Delete file after playback

[bridger7]

I use Poweramp only for music podcast MP3's. Almost all are EDM mix sets.

So that I can replace my usual podcast player, which has this option, I want to delete files that I've already played back. The current queue keeps getting replenished with newly-downloaded MP3's, so even date-related sorts get cumbersome when all that is needed is an option to delete after playback.

Besides the on/off toggle, users can specify the remaining playback time in order for Poweramp to consider a file played back - 30s, 5m, 10m, etc. This variable allows the user to custom tune the setting for their style of MP3.

Many talk podcasts get old or boring - or get full of ads - near the end, causing the user to skip to next track. This setting enables Poweramp to cleanup the leftover file that remains. 

[Bencherished]

I don't think this is a good idea for a music player to delete files automatically after playing. 

Even if this feature may have a toggle, it will lead to losing of important files for some person who may not know what the function is.

I suggest you do this manually. 

Bencherished 

[andrewilley]

Agreed, Poweramp is predominantly a music player - where you would want to keep the music files in place after listening - as opposed to an audiobook/podcast app where you tend to listen once and move on.

That said, I do listen to my audiobooks and podcasts in PA, but I manually delete each one after I've finished with it (usually during the last few seconds of listening with podcasts, so I don't have to return to the list page tpo do it, just long-press=>Delete=>Confirm). Some skins even provide a Delete button on the Player Screen itself (e.g. in YAPS, don't use the Hide Shortcuts option). But you'd still have to confirm the delete action anyway, far too dangerous to allow that to occur with a single accidental tap.

Andre

[MotleyG]

5 hours ago, Bencherished said:

I don't think this is a good idea for a music player to delete files automatically after playing. 

Even if this feature may have a toggle, it will lead to losing of important files for some person who may not know what the function is.

I suggest you do this manually. 

Agreed. I can only imagine the negative impressions for anyone that inadevertently turns a feature like this on, and has the time set to something like 30s. After a day of listening, and skipping through a bunch of tracks - imagine a library gets trimeed but possibly a few hundred songs. And as it turns out, this would likely be the same users that don't have a proper full backup. I can't see how this would be a benefit to the general target users that aim to use Poweramp as their premium music player.

[Bencherished]

@MotleyG If you have a Samsung galaxy phone, some of their apps like My file, Phone, Gallery and Voice Recorder that has permission to delete files, all have recycle bin because they understand the importance of files, even if you have deleted it intentionally, there is a time frame to restore it. 

Then talk more of deleting files automatically, with no recycle bin, that is drastic, rough play.

Some of us don't have backup, please don't break someone's heart. 

If you have any file you no longer want, please delete it yourself. 

Bencherished. 

[bridger7]

I see your points, and they're good ones, but the usage cases vary from the type of podcasts that we're describing.

This feature makes the most sense for music (usually mixes) podcasts to help the user stay current. Each file is ~60 mins and many subscriptions are up to podcast #400+. Put together 25 of these auto-downloading podcasts and an auto-removal function bookends their file management flow.

Some podcast managers support the auto-remove feature and Poweramp could include the option to Recycle or simply use an alt folder to move. If a more granular approach is needed, the option could be applied per-folder or files could be Starred to remain undeletable. 

I'm currently limited to my podcast manager, AntennaPod, for audio playback but Poweramp is my obvious preference. 

With the latest version of Android's limitation of Poweramp's file system access, I can't customize the MP3's download location into a folder that Poweramp monitors. This adds an extra layer of manual file management. I have to copy all files from an /Android/data/ folder (inaccessible by Poweramp) to the root /Podcasts/ folder. From there, Poweramp picks up and plays the files.

That same new Android file system restriction requires that AntennaPod's only storage location is /Android/data/de.danoeh.antennapod/files/

Poweramp can only get pointed to any /Android/media/, so it's unable to auto scan for new downloads. 

Big picture: the newish Android file system security restriction brought extra file management tasks, so I'm looking to automate as much as possible 

Thanks for your posts. I appreciate the feedback

[andrewilley]

First, remember that Poweramp is intended to be an audiophile music player. The fact that it can also be used to listen to podcasts, audio books, dramas, etc is nice, but is not its main function. So don't expect auto-delete any time soon, if ever.

That said, I too use PA for listening to podcasts. I use Podcast Addict to auto-downloaded new podcasts, which as you mention will download to its own cache subfolder within the /Android/data/ hierarchy. Then I set up folder pairs using the handy FolderSync app, which monitor and automatically move any newly downloaded podcast files into the correct folders within my Poweramp music storage locations. I use the FolderSync option to prefix each moved filename with a date-time stamp in order to force chronological sorting in PA's Library. Works perfectly, and I just use long-press to finally delete each file once I've listened to it.

Andre