level of your media directory structure, for the Database, there are a number of possible combinations that allow you to select all media, and the concept is with the context menu is similar. Bring up the context menu on a File Browser directory or Database header, and have a play around.

[Saint]

[bbildman]

Hi Saint, thanks a lot for the explanation.

As for creating an all files playlist from the file browser is that I have a microdisk that has a lot of music files, AND there are files on the Sansa itself. Long Clicking on the Files menu on the Main menu does not give me ANY option for playlist creation. Normal clicking on the Files menu only gives me the listing of all the directories on the Sansa including the Microdisk, but no option for creating a playlist from there.

You note: "To include all your media from the file browser it is as simple as creating a playlist from the topmost level of your media directory structure, for the Database, there are a number of possible combinations that allow you to select all media, and the concept with the context menu is similar."

Can you be specific about the combinations you allude to?

Thanks, sorry for being such a bother (sorry about your floding experience)

Bernie

[[Saint]]

For the File Browser, (seeing as you have a microSD) you would need to add both the topmost level of the internal storage (or, wherever you store your media thereon), and microSD storage (again, or wherever you store your media thereon) to a playlist via the context menu in order to save a playlist containing all files on the device.

For the Database, there are a number of possible headers that will expose all the media on the device (if suitably tagged), but Database - Tracks - <All Tracks> (possibly misremembering the path here, going from memory) seems like the most obvious one and will include all media on the device regardless of how badly tagged it is. Treat these Database headers the same as you would a directory in the File Browser, the method to add items from it to a playlist is identical.


[Saint]

PS: We're all dried out now, thank you.

[bbildman]

I see what you are saying, my only ignorance is how to add BOTH at the same time (if possible), unless you are saying I should add one separately to a playlist and then add the other also to the same current list, and then save it. My only problem with that is how do I (or is it possible) to then sort that playlist in "Album" -- or any other -- order??

All my music files are in album folders, each folder as a separate album.

I have tried what you said, and now I have a playlist that includes the music from both the Music folder in the Sansa ram, and the MicroHD, but the order starts with (alphabetically) the files in the Music folder, then on to the end of that and then into the MicroHD alphabetically. What I want is the music files form both directories together sorted by Album, so that the sequence begins from A to Z, without the A-Z from the Music folder and then again from A-Z from the MicroHD.

Possible??

[[Saint]]

I see what you are saying, my only ignorance is how to add BOTH at the same time (if possible), unless you are saying I should add one separately to a playlist and then add the other also to the same current list, and then save it.

Yes, this is exactly what I'm suggesting.

My only problem with that is how do I (or is it possible) to then sort that playlist in "Album" -- or any other -- order??

All my music files are in album folders, each folder as a separate album.

I have tried what you said, and now I have a playlist that includes the music from both the Music folder in the Sansa ram, and the MicroHD, but the order starts with (alphabetically) the files in the Music folder, then on to the end of that and then into the MicroHD alphabetically. What I want is the music files form both directories together sorted by Album, so that the sequence begins from A to Z, without the A-Z from the Music folder and then again from A-Z from the MicroHD.

Possible??

This would be most easily achieved (I believe) via the Database (which by default scans the entire device storage and makes no distinction between internal/external storage), by creating a playlist directly from the "Albums" header.


[Saint]

[bbildman]

So, I'm thinking about copying the m3u file to my computer and sorting it from there, copying it backl...being that it is not possible to sort a playlist already created on RB...thanks for your expert help, I appreciate it.

[Mohammed Li]

What a ridiculous complex/difficult way of doing this. I can't get it to work.

Just add: Play all, like the original OS.
This will play all files in a directory.

[saratoga]

What a ridiculous complex/difficult way of doing this. I can't get it to work.

Just add: Play all, like the original OS.
This will play all files in a directory.

We already do this by default. Start playing the first file in a directory and all will be sequentially played.

[Mohammed Li]

What a ridiculous complex/difficult way of doing this. I can't get it to work.

Just add: Play all, like the original OS.
This will play all files in a directory.

We already do this by default. Start playing the first file in a directory and all will be sequentially played.

I know that and it's not what I mean.
If I am at the root of my music folder or microsd disk, witch contain sub folders where the actual music files are located, you can't press play and hear music. This sucks salty balls.
I for example have a separate folder for every artist, witch has sub folders for every album, and those contain the music files. So now I have to go through this ridiculous complex procedure if I want to listen to ALL the music from a certain artist.  Similar if I just want to listen to ALL my music shuffled, witch I like, I have to make a playlist with all my music. This is way to complex and I haven't been able to do it, it's just to difficult. I just want to press play and hear All my music. The original OS can do this.....