Option to Play One Folder Only

[Marko]

I have my music organized with one album per folder. That way I can easily find what I'm looking for. Is there a way to have Poweramp play all tracks in that folder and then stop once those tracks have been played? I have been unable to find that feature; instead it simply continues playing tracks from the following folder. It would be nice to simply select the album, press play, and have it play just that album.

[MotleyG]

Turn the repeat off. Long-press the repeat icon and select the top option, or press it repeatedly until it shows off.

When selecting any folder, it will stop after completed. You can also choose the shuffle on/off options while keeping the repeat off.

[Marko]

Thank you! I did not realize that was there. 🙂

[andrewilley]

@maxmp Please could you reconsider my request for a simplification of the wording of the Repeat icon to make its function more easily understood, especially for new users? I still feel that many people don't understand that 'Repeat Off' really means 'play all songs in the current category', and even fewer new users understand 'Advance Category' at all, making this sort of question very common.

My suggestion was to modify the wording of the Repeat icon to use the following more logical and intuitive terms:- Play One Song | Play Current Category | Play All | Repeat One Song | Repeat Current Category | Repeat All 

Andre

[Marko]

Turning the repeat off works … but seems to work only on that particular folder. When I make another selection,* it defaults back to playing the next folder  "Advance Category." Is there a way to make the repeat selection "sticky" or to select a default? I did not see that option in any of the Settings menus.

(* I have only done this after exiting the app and later starting it up again, so I cannot confirm whether this resets if I keep the app open.)

[andrewilley]

The Repeat and Shuffle modes are both sticky. However if you use the automated Play or Shuffle icons at the top of one of the category lists, PA will adjust the Repeat/Shuffle modes where it deems it necessary for that operation within the category type you have selected. e.g. using the Shuffle icon will enable Shuffle Songs/Categories, while using the Play icon will disable any Shuffle settings and (depending on existing modes and the category you are in) set Repeat to the default 'Advance Category' mode.

If you don't want the Repeat or Shuffle modes to change, just start any new playback by tapping directly on any song title in a list rather than by using the automatic buttons at the top of the screen.

Andre

[Marko]

I normally press "Play" on the top half of the screen in a folder, which I think tracks what you're saying. I can certainly just select a track on the lower half of the screen, and will start to do so.

It sounds like "Category" is essentially the same as a file folder/sub-directory — is that correct? Is there a setting to turn off the automated play and shuffle at the top of the screen so Poweramp never shuffles/repeats without being deliberately asked to do so?

[w3wilkes]

The Queue will do exactly as you want. In your settings go to Library -> Queue -> On Queue End - select Stay in Queue... (I also set Start Playing Queue - After the current song). To put an album in the Queue just long press the album and a pop-up will be displayed and you can select Queue. Then hit the ">>" in the Play to advance to the first song in the Queue. If you are listening and decide to add another album to play after the current album you can go into your library categories and add to the Queue by long pressing a Folder, Album, Song, or even add a whole Album Artist. A caveat on adding a whole Album Artist, the songs of the artist will be put in the Queue in alphabetical order rather than Album / Track number order and I've not found a way for this to be changed to Album / track within Album order. Also if you have tagged multiple Artists in your tags this will only add the albums with just that individual Artist in the tags.

[andrewilley]

On 4/1/2021 at 12:39 AM, Marko said:

It sounds like "Category" is essentially the same as a file folder/sub-directory — is that correct?

Is there a setting to turn off the automated play and shuffle at the top of the screen so Poweramp never shuffles/repeats without being deliberately asked to do so?

Yes, "Category" is Poweramp's term for the currently playing library method - which could be to view songs and play them by Folders, or Albums, or Genres, or Years, etc. The default behaviour when it finishes the final song in one such grouping is to move on to the next one. e.g. if you are playing in Albums mode, and you have all three Adele albums on your phone ("19", "21" and "25"), then when it comes to the end of playing "19" it would automatically move on to play "21", and so on. Or if playing in Years mode, when all of the 1980 songs have been played it would start on 1981. That is what the default repeat mode of 'Advance Category' does - it basically means Play All Categories. You can stop that happening by choosing 'Repeat Off' instead, which will stop at the end of the current category.

 

By using the Play or Shuffle icons at the top of a list, you are deliberately asking PA to set an appropriate Repeat and Shuffle mode to achieve what you have asked it to do. So if you don't want the Repeat/Shuffle settings potentially changed, just don't use those icons and simply tap on the first song instead - which has the added bonus of taking you straight to the Player screen once playback commences too.

Which reminds me @maxmp , do you think you could tweak the functionality of the Play and Shuffle icons at the top of lists so they respect the user's 'List Item Click Action' setting? Tapping either icon should ideally switch to the Player screen if that's what the user has opted for, just like tapping a song does. Or it should stay in the list if that was the user's choice. (The Enqueue option isn't relevant at that point and should probably be treated as Stay in List)

Andre

[andrewilley]

1 hour ago, w3wilkes said:

A caveat on adding a whole Album Artist, the songs of the artist will be put in the Queue in alphabetical order rather than Album / Track number order and I've not found a way for this to be changed to Album / track within Album order.

I think it should add songs to the queue in the same sequence as the List Options layers for the currently chosen category. So if you are trying to add a whole Artist then all of the songs should get added grouped by their Album first (in the relevant album sorting mode, such as 'By Year') and then sub-sorted by the songs List Option (e.g. By Track#).  However I agree that when you are selecting an item with multiple sub-items, that doesn't always seem to work correctly. I just tried it with one artist, and while the songs within each album were enqueued correctly by their Track#, the album level grouping was sorted alphabetically by name rather than my chosen 'Year' sort order.  

Andre

[Marko]

This is super helpful. I've used Poweramp off and on for years and really like it, though I find some of the many options and terminology confusing at times. Thank you for your help.

[andrewilley]

@Marko Yes, one of the problems with having so many features is that the ways to configure them does tend to get more and more involved, which can create a bit of a steep learning curve. That's one of the reasons for my one-man campaign  to tweak the wording of the Repeat Icon choices to change the often-confusing 'Advance Category' to a simpler 'Play All Categories', or even just 'Play All'.

Having Play One Song | Play Current Category | Play All | Repeat One Song | Repeat Current Category | Repeat All just seems to make more sense to me, without needing to reprogram any of the underlying code.

I even wondered if it might help new users for the sometimes misunderstood term 'Category' to be modified to reflect the currently-in-use playback mode - so for example if you are listening to a Folder, the Repeat Icon wording would include "Play Current Folder" and "Repeat Current Folder", whereas if you started listening to an Album or a Playlist, the wording would be "Play | Repeat Current Album" or "Play | Repeat Current Playlist". Again, no change to the actual playback logic, just a tweak to make the wording clearer for new users.

Andre