repeatingbeats
Sorry, I don't use Now Playing. I'll download it and do some testing ...
Category Shuffle repeatingbeats
Shuffle by metadata categories (album shuffle, artist shuffle, etc.)
Description
Category Shuffle
Category Shuffle enables random shuffling of groups of tracks. All tracks in the group are played before another random group is selected. For example, choosing the Album category plays all songs on a random album and then moves to the next random album.
How to Use
Instructions for using Album Shuffle (any other Category works the same way):
- Enable Album Shuffle by choosing Controls->Category Shuffle->By Album from the Menu. Please note that Category Shuffle is separate from the normal shuffle menu controls and shuffle player controls.
- Disable Category Shuffle from Controls->Category Shuffle->Off
- To start listening with a random Album, select Controls->Category Shuffle->Play Random Album. This option will only be visible when Album Shuffle is enabled.
- To choose the first ablum (or to choose an album at any other time), just double click on the track like you would normally start playing an album. If Album Shuffle is enabled, you will get a new shuffled album when your current album finishes.
- Selecting the normal Shuffle from either the Menu or the Player Controls also disables Category Shuffle
Release Notes
Bump for 1.10.0a
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repeatingbeats
Ok, it definitely doesn't work in conjunction with Now Playing. Now Playing overrides the behavior of the sequencer and doesn't appear to have an off button.
I don't think this is something I can fix on my end. If Now Playing had a preference that allowed it to turn off, then I think everything would be fine. As it currently stands, I was able to get Category Shuffle (Album Shuffle in this case) working by doing the following:
- Set Now Playing Preferences as "Start playing the track, and Show the track as well as its containing playlist in the now playing list
- Go to the playlist you want to shuffle and double click on any track. This will load up the entire playlist into Now Playing.
- Go to Controls -> Category Shuffle -> By Album
- Go to Controls -> Category Shuffle -> Play Random Album. You might have to hit this a couple times.
Eventually you should get the first track of a random album playing, and album shuffle will then work. Unfortunately the Now Playing list display pane will not display tracks correctly.
mstrelan
That's a shame! I can at least get it to work with the instructions you provided.
Ideally the way I would see it working is that if you chose "Play Random Album" it would set the Now Playing queue to all the tracks in the album. Also another button for "Enqueue random album" would totally rock, adding a random album to the end of the queue.
And what would be really awesome is if the album finished playing and queued up another random album.
Just food for thought. I'm looking at the code of your module and of Now Playing List however I'm new to Songbird development so not sure how much help I'll be!
kanej
I love this addon. i don't have the Now Playing addon...but it does seem a little confusing to use. I have started playing an album then put 'album shuffle' on. After the first song songbird moves to another album. It seems I have no choice on what the first album is. Thats my only quib...keep up the good work.
BJEagle
Wohooo! yes yes, dude. This is really sweet. The best shuffle mode of all players. maybe you and moshy could work together on incorporate eachothers add ons? But for now i am fully happy i just deactivate now playing list when i want to take a ride down the random path of good albums.
repeatingbeats
@kanej
The next update will have more intuitive playback ... for example Album Shuffle will work like this:
- Enable Album Shuffle
- Start playing any track in your library
- The remainder of the tracks on that album will play in order of track number
- The next random shuffled album will start playing after the last track on the previous album
I think this behavior will address your point and be more in agreement with implementations of Album/Artist/etc shuffle on other players. You'll also still able to use the Play Random menuitem to force a new random Album/Artist/etc at any point.
The update should be done in a couple days. Then I'll have time to start looking at including a secondary sort (by something other than track number) and potentially better integration with the popular Now Playing add-on.
mstrelan
Another feature request - add a "Play random album" button next to the next song button. The icon could simply be the next chapter icon on dvd players.
repeatingbeats
Bumped to version 0.1.1.
@kanej please let me know if this addresses your playback issue.
Others let me know if I managed to break anything.
@mstrelan If someone makes me an icon I'll put it on the todo list. A button would be nice for quicker access to Play Random.
mstrelan
Version 0.1.1 works well just as before (I decided I don't need Now Playing anyway). Love the new feature that lets you select a track and it plays the rest of the album
mstrelan
In regards to the button .. if I get around to it I might submit one. I don't really know how it works with the different feathers though. In the mean time a great option for quicker access would be a shortcut key. Currently Ctrl+Right-arrow allegedly changes tracks, so perhaps Ctrl+Shift+Right-arrow.
mstrelan
Hi again. Here's another peculiarity I found. If an album has more than one disc Category Shuffle, when set to shuffle Albums, sorts the tracks by track number, rather than by disc followed by track number.
repeatingbeats
Do your discs each have track numbers starting from one? I'm guessing that a quick fix would be to change your metadata so that track numbers keep continue counting up with each disc, but when I get the chance I'll see if I can do anything to correct that.
mindless_jazz
Thank you repeatingbeats this is a great add-on. Can I add to mstrelan's request for disc counts to be taken into account.
I acknowledge that your work-around will do the same thing. However, it would be good not to have to update all my metadata.
I have another a suggestion, although I am sure you have plenty to get on with already. That would be to create random playlists based on your shuffle criterion. Or is this available elsewhere?
repeatingbeats
Ok, we're updated for 1.8.0a maxVersion. Album shuffle now sorts by disc number first, followed by track number.
deOmega
Nice addon... thank you. never noticed it before.
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Last Updated: about 1 year ago
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mstrelan
Great add-on however it doesn't seem to work with the Now Playing add-on. Can somebody confirm this?