Random Sort Order of album, artist and track browser screens.

[vext01]

Would it be possible to add the ability to sort the album, artist, track (etc.) lists by random order?

I'd like this so that when I'm browsing for something to listen to, I'm not always shown the same albums (or artists) first and other music gets a chance to be listened to.

There is the question of "how frequently are the lists randomised". I'd suggest the list is re-randomised each time the user enters that screen. Perhaps there's a button to reshuffle the order of the list?

Thoughts?

 

[MotleyG]

1 hour ago, vext01 said:

Would it be possible to add the ability to sort the album, artist, track (etc.) lists by random order?

I'd like this so that when I'm browsing for something to listen to, I'm not always shown the same albums (or artists) first and other music gets a chance to be listened to.

There is the question of "how frequently are the lists randomised". I'd suggest the list is re-randomised each time the user enters that screen. Perhaps there's a button to reshuffle the order of the list?

Thoughts?

 

You can already do this. When in any library list you want to shuffle, simply tap the shuffle icon in the top header. It will re-shuffle each time you press the shuffle button. This can be done in the Artist, AlbumArtist, Album, Track, Composer, Genre, and even the playlist and folder lists. No need to resort the library lists for this.

 Note that in a playlist, there is an option to re-sort using the three-dot button. It includes a shuffle (random sort) option.

[vext01]

Is that the shuffle button at the top left with two intersecting arrows?

So if I'm in the albums list and I press that button, it plays a random album. I'd like to randomly reorder the album list (without starting anything playing). I still want to choose an album manually, but i don't want to see the albums to choose from in the same order every time.

Makes sense?

[andrewilley]

What's wrong with swiping your finger down, and seeing where the list ends up?

You can view each songs list in random order (via List Options), but not albums/folders/etc.

Andre

[vext01]

> What's wrong with swiping your finger down, and seeing where the list ends up?

Well that's what I currently do, but I feel like seeing the list in a different order would be a more pleasing, and less biased, way of choosing a fresh album.

[MotleyG]

1 hour ago, vext01 said:

Is that the shuffle button at the top left with two intersecting arrows?

So if I'm in the albums list and I press that button, it plays a random album. I'd like to randomly reorder the album list (without starting anything playing). I still want to choose an album manually, but i don't want to see the albums to choose from in the same order every time.

Makes sense?

If that is the case, you are going to have to scroll through the Album list to start that manual choice. You can do that and still have the rest of the list play another random album when that is done. In the now playing screen, long press the shuffle button (yes, that is the two intersecting arrows) and choose “Shuffle Categories” from the pop up. Then long press the repeat button (left of the shuffle button) and choose “Advance Categories” from that list. Your current album will play all tracks in disc/track order, when finished a new “random” album will again play from start to finish, and so on.

Edited August 29, 2021 by MotleyG

[vext01]

> If that is the case, you are going to have to scroll through the Album list to start that manual choice.

Yes, it's just more likely that something fresh appears near the top of the list.

> You can do that and still have the rest of the list play another random album when that is done.

This is neat.

[vext01]

> You can do that and still have the rest of the list play another random album when that is done.

Having played around with that a bit, I notice that when a random album is chosen, it also chooses a random track from that album.

Is there a way to choose a random album, but play it in order, from the first track?

Thanks

[andrewilley]

13 minutes ago, vext01 said:

Is there a way to choose a random album, but play it in order, from the first track?

Yes, but not from the category list screen. You need to tap the Shuffle icon in the player screen and set the mode to "Shuffle Just Categories". If playing in Albums mode, that will pick random albums but play their songs in order.

There is a plan to make the Shuffle icon on the list screens a bit more configurable at some stage (via long-press) but I don't think it's a priority feature.

Andre

[vext01]

That's great. Thanks everyone.

[vext01]

Hi everyone,

 

Sorry to bring up an old thread, but I found an example of the feature that I was requesting. In Navidrome, there is a "random" button which shuffles the list, but without starting anything playing. So it's purely a browsing aid:

 

 

It makes finding an album to listen to very painless.

[andrewilley]

You can permanently re-shuffle a Playlist or the Queue via List Options > Re-sort.

You can also view other categories in an already-shuffled order with List Options > Sort > By Shuffle Order. That view will be based on the last randomise event though, to trigger a new reshuffle and see an updated list the easiest method would be to tap on the Shuffle icon in the Player screen (no need to commence playback, just change the mode once).

Andre

[6b6561]

Funny coincidence. This is a feature that I where going to request and it's something that I really miss in Poweramp", I use it more or less daily on my iPhone.

Swipe blindly method doesn't really work with +800 albums across +100 album artists, play random album is also out of question as that's to random.

A quick random re-sort and pick one of the first 5 albums... usually one of the first five is something that has been forgotten and suits the mode.

 

[6b6561]

I found a solution, a no bells and whistles Album Player https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.cooked.albumplayer

Fire up Album Player for the "decision" making and fire up Poweramp for the playing.

 

[flyingdutchman]

@6b6561 my Music Playlist Manager has an option to generate Poweramp playlists with randomly selected albums.  You can also decide the number of albums it should add. 5 is the default

[6b6561]

Will the name of the random albums be present in the playlist names? Would the list names be something like:

 - Rand 1 - Artist - Album

Or are the playlists just "Random 1...5"?

Is it a "one button" exercise to re-shuffle? Go into your app, re-shuffle and magically have the old random lists replaced by 5 new ones?

[flyingdutchman]

@6b6561 it will generate a playlist consisting of n albums, for each album the tracks are fron 1 to n,, you can name the playlist whatever you want and save it wherever you want, default is playlist_manager. Shuffling will , well shuffle the tracks..

[andrewilley]

Any playlist is a list of song titles, not of albums or folders, so you would just see all the songs from each of the chosen albums.

Andre

[6b6561]

@flyingdutchman that will not do. What I and @vext01 is asking for is a shuffled list of albums that is easy to refresh. Hit shuffle, get a new list of random albums and then pick one of them to listen to.

So what we ask for is "Album view - sort order shuffled" and a way to reshuffle the view.

It's in place for tracks, you can set Sort Order to "By Shuffle Order" and re-shuffle by long pressing the shuffle button.

[flyingdutchman]

24 minutes ago, 6b6561 said:

@flyingdutchman that will not do. What I and @vext01 is asking for is a shuffled list of albums that is easy to refresh. Hit shuffle, get a new list of random albums and then pick one of them to listen to.

So what we ask for is "Album view - sort order shuffled" and a way to reshuffle the view.

It's in place for tracks, you can set Sort Order to "By Shuffle Order" and re-shuffle by long pressing the shuffle button.

too bad, I just hit the plus sign in my app Music Playlist Manager and get a new playlist with randomly selected albums. 

[andrewilley]

What seems to be wanted (not completely sure why) is a way to view a completely random list of albums (not start listening them) so you can find something different near the top of the random list that takes your fancy, something you might not have thought about otherwise.

Andre

[flyingdutchman]

@andrewilley which is what a randomly generated playlist of albums gives you does it not?

[andrewilley]

22 minutes ago, flyingdutchman said:

@andrewilley which is what a randomly generated playlist of albums gives you does it not?

It would if it was a plain list of ALBUMS, rather than a list of songs that are contained in albums.

Andre

[flyingdutchman]

@andrewilley in that case a simple shuffle then 😄

[6b6561]

This is now implemented for albums in Playlist Manager, go to Library, sort by Shuffle and tap the Album cover and it will play in Poweramp. It's perfect for those days that you have no idea what to listen to and what to re-discover something in your library.