Option to shuffle only categories for Playlist/Queue

[azuriye]

Poweramp already has the option to shuffle only categories but that only works when you have all the albums in the Queue and then switch to shuffle-only categories where it plays the whole album and changes to a random album.

 

Musicolet has already implemented this option so I was wondering if Poweramp could do the same.

 

I have a playlist with different tracks from different albums and I would like to shuffle only categories but unfortunately, it only supports shuffling every track from every album so basically shuffling all songs.

[maxmp]

@AzurBarnitzke Shuffle Lists mode actually works for lists with multiple categories (such as Albums), and doesn't work for Queue, so I'm not sure what your request/question is about.

If you mean you want to shuffle some user created Playlist structurally based on the contained song tags - this seems to be quite complicated from UI and end-user understanding point of view, but if you have good ideas about that - feel free to share.

[azuriye]

Sorry for not elaborating, I'll try to explain my use case here...

 

So I have a playlist full of random songs from different albums let's say Album A, B and C and each of them have 5 tracks in them.

 

When I add the playlist to queue and click on the shuffle button it shuffles everything in the sense my 1st song will be from Album A, then 4th song Album C, and so on...

instead what I want is first play all 5 tracks from Album A and then switch to Album C which contains all my 5 tracks and then the same for Album B. Basically shuffle by categories.

 

Poweramp only shuffles the albums if you put all the albums into the queue.

If I use my playlist then click on shuffle by category it only goes systemically for example Album A all five tracks, Album B all five tracks and so on... the albums aren't shuffled here.

[andrewilley]

The Queue is a special case, and unlike other Category playback methods it has no internal sorting logic. It is really just a temporary playlist, and like other Playlists it just contains is a simple list of song files to be played, occurring one after another in whatever order you placed them in the list. The fact that the on-screen display shows helpful Library-sourced data such as Artist name, album & album art, is nothing to do with the actual underlying list. So you can't shuffle the Queue (or a Playlist) by sub-categories as it is a single Category of its own - you either shuffle it or you play it in the quoted order. 

Andre

[azuriye]

I assume it's not possible to sort playlists/queue based on categories? Perhaps some sort of limitation...?

As Musicolet achieved this with their Advanced Shuffle option in which it can sort playlists with categories (only shuffle album) when adding the playlist to the queue or when there already exists a list of songs in queue.

[andrewilley]

@AzurBarnitzke Yes, you can re-sort Playlists or the Queue in any way you like - either manually by moving items up or down, or systematically via the menu (or even via a third-party app for Playlists).

But the result will just be a new fixed list of song files in a new order (just like a text file or Word document). Shuffling that list will shuffle the whole list, not arbitrary subsections of it.

Andre

[azuriye]

@andrewilley So I assume it's not possible for now to replicate shuffle by categories for queues/playlists? or was my explanation a bit harder to come by?

Edited September 28, 2023 by AzurBarnitzke

[andrewilley]

@AzurBarnitzke As I said, the Queue and Playlists do not have any Category structure to shuffle. They are just a simple list of filenames to listen to, any of which could be found from anywhere in your Library, and in any order.

For example, if a Playlist contained 100 assorted rock song files, originally created alphabetically by song title - or even randomly added to the list - what would attempting to shuffle by album or folder be expected to do?

Andre

[azuriye]

@andrewilley I assume the playlist/queue works only if there are files already present in the library? perhaps Poweramp could just read the albums the song belongs to and just shuffle the albums only instead of shuffling all (song+albums)?

[azuriye]

I've attached four images from Musicolet showing what I meant exactly... Perhaps this could fix up some misunderstandings?

You can see how the structure of the songs are same but all the albums are shuffled in Queue.

Edited September 28, 2023 by AzurBarnitzke

[andrewilley]

Yes, a song must have already been scanned into the Library for it to be inserted into the Queue or a Playlist, you can't just add a random file from anywhere. The same applies to external file-based playlists (e.g. M3U/etc), where the lines of text found in the playlist file need to be matched to the filenames of songs that have already been scanned into the Library.

You can re-sort a Playlist, either manually or via the menu option, which allows you to permanently re-organise the order of the list based on various criteria - such as changed the list to be arranged by album names, years, ratings, genres, etc, or even just on a whim. There are more powerful external tools too - such as Music Playlist Manager - which may well be able to sort in layers, such as Artist=>Album=>randomised tracks. But either way, you will just end up with a newly organised fixed playlist, which can be either played from the first song to the last song, or the songs can be picked randomly from thought the list. PA has no knowledge of what you may have done to that long list of items, there are no defined groups or categories - and in the meantime you might have moved a song anyway.

It would be possible to create entire new Shuffle modes which first group the contents of the flat list and then shuffle those contents, but to be honest, that's what Poweramp's extensive Category-based Library is already for. The Queue is merely a temporary diversion from that playback order, and Playlists are intended to be played in the curated order they have been designated.

Andre