Tagcache and playlist

[jmdennis]

Is there a way to use tagcache to create a playlist?  What I mean is that I want to create a playlist of shuffled songs using tagcache.  I know that I can create a playlist and have it shuffle all my songs but if I add podcast it adds these as well.  On the Apple firmware side they had a menu option as the main menu to shuffle songs and it would just shuffle the songs you had and not add any podcast.  I just want to set up some thing in tagcache to do this same thing so I could just have it go to the music folder and shuffle those and not the podcast.  I know I could manually add all these to the playlist but I would like to do it differently.  I guess the one thing I miss on the apple side is the shuffle songs.  If I could set up a menu like this I would be a happy camper.

[bascule]

jmdennis,

I don't see how this thread is different to your 'music count' one, which you seem to have given up on.

Shuffling a selection of songs is easy, using the shuffle setting. You then confuse this issue with the podcast one from the other thread.

EDIT: The 'music count' thread has now been locked. We can finally sort out your problem with differentiating music and podcasts here.

[jmdennis]

I created this one as it was a better header to what I wanted.  The music count was done already.  You are right that shuffle is really easy and I use this all the time.  I allowed it to create a playlist and will now add the podcast back and will just use the one playlist with out the podcast and hopefully this will solve my problem.  I just figured it would be nice if they could add a menu call shuffle songs for those of us that like this.

[bascule]

I just figured it would be nice if they could add a menu call shuffle songs for those of us that like this.

I'm still struggling with this statement somewhat...

Shuffle can be initiated one of three ways:
1. Using the 'Quick Menu'
2. Selecting Shuffle through the 'Main Menu' (Menu>General Settings>Playback>Shuffle). How is this not '...a menu call shuffle songs...'?
3. Using the 'Insert shuffled' playlisting option

[jmdennis]

I have used these menu's but when I do it adds my podcast to it.  I do not want to go through and add a big playlist.  If I am going to use the playlist option I let it create a playlist on it's on.  I want an option that says shuffle songs that do not add my podcast to it.

[Llorean]

Solution: Put your podcasts in one folder. Put your music under a folder called "Music". Insert the music folder shuffled, so that only the music is played.

[bascule]

Solution: Put your podcasts in one folder. Put your music under a folder called "Music". Insert the music folder shuffled, so that only the music is played.

The problem is (as discussed in the other thread) is that jmdennis is using TagCache and wants to differentiate between podcasts and non-podcasts by tag. However, we have still not got to the bottom of that problem, so the same question keeps getting raised.

@jmdennis - Llorean's solution is perfect if you wish to change to using the file browser. However, if you still want to use Tag Cache, then please answer the question(s) I put to you in the other thread and we will sort it out:

Quote from jmdennis:
I have some podcast that show no tag under artist but others have the speaker.
OK, well that's a start...

Can you check all the other tags (title, album, genre, even bitrate). If there is something unique in one of those that all your podcasts share, but your music doesn't, it can be used to filter the Tag Cache results.

Quote from jmdennis:
All of these are mp3's.  I have imported my music in as .ogg so I do not know if some thing can be written to exclude mp3's or not.

Just the difference between MP3 and OGG can be used, if all your podcasts are MP3 and all your music is OGG. You could start with something like this in your custom tagnavi file:

Code:
%format "fmt_disp_trk"         "%02d %s" tracknum title

%menu_start "Podcasts" "Podcasts"
"Podcasts"          -> album ? filename $ ".mp3" -> title = "fmt_strip_trk"

[jmdennis]

I import my podcast using the apple firmware.  The reason for this is because I do not have to change podcast that may have a ? mark at the end of it.  I do though if I copy over the files on the rockbox side.  I also like the fact that the top podcast is by date which I know I can do using tagcache if I wanted to.  I did not see this comment in the music count as I have not been keeping an eye on this.

[bascule]

Sorry, but you keep failing to answer the questions.

1. Can you live with Llorean's workaround?
If so, this thread is closed. If not:

2. Do you want me to help you differentiate podcasts and music using Tag Cache?
If so, let me know how you got on with the custom Tag Cache menus using the .ogg/.mp3 differentiation.
If not, this thread is closed.

[Llorean]

Well, Rockbox isn't really going to code around problems created by other software. It's evident that several solutions to his problem exist, and one of the simplest ones is "stop using a program that renames your files and sticks them in unpredictable places."

He could also make sure all his podcasts have a proper genre tag, and then shuffle everything not that genre, right?

[jmdennis]

You are right there are work arounds.  They suck but there are work arounds so close this.  The only reason I do not copy over my podcast is that I would need to rename each one that had a question mark at the end of it which I should not have to do.  If rockbox handled this then I would not use the apple side to do this.  Just some thing to think about when making updates to this software.

[Llorean]

Do you actually have files with question marks already in the filename, or are they just in the tag? I'm surprised because windows doesn't seem to allow questionmarks in filenames. It seems like something that's a filesystem concern, in which case, no, Rockbox shouldn't allow it.

[jmdennis]

The question marks are in the song name or podcast name.  For iTunes it loads these with no problems.  I have to rename them to copy them to rockbox though.  I have songs that had question marks or some times a colon and I have to remove this as well before copying it over.  This takes time as some of my cd's have songs that have this and I have to skip those and rename them before copying them over again.

[Llorean]

I don't understand what you're saying. The files on your computer have the names with the question mark, but when you try to copy them to your player the question mark doesn't work?

Please, try to explain more clearly exactly what the problem is. iTunes actually renames the files, which is why it can copy them over.

[jmdennis]

I will have to check to see if iTunes does rename the files or not.  When a song or podcast has a question mark at the end of the name and I try and copy them over to my iPod when it finds one of these names it asks me if I want to skip it which I normally do.  I then have to go back in and rename it with out the question mark and then copy it over this way.  If it has a colon which one of my enya songs did I need to remove this before copying it over or it will let me know that I can not do this.  I will have to check and copy over my podcast again using the iTunes software and see if what you say is true or not.  If it does rename it maybe you should create software that will rename the files as they are being copied over to the iPod or what ever player one might have.