Playback history

[GeilerHeinz]

I would appreciate the option to read through the history of playback?

I'm often using shuffle mode to let PA "discover" whole genres/folders/artists' discographies for me and I would welcome the possibility to check the title of an unknown track in a playback log file, if I wasn't able to have a look on the player screen before the next track started.

Kind regards

[andrewilley]

If you are playing in All Songs and Shuffled mode, tap the album artwork (or use Library > All Songs) and then tap the three-dots menu icon at the top-left. Select List Options and set the Sort Order to "By Shuffle order". Then you will see the entire list of songs, both forthcoming and history, in their shuffled order. 

Andre

[GeilerHeinz]

Nice to know. Thanks Andre.

Unfortunately I'm not able to start playback in "All Songs" in folder hierarchy view.

Even though my vast music collection is tagged well, it's uncomfortable to use genre category because it lists only albums instead of album artists. I hope this will be customizable soon.

Kind regards

[andrewilley]

So what shuffle mode are you using when you are letting PA find random songs for you? I too use Folders mode as my main listening method, and usually just cycle into All Songs shuffle mode via the main player screen. However if you want to be able to access the whole playback list then it's a pretty trivial three taps to start shuffling using the Library icon (the 'four-squares' icon in the lower left of the screen) > All Songs > Shuffle icon. As you would only ever be using it for shuffling purposes, you could permanently leave the All Songs category set to view by shuffle order.

You can always just go back a track or two in any shuffle sequence to see the previously-played song details (although of course that does interrupt your current listening momentarily).

Andre

[GeilerHeinz]

1 hour ago, andrewilley said:

[...] I too use Folders mode as my main listening method, and usually just cycle into All Songs shuffle mode via the main player screen. [...]

I don't know, if I understood your approach. Are you starting the playback of a whole folder by clicking on the play icon on the top of the appropriate folder level and afterwards activating the shuffle mode "Shuffle songs" in the main player screen? That almost matches with my own approach. The only difference is, that I directly click on the shuffle button on the top of the appropriate folder level. But anyway if I do this I'm not able to switch to a shuffled list of all songs from main player screen. If I swipe down in the main player screen PA switches to the  folder/album of the actual track.

The only alternative approach I see now, is to add the desired folders to the queue and re-sort the queue by random sort. That however means a few more steps.

Thanks Andre for helping me to identify this alternative approach.

[andrewilley]

59 minutes ago, GeilerHeinz said:

Are you starting the playback of a whole folder by clicking on the play icon on the top of the appropriate folder level

Yes, that's what I usually do: I start playback by tapping on a particular song from a specific folder - often the first song in the folder. Then when I'm in the Player screen, if I want to hear some random music I can tap on the Shuffle icon and choose 'Shuffle All' (or 'Shuffle Songs' if I want to hear the whole current folder but in a randomised order).

Normally my shuffle choices are either 'Off' or 'Shuffle All' though, and it's the All Songs mode that I was suggesting could just as easily be achieved by using Library > All Songs > Shuffle, which would have the added benefit of being able to show the complete shuffled list view (both forward and backward).  What it won't do, as PA doesn't store the information, is show you a history of any previous playback sessions.

Andre

[GeilerHeinz]

I still don't understand how you manage it to show the list of the shuffled tracks after you started playback by tapping on a particular song from a specific folder and then choosing 'Shuffle Songs' in the main player screen.

Or does this only exist for the approach Library > All songs > Shuffle? 

Kind regards

[andrewilley]

11 minutes ago, GeilerHeinz said:

Or does this only exist for the approach Library > All songs > Shuffle? 

Yes, that's exactly what I meant by:

Quote

If you want to be able to access the whole playback list then it's a pretty trivial three taps to start shuffling using the Library icon (the 'four-squares' icon in the lower left of the screen) > All Songs > Shuffle icon.

and

Quote

I was suggesting using Library > All Songs > Shuffle, which would have the added benefit of being able to show the complete shuffled list view (both forward and backward).

Andre

[GeilerHeinz]

Thanks for the clarification.

Kind regards

[andrewilley]

If you just set 'Shuffle All' via the player icon during (for example) Folders Hierarchy playback, tapping the cover art will just take you to the folder of the currently playing song, with obviously doesn't help if you want to see history. For that you need to be using a category that goes to the full songs list.

Andre